Joseph Rinaldo's Blog, page 4

EBOOKS VS. PRINT BOOKS: PART IIWell, folks, here I am aga...

EBOOKS VS. PRINT BOOKS: PART II

Well, folks, here I am again, talking about the controversy between ebooks and print books. I know this is ground we've covered before, but bear with me. I have two ebooks, A SPY AT HOME and HAZARDOUS CHOICES, available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Goodreads. (For those of you who have bought, read, reviewed, tweeted about, or "liked" these novels, I thank you most sincerely.) The monetary rewards (in the form of royalties, of course) have been less than huge, even though I have worked as hard as I know how to promote both books, and even though I have given away many, discounted more, and priced them inexpensively to sell! So now what? I asked myself what would come next.

I was challenged to offer my novels in print form by someone who does not have a Kindle or a Nook. (Can you imagine?) I decided, after much soul-searching, to do so. Working with CreateSpace and learning (by much trial and error - mostly error) how to edit, format, and upload my novel A Spy At Home, I have finally been able to offer this novel in print on Amazon. The experience was exhausting; CS has many good points, and their tech support is fine, but there just isn't enough information on their website to make this process easy. I sought advice from FB friends, and I was pleased with the support and encouragement they offered.

Take a look and see what you think, friends. I'm hoping that an opportunity to attend and participate in a book-signing in my hometown on June 14th will help me promote the print version of the book, and I am very much looking forward to my first "public appearance". More to follow...

Routines - My Way or the Wrong Way?

There is an old episode of "All In The Family" that illustrates brilliantly how rigidly we all adhere to our routines and patterns of behavior. In this episode, Archie and his son-in-law Mike ("affectionately" known as Meathead) are getting ready to go fishing, and Archie discovers Mike putting on his socks and shoes; first Mike puts on his right sock and his right shoe, then begins to put on his left sock and left shoe. Archie, baffled by this behavior, insists that the "proper" way to put on socks and shoes is sock, sock, shoe, shoe. This begins an argument about the correct way to clad the feet. Archie insists that if you put on both socks first, and you have to run out of the house in an emergency, you have two warm feet. Mike counters that, doing it his way, if you have to flee the house in hurry, and it's raining outside, you at least have one warm, dry foot. The disagreement escalates into an all-out battle over the simple act of putting on shoes and socks.

Over the twelve years of my marriage, there have been many occasions on which my wife and I have disagreed about the "correct" way to do such things as load the dishwasher, fold the laundry, drive the car, and other things that seem minor on their surface, but which could potentially escalate to an argument and someone getting his/her feelings hurt. We have finally come to the conclusion that just because someone does something differently than you would do it, does not make it wrong, just different. This was not an easy compromise. It's funny how seriously we all take our own eccentricities and how tenaciously we cling to the behaviors we've learned and practiced all our lives.

So, let me ask you this: Do you put on both socks and then both shoes, or do you prefer the one sock-one shoe method? Do you load the dishwasher from the back to the front or from the front to the back? Do you fold your socks by turning down the tops over the pair, or do you tie matching socks together to be sure they stay together? Do you squeeze the toothpaste tube from the middle or from the end?

Are any of these things worth arguing about? Is it possible to re-train your brain to accept new ways of doing things or will you hold on to "this is the way I've always done it"? Consider Archie and Meathead - they never did reach agreement about the sock/shoe issue, and the fishing trip was called off.

A SPY AT HOME Book Trailor Now On YouTube!

Steal from the CIA? It's easy when you're on the inside. But why do it? Read for yourself about my nine million dollar theft at http://www.amazon.com/A-SPY-AT-HOME-e....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJVmhRPDmS0



Watch the trailer, then read the book!

PRESS RELEASE! Every Child is Entitled to Innocence - release date 2/14/12!

Press Release

Every Child is Entitled to Innocence will be the first publication of the newly- formed Orangeberry Publishing Group. Due to release on February 14th, profits from the sales of this e-book will be donated to Child Helpline International.

Says initiator of the project, Dr. Niamh Clune, "I met many writers through the Internet that experienced difficult childhoods yet have overcome their brutal beginnings. I wanted to make the first Orangeberry publication a celebration of creative imagination. This powerful friend of damaged children plays an essential role in an abused child's recovery. Gathering this series of stories was a joy. Orangeberry Books has developed special, vibrant relationships with contributors and has forged many lasting friendships.

