Joylene Nowell Butler's Blog, page 13
April 25, 2016
The Letter U and some great news!
It's my birthday today and what better time to say Yay! My psychological thriller Mâtowak: Woman Who Cries has found a home with Dancing Lemur Press and will be published in October 2016! I am so excited! My heart is doing double-double time!
Dancing Lemur Press is also the publisher of the anthology Parallel: Felix Was Here , all of our Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh's SciFi Cassa Series books, Beverley Stowe McClure's Under a Purple Moon, and Bloodwalker by Lexa Cain, to name a few!
To add to this, I'm doing the letter U today at Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hope you can stop by.
Dancing Lemur Press is also the publisher of the anthology Parallel: Felix Was Here , all of our Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh's SciFi Cassa Series books, Beverley Stowe McClure's Under a Purple Moon, and Bloodwalker by Lexa Cain, to name a few!
To add to this, I'm doing the letter U today at Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hope you can stop by.
April 20, 2016
FNN Report: Pope signs boxing match contract
FNN religious reporter Mathew Mark Lukejohn filed this report from Rome where he attended a press conference. The Vatican announced today that Pope Paul will participate in a boxing match. The Pope signed a contract with ESPN to fight Archbishop Guisippe Al Fresco, a prelate who often disagrees with the Pope.
The Pope challenged De Marco last week when the two had a shouting match at a meeting. The fight will take place during the summer in the open air plaza in front of St Peter’s basilica.
Premium tickets will start at 1500 dollars. These buyers will sit in a grandstand built in front of the basilica’s front steps and for another $2500 will get a plenary indulgence.
Standing room tickets will cost $500 and buyers can add a ten-year indulgence for an additional 250 dollars. The fight will be carried live on pay-per-view with an global audience estimated at a billion viewers, making it the biggest sports event of all time.
All profits will go to defray the Vatican’s cost in searching the basilica’s basement for lost or forgotten relics and/or bodies.
The Pope will fight under the name Paul the Puncher and Al Frescel will use Killer Joey.
The Pope started working out to prepare for the fight. He now spends five minutes every morning and evening to improve his footwork and agility. Archbishop Al Fresco is concentrating on losing weight before the match.
hank quenseStrange Worlds OnlineMy Amazon page Subscribe to my newsletter
Hank Quense is the author of 50 published short stories along with four novels and three collections of stories. All of these are humorous and/or satiric scifi and fantasy. In the non-fiction area, he has over a dozen articles published on fiction writing and he's the author of the Fiction Writing Guides series and the Self-publishing Guides series. Both series consist of a number of ebooks. The Fiction Writing Guides and the Self-Publishing Guides are an outgrowth of his lectures on both subjects.
The Pope challenged De Marco last week when the two had a shouting match at a meeting. The fight will take place during the summer in the open air plaza in front of St Peter’s basilica.
Premium tickets will start at 1500 dollars. These buyers will sit in a grandstand built in front of the basilica’s front steps and for another $2500 will get a plenary indulgence.
Standing room tickets will cost $500 and buyers can add a ten-year indulgence for an additional 250 dollars. The fight will be carried live on pay-per-view with an global audience estimated at a billion viewers, making it the biggest sports event of all time.
All profits will go to defray the Vatican’s cost in searching the basilica’s basement for lost or forgotten relics and/or bodies.
The Pope will fight under the name Paul the Puncher and Al Frescel will use Killer Joey.
The Pope started working out to prepare for the fight. He now spends five minutes every morning and evening to improve his footwork and agility. Archbishop Al Fresco is concentrating on losing weight before the match.
hank quenseStrange Worlds OnlineMy Amazon page Subscribe to my newsletter
Hank Quense is the author of 50 published short stories along with four novels and three collections of stories. All of these are humorous and/or satiric scifi and fantasy. In the non-fiction area, he has over a dozen articles published on fiction writing and he's the author of the Fiction Writing Guides series and the Self-publishing Guides series. Both series consist of a number of ebooks. The Fiction Writing Guides and the Self-Publishing Guides are an outgrowth of his lectures on both subjects.
April 10, 2016
Ask PZM: April - New Marketing Opportunities
Q: What new book marketing opportunities have you been exploring?
Book Planner:
Because I think highly of book designer Joel Friedlander I have been trying out his new monthly subscription program BookPlanner.com after first listening to his introductory video about this new book publication planning software.
I do believe this software subscription may be invaluable for authors who are starting to self-publish and do not know the myriad tasks this requires and the timetable for such tasks. On the other hand, after eight years of self-publishing I have my own systems and do not plan to continue paying for this subscription.
Yet as a subscriber may cancel any time, I recommend that, if you are new to self-publishing, you check out the information on the site and consider trying out the system to see if it helps you.
Publishers’ Desk:
I have had the unpaid subscription to the manuscript submission portal PublishersDesk.com for some time and just now I finally decided that, to be fair to the service and my books, I should try out the paid subscription.
Thus I paid for a whole year and am in the midst of preparing the submission information for each book. (Note that a paid subscription allows you to upload as many book projects as you want.)
