Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 186

New Writing Resources Community on Google Plus !

I’ve written before about my struggles with social media, the most intimate previous post being Social Networking and Insanity . .. back in September of 2011. In that post I said: “As I was digesting all the information about ‘building an author platform’—working to increase my ‘friends’ on FaceBook and my ‘followers’ on Twitter—I struggled [...]

Author Interview ~ Jane Watson – Part Two

Jane Watson visited this blog back in November of 2011, gave us a great interview, and made us want to read her first novel, Hindustan Contessa. Today, I’m proud to welcome Jane back for an interview that gets deeper into her writer’s mind and sheds light on the Process of Writing… ~~~~~~~~~ Jane, what are [...]

More Writing Prompts . . .

Some folks feel “Writing Prompts” is an overused phrase, suggesting “Self-Assignments” is a “nicer” way to indicate that many writers need a jolt to get over the dark depression called “Writer’s Block”. Back in March, I had a post here called All Kinds of Writing Prompts . .. in which I said: “Prompting can come [...]

Something To Think About, Seriously, for Readers, Writers, and Publishers . . .

Thanks to Maria Popova at Brain Pickings, I offer today only one quote—one magnificent quote from Hermann Hesse’s Trees: Reflections and Poems that, if pondered over, could help any Reader, Writer, or Publisher attain some Peace in this Frenzied World: “For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they [...]

I Need Your Help ~ Let’s Decide Which Is Better: Traditional or Self-Publishing . . .

I try to be a fair and balanced blogger (folks in the U.S.A. may be laughing because I just used two words an infamous, unfair, and egregiously unbalanced media company use…). I’ve been blogging about Reading, Writing, and Publishing for nearly two years now. My readership has grown in a satisfying way but I’m hoping [...]

Publishing Article Round-Up ~ “Must Reads” for Writers

I scan scads of blog and news articles every month looking for resources to share on this blog. I usually choose one article to feature (adding my comments) or perhaps two that contrast in interesting ways. Today, I’m sharing four and one of them contains nine more :-) The first one is from Michael Levin, [...]

Author Interview ~ Lauren Elizabeth—Part Two

I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Lauren Elizabeth back in March, before she published her first book. Here’s the post-publication interview :-) ~~~~~~~~~ Lauren, how does it feel to be published? Honestly pretty strange, it hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I have been working towards this goal for quite a few years [...]

Self-Publishing Is Enabling A Tsunami of New Authors ~ Will The World Last Long Enough for Them To Be Read Widely?

Technology is favoring the writer… Technology is furthering hate and killing… Just before my short-novel, Notes from An Alien, was published, I wrote a post called, Why People Won’t Like My Book And Why They Might Want To Consider ReadingIt… In that post, I said: “…I went into this project with clear eyes about what [...]

Are You A BestsellerBound Author?

I suppose “most” authors want to have bestsellers—some for the money they bring, some for the readership they gain, some for both… Some day, I may do a post here about what it takes to have a bestseller——then again, there are so many unknowns involved… Anyway, you may have noticed that the title of this [...]

Are All Writers Introverts? ~ and ~ Can An Introvert Do Book Promotion?

First, let’s clear up a misconception—introverts are shy. Not true—introverts gain energy from the “Inside” and many an introvert can function out-front, as long as the environment doesn’t hamper their ability to access their inner self. Perhaps I should give a few more indicators of what extroversion and introversion are (from Wikipedia): Extroversion: “the act, [...]