We encouraged happy stories that reflected the innocence of childhood when infants feel wrapped in the warmth of loving arms. We wanted to contrast these with the sad ones, making them stand out in relief against a bright backdrop. We felt this comparison would demonstrate, without explanation, what happens when innocence is stolen.

In this book, the reader will find many wonderful, heart-warming stories; whilst the sad ones demonstrate the magnificence of the human spirit as it triumphs against all the odds."

Executive Editor, Karen S. Elliott stated, "While I looked at all the stories in the Every Child anthology, I edited only a few. I thought it was important, for this tome, that the writers be able to express the heartbreak and joy of childhoods past without censorship."

Spokesperson for Orangeberry Books, Niamh Clune, explained how The Orangeberry Group is at the vanguard of a new wave of Internet publishing companies. Orangeberry aims to put quality first and bring exciting, exceptionally talented authors to the reader's attention. Its focus is not on commercialism, but on quality, beautifully written, well-told stories. Orangeberry will also publish poetry. A further aim of the publishing company is to bring a collection of exceptional artists from across many different art disciplines to collaborate on projects in a personal, hands-on, mutually supportive manner.

The motto of the company is, 'Paying it Forward.' The company relies on a well-developed social network, the dedication of the core team members, their talent and enthusiasm coupled with a socially entrepreneurial spirit. Supporters and members of this group will also benefit from on-line mentoring, a book-club, the Youth Tube Channel, and the OBBlog.

For further information visitwww.orangeberrybooks.com http://www.theobblog.com/
Join the FB group @ http://www.facebook.com/groups/orangeberrygroup/

Guest Post from Lorane Leavy!

I am proud to welcome Lorane Leavy as my guest post-er for the day! I know you will enjoy her post! Remember, comments are encouraged and welcomed. Lorane's blog is called "Last Seen Wearing Thin" and can be found at http://loraneleavy.blogspot.com/. Today's post is entitled "Resolutions, Revelations, Rallies", and was originally posted on her blog on December 31, 2011.
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     Been hearing all manner of change - that will debut tomorrow. Hardly a joiner, I most definitely am a muller. My musings took me from "Remembering" yesterday to 'and now?' today. We have scanned, eye to mind, mind touching mind, with all the reverent anticipation of "Looking for Mr. Goodbar", through the frenzied yet purposeful jungle that we call mankind. If one subscribes to the concept - and I daresay I do - of the 'Whole' of Mankind, then one accepts the thesis (count me in) that mankind is indivisible and the 'mysteries' not yet solved speak not to Nature's disorder but to man's intellectual immaturity.
     Please forgive me the bromides indispensable to pragmatically applying this thesis to my advocacy of the rights to which, I believe, mankind is entitled. First, you gotta believe that injury to any part of mankind injures - in part - all of mankind.
     (John Donne drove this home with: "No man is an island. Each man's death diminishes me for I am involved in mankind. So, ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee." The boy indeed had a knack.)
     Next, survival in today's world is made tolerable by the enjoyment of living. This enjoyment is markedly decreased by emotional and psychic disabilities. Dear Dorothy Parker had a bead on this one in "Coda".

(There's little in taking or giving,
There's little in water or wine;
This living, this living, this living
Was never a project of mine.
Oh hard is the struggle, and sparse is
The gain of the one at the top.
For art is a form of catharsis,
And love is a permanent flop.
And work is the province of cattle,
And rest's for a clam in a shell,
So I'm thinking of throwing the battle-
Would you kindly direct me to hell?")