It is too soon to provide a review of this portal, although now I am giving it a fair tryout.
Indie Writers Support:
I was very excited when I got an email from IndieWriterSupport.com describing a paid Facebook ad campaign based on an algorithm developed for targeting fans of specific book genres. As I had recently attended a tech meetup in LA about such Facebook algorithm development, I understood how this could work and that it is a legitimate.
Thus I paid Indie Writers Support $50 for a one-month campaign on Facebook with a link to the Amazon page of my military thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS.
And then nothing happened as far as I could tell. I emailed Indie Writers Support and got patchy replies that weren’t very helpful. I then emailed to say, based on my perception of what is or is not happening, I would have to give negative feedback in this guest post.
I then got a reply that I would receive proof of the Facebook campaign, but so far I have not received this.
In conclusion, although this could have been a great opportunity, I cannot recommend it.
Q: Have you had any unusual publishing experiences recently?
A while ago I queried a traditional publisher for a nonfiction manuscript and, not unusually, did not hear back. Then months later I got an email saying that this publisher discovered it had more open slots than realized and was going back through submissions it had previously received. Would I like to submit the manuscript for an answer within two weeks?
I emailed the manuscript and in about 2 ½ weeks I got a surprising answer: Would I like to pay to have my book published by this traditional publisher? This publisher assured me that it does not reveal which of its books are traditionally published and which paid-for-by-the-author.
This would supposedly be the appeal for me as I would not have to tell anyone I paid for the publication and, as the company is also a traditional publisher, people would assume the company had published my book.
First, if I were to accept this proposal, I would feel I was being dishonest. And second, if I’m going to pay for publishing, I’ll self-publish for much less than what this publishing company wanted to charge me.
Why am I not revealing the name of the company? I do not want to cast doubt on any authors whose books are published by this company. Those books may or may not be traditionally published.
In conclusion, while I’m comfortable being a self-published author, if any one of my books is published by a traditional publisher, I want that to be a legitimate publishing deal.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) blogs on book-related topics at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com and her fiction ebooks on Amazon can be read for free via a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription at www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller and her nonfiction ebooks on Amazon can be read for free via Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription at www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller
Book Planner:
Because I think highly of book designer Joel Friedlander I have been trying out his new monthly subscription program BookPlanner.com after first listening to his introductory video about this new book publication planning software.
I do believe this software subscription may be invaluable for authors who are starting to self-publish and do not know the myriad tasks this requires and the timetable for such tasks. On the other hand, after eight years of self-publishing I have my own systems and do not plan to continue paying for this subscription.
Yet as a subscriber may cancel any time, I recommend that, if you are new to self-publishing, you check out the information on the site and consider trying out the system to see if it helps you.
Publishers’ Desk:
I have had the unpaid subscription to the manuscript submission portal PublishersDesk.com for some time and just now I finally decided that, to be fair to the service and my books, I should try out the paid subscription.
Thus I paid for a whole year and am in the midst of preparing the submission information for each book. (Note that a paid subscription allows you to upload as many book projects as you want.)
It is too soon to provide a review of this portal, although now I am giving it a fair tryout.
Indie Writers Support:
I was very excited when I got an email from IndieWriterSupport.com describing a paid Facebook ad campaign based on an algorithm developed for targeting fans of specific book genres. As I had recently attended a tech meetup in LA about such Facebook algorithm development, I understood how this could work and that it is a legitimate.
Thus I paid Indie Writers Support $50 for a one-month campaign on Facebook with a link to the Amazon page of my military thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS.
And then nothing happened as far as I could tell. I emailed Indie Writers Support and got patchy replies that weren’t very helpful. I then emailed to say, based on my perception of what is or is not happening, I would have to give negative feedback in this guest post.
I then got a reply that I would receive proof of the Facebook campaign, but so far I have not received this.
In conclusion, although this could have been a great opportunity, I cannot recommend it.
Q: Have you had any unusual publishing experiences recently?
A while ago I queried a traditional publisher for a nonfiction manuscript and, not unusually, did not hear back. Then months later I got an email saying that this publisher discovered it had more open slots than realized and was going back through submissions it had previously received. Would I like to submit the manuscript for an answer within two weeks?
I emailed the manuscript and in about 2 ½ weeks I got a surprising answer: Would I like to pay to have my book published by this traditional publisher? This publisher assured me that it does not reveal which of its books are traditionally published and which paid-for-by-the-author.
This would supposedly be the appeal for me as I would not have to tell anyone I paid for the publication and, as the company is also a traditional publisher, people would assume the company had published my book.
First, if I were to accept this proposal, I would feel I was being dishonest. And second, if I’m going to pay for publishing, I’ll self-publish for much less than what this publishing company wanted to charge me.
Why am I not revealing the name of the company? I do not want to cast doubt on any authors whose books are published by this company. Those books may or may not be traditionally published.
