When I was 14 years old, my family visited the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Decades later, I remember several of the masterpieces hanging on the walls, particularly one that I did not like and could not determine why it was considered worthy of display in the renowned museum. It was a painting, a huge canvas painted in institutional green (the same color as mint flavored Crest toothpaste...
One bit of advice the “experts” give to novice writers is to read extensively. An author cannot truly know the tropes and reader expectations of his or her genre unless he or she reads extensively within that genre. The best way to know what readers want now is to read the books that are popular now in that genre. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and little (or nothing) in the...
Being both an author and a freelance editor, I spend a lot of time on various publishing-related groups on social media platforms. Without fail, the same questions come up again and again. I often respond to them. Unfortunately, my experience leads me to believe that many new authors don’t do their research before they agree to the first offer they receive for their manuscripts. That leads...
Many authors are reluctant to hire editors for various reasons. The most common are expense, hubris, and dread. Expense: Professional editing is expensive. That’s why it behooves an author to select an editor who’s a good match for both the manuscript and oneself. The wrong editor can make what sometimes feels like an excruciating process worse. An incompetent editor overwrites the...
May is a busy month, a time of celebration for many. Early may often includes high school proms. Graduations fill the month. May has two sentimental holidays: Mother’s Day and Memorial Day. Of personal interest, my birthday is in May. Sometimes Mother’s Day falls on the same date. For my family, May is also a time of mourning. My niece, Madeline, died on May 14, just six weeks before...
I am not mechanically inclined. Ask me to change a light bulb and I’ll panic. What’s doubly weird about that is I once worked in a strange role where I was both the desktop publishing person and the network administrator. I certainly wasn’t qualified to serve any company as a network administrator, so I relied on outsourced expertise by the name of Larry Hansford. Larry was...
Publishing involves process, especially traditional publishing. In my “real” life, I’m a freelance writer, editor, and book designer. I help authors along the publishing journey by providing discrete services. Although the name of my business may suggest otherwise, Hen House Publishing is not a traditional publisher. That being said, I receive and see inquiries every week from...
Occasionally in various author and writing groups, I come across posts asking whether, as a reader, I post reviews on books I do not finish or post reviews for books written by other authors. These queries come across as though the person posting were squeamish about book reviews. Inevitably, the posts gain traction from two basic camps of respondents. To answer the first question, yes, I do post...
Savvy authors understand why they receive such a small percentage of royalties on book sold when their books are published by traditional publishers. The publisher assumes all financial risk and invests in producing a book of the high quality the reading public expects and deserves. That effort entails the employment of professionals: copywriters for the back cover blurb and marketing; editors...
I have recently finished two projects: one is my own book and the other is one I wrote for 0-0-8 Studios. SINGLE STROKE The third book in my Triune Brides Alliance series, Single Stroke follows two characters briefly introduced in Double Cut, Louella and General Superior Yas’kihn. These two characters wanted their stories told, so I put them together. In Double Cut, Louella is kidnapped by...