Nancy J. Cohen's Blog: Nancy's Notes from Florida, page 132

PRESS RELEASES

As a new writer, you've been advised to send out a press release. What does this mean? Let's answer your questions one at a time.

WHEN DO YOU WRITE A PRESS RELEASE?

Write one when you have a first sale to announce, when you contract a multi-book deal, when you win a major award, when you hit a bestseller list, or when you have upcoming appearances.

WHAT SHOULD YOU INCLUDE?

Think of the five W's: Who, What, Why, Where, and When. Include your contact info, what news you have to share, why readers s...

HARRY P. LEU GARDENS

Harry P. Leu Gardens is one of my favorite haunts in Orlando. I modeled a location after it in my tenth Bad Hair Day mystery (yet to come), so I count a visit as part of my research.

There's so much more to do in Greater Orlando than the theme parks. When you have a day to spare, consider spending it at Winter Park. Stroll Leu Gardens in the morning then drive over to Park Avenue and park on one of the side streets. Have lunch in one of the many cafes lining the popular thoroughfare. Shop in t...

Amazon vs MacMillan

From The Author's Guild:

Macmillan's current fight with Amazon over e-book business models is a necessary one for the industry. The stakes are high, particularly for Macmillan authors. In a squabble over e-books, Amazon quickly and pre-emptively escalated matters by removing the buy buttons from all Macmillan titles (with some exceptions for scholarly and educational books), in all editions, including all physical book editions. Thousands of authors and titles are affected; hardest and most...

PRINTED PROMO MATERIALS

A writer can spend days preparing for a new release in terms of printed promo materials. Should you do bookmarks, postcards, or flyers? Tri-fold brochures, business cards, or posters? As more publicity is gained on the Internet, you'd think we could decrease this expense. However, readers still like bookmarks. Postcards are handy to put on promo tables or in goody bags at conferences. Brochures are useful when you give talks so the audience can learn more about you. Flyers or posters work...

WHAT IS A VOOK?

A Vook is a combination of a Video and a Book. Think of a story or text interspersed with images. Is this another harbinger of the future for the publishing industry? Evidently, you can access your Vook online or on your iPod and no doubt soon on your ebook reader, too. Videos can be watched alone or you can just read the text or view the integrated version. What's next–interactive stories where you decide which path the character will take? Those have been done but not in this format. Not...

SELF-EDITING

New writers often ask me for self-editing tips. Here is a revised version of my guidelines. I hope you find them useful. Would you add any more that I've overlooked?

SELF-EDITING

Copyright 2010 by Nancy J. Cohen  1. Tighten your sentence structure by replacing phrases with precise words. NO: "the light of the boat" YES: "the boat's light" NO: He ran down by the terrace and out toward the lake. YES: He sped past the terrace toward the lake.  2.  Replace passive verbs with active tense.  NO...