Calling All Authors---How to Publish with Your Eyes Wide Open (Book) - 8/23/2009 8:17:18 PM
Authors Access is a great book filled with tons of helpful advice from authors and publishers.
Inside I found heaps of useful articles on the different genres, editing, marketing, and using the Internet to promote and help sales.
I found many of the articles beneficial to me personally: “Five Tips on Writing Romance” by Sylvia Hubbard, “Publishing a Children’s Book? Better Get a Child’s Opinion First” by Tyler R. Tichelaar, and “Elements of a Quality Book Review” by Tyler R. Tichelaar were three of the most worthwhile for me.
Many of the authors were known to me, a few of them I had to look up. This was made easier by the inclusion of websites for the authors at the end of their articles. The addition of the bibliography at the end has led me to many more useful books that have found a place on my bookshelf.
Authors Access has shown me how to establish an effective MySpace page and in “Promoting your Book with Social Media and Web 2.0 there is a very good list of sites for book promotion.
I found Authors Access to be an immense source of help when it comes to knowledge about promotion, dealing with ‘writer’s block’, and publishing.
Sacred Night (Book) - 7/22/2009 5:57:09 PM
"Sacred Night" right from the beginning is action and suspense and doesn't slow down for a minute!
The story begins with singer Emily Sanders and piano player, Dan Barton at Rita's Bar. Coincidentally they are both single parents. At one moment they are discussing co performing and the next a car crashes right through Rita's Bar, killing everyone inside except Dan and Emily. While at the same time, we are taken behind the wheel of the car that was driven through the bar.
Dan and Emily wake up 20 years younger in a world which is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time while trying to make it home to their children. In the other universe of their lives, they are lying in a coma with their children left in limbo, doing everything they can to help their parents.
In the same events, we are taken to the Amazon and meet Ahi, a Tokablaki chief who is going through the enormously grueling process of the Sacred Night ritual.
Without giving too much away, this book takes us through adventures in the Amazon, the world of suspended Animation in which Emily and Dan are in, terroristic activities and suicidal killers, stopping alzheimers, drug dealing, and love.
From the moment I began "Sacred Night", I was hooked! Valerie Connelly's story telling abilities scream loud and clear from page. I am impressed with her ability to take parallel events and not lose a reader! I was able to connect with all the characters, to visualize the events, and felt my heart pound with anticipation right up to the end.
Calling All Authors---How to Publish with Your Eyes Wide Open (Book) - 3/10/2007 5:35:15 PM
This book is going to be incredible... after a brief email response I got from Valerie, she offered advice that's more enlightening then ALL the advice I've received in the past two years. THANKS, Valerie, for your time... I can't wait to order your book! Amy S
HOW TO ORGANIZE BOOKING YOUR SHOW SO IT WORKS EVERY TIME (Article) - 2/17/2009 2:17:22 PM
Good info. I am also a new publisher. Do you care to compare notes?
Self-Publishing, Independent Publishing, Traditional Publishing (Article) - 7/5/2008 11:06:17 PM
Dar Valerie,
You are the BEST!
What has been your experience with Nightengale? It sounds terrific!
Thanks again for great advice and for being such an inspiration!
John Michael
PUBLISHING A BOOK IS LIKE GIVING BIRTH TO A CHILD: (Article) - 7/5/2008 10:58:19 PM
Dear Valerie,
An excellent piece of work. I shall share this information with my Landings Writers' Club in Ft Myers, Fl.
Thanks for writing the truth.
John Michael
PUBLISHING A BOOK IS LIKE GIVING BIRTH TO A CHILD: (Article) - 3/4/2008 8:23:09 AM
Valuable and informative article that has a lot of good information and resources for both beginner and seasoned writers to consider. Thank you for sharing.
Fee
The Three P's, and I don't mean Vegetables. (Article) - 3/3/2008 8:16:46 AM
Very interesting and worthwhile reading
Self-Publishing, Independent Publishing, Traditional Publishing (Article) - 12/9/2007 5:14:38 AM
Thank you for a very insightful article. Willie
The Three P's, and I don't mean Vegetables. (Article) - 7/26/2007 11:37:43 AM
great message and something to take back home ..i really liked it
The Three P's, and I don't mean Vegetables. (Article) - 4/7/2007 1:47:25 PM
Loved this one, too. So very true. Question. Do I HAVE to promote my book? I mean, won't the publisher and the reading public just KNOW I'm the latest hot ticket? Won't Oprah be calling me to appear on her show the minute my book is released? Don't we all want to believe that one!
Still, good grammar, good story, unflinching faith in what you've done are the keys, I think (and you confirm).
Patrick
post script: And DON'T give up drinking forty gallons of coffee and smoking twelve packs of cigarettes at each writing session!
SELF-CONFIDENCE VERSUS SELF-DOUBT (Article) - 4/7/2007 1:35:12 PM
My gosh, you're right up there with Elizabeth Lyon, Janet Burroway and Noah Lukeman! All of you say the same thing; be brief, murder passive voice, and show, don't tell. You know the difficulty in abiding by those excellent rules, I'm sure. Add another, perhaps. Write a million words. I'm at about 200,000. The benefit of writing a million is this--you eventually master the craft if you continue to write. That is unless you're Hemingway or Faulkner, who, I'm sure, wrote masterpieces from the gitgo!
Thanks for the reminders!
Patrick
How Distributor and Wholesaler Policies Affect a Book’s Journey into Bookst (Article) - 4/7/2007 1:21:01 PM
Hi Valerie,
Yep, this is a good one, too. Still, the difference betweeen Ingram and Lightning Source is making my head swirl a bit. No reflection on your writing, I'm often dense when dealing with more than one "character".
I spoke with Annie Hawkins of John Hawkins and Associates at a writer's conference a year or two ago in Yosemite, Ca. She briefly noted the process and obstacles you outlined in this article; the nearly insurmountable odds faced by first time authors even getting published due to the dynamics of marketing.
High praises for another terrific bit of information.
Regards,
Patrick
Self-Publishing, Independent Publishing, Traditional Publishing (Article) - 4/7/2007 1:07:03 PM
Hi Valerie!
I read your article with GREAT interest. Thanks so much for writing it. I've been through the publishing mill and really identified with, and appreciated, every point you made. I found the information regarding POD companies owning the ISBN of an author's book particularly dismaying. Self-publishing is not for the faint hearted or lazy, is it? I've always viewed it, too, as the last stop on the road to author oblivion.
Anyway, excellent, excellent article. Send it off to Writer's Digest! Every aspiring author should read it.
Nits: So sorry...I'm an inveterate line editor by nature.
2nd paragraph, last line. "...andyou..." Oops! Space there.
Last paragraph, "Believe first in YOURSLEF." What is a youslef I'm wondering? Lol. Does Updike ever misspell a word now and then that slips past the editor????? Probably.
I'm off to read the rest of your "stuff" and visit your website!
Best to you; amazing article.
Patrick
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