In conclusion, while I’m comfortable being a self-published author, if any one of my books is published by a traditional publisher, I want that to be a legitimate publishing deal.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) blogs on book-related topics at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com and her fiction ebooks on Amazon can be read for free via a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription at www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller and her nonfiction ebooks on Amazon can be read for free via Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription at www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller
April 6, 2016
IWSG: A - Z Challenge.
It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. We encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.
The awesome co-hosts for today are: Megan Morgan, Chris Votey, Viola Fury, Christine Rains, Madeline Mora-Summonte, L.G. Keltner, Rachna Chhabria, and Patricia Lynne!
Please stop by and thank them for their time.
Today I'm over at the Insecure Writer's Support Group with my choice for letter E. Hope you can stop by. And if you haven't, don't forget to sign up for our newsletter.
Whether English is your first or second tongue, it's a tough language to master. If remembering when to use the verbs LIE and LAY is difficult for you, try memorizing these two nursery rhymes:
1.
(Use LAY if there's an object; in this case, it's my body. Substitute ME for anything and it's LAY)Now I lay me down to sleep,I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
2.
(the verb LIE, (to recline) doesn't require a direct object)Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on.
Happy A - Z Challenge, everyone!
March 10, 2016
Ask PZM: March 2016 Q & A
Q: Where on the web can I best use the cover of my book(s)?
Before I answer this question, let me say that I am assuming your book cover – whether ebook or physical book cover – has at a minimum a title and author name that can be easily read in the small photo sizes that appear on Amazon and social media sites. (An example of a book cover that might not work in the following discussion is one that uses difficult-to-read fonts.)
To begin with, I am not a big fan of using a book cover as a profile photo on social media. Especially as an author you should use a profile photo of your face in order to help connect with potential readers (unless you are purposely hiding your identity).
This also means the profile photo should only be of you unless two authors co-wrote the book and share the social media account rather than having two separate accounts. (In my opinion two accounts rather than one would probably be a better marketing strategy.)
There are lots of online places to use your book cover or covers:
Images on social media that display behind the profile photo such as on Twitter and Facebook. (For an example see www.facebook.com/PhyllisZimblerMillerAuthor ) You can use the site Canva to easily create these images by uploading your book cover(s) to the specific social media image templates provided.
On individual tweets or Google+ and Facebook updates. (On Twitter you have to create the text of your tweet so that there are enough characters remaining to allow attaching a photo to the tweet.)
On your email signature.
On guest posts you write for which you are allowed a profile photo and additional images.On Pinterest where you can create a board for your book and then add pins to the board that relate to the book. For example, if you publish a book on knitting, you can use the book cover on your book’s board along with pins of different knitting projects.
· On your website in appropriate places. Although this seems obvious to have your book cover(s) on your author website, check whether there is more than one place on your website where the book cover(s) could legitimately be displayed.
(FYI – Because my author blog is on the home page of my author site, I do not have individual book covers displayed on the home page. This is a decision I made for my marketing goals, particularly because I wanted to separate my fiction and nonfiction books on the same site.)
Q: Is it okay to question the recommendations of my web developer/designer for my author website?
Absolutely! Most web developers/designers are interested in the layout and design of websites. They are not usually experts in the marketing of what is featured on those websites.
You as the author need to work with your web person to ensure that the site is easy to use for site visitors (called UX – user experience) and achieves your marketing goals.
Since 2008 I have been involved in digital marketing, and I constantly view websites that are not effective from the perspective of the site visitor. This is why I co-launched on March 1stthe site www.TrioGeek.com to promote the strategies of MAD – marketing, art production, development – working together from day one.
The marketing component is what you yourself need to fulfill when you are hiring a web person. You need to consider site elements that would interest site visitors as well as resist recommendations of elements for your site that would hinder the visitor experience. (One such hindrance example would be requiring a visitor to register and then sign in before viewing your site.)
If your web person says “everyone is doing it this way,” remember that a) this may not actually be true and b) this may not be the best for your site’s marketing goals.
In fact, when working with a web person, it is important to make it clear that you are a partner in this project. You can provide valuable marketing and UX insights to help the web person achieve the development/design goals. The end result must serve to make it easy for visitors to your author site to interact with that site.
And to tie this month’s two questions together, remember that search engines may bring people to pages on your site other than the home page. This is why considering where else on your site you might include your book cover(s) is important to discuss with your web person.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) blogs on book-related topics at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com and is the author of the Kindle ebook “Top Tips for How to Market on the Internet With Pictures.”
Read her TrioGeek origin story at http://budurl.com/TrioGeekoriginstory
Before I answer this question, let me say that I am assuming your book cover – whether ebook or physical book cover – has at a minimum a title and author name that can be easily read in the small photo sizes that appear on Amazon and social media sites. (An example of a book cover that might not work in the following discussion is one that uses difficult-to-read fonts.)
To begin with, I am not a big fan of using a book cover as a profile photo on social media. Especially as an author you should use a profile photo of your face in order to help connect with potential readers (unless you are purposely hiding your identity).
This also means the profile photo should only be of you unless two authors co-wrote the book and share the social media account rather than having two separate accounts. (In my opinion two accounts rather than one would probably be a better marketing strategy.)
