Ryan Field's Blog, page 475

We're Not All Like the Gays Who Went to the White House and Flipped Off Reagan's Portrait

When I saw this on Huff Post, I wanted to post something about it while it was still fresh.

I'm old enough to basically remember what it was like during the 1980's. I remember the criticism about how President Reagan wasn't doing anything. From what I recall he didn't do anything, and allegedly that's even been mentioned by his wife, Nancy, who was surrounded by gay men in her own personal circles all her life. If I had been old enough to vote at the time, I most likely wouldn't have voted fo...

Can You Control What People Say About You Online?

Last night I found an interesting link through a web site I'd been reading that talked about author reputations and how all people in general are viewed online. The article I was reading was written by an amateur blogger who writes about publishing and has this grand image of herself as an online publishing authority. This blogger is not an author or in any way affiliated with the publishing industry. For the most part this blogger's posts are nothing more than links to other blogs...recycled...

On Moving Forward with Ravenous Romance...

Earlier this week I posted about Lori Perkins leaving Ravenous Romance. Although this was sad news to hear, for me this is something I've seen many times in publishing.

In the past twenty years I've seen editors switch jobs from one house to another, I've seen editors become literary agents, I've seen literary agents start their own agencies and then join other agencies. I've also seen the reverse, where agents leave literary agencies to start their own. Publishing can be a transient business...

Follow Up on Reviews at Kobo and B&N; Is it First or Firstly...or Seventeenthly?

I said yesterday that I'd write a short post where I think reviews tend to be different from retail web sites like Amazon and goodreads.

First, I don't know why this is.

Second, I could be wrong. Mabye the reviews aren't any different.

Third, I own two Kobo e-readers and I do a great deal of shopping on Kobo. What I have seen are good honest reviews...and I'm not talking about good reviews in the sense of stellar raves for books. I've seen my share of negative reviews there, too. The voices of t...

Free Excerpt from .99 E-book, "Jonah Sweet of Delancey Street"

I often like to post free excerpts of books I've released that go beyond the excerpts published on retail web sites where e-books are sold. The following is one from "Jonah Sweet of Delancey Street."

The scene takes place during a transitional period in the novel where Jonah and David are getting to know each other better. The last sentence of the excerpt is important because the story is told through Jonah's POV, and his profession is making and designing puppets.

After the night they made l...

CBS Parodies Dancing with the Stars: "Dancing ON the Stars"

I found this amusing, and I'm not talking about the photo of Bristol Palin doing the Wasilla hoochie-coochie.

I'm talking about the rift between ABC and CBS. I don't know how many others will find it amusing. But even if you don't find it amusing it is a great example of parody in a snarky way. And like most parody, there is a certain amount of truth to it that hits home.

Evidently, CBS and ABC are at war right now over issues about reality shows, "Big Brother," and "Glass House." CBS (Big Br...

Kindle Direct Publishing Newsletter...

Since I've been getting the Kindle Direct Publishing Newsletter I've been sharing a few interesting things from it here on the blog. Now that I have two titles out with KDP, I'm interested in learning more in all regards. From what I hear, so are a lot of other authors.

I'm sure this letter from Jeff Bezos will hit home for many aspiring writers. As a sidenote, I didn't read the book that is discussed below and I'm not endorsing it or promoting it. I'm just passing on facts from the newsletter...

For Five Bucks She'll Comment on your Blog Up to Twenty Times...

I've posted about fiver.com before. It's that web site where people will do basically anything for five bucks.I have read that you can hire them to write book reviews for you on Amazon (some actually do read the books from what I've heard) in order to boost your sales. While I've never done anything like this, and never will do anything like this, I do think it's an interesting thing to know...that all reviews might not be reliable. Anyone could argue that the person who left the review actua...

On Edith Wharton by Lev Raphael Huff Post

I somehow became linked to posts written by Lev Raphael. In this case it's a good thing because I tend to enjoy Lev's articles.

This one is particularly excellent. It's about Edith Wharton, one of my favorite authors.

(questions)I kept hearing over drinks and dinners was this: when is it Wharton's turn? Yes, there've been some movies of her work, but barely a trickle compared to the Austen flood.

Nobody's expecting Wharton to ever be as popular as Jane Austen, with all the attendant websites an...

Are There Gay Christians?

I know a lot of people wonder if there are gay Christians. So this should be interesting. I read that Fred Karger, gay presidential candidate, will be on Bryan Fischer's conservative Christian radio show.

From Buzzfeed:

Karger reached out first to Fischer, who responded with a voicemail to Karger's assistant Kevin Miniter saying he would "love to have Mr. Karger on."

The interview is set to air on Thursday.

From Fred Karger's Timeline:

I'll be a guest on Bryan Fischer's radio show this Thursday...