Sharon Bially's Blog, page 2
January 24, 2012
E-Books: Does Price Reflect Quality?
My husband is in the food business, so the debate over whether higher prices mean better quality is constant in our household. Pricier restaurants are usually better, right? And those underpriced gems? Why are they underpriced if they're really gems?
The same debate is raging in the book world right now. An e-book priced at $9.99 has got to better than one at $2.99. And let's not even talk about those 99-cent "dollar dreadfuls."
But… wait. Haven't you ever been disappointed — disgusted...
January 19, 2012
19.2 – Scavenger Hunt
(Continued from Chapter 19.1 – The Stonecutters Gift; to start book, scroll to "Chapters" in right side bar.) Despite socking Veronica in the gut right where it hurts the most, however, this realization also uplifts her. Brenda's only human, like everybody else. She may have talent, but above all, she knew how to cultivate it through relentless hard work. Veronica's talent may not match Brenda's, but if she sets her mind to it, she, too, can surely find a way to do something gratifying that a...
January 17, 2012
Leveraging the Power of Amazon
You may have already heard me shouting in excitement about the fact that the Kindle version of Veronica' Nap has been selling like crazy!
Since the free promo I ran on Friday, January 13, it's been downloaded by over 6100 people, has reached #1 in the Kindle Jewish fiction category (it's now hanging in there at #4, just a few spots below international blockbuster Sarah's Key) and hit #2 in the overall contemporary fiction category. Sales have continued steadily since the promo at about 40...
January 12, 2012
Literary: Literally
A great post this week on Jane Friedman's blog got me thinking, as I often do, about the word "literary."
It's everywhere: Literary festival. Literary agent. Literary success. Literary web site or blog.
Maybe I'm an anachronism, but when I hear the word "literary," my former-French-literature-major mind skips immediately to titles by authors like Tolstoy, Dickens, Voltaire and Sartre. Or on the contemporary side, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Annie Proux. I don't f...
January 4, 2012
Veronica's Nap on Kindle!
Warm wishes to all for 2012!
To kick off the new year, I've published Veronica's Nap as an e-book, available exclusively in the Amazon Kindle Store.
Swing by and grab your e-copy, priced "to sell" at $2.99.
Amazon Prime members can download it for free. :-)
As always, feel free to tweet about this, post it to Facebook and generally share with your friends.
December 27, 2011
19.1 – The Stonecutter's Gift
(Continued from Chapter 18.3 – Done With Lists & Excuses – to start book, scroll to "Chapters" in right side bar.) After driving north, then south, for forty minutes, unsure of where to go, Veronica heads for the Tenafly Public Library. Though not quite the ideal private refuge she pines for, its floor-to-ceiling windows ushering in rivers of sunshine and its spacious, silent halls lined with books and works of art make it the best place she knows of in this neck of the woods to put her...
December 20, 2011
18.3 — Done With Lists & Excuses
(Continued from Chapter 18.2 – Two-fisted Noogie; to start book, scroll to "Chapters" in right side bar.) Veronica paces the room's perimeter, at a loss for what to say. She could try to buy some time by answering that she likes it but has a few other visits lined up and will call back in a couple of days, but that would leave the door wide open for Rose to show the apartment to who knows how many other people. Some lucky family would rent it in a heartbeat. Another pair of children would...
December 13, 2011
18.2 — Two-Fisted Noogie
(Continued from Chapter 18.1 – Drowning in Motherhood – to start book, scroll to "Chapters" in right side bar.) Shirley has pretended not to notice when Veronica combs the ads or races out the door. In fact, since this search began, she has said mysteriously little. When Veronica enters a room, she scuttles away. Rich, on the other hand, has shown signs of an inexplicable thaw. Two weekends in a row, he's brought Veronica a copy of the Sunday paper. One morning, he peered over her shoulder ...
December 7, 2011
Changes
When I launched this blog in September of 2010, I had no particular outcome in mind but knew that it would generate momentum toward…something.
That "something" has indeed materialized. In the form of many things, in fact. So heads up about a number of exciting changes in the air:
1. I'm officially launching myself as a book publicist.
The active role I've played in the blogosphere's writing community and as an advocate for independent authors has led not only to a position as Indie Alley...
December 4, 2011
18.1 — Drowning in Motherhood
(Continued from Chapter 17.2 – Elbow Room; to start book, scroll to "Chapters" in right side bar.) At dawn she pulls on sweats and drives to the gas station to pick up a copy of the Bergen Record and, just for the heck of it, the New York Times. Armed with a giant coffee and a pair of glazed donuts for Luc and Céleste, she spreads out the newspapers on her parents' dining room table and sets to work combing through the "Rentals" section of the real estate pages. Jittery from a sleepless...
