It has been a very good year for Swenson Book Development LLC and we credit the successes and accomplishments of our clients during 2013. 1. Did someone slip President Obama’s speechwriter an advance copy of Seymour Smidt’s manuscript? His December address riffed on pages from Sy’s chapters offering a historical analysis of growing income inequality. I am so thankful Sy has recovered from a terrible car accident last year and has returned to writing. From my initial read of Sy’s new research and theory, I predict this will be an important work. And knowing our President will want to buy his copy of Sy’s new book at Politics & Prose in D.C.next year is a gift as sweet as Christmas candy canes. 2. Cathryn Prince celebrated the release of Death in the Baltic this past April published by Palgrave Macmillan. In September, she won the Founders Award from the Military Writers Society of America and the Military History Book Club selected her book about the WWII sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff as their featured title last spring. This was the second book Cathryn and I worked on together. It’s a great joy to announce she successfully signed the perfect agent for her next work, Laurie Abkemier at DeFiore and Company. I look forward to working together on her fifth book in 2014. 3. Elaine Mansfield is more than a client and for that I am thankful. She’s become a friend, neighbor on Lake Seneca, and mentor through my own lessons on loss. I’m thrilled her book, Leaning into…
Jacqueline Livingston lived as an artist and died on the summer solstice, June 21, 2013, at home in Ithaca, NY, where she lived with her husband of 30 years, Leo Brissette. Born in August 1943, Jacqueline Louise Barrrett, grew up in Chandler, Arizona, where her father worked on the Air Force base as chief of the Fire Dept. He died when she was 12 years… [Read More]
Filed Under: censorship, Howard Smith, In Memoriam, Jacqueline Livingston, Village Voice
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Although the majority of the traffic to your site will come through social media engagement, an author can’t ignore getting found through Google and other search engines. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, refers to practices used to get a higher rank in search engines – in plain English, it’s the difference between being on the 1st or 7th page of Google results. But, you might… [Read More]
The alternate title to this blog could be “Why do I keep getting my irritating cousin’s political rants in my Facebook newsfeed?” There’s an answer to that question if that’s happening to you, and it comes in the form of a question: “Do you engage with your cousin’s Facebook rants?” Because if the answer is YES, boy, are you in for a revelation – engaging… [Read More]
It’s important for an author to know the differences between the various kinds of editing, and understand what professional services an editor may or may not provide. When you work with an editor, find one with whom you can clearly communicate your needs, expectations and working style. Not all editors are the same. Copyeditors read your document and look for errors in punctuation, spelling, grammar,… [Read More]
Filed Under: Copyeditor, Development Editor, editors, Fact-checker, Ghostwriter, Line editor, Technical editor, Writing Coach
Growing up in a home with books explains, in part, my love of books. My father has always had a library. That Bob Swenson read Ariel and Will Durant’s 11 volumes of The Story of Civilization and William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, meant I surreptitiously read them too, in junior high. Cold War novels, international espionage thrillers, an occasional mystery, Michener,… [Read More]