Monica Valentinelli's Blog: booksofm.com, page 123

Looking for Publishing Advice? Why Offline May be Better.

On the internet, there is no shortage of publishing advice. You can often find this advice from people who work in the publishing industry (authors, agents, publishers) as well as from people who don't (fans, readers, reviewers and some marketers or booksellers). While I do sometimes give publishing advice, I try to put that advice into context based on my experiences because when it comes to this industry - I believe that everyone's experiences may be different.

Regardless of how the advice is g

My Article for the SFWA about Personalization

Folks,

The Science Fiction Writers of America was kind enough to ask me to write an article about online marketing for their website. After mulling over what I wanted to talk about, I decided to contact a few authors I knew to ask them to weigh in on an aspect of online marketing called "personalization."

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Get Personal with your Marketing Efforts

In recent years, the topic of online marketing has become more of a focal point for several authors. Coupled with the c

Write First, Sell Later

Before I ever started working in online marketing, I was a writer. I've always been surrounded by words and music, so the creative side to me has always been there. The thing of it is, I didn't realize that writing professionally meant thinking of it as a "job" until much later — even though I did go to school "to be a writer." So, there's a voice in my head that is always trying to figure out what market a short story I'm writing may fit into or whether or not I'll reach the "right" agent for "

Guest Post: Apex Publishing's Sizemore on Why Authors Need to Market

Today's guest post is brought to you by Jason Sizemore of the small press publishing house, Apex Book Company. Apex Books has been embracing both traditional publishing methods as well as new technology through their Apex Book Company e-books on DriveThruSciFi.com. In this post, Jason talks about why it's important for authors to embrace online marketing and promotion from his perspective as the owner of a small press publishing company.

Are you an author who doesn't believe in doing your fair sh

Special Thanks to Author Paul Genesse

One of the things I love about being a writer, is the ability to connect with other authors and professionals I admire. Usually I go to quite a few conventions every year, and in about a month I'll be speaking at the Writer's Symposium as part of GenCon: Indy 2009. I'm very grateful to Jean Rabe for allowing me to sit on these panels. Additionally, I'm also very thankful for my developing friendship with author, Paul Genesse who runs the Writer's Symposium e-zine. In Issue No. 7 of the Writer's

My Stance on Writing for Free

There have been a lot of discussions about "free" lately, so I'd like to weigh in with some thoughts on the subject.

Most publishers within the book publishing industry are currently based on a business model that does not pay authors an annual salary to write an unlimited number of books. Typically, authors sign a contract that spells out how much they'll make and what their rights (in terms of copyrights) are. Translation? Authors make a living based on the contract with the publisher, and the

Promote Your Work with a Book Trailer

Hi, everyone. If you've been following my quest to learn how to create videos, you probably remember seeing my book trailer for Argentum. Well, I did another one recently. This time, I put together a fantasy book trailer for The Dragon Hunters by author Paul Genesse.

After working with Windows Movie Maker and a site that provides royalty-free images located at either http://www.istockphoto.com or http://www.sxc.hu, I used photo manipulation software to make the images the right size. (For these

Day 5 and Beyond: Being a Pescatarian Takes Planning

These past, few weeks have been an education for me, because I'm learning it's not easy to change your eating habits overnight. While I haven't broken down and had any meat yet, it takes a certain amount of planning and discipline to keep up with this diet. Coupled with evening plans and the "convenience" of eating meat, one month is definitely not long enough to stick with a vegetarian plan.

Part of what started the hiccup for me is when we were given a freezer full of organic meat. I've had a

Read my Guest Blog Post at Apex Books

The kind people over at Apex Books, a science fiction meets horror small press publishing company, had asked me to write a guest post about book marketing. After narrowing down a few choices, I ended up writing about Why Not Every Book Promotion Will Work For Your Book.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Why Not Every Book Promotion Will Work For Your Book

Marketing a book is not like marketing a carton of milk because books don't have an expiration date stamped on their cover. A reader may buy

Day Four: Protein Bars and Peanut Butter

So I knew things were going to be a little stretched today because I didn’t plan extraordinarily well for breakfast. Since I “feel” like I’m eating less than I normally do (e.g. don’t inhale a big burger or sub at lunch) — I’m finding that I’m becoming more conscious not only about what I eat, but when.

This morning started off okay, I had some apples with a little bit of peanut butter, which is one of my favorite snacks. By the time lunch rolled around I was pretty hungry, but the mushroom/lett