Gerald Dean Rice's Blog, page 67

Amazon Kills Tags – Taleist

http://blog.taleist.com/2011/05/31/tags-deleted-from-kindle-ebooks-what-did-you-expect/

My New Quirk #amwriting

I’ve discovered something. It’s fairly recent, but I’ve begun touching my index or thumb to the tip of my nose when I’m in thought. I have no idea why I do this, but I began somewhere around two weeks ago.

I just realized I do this today and while it bugs me, it also clicked that this is something I can use. People do stuff all the time without realizing. Whether it’s a nervous twitch, an occasional limp, or chewing on a lower lip, people do things that attract the eye. And just like in my post about listening, as writers we should be paying attention to the things people do as well as what they say.

I’m not sure how this is going to manifest itself, but this whole nose-touching thing is going to wind up in something. Maybe it’ll wind up in Dethm8, which will be back tomorrow night!

A Giant #Scam all #Authors Should Avoid

I wrote a children’s story about 12 years ago that has yet to see the light of day. It’s odd and I imagine, something all the publishers who received it didn’t know what to do with and so I’ve just shelved it. I break it out from time-to-time to shop it around and today I found an ad on Craig’s List that is just full of scam and I wonder how many authors have actually fallen for it. The two important factors to pick up on are the cost to author (y’know, the creative talent without whom the book would never have existed) and the percentage they pay in royalties. If I submitted Peter and the Little Boy Eater to these guys it could cost me as much as $6,000 for my efforts but I could get in return as low as 3% in royalties even though I’m at least 50% responsible for my book coming to life in bookstores. Does this sound anything like common sense to anybody? My first novel, The Ghost Toucher, was published by a small publisher who never asked me for dime one. All he asked was that I start a blog and establish a presence in social media. I bought a few copies to give out to family, but he even sold those to me at cost. Who are these guys and where do they get off?

Let me repeat for anyone who hasn’t read one of my prior posts on these Craig’s List rip-offs, NEVER pay a publisher or agent to read your work. Publishers should not be asking you for a financial commitment, they should be giving you one. Trust me, I’ve learned the hard way. And don’t pay a service to publish your work on Amazon for you. It’s so easy to do you’ll kick yourself if you pay and find out later.

But let me break down what they’re doing. They need a ‘select’ number of children’s book authors (ten according to the post). The word ‘select’ is used to give you that extra bit of stroke when (not if, but when) your manuscript is chosen. And it’s not going to be just ten. It’ll probably be many more times that number. In fact, it’ll probably be more difficult to not be amongst the chosen. This extra push probably helps them to acquire even more manuscripts than they would have otherwise. But they are inundated with authors who want them to publish their work–who are they, exactly? Notice how there is no mention of their company at all. Do you think Penguin would do that? And not to say there aren’t legit publishing opportunities on CL, but if you were really in demand to that degree, why bother advertising on this site? And think about the conflicting statement. They are ‘inundated’ on the one hand, but on the other, they have ’10′ spots available. That’s like saying your restaurant is all sold out of hamburgers, but they have ten ‘exclusive’ patties for the right customers.

 

Select Children’s Book Authors Needed (NY/LA)

Select Children’s Book Authors Needed

New York Based Children’s Book Publishing Company highly established and successful (both in content and sales) in search of a select number of children’s books and authors to add to its 2014/2015 Publishing Plan. Parent has three seperate imprints appealing to: 0-5 years /3-8 years and an LGBT family theme focus for 0-10 years. This is a full publishing company, however authors must be willing to offset some costs associated with production and most importantly Public Relations. Author’s financial commitment usually ranges from $1000-$6000- depending on title. Only 10 new projects will be accepted. To be seriously considered you must agree to work with Publisher to promote your work both with your time and your minimal financial commitment. We are inundated with authors who want us to publish their work– so please do not waste our time or yours if this is not something that fits your needs. Quality, the ability to sell your title to stores/book clubs and projects that fit our publishing plan our number one concerns.

Please submit your work, an email with why you think we might be a good fit for you (other experiences you have had in the past tying to sell your work to a bookstore or a publisher–if any) and the best way to contact you.

We receive thousands of submission–so please do not be offended if your work is not something we are interested in.

Best of luck in getting your book on bookstore shelves everywhere!

Regards

Location: NY/LA

Compensation: Publishling Company-3% to 8% of Sales

This is a contract job.

Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.

Please, no phone calls about this job!

Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Sequel Fever

I just had the realization all the upcoming movies I’m excited to see are sequels.  And there is no reason (so far) to believe they’ll suck like oh-so-many cash-ins that have come prior.  Here’s a breakdown of a few of the ones I know about so far:

Anchorman 2- first of all, it’s hard to believe the original is 9 years old.  That’s right, we first saw Ron Burgundy almost a decade ago.  I’m excited to see this movie because all of the main characters are back and everybody was funny, except Christina Applegate (who was necessarily the straightman to everyone else).  Will Ferrell comedies, when he’s hitting on all cylinders, are some of the funniest you could ask for.  Assuming you can stand Ferrell at all.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier- I loved the first one.  Comic book movies have made a rampaging return, save for that Wolverine movie (more on that sequel in a moment), culminating in the very awesome-filled 2012 with The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man.  I didn’t read this particular comic growing up and I don’t know a whole lot about the characters.  I’m looking forward to seeing how things play out.

The Wolverine- Now that Marvel Studios has thankfully abandoned the ‘X-Men Origins’ series of movies (considering First Class gave us all we needed to know regarding Magneto’s origin- I think he was planned to be next) they’ve gotten a different director to helm this sequel.  But what do we know about James Mangold, what has he done?  I was worried for a second, considering he was the director of Girl, Interrupted and Walk the Line, but he also directed the remake to 3:10 to Yuma, Identity, and Cop Land.

