Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 22

Amazon is a danger…

Amazon charged third-party vendors $103 billion in fees in 2021, which represents 22% of the company’s revenues. Guess what! Every self-published author and every traditional publisher (even the Big Five) are third-party vendors. This hurts everyone in the publishing business, more self-published authors and small presses than the Big Five publishing conglomerates that just shrug it off as the cost of doing business.

Of course, Amazon has been sticking it to the publishing industry for a long ti...

Celebs’ books…

While I read a lot of non-fiction (see some of my recommendations on my “Steve’s Bookshelf” web page), I avoid celebs’ books as if they were a more virulent variant of Covid-19. Of course, they might not even qualify as non-fiction because the excellent ghost writers hired are given the toxic task of putting lipstick on a pig, i.e. serve the PR function of improving the celebs’ images, which often means at least lying by omission.

Of course, these excellent ghost writers give the supposed “autho...

Boycott movies, listen to music, and read books…

Hollywood aka Tinsel Town has always been self-absorbed and disconnected from ordinary life. Two things occurred at the recent Oscar ceremonies that can only reinforce that perception: One, many people were up in arms about Will Smith’s justifiable defense of his wife; and two, the Academy didn’t let Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy speak. Both show how obscenely sick the Academy is, and how sick our society has become, in general.

No one went after Chris Rock’s mockery of Will Smith’s wife, an ins...

My best book?

When I used to do book events (Covid has temporarily ended them), people would often ask, “Where should I start? What’s your best book?” Because I have several in my oeuvre and write in several genres—let’s call them mysteries, thrillers, and sci-fi, or their combinations—these are difficult questions to answer. When I hand someone my business card (I always carry a few with me), I often receive similar questions. So what are my answers?

First, I feel a bit like proud parents with several childr...

Food and drink…

I don’t dwell on either food or drink in my stories, but I can have some fun with them. In a sense, they both come under the writing category “settings” because what people dine on and imbibe is characteristic of the general area where the story takes place.

But is tikka masala or baklava characteristic of London? Yes, first because my character Esther Brookstone loves both, and second because London is a cosmopolitan city—Indian food is prevalent (London’s Brick Lane is famous) because India wa...

Body language vs. dialogue…

Authors have a variety of tools and using them throughout a story can make it more interesting. I’m better at dialogue than body language, but maybe that’s because I think the first is more effective than the second. But the second can be effective in a mystery, though, because it might contradict the first…and that’s one positive for using a variety of tools.

A good detective, for example, learns to read body language, especially in interrogations, because there are tells there that contradict ...

Using Draft2Digital…

Draft2Digital (D2D) is the best way to self-publish because a lot can be DIY and they distribute your ebooks for you. I’ve done five ebooks with them now (the last, The Klimt Connection, Book Eight in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, was published March 18, maybe with the added motivation from two red ales on draft to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day?). I learn a bit each time I use D2D, so I’d like to pass on some advice I’ve developed while doing this.

First, let me state that I saw no r...

Lack of motivation or writer’s block?

I’ve often mentioned that I’ve never had writer’s block. I’m a full-time writer, so there’s always something that I want to write! That’s not writer’s block. (Choosing what to write is another matter.)

I believe I’ve also mentioned that in the last few years, I’ve been having more problems remembering the precise word—I know it exists, and it comes to me on my content-editing passes. That’s not writer’s block either.

But is lack of motivation writer’s block? I suppose it is if an author can’t wr...

Not an “April Fools” post…

The Klimt Connection, Book Eight in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, is now published. If not already available at all of Draft2Digital’s affiliated quality ebook retailers, it soon will be (I don’t include Amazon in that list, by the way). It will also be available at their affiliated lending services.

This is no “April Fools” post! You will be able to read about more of Esther’s unusual adventures. I had many distractions while writing this novel, though. First, let me offer you a...

Promoting a series…

One thing I learned during the Covid pandemic (beyond staying alive!) was how important book series are! Forget about streaming video and computer games! The only TV series I watched were on PBS’s Masterpiece Theater, most recently Around the World in Eighty Days (highly recommended, by the way). I spent most of my time binge-reading book series and maintained my sanity in the process. (They helped me stay alive!)

It’s amazing how many good series there are. Most of them are “evergreen” in the s...