Rod Raglin's Blog, page 42
July 15, 2014
The Big Picture Publishing Plan
On July 14, 2014, I self-published The Big Picture, a 76,000 word, literary/commercial novel.
I used Kindle Direct Publishing because it seemed to give me the best exposure, the policy and procedures (formatting) were relatively easy, and it was free in return for 90-day exclusivity agreement to sell and distribute the book as they see fit.
Amazon is responsible for about a third of global book sales so they must know something, right?
All others viable avenues had been pretty much exhausted or turned out to be dead ends.
This could probably (likely) mean that the book is no good, but over the last six months I’ve done a lot of research including reading quite a few independently published (self-published) books and I’ve come to the conclusion that The Big Picture though not as good as some, is better than most.
Hubris? We’ll find out.
Over the next year I will report monthly on the progress of the novel, what promotion I’ve done, what the results have been and provide an update on the number of copies sold. Unlike a zillion other authors/marketers that want you to buy this kind of information online or in book form, you can share my experience for free.
Does free equate to no value? The jury is still out on that one but you can decide from the results I achieve.
What do I expect? Here’s where we could use a benchmark.
Back in 2010 my ECO-WARRIOR series; Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients were accepted and published as e-books by Devine Destinies.
The sales results for being on their list for four years are as follows:
Spirit Bear -55 copies sold; Eagleridge Bluffs – 9 copies sold; Not Wonder More – 4 copies sold. Royalties to date $79.97
I could rationalize these results any number of ways but suffice to say I don’t have to set the bar too high to achieve better results.
The Big Picture is now available on Amazon now at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LTXGD58
I’m a “if it don’t sell, it ain’t good” kind of guy so this could turn out to be a humbling experience.
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
Read my current work(s) in progress at
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA
July 6, 2014
Writing and running
Writing is sedentary. Sure, you get up to refill your coffee, but while your mind is doing jumping jacks, vigorously working out, your body is desk-bound, inactive, stationary.
The only muscles you’re using are flexors, abuctors and opponens – the muscle group in your hands and fingers, and then only if you’re on a roll. Sometimes I’m so inert I could be in a coma, maybe I am in a coma.
Why is it so exhausting?
When I’m in the company of my muse I write until she abandons me. That could be several hours after which my shoulders and neck are stiff, my back is giving me hell, even my knees ache.
The solution? Go for a run.
I’m not one of those runners decked out in spandex and primary colors. Neither do I travel to the popular haunts of runners. I simply pull on some shorts, a t-shirt and running shoes and head out from my home.
From the time I step out my door my workout has begun.
In the beginning there is pain. There is frustration. There is the specter of old age and futileness of trying to deny or delay it. But the act of running soon takes care of that. You have to be alert. I live in a big city full of inattentive drivers and uneven sidewalks. I run despite the weather, day or night. All this must be considered and adapted to, there’s no opportunity to reflect on my inadequacy as a writer, the irrationality of the undertaking, or how unlikely the chances of success.
Soon I’ve hit a rhythm. I settle into a pace, my breathing moderates and gradually, without even knowing it, the pain, the frustration, the anxiety all slips away. I’m in the moment, immediate and alive, moving through time and space and like osmosis absorbing and feeding off the experience.
I run in back lanes. They are so much more interesting than the façade of front yards. It’s here, at this time of year, I take advantage of summer’s bounty. Anything that grows on, hangs over, or is reachable from public property is fair game. Raspberries, plums, and my favorite, the ubiquitous blackberry nourish and renew my energy.
I run for about an hour. At some point during this period I’ll experience an intense feeling of wellbeing. Along the way I’ve shed frustration and disappointment, sweated out anxiety and taken on renewed purpose. I feel connected. I am happy.
I return home energized and optimistic. For a while everything is possible.
And then I go for another run.
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients. ALL THREE BOOKS – THE ECO-WARRIOR SERIES NOW JUST $8.99
Read my current work(s) in progress at
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA
June 26, 2014
Free book giveaway update – fool me once…
This time I’m giving away 50 copies of Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients on BookLikes. On this site you don’t have to pay to give away your books. Fool me once…
If you want me to send you NWM you must first sign up at BookLikes at http://booklikes.com. It’s simple and free and kind of a nifty site.