     Now these imbalances - and their Siamese twin, physical limitation - rob mankind's life of its pleasures. The Bard provides but one example.
     ("Ah, sleep, that knits up the raveled sleeve of care.")
     And at the very heart of mankind's dilemma, bypassing the pulmonary artery - and, therefore, lungs - and hopping right over to the left ventricle (you don't tug on left ventricle's cape, if you get my drift) which launches gallons of weakness through mankind's system per diem, is the loss of what I call the 'sharing experience'. This because the ability to create and SHARE the creation in communal productivity is a source of great pride. Losing it leaves a large blank page in our book, "The Pleasure of Living". You're on your own. Living isn't pleasing. It's a crap shoot.
     (As Groucho Marx opined when his "You Bet Your Life" TV program was challenged on a different network with the very engaging/amusing Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, "Well folks, I guess now you can bet your life or better your life." Re: Marx, nobody could top him when it came to speedy, snappy repartee.)
     It is therefore up to us, dear readers, to ensure mankind's entitlements, overcome this inchoate mentality, facilitate and preserve mankind's pleasure in living. I know you've all been a-tasking to the nth 'multi' of late, so I have set about fixing the problem. Mankind's life, I am resolved, shall NOT be robbed of its pleasure! Debuting on the morrow, I will do the man proud.
     (I refer, of course, to Clint Eastwood/Ronald Reagan's "Go ahead. Make my day.")
     Tutorially speaking, I refer you first to the parentheticals above. Cherished pearls of wisdom - cast NOT before swine but enshrined, etched, inscribed (any guesses where I'm going with this?) ON PAPYRUS, PARCHMENT, PAPER, then having been marked with 'P', tossed in the oven for you and me. Obviously, in this scenario, 'oven' is used metaphorically for book/library/collections and the like. Yes, I READ them. They were gifts from my friends. Gifts I could take to bed, a grassy knoll, a sofa by the window, watching the snow fall -quietly, so as not to disturb my READING.
     I'd seen them neatly arranged in book cases with doors made of crafted leaded glass; on shelves over mantels, Moroccan-leather-bound, gilded-edged pages announcing "The Royals are 'IN'"; on the desks of my children in their rooms; the bedside tables of octogenarian nuns; in stores, on subways at launches, the proud author beaming as the lines formed, waiting a turn to have the newly-purchased treasure touched by, actually written in, by its creator. That, dear reader is the penultimate 'sharing experience', the ultimate delayed so as to be a very private affair to remember - perhaps a soupcon of crackling wood in the fireplace, a fragrant magnolia floating in a Waterford bowl on a nearby Deco ottoman, hints of Beethoven surround-sounding softly, almost a whisper of puppy's breathing, curling up from your feet.
     And, like the cradle, the curtain will fall. Bidden or not bidden, the parting will be sweet sorrow. Sweet because 1) you now become tachycardic, perhaps do some anticipatory panting even, at the very thought of a brand new 'sharing experience', IE, telling all comers about 'this book I just read," and 2) you know that I'll be sooo happy for you and the chosen-to-be-sharees, that I'll not use ONE MORE HACKNEYED cliché in this post!
     (To be sure, I really did see/admire one such book case when I first visited my husband's home. Their living room was forty feet long (the baby grand looked like a preemie) and at one end the wall WAS the book case. He morphed it into an apprentice-piece by lounging over the top shelf - home to every sports trophy he'd ever earned - until the hapless visitor HAD to say, "Gee, Phil, what're all those shiny statues in the book case?"
     And around our home, each dedicated community of books had different bookends. Some were bona fide antiquities; some were from my family or bought by me. But they have SUCH personality. Huge solid brass elephants (trunks UP, good luck, you know) support my cookbook collection (remember cooking, Lorene?); carved wood Civil War cannons embrace Phil's sister's collection. Her ashes were scattered and you'll be as well if you mess with her books; bulbous, contradictory, IRON wing-back chairs support the law books in my study (Contradictory in that you will never find a comfortable chair in a courtroom - save the 'bench' on which his honor perches); Stone, squares, sporting embedded brass ducks support my husband's medical tomes; our son's desk sported leather, 3-D slices of the globe (which always said 'basketballs' to me); one of our daughters used flat, brass squares imprinted with Rodin's "The Thinker" (I suspect, is was the male anatomical precision, not the artistic value that attracted her) and our other little lady had clowns - silent commentary on how she viewed the entire educational 'drill'.
     Whatever shall I do with them? What will they embrace, adorn? Whence functionality when 'The Trend' finally becomes 'The Only' means of accruing knowledge, favorite quotes, maps, recipes, fables, bed-time stories? When dawns the day during which what was once known as 'reading material' is generated by robotic, computerized chips or multi-channel analytic towers, information to be characterized, disseminated and osmotically absorbed by the 'end user', AKA humans.
     The very embodiment (rather, mechanization) of efficiency, its applications have no limits; its productivity matchless as well as eviscerated. As will be the humans forced to rely upon them. Is THAT the world we want? You-show-me-your-new-template-I'll-show-you-mine relationships? Nay, say I. Fie on curling up with metallic, meditationally-transmitted data. Dam Data. Any day. I love dairy products but never wished my parents had been Guernseys. I thrive on the written word, thought, emotion but would not have traded my folks for a pair of matching, fluorescent transducers.)
     Soooo. Here's the plan. Remember those queues, populated with humans, happily, willingly awaiting their turn for hours JUST to 'meet the press', as it were. Touch the hem. Perfume the washed feet of the creator. No holds barred when it comes to that 'shared experience'. That fulcrum upon which mankind balances its pleasure of living with its wholeness.
     Well, we're going to bring those lines back. Introduce the reader to his writer. Save the jobs of ALL of the workers who perform ALL of the tasks involved in producing ALL of the books produced by ALL of those publishers. Once again, the writer will stop by, say "Hi" and leave a smidgen of who-what-where-when-why, then SIGN the book, using the same nimble fingers that caressed the keyboard whilst forming the words that, when strung together, formed sentences that built paragraphs which marched step-lock-style across the paper pages, telling a story, drawing a picture, birthing another "shared experience'.
     I've 'named the baby'. Stop by the nursery. The nurse will wheel it over. Just ask for "Calling Card". Cute as it can be. And starting tomorrow, I shall embark on a journey of "Deliverance". I'll still be based on this page, of course. But here's hopin' NEXT year, if you buy a book for you or as a gift (same thing, really), when you open the cover you'll see an affixed note to you, from the writer. And if you do, tell your friends about it. And please tell me. Like I said, I'll be here; and like Mae West said, "Come up and see me sometime."

