Day 20: Pride and Self-Publication

It's easy to forget how quickly the stigma of self-publishing has vanished. At the turn of the century--this century!--self-publishing was the domain of the vanity press and a few hardy souls willing to take the risk. And humble their pride... As print-on-demand technology became available, many small publishing houses sprang up. My first book series was …

Day 15: By its Cover Judged

A pretty cover does not a book sale make. This is the lesson of my first series. The publisher's designers considered how the books would appear as on-line thumbnails--props to them for that. What they did not do was create something evocative enough for the Romance genre. Because a good cover fits in. The browsing …

Little steps add up

I saw my middle son off to school today. This time there were no tears because, well, he is 27. As I write this he is eating breakfast with students in his cohort and listening to orientation speeches. Heady stuff. Almost two years ago I watched him start out along this newfound path. He stepped …