Once you’re a member, locate the “giveaways” menu, scroll down and find my book (see cover image – same here as on BookLikes). Hit “enter to win” and click “I want this book”. Depending on the demand you may or may not get the book. The administrator on the site decides. But by the looks of it now, you’ll get one.
Or, once you’ve registered log in at http://booklikes.com/giveaways
I’m giving away 50 copies – at the time of this blog about 30 left are left. The offer ends June 30, 2014
This is free, no conditions. However, an honest review or even a rating on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, etc. would be much appreciated. Here’s some links to simplify things.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Rod-Raglin?store=allproducts&keyword=Rod+Raglin
http://www.amazon.com/Rod-Raglin/e/B003DS6LEU
https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=✓&query=rod+raglin
If you don’t get around to it, it’s not the end of the world. I’ll keep you posted on how it all works out. Not spectacular I’m thinking.
What the hell, I had fun writing it.
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
SPECIAL OFFER – 3 Book ECO-WARRIORS SERIES – ONLY $8.99
Read my current work(s) in progress at
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA
June 12, 2014
Story Cartel – paying to give away your books
You spend two years honing a manuscript to publishing-perfect and then you have to pay someone to give it away free. And you say you want to be a novelist?
Three months ago I uploaded my novels Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients, Spirit Bear and Eagleridge Bluffs to the Story Cartel site (all relevant links are posted at the end of the blog).
All books on Story Cartel are completely free for readers to download. The hope is a reader will return this gift from the author by leaving an honest review of the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and blogs. The reviews help authors market their books and gives them valuable feedback to improve their writing.
I like this type of concept because you’re judged on the writing not on your ability to sustain artificial on-line relationships. This does not prevent some authors manipulating the process, but that’s not me – ever.
It cost $30 to upload a book, a one time expenditure and not unreasonable. But first I had to convert my Word doc manuscript to e-pub and mobli format. This turned out to be relatively easy with a free program I downloaded called Calibre. Along with the actual book and cover file I provided a log line, book blurb and a bit of a bio.
It took about three weeks before the books went live. Then the covers appeared on the site with a pop-up log-line. More details were available by clicking on the cover. It looked slick. I was guardedly optimistic.
Story Cartel launches last four weeks, three weeks where the book is available on the site and one extra week for readers to leave their reviews.
Story Cartel provides seven launch tips to maximize response:
1. Prepare your audience that your books are going to be free via Story Cartel. Which is odd advice since I don’t have an audience. If I did I wouldn’t be paying to use this site or giving away my books.
2. Share on social media daily. So I put my book on this site and then I have to promote the site so “my audience” will know where to download my book – for free. If I have to do all the marketing I could have offered my books for free from say BookLikes and saved myself $90. Fool me once…
3. Put and announcement on my blog. Ditto my response to points one and two.
4. E-mail my fans. Ditto my response to points one, two and three.
5. Run an ad. It’s not enough I give my books away free, I have to pay for an ad to tell people?
6. Send an email announcing only one day left. I can do that, who do I send it to? Oh yeah, my non-existent audience and fans.
7. Advertise with Story Cartel. For an additional $125 I can get a Newsletter listing, for $225 they’ll do some social media sharing. Okay, now I see where we’re going with this and what I’ve gotten into.
By the end of the giveaway thirty-one people have downloaded fifty-seven copies of my books. During the course of the promotion I sent every one of them a personal email asking them to please post a review. I did the same at the end of the promotion.
In hindsight, my most notable field of vision, it was a mistake to put up all three books at once. I may have had more reviews if I had limited the choice.
I got one response – for Spirit Bear. In a well consider and articulate article, the reviewer trashed the book.
Story Cartel provided me the email of everyone that downloaded my books. I now have a list of thirty-one names, of which only one had the integrity to fulfill the commitment of free book for an honest review. Ironically, she hates my work.
The only positive thing to come out of this experience is the knowledge I gleaned regarding converting a Word manuscript into a digital file. This will come in handy for my next novel, The Big Picture, which will likely be self-publish since no agents or publishers seem to be interested in it.
Will I be offering it free? Initially, yes, but I won’t be adding insult to injury by paying someone to do it for me.
Free – does it equate to no value?