There are lots of online places to use your book cover or covers:
Images on social media that display behind the profile photo such as on Twitter and Facebook. (For an example see www.facebook.com/PhyllisZimblerMillerAuthor ) You can use the site Canva to easily create these images by uploading your book cover(s) to the specific social media image templates provided.
On individual tweets or Google+ and Facebook updates. (On Twitter you have to create the text of your tweet so that there are enough characters remaining to allow attaching a photo to the tweet.)
On your email signature.
On guest posts you write for which you are allowed a profile photo and additional images.On Pinterest where you can create a board for your book and then add pins to the board that relate to the book. For example, if you publish a book on knitting, you can use the book cover on your book’s board along with pins of different knitting projects.
· On your website in appropriate places. Although this seems obvious to have your book cover(s) on your author website, check whether there is more than one place on your website where the book cover(s) could legitimately be displayed.
(FYI – Because my author blog is on the home page of my author site, I do not have individual book covers displayed on the home page. This is a decision I made for my marketing goals, particularly because I wanted to separate my fiction and nonfiction books on the same site.)
Q: Is it okay to question the recommendations of my web developer/designer for my author website?
Absolutely! Most web developers/designers are interested in the layout and design of websites. They are not usually experts in the marketing of what is featured on those websites.
You as the author need to work with your web person to ensure that the site is easy to use for site visitors (called UX – user experience) and achieves your marketing goals.
Since 2008 I have been involved in digital marketing, and I constantly view websites that are not effective from the perspective of the site visitor. This is why I co-launched on March 1stthe site www.TrioGeek.com to promote the strategies of MAD – marketing, art production, development – working together from day one.
The marketing component is what you yourself need to fulfill when you are hiring a web person. You need to consider site elements that would interest site visitors as well as resist recommendations of elements for your site that would hinder the visitor experience. (One such hindrance example would be requiring a visitor to register and then sign in before viewing your site.)
If your web person says “everyone is doing it this way,” remember that a) this may not actually be true and b) this may not be the best for your site’s marketing goals.
In fact, when working with a web person, it is important to make it clear that you are a partner in this project. You can provide valuable marketing and UX insights to help the web person achieve the development/design goals. The end result must serve to make it easy for visitors to your author site to interact with that site.
And to tie this month’s two questions together, remember that search engines may bring people to pages on your site other than the home page. This is why considering where else on your site you might include your book cover(s) is important to discuss with your web person.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) blogs on book-related topics at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com and is the author of the Kindle ebook “Top Tips for How to Market on the Internet With Pictures.”
Read her TrioGeek origin story at http://budurl.com/TrioGeekoriginstory
March 2, 2016
IWSG: Woe is Me
It's that the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's Insecure Writer's Support Group. Thanks to our noble Ninja Captain Alex J Cavanaugh, it's time to share our fears and insecurities, or support and assistance. Doesn't matter which. If you decide to join us, know that whatever you share will receive the upmost respect and attention.
Click here to join. Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post.
Our hashtag is #IWSG
Our awesome hosts for today are: Lauren Hennessy, Lisa Buie-Collard, Lidy, Christine Rains, and Mary Aalgaard!
Sorry, I'm out of sorts. Caught a cold.
Last month, I decided to take the plunge and start querying again for my psychological thriller Omatiwak: Woman Who Cries. Received two rejections in one week from American agents, and these were not simultaneous queries. Yes, these agents were nice enough to get back to me in less than 2 days each. One asked for the first 50 pages, the day after I sent a query. The next day he wrote:
Your pages are interesting and well-written, and it is an engaging story. The pacing is also strong and the story well-executed. That said, I didn’t feel like I got to know the characters as deeply as I would have liked, and I feel that for trade editors, they will be looking for that stronger connection.
The first day I felt horrible, but my husband reminded me that not everyone will understand the aboriginal issues in Canada. And do I really want to slam them over the head with it?
No. But I don't want to be rejected either. I'm a little embarrassed that after 30 plus years I can still feel so vulnerable. The second agent read the first chapter and didn't want to read anymore.
I counsel young writers about the pitfalls of our profession. I tell them not to take these rejections personally. At IWSG we lend an ear to writers trying to place their first ms with an agent or publisher. I know how the system works. Yet, here I sit feeling ... the same thing we all feel when we receive a rejection. I can't write. Why did I ever think I could. Nobody wants to read me stuff. I'm washed up. Finished. Woe is me.
I especially like the last one, don't you? Woe is me.
Seriously, agents and publishers are just people. They're no better or worse than the rest of us. One day I will find a new publisher for my work. It's all about timing, faith, and a whole lot of stubbornness. We can't and shouldn't give up.
