Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 137
October 26, 2014
Comparing Reading Cultures
Found this post about different countries’ reading habits because the blogger “liked” a couple of my posts — it’s definitely thought provoking…
Originally posted on findingtimetowrite:
Every three years or so the literary magazine Livres Hebdo in France does an IPSOS survey of not just its readers, but the wider French reading public. The latest edition of this survey (April 2014) revealsthat reading remains the second favourite leisure activity of the...
October 24, 2014
Friday Poll ~ Readers’ & Writers’ Distractions
As always, we lead off with the results from last week’s poll—Are there too many books in the world?
Image Courtesy of Michael & Christa Richert ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/ayla87
The top vote went to “No” with 66.7% of the responses.
The “Other”, Fill-in answers were “Hell No” and “Not when you consider the millions of poor who can’t get any books” at 16.7%.
So, “No” was actually 83.4% !
Then came “Yes” and “Maybe” with 8.3% each.
Sure looks like most readers of this blog are quite happy w...
October 23, 2014
Book Awards for Self-Published Authors
Image courtesy of Billy Alexander ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/ba1969
Can winning an award give a self-published book a boost?
Well, it is one form of book promotion…
And, even though book promotion can seem like too much hard work for creative writers there are so many ways to promote books that anyone should be able to find a bearable combination of tasks to aid sales…
And, lest you think that getting a contract from a big publisher will take care of all the business of book promotion, c...
October 22, 2014
Can Stories Change Society?
Most of us have read a story that’s changed us, in some way.
Image Courtesy of http://www.freeimages.com/profile/eliteds3
Often, these are news stories…
Sometimes, stories told by friends…
Even fictional stories have the power to induce lasting change in our lives…
Back in May, I wrote a post that focused on an organization that facilitates story-telling for social change.
I’m not going to encourage you to join the organization; but, whether you’re a Reader, Writer, or Publisher, I think you could...
October 21, 2014
Clearing Our Heads About Amazon
First, even though I cover Reading, Writing, and Publishing, Amazon does not carry only books.
Image Courtesy of mantis wong ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/mantiswong
That may be quite obvious but, in the raging battles over the company, there are many folk who, for various reasons, forget the obvious…
If you haven’t been up to speed on the Amazon-Hachette battle, the best I can do to catch you up is have you read my past post, Almost Against My Will ~ Yet Another Look At The Amazon–Hachett...
October 20, 2014
Author Interview ~ Nathaniel Danes
Released Oct. 14:Nathaniel Danes’ The Last Hero, Book One
And, we have Nathaniel here today for an interview!
Let’s get rolling…
~~~
Welcome to the blog, Nathaniel. Please tell us a little about your newly released novel.
Thank you for having me, Alex.
The Last Hero starts off a couple hundred years in the future after first contact with a race of pacifists has convinced humanity to make peace with itself and disarm.
When we first met the hero, the last Medal of Honor recipient, he’s selling insuran...
October 17, 2014
Friday Poll ~ Are There Too Many Books In The World?
First, the results of last week’s poll—Should All Writers Blog?
Image Courtesy of Maxim Lachmann ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/padrino
Top Vote at 50%—No.
25% for Maybe.
Almost 17% for Yes.
And, one vote in the “Other” category—“If they want to.”
~~~~~~~
Now, with self-publishing in full swing, there are more books pouring into the world every day than ever before.
Leaving questions of the quality of this abundance of books aside , some folks think it’s harder to sift through it all to find som...
October 16, 2014
Is Professional Book Design Necessary for A Self-Publishing Author?
Self-Publishing is developing so swiftly that it can be hard to keep up with what it means.
Image Courtesy of Ove Topfer ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/topfer
Some folks claim it means writing, editing, designing, and printing a book essentially by yourself.
Some would say the printing can be outsourced but all the other tasks are up to one individual.
Some are now urging writers to consider hiring or trading services for a team of professionals to create the physical and digital book.
The mo...
October 15, 2014
An Award-Winning Author and An Angry Book Critic
It’s often said that a writer should not respond to egregiously bad reviews and criticism.
Award-Winning Author, Paddy O’Reilly
That’s probably good advice—usually because someone who can find nothing good in a book should, out of simple humanity, say as little as possible; and, no one wins in a heatedargument.
It may be considered good form to let folks know you’ve struggled with a particular book and why you abandoned it, like I did in my July 10th, 2013 post.
But, if someone were to disagree w...
October 14, 2014
Sick As A Dog, Yet Still Faithful . . .
One of my jobs is writing stories and books—another, blogging 5 days a week…
Image Courtesy of http://www.freeimages.com/profile/anaophelia
Today I am sick as a dog and have been struggling just to find the picture for this post…
I do love my work and bemoan that I don’t have the energy to do all the work needed for a real blog post…
It’s probably just the flu…
Perhaps tomorrow my body will cooperate with my mind and heart…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check Out Our Latest Poll…
Read Some Strange Fantasies
G...