Story Cartel storycartel.com
Calibre calibre-ebook.com/download
BookLikes booklikes.com
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
Read my current work(s) in progress at
http://www.wattpad.com/story/10733158-forest-primeval
Read ”Bubble” excerpts of my novels at
http://bublish.com/bubble/view/2872/RodRaglin
http://bublish.com/bubble/view/2873/Rod-Raglin
http://bublish.com/bubble/view/2609/Rod-Raglin
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA
May 21, 2014
Conflict of interest incomprehensible to the uber-ambitious
I’m sensitive to conflict of interest.
Sometimes it’s overt; like an author giving his own book five stars. Most times it’s more subtle.
Here’s and example of what I mean. I’m registered with an online site that lists agents and publishers and helps writers keep track of queries they send out. At least a couple times a week I get an email with updates, publishing news tips and links to relevant sites and articles.
Here’s what I received recently:
“Pinterest is a great tool to promote your books. Here are eight tips for writers on how to use it.” A link is supplied with this recommendation.
This link is to a website of a “social media manger” and the author of three related books, all self-published.
I was hoping to get some ideas from writers like myself. Something they tried that worked or wasted their time, in other words, an opinion from an objective third party.
Instead, I get advice right from the pages of the most recent book this person is trying to flog.
How likely is she to be objective about techniques she’s promoting in her book? Therein lies the conflict of interest.
Conflict of interest is a concept that seems to be incomprehensible to these constant pitchmen. They consider it passé, akin to chivalrous practices like standing when a woman enters the room, walking on the street side when accompanying a lady, opening doors, offering seats, or just plain being courteous.
Like multi-level marketing zealots, they use every occasion as an opportunity to sell. Good manners are an impediment and modesty and humility are seen as signs of weakness.
The uber-ambitious are totally self-absorbed, either myopic or suffer from tunnel vision or both, and are continually pitching some form of self-aggrandizement.
Unfortunately, this abhorrent personality type is on the increase spawned by obnoxious behavior on reality television and “Hey, look at me!” social media promotion. Indeed, in some circles they are even considered chic and trendy.
For me, I find full frontal, unabashed ambition at the best unappealing, and at the worst outright repugnant. Not surprising, it has the exact opposite effect on me as what is intended.
The same goes for conflict of interest. If I catch a whiff of it, credibility is compromised.
So how does a writer succeed without being obnoxiously ambitious and chronically comprising their credibility?
Maybe try to write something that, without promise of profit or pain, other people recommend.
~ ~ ~
Comments and criticisms appreciated but not likely reciprocated.
For a limited time read all my novels free for an honest review.
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
I blog about “Writing – the experience” at
http://rodraglin.wordpress.com/
Read my current work(s) in progress at
Read ”Bubble” excerpts of my novels at
http://bublish.com/author/view/3307
http://bublish.com/bubble/add/1637#
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
Or, if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music
Flower with attitude at http://youtu.be/ICrt4eY-rx8
Pacific Coast Sunsets at http://youtu.be/BxSTGuNh_gY
May 9, 2014
Read my books, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs and Not Wonder More, free
Read my books, Not Wonder More, Eagleridge Bluffs and Spirit Bear for free!
For a limited time you can download and read any one, or all three of my novels in the ECO-WARRIOR SERIES free. They include Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs and Not Wonder More-Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
All you need to do is go to storycartel.com and register. Books are free in exchange for your honest review (see my previous blog for more information). This offer is available for about a month.
If you follow this blog here’s your chance to see if I can actually write or are my rants just sour grapes. Am I a cynical, bitter, nasty, no-talent guy with a giant chip on his shoulder taking cheap shots, or am I an undiscovered literary genius?
It’s likely somewhere in between, well maybe more of the former, but hey, you can decide for yourself, and for free.
Maybe I trashed your book in a review. Here’s your chance to get back at me. Read my books and if you honestly think they’re crap, don’t hold back. A bad review is better than no review (hmm…I’ll get back to you on that).
As you read this, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs and Not Wonder More are available now and can be downloaded free.
You have my word the reader reviews you see for my books on Amazon, Goodreads and Barnes and Noble will not be manipulated, paid for, or fraudulent in any way. Frankly, it’s just too much effort for too little gain, and besides what would be the point? You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but how long can you go on fooling yourself?
Have I been fooling myself?
You tell me.
~ ~ ~
I’m not a very friendly person.