The Next Star Wars Trilogy- Because it’s Star Wars and George Lucas won’t be doing the writing or directing.

Mad Max 4- I really wanted another one with Mel Gibson as an older, grizzled, bitter Max.  But he went coo-coo, so they put in his place.  Tom Hardy is awesome.  Just watch Bronson if you need evidence of this.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill for- I have every confidence Robert Rodriguez will make a great sequel even though they are in the middle of filming, a major character in the storyline has a replacement actor, and some roles haven’t even been cast yet.  Rodriguez described what they are doing as “…sort of piecemealing, shooting bits and pieces as actors become available.“  The fact the first movie came out 8 years ago proves there’s no rush to get this done and so long as they take their time and get everyone they want all the better.  But who, you ask, is replacing the larger than life Michael Clarke Duncan as Manute?  None other than .  You might know him as the Allstate spokesperson with the voice like thunder on a day off or maybe even the first black President of the United States.

Kick-Ass 2- I wish I’d seen the first one at the theater.  Much better than I expected.  Somehow, Nicolas Cage’s Big Daddy character is in it even though he was apparently burned to death in the first one and they added Jim Carey as Colonel Stars and Stripes.  I don’t know why, but even the name is funny.

Dumb & Dumber To- If you need this comedy-gen sequel explained, I feel for you.

Heartbreak Hotel #vampires #amwriting

So I finally finished plotting my first vampire novel, titled Heartbreak Hotel. It actually wasn’t supposed to be the first, I wrote a short story last year called Do Not See Me that I intended to turn into a novel. Still will at a later point, but HH is one of those that flowed out of me and I want to get it out while it’s still sizzling hot in my brain.

I need to do more in-print books as there is a building demand for signings and this tale will definitely be novel-length. Before fleshing it out I was thinking it would just be a long short story but there was a lot to explore with these characters.

My next stop is to call up a couple hotels to do some research. Best of luck to me!

The Room

Just thought of a new story idea I’m not sure what to do with yet. It’s one of those self-plotters and may wind up being the sequel to Fleshbags. It’s called The Room is about five survivors trapped in a room with a legion of zombies just outside the door. Each person recounts what happened just before getting locked in. And they discuss what, if anything, they can do to get out.

30 Minute Plan #1 on #kindle #lunch

Well, well, well. My short, 30 Minute Plan is #1 on Kindle. But let me qualify that. It’s free, first of all (all the more reason for you to download a copy!) and it’s ranked as #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > United States > African American > Mystery. Hey, I’m still proud of that as an accomplishment and it bolsters the title even more in my mind to flesh out the story as a whole in a full-length novel. I have an idea—maybe I’ll sit down with it now that I’m done plotting my next story.

What’s in a Name? #poem

One day he went mariah carey

And pulled an oj

We came in and found

What was left of the two of them

lizzie bordened all over the place

Everyone knew they had been

Pam and tommy leeing it all along

But we assumed he would just pull a hemingway

No one thought it would end like this

I can’t stop going all woody allen at the site of it

But she’s all clint eastwoody

It’s like Dracula binged and purged in here

I bet he walked in just as she was lewinskying him

I bet he already knew what had been going on

I bet he john pauled her

But seeing in person how she’d turned benedict arnold

Must have been too much to hillary clinton

But still, this was a complete buster douglas to us all.

#Review of Draculas by @joekonrath @amazonkindle

This was my second official e-book.  The first was another offering by Blake Crouch and Jeff Strand.  I forget the title offhand, but nevermind that now (it’s included with Draculas anyway).  Draculas is a rollercoaster.  It’ll take you up, it’ll take you down.  It’ll drink your blood (though I’m not sure if rollercoasters do that- been a while since I’ve been on one).  You’re going to love Randall Bolton and Clay Theel, the heroes (at least in my mind) of this story and how they don’t let things like thinking get in the way of getting the job done.  Yes, this will make you laugh, but it’ll have you afraid to put your Kindle down (or whatever your choice of e-reader; I printed mine out, but I’m special like that). 

 Mortimer Moorecook, whose surname name I’m certain is a misspelled double-entendre, is the blame for the slaughterhouse that becomes Blessed Crucifixion Hospital, but you’ll hardly have the time to blame him.  Draculas will be flying at you left and right with scythe-like teeth set to rip you to shreds.

 As a writer, I have got to admit I would love to be a part of this franchise (surely you couldn’t think by the end of this story that is the end) as this is one of the most original vampire stories I’ve read in a long time and since reading Interview with the Vampire and I’ve read exactly 3 novels in that genre.  So I’ve got my VampCred, in case that was in question. 

 Crouch, Strand, Wilson and the other guy won’t disappoint (I looked it up; Kilborn).  I’m only sure that Crouch wrote the first section, but each author hands off the story into very capable hands as there is no lag in the fear or action.  You’ll find yourself rooting for the good and poopooing evil.  Pick up–click a copy as soon as it is available.  It’ll be the best $2.99 you’ve spent this side of a Big Mac and it won’t raise your cholesterol nearly as much.

Robert Kirkman 'The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury' Review

Reblogged from Horror Novel Reviews:

Written by: Bruce Priddy

The Governor. There is perhaps no more infamous villain in modern comics. So great his evil, Philip/Brian Blake is one of few comic book characters to transcend the series that gave him birth; even people who have never read The Walking Dead have heard of the Governor. Despite his short time in the series, the Governor's presence is felt in every issue since his death, his legacy carved upon Rick Grimes' body.

Read more… 610 more words