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Anonymous Suggestion Box

3/27/2014

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Picture this if you will. A society where everyone has an anonymous suggestion box at the end of their desk, the side of their car, or even stuck to their back in a kick-me-sign style. Imagine that at any time someone could secretively slip a tiny sheet of paper in there and evaluate your performance. No identity would be tied to the paper. There'd be no retribution for the commentator. Oh what a world.

Think of the grocery clerk that rolled his eyes at you, the police officer who gave you that parking ticket. Think of your boss who always makes you work over time and fill up his coffee. Think of your colleague who is online shopping all day while you bust your bum. Oh, the scathing suggestions you could pen. Imagine the justice scrawled on tiny slips of parchment. 

But our world doesn't work that way. At least not most of the time. Sure, you can complain about your co-worker or tattle on the clerk at the supermarket, but usually you have to march your fanny to a manager and take the time to complain. If you tell your boss, you could risk him or her spilling the beans to your co-worker. And there's probably no suggestions box on the CEO's desk. And if there were, how many brave souls would dare? 

Our world doesn't function with anonymous suggestions and thank goodness. With anonymity, people can become some of the most vile of creatures. Ever heard of internet trolls? What about group riots where faceless looters flip cars and set couches on fire? We need accountability or some of our most base desires take over. We become animals. Me Tarzan. You Jane. 

But what about writing in the 21st century and life on the internet? If you have a book published lately, you know where I am headed. We authors have an anonymous suggestion box posted next to the purchase link of our product. It is the equivalent of Dunkin Donuts having their Yelp reviews scrolling on the brick next to the entrance as you walk in to buy apple fritters. Do reviewers who tear us to shreds have to give their real names? No. Do they have to prove they've actually read our books? No. Do they have to prove they don't have a personal vendetta against us and therefore are plotting to destroy our lives and boil our bunny rabbits? Once again, no. Sometimes I think about the reviewing system I am required to depend upon and feel like crawling into a corner and sucking my thumb. You mean if I tick someone off in real life they can ruin my book career? Why yes, yes they can. Lord help us if that ever happened in real life. Hold onto your butts, workers at the Secretary of State. I'm coming for you. 

And yet, I'm not advocating for any of this to change. We need reviews. We need people able to give honest opinions about products without fear of retribution from product makers. Reviews are essential. I use them all the time. So, why bother bringing it up? I should just talk about something interesting like where the Malaysian airplane went. That sure hasn't been talked about enough. 

The reason I wrote this post is that last week I met with an aspiring teenage novelist. I wish you could have seen her. Her eyes were so bright and sparkly. Her smile was so wide. When she talked about wanting to publish her book on Amazon, my immediate reaction was to dissuade her, which I stopped myself from doing but only barely. What would reviewers do to her wide-eyed wonder? What would her smile look like a few weeks after publication? I wanted to shelter that adorable child and keep her safe from phrases like, "Can I get a BORING!" (Quoted from a review I got this week.). It's a harsh world out there and, baby, it ain't getting any easier.

While I would never dissuade anyone from publishing, I do think a dose of reality can be helpful. If you know of any bright-eyed, aspiring authors, I think it's okay to show them some of your one-star reviews. Maybe it will help them take a little more time before publication. Maybe they'll look into hiring a professional editor. They'll might want to learn the hard way, but we can be there to soften the fall. And it might help them to think of that blinking suggestion box floating over their heads day in and day out. It never goes away. It doesn't answer to reason. And it can have a life of its own. 

In the end, the best we can do is put out a damn fine book and ignore the suggest box. Nay-sayers are mostly nit-wits anyway, right?

What are your thoughts on the realities of harsh reviews? How would you counsel an aspiring author these days? 

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Author Collectives (and Why all Authors Need One)

3/15/2014

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Writing is a lonely profession. I spent my first five years as a fledgling writer in isolation. I was an author island, typing away in my armchair day after day with no colleagues, no compatriots, no co-workers. You see, I'm not one of those fortunate people who's married her first reader. My husband is a lovely man. He'll do dishes and put kids to bed until the cows come home, but ask him to read a teen dystopian manuscript and he slowly dies a little each page. There is no one in my household that yearns to read my fiction. I have teacher-writer friends who started reading my work in the beginning, but I knew after a few pages it became tiresome for them. Later I was lucky enough to stumble on some online writer friends who were kind enough to give me feedback on my writing. Writing conferences garnered new friends here and there. It was amazing how exciting it was to talk to fellow authors, to share trade secrets and miseries, to give virtual pats on the back. Insert semicolon smiley face and hug icon here. 

This past year I started talking with some indie authors whose books sat beside mine on the Amazon shelves. I met some amazing people and quickly formed a bond. It was not much later when nine of us decided to pool our resources and form an author collective. I'd seen the Indelibles do it and thought it was brilliant. "You mean you guys work together, support each other and spread the love around? Sign me up." 