If we attended the same party you’d see standing alone at the edge of an animated group, not contributing. If you thought I looked like I wished I could be someplace else, you’d probably be right.
But being a misanthrope doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate and value comments and criticisms of my work. Insightful comments from strangers have taught me more about writing and photography than anything else.
So please comment and criticize if you wish.
Just don’t expect it to be the beginning of an online relationship.
R
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
Read my current work(s) in progress at
Read ”Bubble” excerpts of my novels at
http://bublish.com/author/view/3307
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
Or, if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music
Flowers with Attitude at http://youtu.be/ICrt4eY-rx8
Pacific Coast Sunsets at http://youtu.be/BxSTGuNh_gY
May 4, 2014
Fraudulent book reviews impugn authors’ integrity
Recently I received a book free from Story Cartel http://www.storycartel.com/ in exchange for an honest and impartial review.
If you register with Story Cartel you can download free books. The only requirement is that you write an honest review and post it on Goodreads, Amazon, B&N and maybe your blog. If you’re not registered with all these sites than you can just post on the ones you’re familiar with. You’ve got four weeks to post your review – they even send you prompts. No one comes after you if you fail to post.
Your reviews help authors market their books and gives them valuable feedback to improve their writing.
Are customer reviews important? You bet they are.
Customer reviews of books, no matter how unprofessional, help sell books.
BookBub http://www.bookbu.com/ , a daily deal site for e-books that helps lesser known authors build a fan base by giving a away deeply discounted e-books, says the following about customer reviews:
If one thing is certain from the results we’ve seen, it’s that customer reviews can help sell eBooks. We’ve consistently found that mentioning reader reviews in a BookBub blurb results in better response rates. In one test, including the phrase “over 200 five-star Amazon reviews” drove over 20 percent more clicks than a version of the blurb that did not mention reviews.
Which brings us to Amazon http://www.amazon.com/ , a company that captures nearly a third of every dollar spent on purchasing books. It values reviews more than other online booksellers featuring them prominently.
If you think that might make unscrupulous authors try to find ways of garnering lots five star reviews for books that are dreck, well, you’d be right, and they’ve been doing it.
The easiest is guilting friends and family into submitting one paragraph reviews (probably written by the author) and ticking the five star box, likely without even reading the book. Authors give away books for positive reviews, swap positive reviews with other authors, even pay professional reviewers, go to http://www.fiverr.com/ , to write and post five star reviews.
So how do you sort out the fraudulent reviews from the legitimate ones?
That’s what Amazon is wondering.
After several well-publicized cases involving writers buying or manipulating their reviews, Amazon appears to be cracking down on what appear to be fraudulent reviews. Though the shopping site has not said how many reviews it’s deleted, writers say thousands have disappeared in recent months.
Sorting the legitimate from the illegitimate reviews seems an impossible task, After all, who can account for someone’s taste?
Back to the book I got for free from Story Cartel in exchange for an honest and impartial review.
This novel is a mess. The plot glitches are more entertaining than the plot and the characters are one dimensional and unmotivated. I generously gave it two stars, the equivalent to “I don’t like it.”
It so far has garnered eleven reviews on Amazon, five of which are five stars.
One five star reviewer called it “Thrilling, tightly written, gripping”, another said it was an “Impressive debut novel”. Both of these reviews were one paragraph. Click on “see all my reviews” and there aren’t any others.
There were five reviews from Story Cartel members. Their average rating was 2.8 stars, or almost “it’s okay”. Factor in the other reviews, which include four five-star ratings and a one-line four-star review (also no other reviews posted) and the average becomes 3.6 or almost “I like it”.
The suspect reviews bump the novel rating by twenty percent.
If you’re a writer who will not impugn their integrity by participating in this online chicanery then you’re pretty much screwed. Legitimate reader reviews are far and few between and they are seldom five stars.
If you’re a reader looking for the truth about a book you’re considering purchasing, I suggest you read reviews in newspapers and magazines. Or, if you find it more convenient to read Amazon reviews, skip the five star ones and read the negative reviews – three stars or less. There are usually more in depth and give you a better understanding of the novel – you have the sense the reviewer actually read the book. They are more unbiased because in most cases the reviewer will attempt to justify his criticisms.
They are almost always better written and more entertaining.
Fraudulent reviews, manipulated best-seller lists, all for a few bucks and a little fame. Is this the way the game has to be played?