Later, Lorane. . . .

Contest - E-Book Giveaway!

Lisa Taylor is hosting a contest/ebook giveaway on her blog, Writer's Block Party ! Enter to win a free ebook by either Lisa, Joseph Rinaldo (me!), or Graham Smith! You know you LOVE free stuff, and what better way to get free stuff than to enter this giveaway! It's easy, and there aren't hundreds of things you have to do! Get ready, get set, enter! The link is http://writersparty.com/contests/.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

Spotlight Feature on DARLENE'S BOOK NOOK!

I'm so pleased and proud to have a spotlight feature on Darlene's Book Nook! It's called "Spotlight Saturday: Author Interview and Giveaway with Joseph M. Rinaldo, author of A Spy At Home", and here is the link: http://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.com/2012/01/spotlight-saturday-author-interview-and.html. Please check out the interview and enter the giveaway for a free copy of A SPY AT HOME!

Opposites Attract?

We've all heard the expression "Opposites Attract", and I guess it must be true. Take my wife and me. We could not possibly be more polar opposites in so many areas. In fact, the areas of similarity are virtually miniscule, and yet we just celebrated our twelfth anniversary!

I am a man who likes order; she is perfectly comfortable with a desk that looks like a dumpster was overturned on it. I prefer to read the Sports section first on Sunday, while she goes straight for the comics. She grew up in the era when The Beatles ruled; my childhood and teenage years fell during the disco and then hard rock days. Therein, I believe, lies most of the source of our differences.

You see, my wife is 16 years my senior. She was born during the 50's, me at the very end of the 60's; she still resents the fact that she wasn't old enough to go to Woodstock. I attended a couple of rock concerts, I think.....not sure.....hard to remember. (Just kidding.) She wanted so badly to be a flower child and haunt the Haight; I was perfectly satisfied to attend college in a major party town - Columbus, Ohio.

My wife is definitely a Vietnam-era woman; her brother served there, and when her parents ran a Greyhound Bus station, she often saw the tear-filled goodbyes between soldiers going off to war and their families. My early years were spent in blissful ignorance of war, except for the stories my father's friends told me about WWII.

I am a numbers man. Math came easy to me, and I majored in Finance in college. My wife is a words person (she truly believes numbers are a foreign language and that she should have gotten credit in that area when she was forced to take geometry in high school). She has written poetry and short stories most of her life (her preferred form of writing), and has had a fair number published in online magazines and in print. Though my career is in credit and finance, I have also become a writer, with two self-published novels available in a variety of online stores. Words are not my friends; rather, I feel as though I conquer them every time I write a novel. I am also very grateful for spell-check; spelling is not something I do well.

Our writing styles are very different. I schedule time to write, while she writes when the Muse seizes her. This can mean she has a purse full of notes scribbled on fast-food restaurant napkins, the backs of receipts, and pages torn out of her address book (later she can't remember why all the R's are gone...). I sit down in my recliner, turn on my laptop, and write for one hour. Then I take a break. I edit my books the same way. I have a certain number of pages I commit to edit in one day, and I am not satisfied until I can cross that off my "to-do" list.

