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I’m a writer who blogs about writing, reading, teaching, research, publishing, marketing, and more.
Latest Blogs
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Author Press Kit
Back in 2005 when I first started my website, I had a page dedicated to my press kit. I felt it would be accessed by anybody who wanted to write an article about my books or me. Unlike today, I couldn’t tell back then if anybody actually accessed my press kit. Today web pages offer…
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Granny Squares and Fiction
My mother was a life-long crocheter, expressing herself through the beautiful pieces she created. Among my childhood memories one always stands out: lying on the floor with my brother, watching a TV Western (Maverick, maybe, or Wagon Train), hearing in the background the subtle snap of mercerized cotton thread as my mother’s crochet needle pulled…
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Exit Velocity: Professional Journal Reviews
I suspect that every person who participates in indie-publishing has different opinions on how to market a title before its publication day. I myself have tried different approaches with different books: in other words, I haven’t followed a consistent pattern. That’s because, frankly, I’m not sure what works best. Take the question of reviews. Reviews…
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Exit Velocity: Cover Reveal
Confession: I have never done a cover reveal. When I first started writing, social media as we know it didn’t exist – so there was no place to post a cover reveal. And after social media existed, I didn’t do cover reveals because my publishing schedule was so tight that I had no time to…
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The F Words: Older Readers and YA
A recent Publishers Weekly article reported that 51% of YA books (those aimed at 14-18-year-olds) are bought by people between the ages of 30 and 44, and 78% of those buyers want to read the book for themselves. According to the article, YA offers adults the “opportunity to process the emotional residue of the teen…
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Clean as Bone
Recently I read a highly-praised, award-winning nonfiction book of about 550 pages. While I liked the subject matter and the information provided, I felt the book moved too slowly. It was repetitive and I felt it would have benefitted by being 100 pages shorter. Mark Twain once said something like: “I didn’t have time to…
Barbara Gregorich 