February 20, 2016
FNN Report: Trump Threatens the Pope
FNN political reporter Stacy Conundrum filed this report.Donald Trump, after denouncing the Pope a few days ago, said that after he is elected President he will vigorously defend the country and his Presidency from a trash-talking Pope. If the Pope verbally attacks him again, the Pope will be surpised when a few Marine Expeditionary Units assault the Vatican and seize control of the city.At a press conference this morning, Trump said, “Once the Marine battalions seize control of the city, we’ll see what secrets the Vatican has been harboring for centruries and we’ll look into how they got all that art work they have in the museum. Something doesn’t smell right. We’ll send in hundreds of accountants to sniff it out and to see how much treasure the Church has. Then we’ll force the Vatican to pay the costs for the Marine assault and occupancy of the city. If Italy objects to us sending Marines through Italian territory, then Italy better look to its defenses also. Under my Presidency, the USA will not be insulted by a city posing as a country or even third-rate countries.”
Ms Conundrum will monitor developments on this story.
Hank Quense is the author of 50 published short stories along with four novels and three collections of stories. All of these are humorous and/or satiric scifi and fantasy. In the non-fiction area, he has over a dozen articles published on fiction writing and he's the author of the Fiction Writing Guides series and the Self-publishing Guides series. Both series consist of a number of ebooks. The Fiction Writing Guides and the Self-Publishing Guides are an outgrowth of his lectures on both subjects.
February 10, 2016
Ask PZM: Feb 2016 - KDP
Q: Are there any new things with KDP – Kindle Direct Publishing?
Disclaimer: Before I answer this question I want to clearly state that AMAZON IS ALWAYS CHANGING and therefore any information can be outdated or incorrect the moment it is written. I just read, for example, a newly published book (the author asked me for a review) in which I found, to the best of my knowledge, a mistake about KDP ebook pricing.
Thus this warning: No matter what anyone, including me, writes about online features for social media sites, Amazon, or any sites, you should check for yourself whether that information is accurate.
Now on to what is going on with Amazon at this moment:
Error issue:
It appears that as of February 2016 Amazon will be putting a warning on Kindle ebook sales pages whose ebooks have some mistakes such as spelling errors or formatting issues. In addition, ebooks with more serious issues will be removed from the Amazon site until these are corrected.
Here is what you should know about taking action into your own hands:
When you upload an ebook via the KDP dashboard, there are two screens. The first one includes the upload function for the book’s text. I do not believe that when you first upload a new ebook you get the error message (although I may be wrong and you do get the error message immediately).
But if you return to the ebook’s KDP upload screens after the ebook has gone live, if there are spelling errors you will see an error alert (scroll down on the first of the two screens). Do NOT overlook this alert as I admit I have done in the past. In fact, return to the KDP dashboard now and check all your ebooks.
If there are spelling errors, correct these. If the words are correct, such as in a fantasy story where you have made up words, you can tell KDP to ignore the spelling error alert for these words.
Do this now to get ahead of this change in KDP. And, if you are not the publisher of your ebooks, ask your publisher to check the error alerts in the KDP dashboard for your ebooks.
Preview link:
On the plus side, KDP ebooks now have an option on the book’s Kindle sales page for a link or embed code to the preview of the book.
In other words, instead of sharing the Amazon sales page link of your ebook and hoping the person will then click on the book’s preview option, you can send someone directly to the preview. Or you can embed the preview on your own website.
Here is an example of the link to the preview of my spy thriller “CIA Fall Guy.” Yes, the link is quite long, and I have left it this way rather than using a shortened URL so you can see it in its entirety. If I were sharing this link on social media, I would use a shortened URL option: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B00895AKMQ&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_cSORwb1X5APFQ
And look how nice this option looks on my website when I used the embed code that gave me this photo of the book cover with the clickable link FREE PREVIEW under the photo:
http://www.phylliszimblermiller.com/cia-fall-guy/
To find the link and embed codes for any Kindle ebook, scroll down on the right-hand side of a book’s Amazon sales page (make sure you are on the book’s Kindle sales page and not the physical book page) and to the right of the Pinterest icon you will find – click on this for both the link and embed codes and then choose which code you want.
Q: Any suggestion of a site on which to share fiction or nonfiction material?
While I have written of other sites that I have tried, Scriggler.com is the current free site with which I’m experimenting.
Although the site’s interface is not as user friendly as it could be, I’m finding Scriggler a very good site for sharing both short stories and opinion pieces. (There’s also a poetry category.)
Have a look at my profile at https://scriggler.com/Profile/phyllis_zimbler_millerto see the kinds of material that I’ve been sharing on this site.
What I have found particularly interesting is that, about four days after I post a new contribution, Scriggler promotes the story or article link via its Twitter account of @IScriggle.
Now I can’t tell whether this is true for all contributions. My theory is that someone at Scriggler reviews the contributions before deciding which ones are shared via Twitter.
Q: Any suggestions for books on writing and courses on screenwriting?
I often read books on writing, and one that I recently found very helpful is Jeff Gerke’s “The First 50 Pages: Engage Agents, Editors and Readers, and Set Your Novel Up For Success.”As I write this, the book has a 4.8 out of 5 rating on 46 reviews on Amazon, and I think this rating is well deserved. (Full disclosure: I borrowed the Kindle ebook format from my local library, although the book would be worth buying.)
