Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 133
December 17, 2014
Gifts for The Readers In Your Life
With over 1,070 posts on this blog, folks can find a lot of information about Reading, Writing, and Publishing.
Search and Top Tags work great but many don’t realize the side-bar has valuable stuff, too.
Like the link to GoneReading…
It’s a place to get all kinds of gifts for readers but also an organization that donates all its profits to other organizations that work to help over a billion people on this planet get the books they need…
In the past post,It’s Simple. They’re Gone Reading:-), I in...
December 16, 2014
“Choice” Digital Tools of 2014
There have been so many digital tools created for writers that you could probably spend weeks just checking them out…
Image Courtesy of Fran Gambín ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/sykicktb
So, I’ll reference Jane Friedman again.
She has “…more than 15 years of experience in the publishing industry, with in-depth expertise in book, magazine, and digital media publishing. From 2001–2010 she worked at Writer’s Digest, where she ultimately becamepublisher and editorial director of the$10-million...
December 15, 2014
A Professional Association for Authors Who Self-Publish
Self-publishing is not necessarily one writer who does everything themselves; though, there are such amazing people.
Image from the ALLI Site
A self-published author probably has an editor and may engage a cover designer and other freelance talent.
Then, there’s the label Indie Author…
Is Indie different from Self-Published?
I explored that question in a post back in October of 2013—“What IS An IndieAuthor?”
I also explored a relatively new organization for Indie authors in the post,Why Would An Au...
December 12, 2014
Friday Poll ~ Writers’ Deadlines
First, the results from last week’s poll—What Writers’ Resources Do You Use?
Image Courtesy of Pedro Simao ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/pdsimao
The most voted-on resources were Laptop and Dictionary.
The next most-voted slot was also a two-way tie: Paper & Pen and Internet Search.
Third place was a three-way tie: Thesaurus, Brainstorming, and Active Imagination.
Fourth was Notebook.
Fifth, a two-way tie: Library and Consulting Your Muse.
Sixth, another two-way: Special Software and Post It No...
December 10, 2014
What About All The Authors Whose Books Don’t Sell Very Many Copies?
So much hype now about being a “successful” author…
Such a lack of clear information about the real odds of monetary success…
I’m reblogging the most important post I’ve done, so far, about book sales in the digital age…
Originally posted on Notes from An Alien:
An extremely small percentage of writers sell more than 500 copies of a book…
One source I checked said this:
“…in 2004, 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies. Another...
Guest Posting Is Fun :-)
Plenty of blogging “gurus” tell you to guest post to increase traffic.
I say, do it to have fun—like cooking dinner at a cool friend’s house :-)
Head on over to The Alliterative Allomorph—Jessica Bell‘s Place.
I wrote a guest post for her called Most Advice for Writers Is Dangerous…
And, take awhile to look over what she has to offer:
Her Book Cover Design Services
Vine Leaves Literary Journal(Jess...
December 9, 2014
How To Engage Young Readers
It’s been said you can’t motivate others…
Image courtesy of Horton Web Design ~ http://www.HortonGroup.com
…unless they want to take your cue and motivate themselves.
There’s an article in The Washington Post that speaks to rousing kids’ self-motivation to read—Seven ways schools kill the love of reading in kids — and 4 principles to help restore it.
A few quotes:
“Autonomy-supportive teachers seek a student’s initiative … whereas controlling teachers seek a student’s compliance.”
“What a teacher c...
December 8, 2014
“Best” Books of 2014
Doing a Best of Year post for books isn’t wise before the end of the year; but, “Best” books is very subjective; so, I’ll give you some today :-)
Image Courtesy of Nathalie Dulex ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/salsachica
My other reason is that many folks celebrate Christmas and might be frantically looking for a few gifts…
I have two subjective offerings:
* A rather neat page from NPR (National Public Radio) that lets you filter (in the left side-bar) their list of picks for best books—NPR’...
December 5, 2014
Friday Poll ~ What Writer’s Resources Do You Use?
Let’s start with the results of the first of last week’s polls—What Are You Writing Now?
Image Courtesy of Kristen Price ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/prolife
Either there aren’t many folks writing now or the poll wasn’t interesting enough to answer :-)
[Edit after I published this, from a Twitter friend:
“writers don’t want to share. The book is to be published but the Idea before that is kept close.”]
Here are the five responses:
“Nothing; just finished the publishing stage”
“microfiction ex...
December 4, 2014
The Writer’s Voice ~ More Than A Certain “Style”…
The six words in the image are Qualities of a writer’s Voice.
Like most concepts in writing, “Voice” is somewhat slippery…
Are we talking about some “feel” we get from every sentence a writer uses?
Are we talking only about the 3rd person P.O.V.—since individual characters could well have completely distinct voices?
That image of Voice Qualities is a screen-shot from the video below…
Julian Treasure is the man speaking (he’ll explain each Voice Quality) and he’s talking about the voice we use when...
