Back in the Dark Times, there used to be a commercial with the tag-line “It’s what’s up front that counts.” Their value-added proposition was that – ahem – first impressions matter. This month I thought it might be useful to look at book layout because when it comes to books, what’s up front does count….
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Rocky Mountain Writer #64
Barbara Nickless & Blood on the Tracks In June of 2012, Barb Nickless and her family were told to evacuate their house in Waldo Canyon, northwest of Colorado Springs, because a wildfire was bearing down. Authorities told Barb to plan on being gone for a few days. Instead, Barb’s house burned to the ground, one of…
Kindle Scout—What Happens When You Win?
If you haven’t heard the news by now, my Kindle Scout campaign was a success! My book, Call Me Zhenya, was chosen for publication by Kindle Press. I received just under 700 page views, with a surge at the very end in both views and in time spent in “Hot and Trending.” The page views…
Romance: Tropes, tropes, and more Tropes
Before we get into the popular tropes in romance, I guess I should define a trope. From Merriam Webster: Full Definition of trope. 1a : a word or expression used in a figurative sense : figure of speech b : a common or overused theme or device : cliché <the usual horror movie tropes> 2…
A Year In The Life Of IPAL
In October, 2015, I attended my first IPAL meeting at the Gold Conference. I didn’t know what to expect, and I was delighted to find that there were a healthy number of my fellow writers, all of whom had amazing ideas on how to further IPAL to work for us both as a group within…