Social Media for Authors: Baby Step Six
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December 31, 2011

Ready to begin blogging in 2012? Have you completed Steps 1-5? If so, it’s time to install WordPress.org, following the instructions provided by your webhosting service provider. If BlueHost.com is your provider, it is a simple, one-click installation. Word Press’ video tutorials offer a quick and efficient way to set up a basic design and utilize important features by familiarizing you, the new user, with dashboard commands… [Read More]

No resolutions. Just reviews.
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December 29, 2011

The New Year is upon us. Everyone is talking about 2012 resolutions and proposing ways to become a better person. Personally, I hate resolutions. It’s fine to desire to be a better person, to lose 15 lbs, to eat more wholesome meals and fewer fast food quick fixes, to tackle home improvement projects, to promise to volunteer at the local food pantry every weekend, and… [Read More]

Landing an agent or publisher for your non-fiction book
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December 27, 2011

You might think you have a non-fiction book concept worth publishing, but in order to convince an agent or publisher of that you will need a winning query letter and full proposal. Writers tend to focus too narrowly on the ideas and content of their manuscript and lose perspective on the purpose of a book proposal. Think of it as a business plan. If you wanted… [Read More]

Social Media for Authors: Baby Step 5
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December 24, 2011

Design and Content Development for Your Author Website Before you get lost in the design details of a WordPress website, it’s important for authors to keep in mind the type of site they want to build. For most of our clients, we recommend a site that says “successful, professional author.” But beyond this general aesthetic, what will your site actually look like? What will it… [Read More]

Book Review: No Biking in the House Without a Helmet
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December 22, 2011

Author Melissa Fay Greene I had the pleasure of meeting Melissa Faye Greene at the Austin Jewish Book Fair in November. She was there to sign No Biking in the House Without a Helmet (Sarah Crichton Books, 2011) and to provide the opening address. No Biking is a memoir chronicling how she and her family of six (mom, dad, four kids) adopted five orphans from overseas—one… [Read More]

When do you need a book development editor?
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December 20, 2011

Today I list 10 times when an author of non-fiction might need a book development editor. If you plan to write a book and your goal is publication, then you might find the professional services of a book development editor valuable. 1. Before you begin writing the manuscript, take your concept to a book development editor. Don’t write the book before you’ve done your business… [Read More]

Social Media for Authors: Baby Step 4
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December 17, 2011

Keeping Up With the Joneses in the Design and Development of Your New Website and Blog Over the last three Saturdays, we have outlined preliminary steps for building an author website and blog. Today we talk about design. But before picking out tiles and swatches for your new electronic home, look at your neighbors’ houses. Do some window shopping. Compare yourself to the Joneses by… [Read More]

The Last Persian Prince of Poetry
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December 15, 2011

On YouTube you can view hundreds of clandestine copies of the unofficial people’s anthem of Iran, “Ey Irani.” The identities of these underground musical artists remain unknown but the viral impact is political dissidence. On the streets of Tehran in 2008-2009, the song lyrics of Malek O’Shoara Bahar offered resistance to tyranny. The Green Movement and the Arab Spring now interest Americans as social media… [Read More]

Books on the Streets of Brooklyn:Guest Blog
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December 13, 2011

For the Love of Books is a series of blogs we have run this fall of 2011 to celebrate all things BOOK. This week we feature a memoir writer living in Brooklyn, Ashley Grill. Ashley brings a different perspective with her observations of living in Brooklyn and seeing books everywhere….. “Walking along the rows of brownstone buildings in Park Slope is one of my favorite things about living in Brooklyn,… [Read More]

Social Media for Authors: Baby Step 3
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December 10, 2011

Baby Step 3: Build your author online presence by making executive decisions in answer to the following three questions. Who will provide you with internet service? Who will provide webhosting service for your website/blog? What content management system is right for you as an author? Internet service providers are those who bring the internet into your home or office. This may be your phone company,… [Read More]