Typically written for new releases 30 days before publication date or up to 90 days afterwards, book reviews are 500-750 word essays which give other readers an idea of what the book is about so they can decide whether or not to read it. I blogged about the reasons to consider book reviews a couple of weeks ago. Here I provide suggestions on what to… [Read More]
As an author, this is a critical question to ask yourself as you begin to plan and write your book proposal. You’ll need to provide a list of reviewers as part of your marketing and publicity plans. Book reviews come in all sizes, colors, and styles these days. Once the purview of literary critics, many book reviews have turned into book reports. Remember fourth grade?… [Read More]
Today Swenson Book Development LLC is in New York City at the Jacob Javits Center attending Book Expo America 2014. The largest annual book trade show in the U.S., BEA provides booksellers with opportunities to network with colleagues, preview publishers’ upcoming titles, and discover new vendors. Programming includes a multitude of education and information sessions, as well as author breakfasts, lunches, and other special events. In… [Read More]
Tina Welling’s new book, Writing Wild: Forming a Creative Partnership with Nature, has just been released from New World Library. Tina Welling will be at Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca at 4PM on Saturday on May 31st. “Writing Wild is an impressive guide to feeling, seeing, thinking, and writing about the beauty, sadness, and wonder of life. Tina Welling has created a gift for us all.”… [Read More]
It is the author’s responsibility to seek endorsements for their books and publishers expect you to get them. Blurbs – often only a few words from an endorsement from a high profile author, celebrity or expert – appear on a book’s cover or dust jacket flaps. Blurbs are used in letters to solicit book reviews, on tip sheets to booksellers, in marketing materials and press… [Read More]
Award winning author, Cathryn Prince, will be in Ithaca for two events during Veterans Day weekend. Cathryn Prince is the author of four books of non-fiction history, a frequent contributor to The Christian Science Monitor, The Weston Forum, Weston Magazine, and Ridgefield Magazine, and has taught journalism at Quinnipiac, Columbia and Boston Universities. Military Writers Society of America recently awarded Cathryn Prince its 2013 Founders Award for Death… [Read More]
Kindness becomes weakness as boys become men in a place where violence is the solution to every problem. In Shawn Goodman’s new novel, 15-year-old James finds himself in an upstate detention center after his brother recruited him into drug trafficking. It’s a coming of age story set in a second chances plot. More Fight Club than Catcher in the Rye, Kindness for Weakness captures the… [Read More]
Good writers read good writing. While you are writing your work-in-progress, keep reading great books. Here’s our recommendations for a super summer reading list. Non-Fiction Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan Death in the Baltic: WWII Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff by Cathryn Prince Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill Good Prose: The Art of Non-Fiction… [Read More]
Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd have co-authored Good Prose: The Art of Non-Fiction and opened a window into writing and editing, writer and editor. Author of Strength in What Remains, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder won the Pulitzer Prize for his 1981 non-fiction narrative, The Soul of a New Machine. Kidder established… [Read More]
Jill Swenson: Cathryn Prince, this is your fourth book of historical non-fiction. Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff is a featured selection for the Military History Book Club this spring, advance reviews are positive and Amazon sales rankings impressive.. How does your experience working towards publication on this fourth book compare to a decade ago with your first, Shot from… [Read More]
