Pro Writers

Let the Writer Beware

Hey folks, Recently, a writing friend sent me a link to an article that seems to indicate Scribd, a major subsciption service, is not paying authors. To read the original article, see http://writersweekly.com/this-weeks-article/scribd-com-is-copyright-infringement-their-business-model-and-are-you-a-victim-too-by-wilfried-f-voss. It’s an interesting article. But we’re all in charge of our own career to one degree or the other. In the end, my only advice would be to not distribute to Scribd (or do), and to do a search and remove any of … Read more

Tag Line Verbs (and Mostly Those That Are Not)

Hey Folks, Okay, first, to get us on the same page, what I call a “tag line” is what some call a “narrative beat.” I guess there are other names for it too, but here’s why I call it a tag line. When characters are engaging in dialogue, there are two types of narrative that may accompany the dialogue. One is the tag line. The other, I call a brief descriptive narrative. They are distinctly different … Read more

The Unfortunate Case of His Mother’s Virginity

Hey Folks, Enjoy a good noir pulp detective crime novel? Okay, try this on for size. You wake up after a long nap. You reach over to see whether your partner’s awake, and discover she’ll never wake up again. She’s dead. Of a cut throat. In your bed. You didn’t do it. But who did? How did they do it without waking you? And when? And why? Stern Richards, PI, has to find out. Or go … Read more

Safeguard Your Credibility, Part 3

Hi Folks, A long while back, in two parts, I published a post titled Safeguard Your Credibility. Here’s the Original Post and Here’s Part Two. Both posts were all about not displaying ignorance. Yet the only way to avoid displaying ignorance is to eradicate it. And the only way to eradicate it is to learn and continue learning. Of course, all of us are ignorant of some things. Nobody can be aware of everything. But I … Read more

“That” You Write vs. “What” You Write

Hi Folks, In a recent post (as I write this), Dean Wesley Smith wrote “…all that matters is the writing, not the end product.” That seemingly innocuous statement is only one of the many truly major lessons I’ve learned from him and attempted to pass along. To establish credentials, Dean Wesley Smith is a USA Today best selling novelist with over 200 novels to his credit. He has also written several hundred short stories, almost all … Read more

Learning from Other Writers

Hey Folks, Thriller author James Scott Bell, in the Kill Zone blog back in June, wrote  “Authors I Have Learned From: John D. MacDonald.” The article is chock full of gems if you dig just a little. You can read the post for yourself. I’ll reference it at the end. But for this post, I’ll offer a few hints at those gems, then elaborate a little on each of them. To begin, there is much to … Read more

The Scams, They Are A’waitin’…

Hi Folks, In their Author Newsletter (posted 9/30/2018), Booklocker.com announced they’ll file your copyright registration form for you for only $99. That’s compared with LegalZoom ($169), AuthorHouse and iUniverse ($170), Xulon Press and Mill City Press ($199), Balboa Press ($204), Xlibris ($249) and a host of others charging even more exorbitant prices. The others they listed include InfinityPublishing/FastPencil, Trafford.com, Westbow Press, and Lulu. The one outfit to avoid that they did not mention is Wheatmark. ALL … Read more

New Services Offered

Hey Folks, Very short post today. I’ve been a copyeditor for almost 40 years. The per-word fee for that service depends on your manuscript and how well it’s put together. If you’re interested in my copyediting service, you can find everything you need to know at http://harveystanbrough.com/copyediting/. But not everybody wants a copyedit. Many writers want only a critique of their work. I never used to offer critiques separate of a copyedit, but now I do. … Read more

The Claim

Hey Folks, This week we’re back to more science fiction with the sequel to In the Siberian Fields: The Claim. Adolph Hitler, terrible as he was, was nothing but a pawn. One in a series of strings tugged by a puppeteer. Hitler was vanquished, but the entity that gave him rise never went away. Two centuries and two decades after the rise of Hitler, the same entity is still pulling strings. And he’s almost accomplished the … Read more

Distribution: Exclusivity vs. Going Wide, Part Two

Hey Folks, I didn’t say anything in part one of this post about publishing to paper. Of course, publishing to paper as well as ebooks is a good idea. If you can manage it, publishing to audiobooks is also a good idea. I advocate making your work available in every format. The larger number of formats that are available, the larger your prospective audience. This is a fact. It won’t go away just because someone chooses … Read more