Today introduce you to Infinite Ink, my author collective. Please go to the website and poke around. There's a fantastic giveaway, a list of our books, our author bios and free books. These ladies write speculative fiction like me. They are fabulous people. You'll love them and their books. 

Any authors out there who are considering an author collective, I'd recommend it 110% percent. The camaraderie and support has been phenomenal. Not a day goes by that I don't receive valuable information, tips and help. When a bad review gets on of us down, we pump her back up. When a new promotion site pops up, we consult about its worth. We share blog posts, tweets, and jokes. I'm no longer an author island. I'm a guest at the best indie party in town. And the lampshades abound. 

The moral? Find a buddy, a writer friend, someone who's book you've seen on your Amazon shelves and reach out to them. I've found indie authors to be some of the most wonderful people on the internet. Your marketing efforts will be magnified and you'll feel more fulfilled. And if all else fails you'll have lots of couches around the country that you can crash at. 

So what about you? Anyone out there interested in author collectives? Sound off below. 

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New Book by Author Dan O'Brien

3/11/2014

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Greetings, friends. I wanted to take a moment to let you know about an exciting new book by author Dan O'Brien. He's written over 20 books––including the bestselling Bitten, which was featured on Conversations Book Club’s Top 100 novels of 2012. Check out the blurb below. 

You’re never too old to have one more adventure 

Brought to life by Steve Ferchaud’s vibrant drawings, this story for all ages by Dan O’Brien lets us know that it is never too late to have one more adventure. 


An Excerpt:


Robert Pendleton opened one eye as the light of a passing car flashed over the window, shattering the darkness into prisms. He rolled onto his back on the beat-up couch and yawned as he reached his hands up and rubbed his eyes unceremoniously. 

He looked out over the darkness at the digital clock. The red digits spelled out a quarter ‘til midnight––nearly fourteen hours of sleep. He smiled and grabbed one of the cushions of the couch, burying his head in it. Just enough sleep, he reminded himself. Robert felt that anything less than twelve hours of sleep was very nearly too little. 

He grasped blindly for the TV remote. 

Groaning as he lifted his head, he looked at the empty table––his eyes drawn by another flash of a passing car. He couldn’t see clearly, but he knew that the remote had been there before he had fallen asleep nearly half a day ago. 

“Could have sworn….” he mumbled as he pushed himself up and brushed his hand around the top of the table, finding nothing. “Where did….”

Another groan escaped his lips as he lifted his body to a sitting position and threw aside the cluster of pillows that he had gathered around himself. He reached out for the lamp, but instead knocked it to the floor with a resounding thud. 

Robert muttered as he stood up from the couch, and then sank to his knees to search around in the darkness for the fallen lamp. Reaching around on the shadowed floor, shards of the broken lamp scattered like pieces of light. 

He turned his head, peering beneath the large space underneath the couch and saw the reflection of the buttons on the remote. The off-gray piece of machinery was underneath the couch––only darkness lingered beyond it. He reached out as he spoke again. 

“How did it get all the way down there?” 

Robert flexed his hand and strained as he twisted his back to reach farther; yet, the remote remained just out of reach. He pulled his arm away with a huff and craned his neck to the side, staring underneath into the darkness below the couch. 

His eyes widened as he saw the impossible: there was something beyond the remote. He shook his head and closed his eyes, whispering to himself that he didn’t see what he thought he had.

“I saw a little man,” he whispered to himself as he opened his eyes once more and nearly gasped as he did so. 

The figure was closer now and he could make out the outline clearly. A tiny man rested just beyond the remote. 

“What in the name of…?”

“Not here in the name of nobody, laddie. I be a friend though,” crooned the miniscule figure as he interrupted Robert and stepped forward, placing a hand on the darkened and slick surface of the remote. 

A tam-o’-shanter crested his bright red hair, the shaggy mane blending perfectly into his equally crimson, neatly trimmed, beard. 

A billow of whitish smoke drifted from the long-stemmed pipe that he held clenched between his lips. 

Robert fell back and knocked aside the adjacent table. Rubbing his eyes, he spoke a single word: “Leprechaun.”



About the Author:


Dan O’Brien, founder and editor-in-chief of The Northern California Perspective, has written over 20 books––including the bestselling Bitten, which was featured on Conversations Book Club’s Top 100 novels of 2012. Before starting Amalgam, he was the senior editor and marketing director for an international magazine. In addition, he has spent over a decade in the publishing industry as a freelance editor. You can learn more about his literary and publishing consulting business by visiting his website at: www.amalgamconsulting.com. Contact him today to order copies of the book or have them stocked at your local bookstore. He can he reached by email at [email protected]. 

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    Katie French is the author of The Breeders, a Young Adult dystopian adventure and Eyes Ever to the Sky, a sci fi romance. Nessa: A Breeders Story, a prequel novelette is available on Amazon for FREE. Sign up for notifications, or like her on Facebook. 

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