In spite of our many differences, my wife and I get along very well. We don't always agree on things: sports, politics, religion, what makes a great dessert, or where we should go on vacation, but we do always agree on one thing: neither of us can imagine ourselves spending the rest of our lives with anyone else!

We're very different, but it works.

Embrace Virtual Launch Party - Embracing Change

Embracing Change - My Experiences


Eighteen years ago when I met the woman who is now my wife, I never would have imagined how my life would change. She was 16 years older than me, and we were at two entirely different points in our lives. She had been married and divorced; I was a never-married bachelor. She was working; I was in graduate school. She had a 20-year-old daughter; I had no children. Her daughter has Down syndrome… Though I had an uncle with Down, I didn't know him very well, and had spent very little time around him.

My then-girlfriend and I dated for six years, on and off, before I decided that she was THE ONE. I asked her to marry me, after first clearing it with her daughter, who kept the secret! We married in December of 1999, and the journey began.

Adjusting to married life was challenging, especially since I had been on my own for many years with no one to please or accommodate but myself! My wife and her daughter had lived alone for nearly 20 years. But the most challenging part of this marriage was winning over and learning to adjust to my step-daughter. She was jealous of the time her mom spent with me, and she looked upon me as a rival for her mom's affections. I, on the other hand, had to understand that my relationship with my wife was a 2-for-1 deal! Suddenly I had to consider the wants and needs not only of a wife, but of a daughter as well. It wasn't always easy, and my stepdaughter and I didn't always see eye to eye on things, but as time went on, she became MY daughter and I became HER father in the truest sense of the word.

We still don't always agree, but what father and daughter do? We are family, we love each other, and I cannot imagine my life now without her. Oh, and her mom and I have learned that the one thing that is essential for parenting any child is to present a united front!

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Embrace Launch Party Guest Posts!
Jennifer DeLucy Blog: Writing Embrace - From Idea to Release
Kym's Quips: The Research Behind to Story
Once Upon A *Spark*: Mythology Behind Madison's World
Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts: Bring on the Romance
Jennifer Lane Books Blog: Facing Change

Embrace Launch Party Posts!
Susan Kaye Quinn, Conjuring Tales for Young Minds
Kim Winters, Kat's Eye Journal
Carole, the life of fiction
Mina Burrows, books for paranormal & mystic minds
Joseph Rinaldo, Read Rinaldo
Angela Brown, in a Pursuit of Publishness
Debra Anastasia, Tell me a Story
Colleen Wagner, London Relocation

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Embrace, a novel by Cherie Colyer

Madison is familiar enough with change, and she hates everything about it. Change took her long-term boyfriend away from her. It caused one of her friends to suddenly hate her. It's responsible for the death of a local along with a host of other mysterious happenings. But when Madison meets a hot new guy, she thinks her luck is about to improve.

Madison is instantly drawn to the handsome and intriguing Isaac Addington. She quickly realizes he's a guy harboring a secret, but she's willing to risk the unknown to be with him.

Her world really spins out of control, however, when her best friend becomes delusional, seeing things that aren't there and desperately trying to escape their evil. When the doctors can't find the answers, Madison seeks her own.

Nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.

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Prizes: To celebrate the release of her debut novel, Cherie is giving away an eCopy of EMBRACE and 5-Embrace Hemp Bracelets today. There are three ways to win:

1) Leave a comment here or at any of the Party Posts.

2) Tweet about the Virtual Party or any of the Party Posts with tag #EMBRACEnovels

Example:

Nothing could have prepared her for what she's about to discover. #EMBRACEnovels @CherieColyer #YA avail NOW www.cheriecolyer.blogspot.com

Example:

Celebrate the launch of EMBRACE by @CherieColyer #EMBRACEnovels #paranormal #YA avail NOW www.cheriecolyer.blogspot.com

3) Facebook (tag Cherie Colyer, author) about the Virtual Party.

Example:

Celebrate the launch of teen paranormal thriller/romance novel EMBRACE by Cherie Colyer, author and enter for a chance to win Embrace prizes! http://www.cheriecolyer.blogspot.com

Do all three and you will have three times the chances to win! Leave a comment at each stop of the tour for a chance to win the Grand Prize.

If you haven't already, remember to stop back by Cherie's blog or click here to fill out the form to ensure your entry is counted.

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