I think not.
“Character is that which can do without success.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
~ ~ ~
I’m not a very friendly person.
If we attended the same party you’d see standing alone at the edge of an animated group, not contributing. If you thought I looked like I wished I could be someplace else, you’d probably be right.
But being a misanthrope doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate and value comments and criticisms of my work. Insightful comments from strangers have taught me more about writing and photography than anything else.
So please comment and criticize if you wish.
Just don’t expect it to be the beginning of an online relationship.
R
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
Read my current work(s) in progress at
Read ”Bubble” excerpts of my novels at
http://bublish.com/author/view/3307
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
Or, if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music
Flower with attitude at http://youtu.be/ICrt4eY-rx8
Pacific Coast Sunsets at http://youtu.be/BxSTGuNh_gY
April 30, 2014
“Horse Hunts” heavy on details, light on charactization
Horse Hunts, A Smoke Tree Mystery Series Novella by Gary J. George is heavy on plot and details, many repetitive and extraneous, but very light on characterization.
The story starts off immediately with the initiating incident which is encouraging. A agricultural inspection officer is shot in Vidal Junction, near the California/Arizona state line, when he asks to inspect the contents of a driver’s trunk. The assailant then flees driving on Highway 95 until his car breaks down, which he abandons and walks into the desert.
The protagonist, Lieutenant Carlos Caballo, aka “Horse”, the commander of the Smoke Tree substation of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s department, gets the call to investigate. In the trunk of the abandoned car he finds the body of a dead woman, who turns out to be the driver’s wife.
Good premise and established quickly.
The story is realistically portrayed and the police procedure credible. There are some nice descriptive passages about the desert landscape and interesting insights into “man tracking” as Horse leads his deputies into the wilderness after the suspect.
Tracking, however, is not very exciting action and a little goes a long way, and there’s a lot about tracking.
The novella really begins to unravel when it switches into the point of view of the suspect, Harvey Vickers. The character is clichéd and one-dimensional. He appears almost a to be a person of diminished mental capacity. Once in the desert though, Vickers becomes very astute in attempting to conceal his trail. The reader wonders where the moron learned this stuff.
There’s a huge chunk of unmotivated backstory about Vicker’s childhood (none about desert survival though), which again is clichéd and one-dimensional. A better writer could have used this info dump to develop the antagonist’s character, but as it is it just slows the narrative.
Despite the many hours together in the wilderness tracking a desperado, you never get a sense of a relationship between Horse and his younger deputies. The extent of the relationship with his wife is equally shallow, with Horse describing himself as “lucky to have the love of this good woman.” With his dead father he all he can remember is “how much he missed that good man, taken from his family so young.”
Half way through this story, the author introduces a new character, Joe Medrano. Joe is a recluse and one of the few surviving members of the Chemehuevi tribe. He really serves no other purpose than to allow the author to expound upon the wrongs perpetrated by the federal government against Indians, and this tribe specifically.
This is actually an interesting bit of history and could have been developed into subplot especially if it was subtly inserted by Joe, instead of pontificated by Horse.
Unfortunately, the way it is presented by George it appears only as author intrusion.
One of the problems throughout the story is over-explaining. It is really apparent near the end when Horse uses military tactic he describes as “fire and movement”. First he explains this tactic to his deputy in detail, than he carries out the tactic explaining again in detail what is transpiring. This need to make sure the reader “gets it” really detracts from the climax of the story.
Reading fiction is an emotional experience, or at least it should be. Emotion is best conveyed through the relationships between characters. George needs to develop his characters so they are three-dimensional and establish real, meaningful relationships between them for his future work to be a fulfilling and entertaining. Character always trumps plot.
This novella suffers from writer inexperience. It lacks depth and feeling. When the George tries for it he fails. For example, this is the passage as Horse and his deputy ride out into the desert after an armed murderer:
And like something created unintentionally, but created nonetheless, they beckoned Horse and Andy, as if there were anything anywhere out there that held the promise of something of use to the two men on horseback moving ahead of the sun.
Anything anywhere out there something?
There’s nothing wrong with this story that ten more years of writing experience won’t fix.
I received this book free from Story Cartel in exchange for a honest and impartial review.
~ ~ ~
I’m not a very friendly person.
