Friday, December 23, 2011

Our Fascination With Quotes


Why do people like quotes?

VisualThesaurus , in "May I Quote You?published answers from Scholar, Fred Shapiro, an authority on quotations and the editor of the seminal Yale Book of Quotations The answers provide interesting insights well worth reading.

VisualThesaurus is a wonderful Subscription website people interested in words cherish because, along with other useful resources, the unique interactive dictionary and thesaurus create word maps. (14-day free trial.) Exploration and learning help users understand language in uniquely powerful ways. Visual Thesaurus® is developed and published by Thinkmap, Inc.

This website includes a number of archived (free) thoughtful blogs, plus the numerous comments they generate.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Banish Those Weird Characters and Run-On Sentences


Be certain that your editor is not going to receive a sloppy query or manuscript that possible arrives with weird characters, or sentences that run together.

Some ISP servers like nothing but pure plain text. So when you've saved your work in a standard word processor, whether you use plain text or RichText/HTML, it may not arrive in the pristine condition you intended.

Also, nearly all email programs or web email interfaces default to Rich Text, which also can result in ugly manuscripts when you don't take time to trim it. Let's face it. If your editor receives sloppy looking material you'll be less likely to receive an assignment.

There are ways to prevent the problem.
  1. Save a copy as plain text in Notepad. Then open that copy to check for HTML debris. Actually, it is good practice to keep a Notepad plain-text-folder for all your manuscripts.
  2. Set your email program or your web email to default to Plain Text.
  3. If you're still not sure that you have a clean manuscript, you can run it through one of the "scrubbers" to be found online.
Here are two free converters discovered with a quick search, and each produces a different font:

Inowebmarketing, http://www.inowebmarketing.com/word-to-text/
WebToolHub, http://www.webtoolhub.com/tn561393-html-to-text-converter.aspx

Keep your favorite editors happy by ensuring they receive perfectly formatted copy.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Ann Hite, Author of Ghost on Black Mountain Receives Publisher's Nod For Second Book


Ann Hite, author of Ghost on Black Mountain, received the best of news recently. The second book in the Black Mountain series will be published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.  The book will also get an exciting promotional plan.

Those in the publishing industry know this is not a small accomplishment, with the hard times the book business is going through at the moment. Ghost on Black Mountain has only been out three months!




Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Why Your Marketing Isn't Selling Books:Who Discovers Your Books?


In today's book marketing world it's discovery that counts! How many readers discover your book, and how they do it, is what increases sales.

See also Chapter 18 , Access The World and Write Your Way To $$$.