Curious video on copyright

I viewed this YouTube video on copyright, and found it quite surprising in light of copyright, piracy, and marketing via the Web.

Giving a story or poem for free doesn’t mean you ‘lose’ as much as gain marketing for your writing and other work.

Make sure you have a web site people can find you and your other work. This could be a blog or web site. I don’t recommend using a Facebook page as your site, however, because its difficult to navigate to the information you’re looking for. Link your Facebook to your blog and site instead.

Make it easy to share and get your stuff viral. Add the buttons so visitors can share on Facebook, Linkedin, Digg, Twitter, and other site. Most blogs offer a widget to add this feature. Also make sure you have a graphic so people can ‘pin’ your site or post to Pinterest. They won’t pin without a graphic.

Ask for viewers to review your work. This can be harrowing, if you get a bad review, but a good review is worth its weight in gold. Another good reason to offer free reading of your fiction, non fiction or poems.

What are your thoughts? Free or not? Post in comments.

Technorati Tags: free reading,piracy,copyright,published,authors,writer,blog,viral,marketing

Writer’s Group Anthology

The Writers of the Desert Rose Café recently published an anthologies of short stories.  I’m excited for them. This was something my own group considered doing but never reached its goal of compiling the stories.

These local authors gathered a number of short stories in a book encompassing many styles, and although I haven’t read it yet, it sells for only $2.99 for the Kindle.

What do a dozen plus people from different walks of life and with ages spanning five decades have in common?
They love to write.
This group, Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe, admits storytellers, novelists, playwrights, poets, and authors of children’s literature. One member specializes in autobiographical non-fiction. Another writes only 55-word shorties—stories with a beginning, middle, and end told in only 55 words. Others pen screenplays, blog articles, poetry, haiku, Christian fantasy, doomsday or science fiction, or murder mysteries. Several create solely for kids.
The group meets at the Desert Rose Cafe, a popular bohemian coffeehouse that serves karma by the cup, in historic Williamsport, MD.
This is the first anthology for the group.

Don’t worry if you don’t own a Kindle. You can still read the eBook via the Kindle app for Windows or Mac. Click here.

If you’re local in the area of Williamsport, MD, the Desert Rose Café serves up some tasty meals at low prices. The owners are friendly people who are more than happy to serve you.

You can order the book here;

WordPress Tags: desert rose cafe writers, authors, writer, published, short stories, anthology, fiction

Writer Wednesday: Writing Forward

Writing Forward provides tons of useful information and resources for the new and experienced writer.

At this site you can find writing exercises, ideas, resources, and a section on publishing as well as grammar tips.

Some posts:

Introduction to Getting Published

Tips for Critiquing Others

Proofreading and Editing Tips for Writers

Don’t forget to bookmark it!

Technorati Tags: writer wednesday,authors,tips,resources,published,proofreading,editing,novels,fictions,plot,grammar

 

Writers bashing writers

I’ve been reading posts on the topic of writers bashing writers, such as the case of Stephan King bashing Stephanie Myers. It bothered me, reading a published author publically putting down another writer- despite my own opinion on her writing. It still bothered me.

I’ll tell you why-

This isn’t new. Other authors through history have done the same.  Some are surprisingly vicious about it too. Mark Twain was very vocal about writers such as Frost, Steinbeck, and even Shakespeare. This illustrates how opinionated an author can be, feeling vindicated in their craft to tear apart someone else’s, but it really centers on the topic of opinion,

I think to openly critique another is bad form. You’re not just critiquing the author, but the writing, and even their fans. Sometimes this extends to the genre itself. Opinion or not, such public bashing reflects more on the bash-er than the bash-ee. 

What’s your thoughts? Do you have strong opinion on an author’s writing? Do you blog about it? Share in comments.

Technorati Tags: authors,rk rowling,stephan king,stephanie myers,writer,published,fictions,novels

 

 

The Mobile Reader

As I’ve written previously enough times, I’m a huge supporter of the Independent writer, who gets their stuff ‘out there’ for the e-readers, and keeps the relationship between storyteller and reader intimate and direct.

Even bloggers provide a valuable resource of shared knowledge and storytelling of every day life, or commentaries. This leads to the topic of ‘the mobile reader’- the people who read blogs, articles, news, and books via e-readers such as RSS readers, Kindle, Nook, or the numerous apps used to read these types of files.

Blogs in particular are often read through the Android or IPhone, and I only recently realized that many blog services offer a way to let your readers read your blog accordingly;

Blogger offers an app for bloggers to blog on the go. don’t forget to also check  your Blogger settings by going into your account, selecting Template, and choosing if you want a mobile or desktop template as the default.

WordPress also offers their app so you can blog via Ipad, Iphone, Android, etc. You should also check out your settings for your WordPress blog by going to the Dashboard>Appearance>Mobile and checking the mobile options.

I prefer the Google Reader to gather and read the blogs I’ve subscribed to.

I’m not as familiar with the other blog services, so you’ll need to check your settings and see what they offer. If you have another blog service that offers something similar, or use another RSS reader, please post in comments and add comments. I’d love to hear other’s opinions.

 

Technorati Tags: blogger,wordpress,apps,iphone app,android app,mobile,readers,writing,authors,published

What I look for in a blog

I’m a speed reader, so I can cover quite a bit of ground on my online travels through blogs in very little time. So when I happen upon a ‘good’ blog, I will book mark and visit later, while ‘bad’ blogs get forgotten quickly.

Here is what I look for in a blog-

• Posts of a reasonable length filled with good information. Don’t waste my time with lengthy posts of mundane stuff, impress me with your storytelling.  I want to find information fast, or be entertained; preferably at the same time.
• Links so I can navigate the rest of your blog. I’m stunned when I visit a blog where I can’t find a way to explore other than sorting through post after post.  Worse still when my only option is to sift through posts by date. Dates on another blog mean nothing to me- add links by topic or tags.
• I can leave a comment. I realize this may open your blog to the world of griefers and snerts (snot-nosed-egotistical-twits), but engaging your readers opens up opportunities for growth and sharing of knowledge, as well as the positive responses.
• I can learn more about you. I get curious about the author of the posts I read. Include a bio or ‘about me’ page to introduce yourself. I really love to find if you have other blogs or web sites I can explore.
• I can read samples of what you’ve written. If you’re a writer, for God’s sake, post your work where I can find them! Even if its fanfiction, a poem, or a sample chapter. Let me get a sample of your writing skills.
• I can read posts that include proper grammar and punctuation. Just because you write informal blog doesn’t mean you should get away with lazy writing. Your blog, as an author, will reflect your writing skills. I found some blogs where the writing was terrible enough to convince me to not read their published writing.

What do you look for in a blog? Post in comments or post a blog and add in a link in comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Technorati Tags: blog,posts,blogger,writer,authors,published,comments,online,samples