If we attended the same party you’d see standing alone at the edge of an animated group, not contributing. If you thought I looked like I wished I could be someplace else, you’d probably be right.
But being a misanthrope doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate and value comments and criticisms of my work. Insightful comments from strangers have taught me more about writing and photography than anything else.
So please comment and criticize if you wish.
Just don’t expect it to be the beginning of an online relationship.
R
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
I blog at
http://rodraglin.wordpress.com/
Read my current work(s) in progress at
Read ”Bubble” excerpts of my novels at
http://bublish.com/author/view/3307
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
Or, if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical musis
Flower with attitude at http://youtu.be/ICrt4eY-rx8
Pacific Coast Sunsets at http://youtu.be/BxSTGuNh_gY
April 20, 2014
55 more ways to delude yourself
Sell More Books, 55 Free Promotions That Work, by Nancy Hendrickson and Michelle Campbell-Scott is sixty-two pages of promotional techniques designed to help you sell your book using social media and the internet.
Since the authors readily admit not all of the 55 promotions will work for every single book or every single author, they’ve divided their strategies into five major categories, “hopefully making it easier for you to find the promotional ideas that work for you and your book.”
The five categories are:
The Big Five – for social media junkies.
The Rock Star – for authors who love being in the limelight, includes YouTube and Podcasts.
The Emily Dickenson – for the shy who love writing more than anything else.
The Best Friend – putting the touch on family and friends
The Wizard – for those very up-to-date on the latest promotional strategies.
Depending on how savvy you are technologically you may find some of these programs complicated in the extreme. You could end up spending a lot of time, and I mean a considerable amount, for very limited results.
The obvious flaw with self-promotion, and this applies to a number of the authors’ suggestions, is most of these schemes lack credibility. Creating your own YouTube video talking about your book, arranging a friend to interview you with, no doubt, scripted questions, bogus author review swaps (you plug mine and I’ll plug yours), and begging family and friends to submit positive reviews, and let’s face it, how likely are they to post an objective one, do not advance your goal of being a better writer.
Oh, but that’s not your goal, you just want to sell 55 more books?
Well, then of course, you’ll want to spend all the time it takes to keep current with your new virtual friends, tribe members and online acquaintances instead of writing another, hopefully better, book.
Sell More Book, 55 Free Promotions That Work is certainly worth the price even if you get a couple of new, legitimate ideas. It’s apparent from the author’s bios that the focus of this book is mainly at writers of non-fiction where the strategies would likely work better than promoting works of fiction.
Regardless, you’ll be disappointed if you think taking the time to employ these techniques will make you significantly more successful.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but the question is, how long can you continue to keep fooling yourself?
I received this book free from Story Cartel in return for an honest, impartial review. More on Story Cartel in an upcoming blog. Check it out at storycartel.com
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
Read my current work(s) in progress at
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
Visit my flickr photostream at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
March 29, 2014
Author possessed
It’s electrifying, fascinating, magical and, above all else, the reason I write.
The characters in my current novel have come to life. I am now only the conduit for their emotions, thoughts and actions. They are doing and saying things I never imagined they would and yet I know it’s right for them, for me, for the story.
The story? I’m on an adventure. Maps have been abandoned. I don’t know where I’m going or how to get back. Places are being rediscovered, events revisited, emotions resurrected. I am boldly going where I’ve been before and never knew it.
I’m frequently afraid.
There’s no hesitation, no reviewing, no referring to a plot outline. I sit down and they compete to be expressed. They now are constantly with me. When I’m not writing they interrupt my dreams, my conversations, anything I attempt to get done.
I am possessed.
I prefer their company over anyone elses. It’s like the first bloom of love, I can’t wait to get back to them, and hate the time we’re apart. Leaving them is tortuous, even if just to sleep.
This can’t last. The intensity is exhausting. Like any infatuation the passion will wane. But for now it consumes me and I feel sympathy for those whom have never experienced this.
I know there will be bleak days ahead when I’ll look at the plot and see it as contrived, examine the characters and find them shallow.
But even during those times when everything is tested and found lacking, when the entire work appears flawed beyond repair, stupid, dumb and I’m sick, sick, sick of it, I’ll still remember these moments and remind myself for a brief time I was a writer.
Or thought I was.
~ ~ ~
Read my current work(s) in progress, including Forest Primeval, the work mentioned here, at
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