Also, I just finished the Maximum Entertainment online course from ScreenwritingU.com and found it incredibly valuable. As part of the homework assignments I rewrote several scenes from one of my screenplays after learning how to make these scenes more dramatic. I am now signed up for a ScreenwritingU.com course on dialogue. And, yes, these are paid courses although quite reasonable.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books on Amazon. She blogs on book-related topics at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com
*If you have a question you wanted answered in Ask PZM: March 2016, please forward it to cluculzwriter at yahoo dot ca and I'll pass it along*
Disclaimer: Before I answer this question I want to clearly state that AMAZON IS ALWAYS CHANGING and therefore any information can be outdated or incorrect the moment it is written. I just read, for example, a newly published book (the author asked me for a review) in which I found, to the best of my knowledge, a mistake about KDP ebook pricing.
Thus this warning: No matter what anyone, including me, writes about online features for social media sites, Amazon, or any sites, you should check for yourself whether that information is accurate.
Now on to what is going on with Amazon at this moment:
Error issue:
It appears that as of February 2016 Amazon will be putting a warning on Kindle ebook sales pages whose ebooks have some mistakes such as spelling errors or formatting issues. In addition, ebooks with more serious issues will be removed from the Amazon site until these are corrected.
Here is what you should know about taking action into your own hands:
When you upload an ebook via the KDP dashboard, there are two screens. The first one includes the upload function for the book’s text. I do not believe that when you first upload a new ebook you get the error message (although I may be wrong and you do get the error message immediately).
But if you return to the ebook’s KDP upload screens after the ebook has gone live, if there are spelling errors you will see an error alert (scroll down on the first of the two screens). Do NOT overlook this alert as I admit I have done in the past. In fact, return to the KDP dashboard now and check all your ebooks.
If there are spelling errors, correct these. If the words are correct, such as in a fantasy story where you have made up words, you can tell KDP to ignore the spelling error alert for these words.
Do this now to get ahead of this change in KDP. And, if you are not the publisher of your ebooks, ask your publisher to check the error alerts in the KDP dashboard for your ebooks.
Preview link:
On the plus side, KDP ebooks now have an option on the book’s Kindle sales page for a link or embed code to the preview of the book.
In other words, instead of sharing the Amazon sales page link of your ebook and hoping the person will then click on the book’s preview option, you can send someone directly to the preview. Or you can embed the preview on your own website.
Here is an example of the link to the preview of my spy thriller “CIA Fall Guy.” Yes, the link is quite long, and I have left it this way rather than using a shortened URL so you can see it in its entirety. If I were sharing this link on social media, I would use a shortened URL option: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B00895AKMQ&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_cSORwb1X5APFQ
And look how nice this option looks on my website when I used the embed code that gave me this photo of the book cover with the clickable link FREE PREVIEW under the photo:
http://www.phylliszimblermiller.com/cia-fall-guy/
To find the link and embed codes for any Kindle ebook, scroll down on the right-hand side of a book’s Amazon sales page (make sure you are on the book’s Kindle sales page and not the physical book page) and to the right of the Pinterest icon you will find – click on this for both the link and embed codes and then choose which code you want.
Q: Any suggestion of a site on which to share fiction or nonfiction material?
While I have written of other sites that I have tried, Scriggler.com is the current free site with which I’m experimenting.
Although the site’s interface is not as user friendly as it could be, I’m finding Scriggler a very good site for sharing both short stories and opinion pieces. (There’s also a poetry category.)
Have a look at my profile at https://scriggler.com/Profile/phyllis_zimbler_millerto see the kinds of material that I’ve been sharing on this site.
What I have found particularly interesting is that, about four days after I post a new contribution, Scriggler promotes the story or article link via its Twitter account of @IScriggle.
Now I can’t tell whether this is true for all contributions. My theory is that someone at Scriggler reviews the contributions before deciding which ones are shared via Twitter.
Q: Any suggestions for books on writing and courses on screenwriting?
I often read books on writing, and one that I recently found very helpful is Jeff Gerke’s “The First 50 Pages: Engage Agents, Editors and Readers, and Set Your Novel Up For Success.”As I write this, the book has a 4.8 out of 5 rating on 46 reviews on Amazon, and I think this rating is well deserved. (Full disclosure: I borrowed the Kindle ebook format from my local library, although the book would be worth buying.)
Also, I just finished the Maximum Entertainment online course from ScreenwritingU.com and found it incredibly valuable. As part of the homework assignments I rewrote several scenes from one of my screenplays after learning how to make these scenes more dramatic. I am now signed up for a ScreenwritingU.com course on dialogue. And, yes, these are paid courses although quite reasonable.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books on Amazon. She blogs on book-related topics at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com
*If you have a question you wanted answered in Ask PZM: March 2016, please forward it to cluculzwriter at yahoo dot ca and I'll pass it along*
February 3, 2016
IWSG: JoAnn Yolanda Hernandez and The Reset Button
It's that the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's Insecure Writer's Support Group. Thanks to our noble Ninja Captain Alex J Cavanaugh, it's time to share our fears and insecurities, or support and assistance. Doesn't matter which. If you decide to join us, know that whatever you share will receive the upmost respect and attention.
