Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 87
March 29, 2018
Statics and dynamics in YA books…
Whether there are even many YA (young adult) readers is a natural question to ask right up front. Here’s why: With so many distractions—music, videos, music videos, video games, movies, streaming video, social media featuring video (do you see the trend?)—do young adults have time to read a book just for fun? Sure, they have to read in their classes (more than likely, that just turns them off from reading), but would they rather pick up a book and read it for R&R, given all those distractions...
March 28, 2018
Character bios: Carlos Obregon and Julie Chen…
[Note: This article is part of the new series of blog posts, “Character Bios”—you’ll find them all in the blog category of the same name.]
Carlos Obregon. As chief medical officer of the starship Brendan, Dr. Carlos had an illustrious career of saving lives and resolving situations and problems as he and his shipmates mapped out strange planets and encountered strange cultures in the service of ITUIP’s exploratory program of near-Earth space (ITUIP is an acronym for the “Interstellar Trade Un...
March 27, 2018
Let’s kill some book marketing myths…
Whether you’re just a reader interested in how the current publishing business works, or an indie or traditionally published writer wanting to know what works in marketing, in this article I consider some book marketing advice that I call myths. With 10+ years in this business, these are still just opinions. Yours might be different. Here we go:
Low-price books sell better. First objection: A reader might just think your low-priced book is crap. If you set the price at $0.99 or worse, give it...
March 22, 2018
Character bios: Mary Jo Melendez and the MECHs…
[Note: This article is part of the new series of blog posts, “Character Bios”—you’ll find them all in the blog category of the same name.]
Mary Jo Melendez. The daughter of a NJ cop who was the son of immigrants, Mary Jo Melendez has been on a roller coaster ride since she left the Navy. After Maria Jose Melendez graduated from a private Catholic high school, she enlisted in the U.S.N. and became a Master-at-Arms, following in her father’s footsteps. Upon leaving the Navy, she accepted a secu...
March 20, 2018
Water…
[Note: It has come to my attention that my settings for comments to these blog posts were incorrect…probably since the last WordPress upgrade. They are now correct, so feel free to comment. I apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused. Also, as an FYI, your comment has to be approved by me to avoid trolls who rant and use foul language, but I get an email for each potential comment, so that approval is usually quick. I check my WP spam folder on a regular basis too. I don’t mind...
March 17, 2018
This Saturday…
A. B. Carolan and Steven M. Moore wish you:
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Celebrate responsibly. Don’t drink and drive. If you see one of the wee people, you’ve had too much! Or, Ancestry will say you have some leprechaun DNA.
March 15, 2018
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #156…
Isaacson’s Leonardo Da Vinci. Whether you’re like me trying to wash out memories of Brown’s The Da Vinci Code or you’re an art lover interested in the man, Isaacson’s book is a fascinating read. I’ll write a review of it sometime soon. Isaacson’s previous biographies should be enough for you to expect great things, but he far surpassed what I expected. You have here a great story about Da Vinci—the man, his art, and his science, a fellow far ahead of his time. We can forget about The Da Vinci...
March 14, 2018
Character bios: Mr. Paws…
[Note: This article is part of the new series of blog posts, “Character Bios”—you’ll find them all in the blog category of the same name.]
Part of a secret genetics program on a futuristic version of the International Space Station, Mr. Paws became friends with Shashibala Garcia and the other three kids in her gang, the Fearsome Four, who lead similar lives to Army brats living on the old military bases of the past. In other words, they get into trouble, and trouble finds them.
Mr. Paws is mo...
March 13, 2018
Why this website is ad-free…
Technically speaking, saying I don’t advertise at this website IS an advertisement—in another words, it’s a feature readers might like. But why don’t I advertise here? I could make some extra green. Many websites do so, even many authors’ websites—from popup ads to services and affiliations with the 800-pound elephant in the retail room, Amazon.
When I go to a website and get bombarded by popup ads, though, it irks me. I get enough of that from Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, Google, and LinkedI...
March 8, 2018
Review of Joanna Penn’s Public Speaking for Authors, Creatives, and Other Introverts…
(Joanna Penn, Public Speaking, self-published, 2014)
More focused on helping someone wanting to make a career out of public speaking, Ms. Penn’s book still offers some good tips for introverted types who must do some public speaking and dread it. Of course, you don’t have to be nerdy or introverted to dread public speaking—we’ve all heard the expression “tough audience”! Facing the know-it-alls and hecklers can be daunting…or even just facing a lot of people you don’t know.
She starts by def...