Click here to join. Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post.
Our hashtag is #IWSG
Our awesome co-hosts for the February 3 posting of the IWSG will be Allison Gammons, Tamara Narayan, Eva E. Solar, Rachel Pattison, and Ann V. Friend!
If you haven't already, don’t forget to sign up for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group’s newsletter! Our new admin, Chrys Fey , has spun her magic and invited some awesome guests for the first issue, due out February 24. Sign up HERE.
In the still of the night, with your dreams fading, misery and doom weighing you down, do you see all hope as hopeless? Do you hear the banshee scream? During the darkest moment, is that when you choose death over life? You press the reset button, unconsciously aware that what you really want is to start over.
The you in this case is Jo Ann Yolanda Hernandez, award-winning author. Mother, sister, daughter, friend.
In life, JoAnn rose each day hesitantly and accomplished what many of us yearn for: a measure of success as an author. She dedicated her life to promoting authors of colour. Along the way, she hoped if she took her meds, some form of joy would kick in and allow her peace of mind.
Five years ago, JoAnn, a talented writer, university professor, and often difficult friend, chose to press the reset button. It's taken me this long to realize she wasn't a coward, nor was she courageous. The meds were slowly killing her creativity, bleeding her dry; no amount of desperation, screams for help, or willing her sanity to remain intact, worked. She wasn't getting better.
I didn't understand. I told her over and over again: "FIGHT! Be stubborn. Refuse to give up. Believe in yourself, in our friendship. Persevere--it'll get easier--I promise!" What I should have said was, "JoAnn, happiness is a decision you make every morning. If not today, then tomorrow."
Sometimes she'd call (I've lost track of how often) and mumble that she'd taken an overdose of meds. Then she'd pass out. I lived in British Columbia, Canada; she lived in Mesa, Arizona. Still, I'd always manage to contact the authorities and have someone show up at her door in time to get her to emergency where they could pump her stomach. One summer I even talked her into coming north to stay with us. I thought my sheer determination to save her -- would save her.
She stayed three months. On her way home, she detoured through Chicago on 9/11 to New York so she could help friends cope with the nightmare. It was while she was in NYC that she convinced her agent, the infamous Marie Brown, to sign me. The relationship never went anywhere; but for a time, I could say, "I have the same agent as JoAnn Hernandez, Ed Bradley, and Michael Jackson."
In 2010, JoAnn called from her studio in Mesa to say she'd taken an overdose of meds. I asked her not to call me again. I couldn't help her. If she wanted to die that badly, she should just do it.
So, she did.
Convinced of my ability to affect people, (have since learned otherwise) I believed it was my doing that caused her to take her own life. To compensate, I grieved and then moved on ... for five years.
If you google JoAnn's name, it doesn't tell you she was born August 2, had two sons, one adopted from Vietnam. It says: Honourable Mention, 2009 The Eric Hoffer Book Award -- Young Adult: Winner, 2007 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People. Americas Award, 1997....
It may tell you she wanted to put books by authors of colour in every bookstore in North America. She founded The BronzeWord for that purpose. Today it says she resides in Mesa, Arizona -- even though she's been dead five years. The exact day she died is unknown.
I don't know if there's enough words in the world to convince someone not to press the reset button. Nor if it's even the right thing to do. Is JoAnn at peace now? I can only hope. I do know there's a hole where her life used to be.
January 20, 2016
FNN Report: 2016 Predictions
Listen up, everyone! Hank Quense is back with some horrendously momentous and insignificant predictions for 2016!
A group of Faux News Network prognosticators have worked long and hard to come up a list of predictions for 2016. Locked into a conference room and fueled by six-packs, pizza deliveries and an occasional bong, the group put together the following list
* Trump, denied the Republican nomination, runs as an independent and gets less than three percent of the total vote. In disgusted he emigrates to Russia, changes his last name to Trumpovitch and launches an investment service with his buddy, Putin. Together, they scam Russian investors out of 37 gazillion rubles.
* Hillary Clinton wins the election. Her first act as President is to order the Secret Service to make sure her husband Bill Clinton is never allowed into the White House.
* The National Football League acknowledges that its rules are too complex for the referees to handle. It fires all the referees and replaces them with on-field lawyers who will monitor game activity and argue penalty rulings to a panel of three celebrity judges holding court at the mid-field sidelines. Fans will be able to text their opinion to the judges.
* ISIS gets angry over the rejection of their float proposal for NYC’s Thanksgiving Day parade. According to ISIS, the float would have been tasteful done to show women peacefully living under the command of their husbands or masters. It would also depict a painless beheading process. ISIS called the rejection blatant bias and poor judgement.
* Texas initiates a movement to succeed from the United States. The Federal Government does nothing to stop the movement, but builds a wall along the entire Texas border to keep Texans from entering the other forty-nine states.
* The winning number for the year’s biggest lottery worldwide will be 127-45A-37B-987-^#*
Faux News Network is proud to announce that FNN now has its own Flipboard Magazine. You can check it out at http://flip.it/Q88SK. Subscribe and keep up the latest FNN reports.
Hank Quense is the author of 50 published short stories along with four novels and three collections of stories. All of these are humorous and/or satiric scifi and fantasy. In the non-fiction area, he has over a dozen articles published on fiction writing and he's the author of the Fiction Writing Guides series and the Self-publishing Guides series. Both series consist of a number of ebooks. The Fiction Writing Guides and the Self-Publishing Guides are an outgrowth of his lectures on both subjects.
As you may have heard, we have a new member to the IWSG admins, Chrys Fey. Chrys will be putting together our newsletter each month. Here's some info on it:
The Insecure Writer's Support Group Newsletter will feature articles by industry experts, IWSG members, and administrators. There will also be a dozen links to helpful articles for writers in each edition, as well as a special Member Spotlight. Even if you're not a member of the blogging group, you'll greatly benefit from these FREE monthly newsletters.
First issue goes out on February 24!
ARTICLES NEEDED!
Chrys Fey needs your articles for the IWSG Newsletter! If you’d like to submit an article for consideration, please follow the instructions below:
Who Can Submit: Insecure Writer's Support Group Members
Topic Ideas: your number one writing, publishing or marketing tip; a motivational pep talk or inspirational story; a snippet about something you used to be insecure about but overcame or an Aha moment you had about writing/publishing.
Length: 200 words or less
How to Submit: Send a DOC attachment to Chrys Fey at ChrysFey(at)yahoo(dot)com Put “Member Article” in the Subject Line.
Deadline: March 2nd (Next IWSG Day)
NOTE: Chrys needs a member article for our first newsletter coming out February 24th. If you’d like to be considered for that issue, please send your article to her no later than February 17th.
Thank you for reading! We hope to feature you!
A group of Faux News Network prognosticators have worked long and hard to come up a list of predictions for 2016. Locked into a conference room and fueled by six-packs, pizza deliveries and an occasional bong, the group put together the following list
* Trump, denied the Republican nomination, runs as an independent and gets less than three percent of the total vote. In disgusted he emigrates to Russia, changes his last name to Trumpovitch and launches an investment service with his buddy, Putin. Together, they scam Russian investors out of 37 gazillion rubles.
* Hillary Clinton wins the election. Her first act as President is to order the Secret Service to make sure her husband Bill Clinton is never allowed into the White House.
* The National Football League acknowledges that its rules are too complex for the referees to handle. It fires all the referees and replaces them with on-field lawyers who will monitor game activity and argue penalty rulings to a panel of three celebrity judges holding court at the mid-field sidelines. Fans will be able to text their opinion to the judges.
* ISIS gets angry over the rejection of their float proposal for NYC’s Thanksgiving Day parade. According to ISIS, the float would have been tasteful done to show women peacefully living under the command of their husbands or masters. It would also depict a painless beheading process. ISIS called the rejection blatant bias and poor judgement.
* Texas initiates a movement to succeed from the United States. The Federal Government does nothing to stop the movement, but builds a wall along the entire Texas border to keep Texans from entering the other forty-nine states.
* The winning number for the year’s biggest lottery worldwide will be 127-45A-37B-987-^#*
Faux News Network is proud to announce that FNN now has its own Flipboard Magazine. You can check it out at http://flip.it/Q88SK. Subscribe and keep up the latest FNN reports.
Hank Quense is the author of 50 published short stories along with four novels and three collections of stories. All of these are humorous and/or satiric scifi and fantasy. In the non-fiction area, he has over a dozen articles published on fiction writing and he's the author of the Fiction Writing Guides series and the Self-publishing Guides series. Both series consist of a number of ebooks. The Fiction Writing Guides and the Self-Publishing Guides are an outgrowth of his lectures on both subjects.
As you may have heard, we have a new member to the IWSG admins, Chrys Fey. Chrys will be putting together our newsletter each month. Here's some info on it:
The Insecure Writer's Support Group Newsletter will feature articles by industry experts, IWSG members, and administrators. There will also be a dozen links to helpful articles for writers in each edition, as well as a special Member Spotlight. Even if you're not a member of the blogging group, you'll greatly benefit from these FREE monthly newsletters.
First issue goes out on February 24!
ARTICLES NEEDED!
Chrys Fey needs your articles for the IWSG Newsletter! If you’d like to submit an article for consideration, please follow the instructions below:
Who Can Submit: Insecure Writer's Support Group Members
Topic Ideas: your number one writing, publishing or marketing tip; a motivational pep talk or inspirational story; a snippet about something you used to be insecure about but overcame or an Aha moment you had about writing/publishing.
Length: 200 words or less
How to Submit: Send a DOC attachment to Chrys Fey at ChrysFey(at)yahoo(dot)com Put “Member Article” in the Subject Line.
Deadline: March 2nd (Next IWSG Day)
NOTE: Chrys needs a member article for our first newsletter coming out February 24th. If you’d like to be considered for that issue, please send your article to her no later than February 17th.
Thank you for reading! We hope to feature you!
