Author, Compulsively Readable Thrillers
There’s a lot of talk about the death of traditional publishers, but things aren’t exactly coming up roses on the indie publishing side either. Authors find themselves between a rock and a hard place, at the mercy of a fast-changing market, none of whose players seem to know which way to turn or which direction … Read more
A blog post on Publishers Weekly recently claims that “digital fatigue” is making ebooks less appealing, and, as a result, fewer of us are buying them. Huh? What is “digital fatigue?” According to the author of the PW article, the phrase was coined by Codex president Peter Hildick-Smith who believes this is a new consumer … Read more
The Audible website hosts more than 200,000 audiobooks, and more readers listen to audiobooks than ever before. If you’re a writer who’s just starting to think about converting your work to audio, here’s an overview based on working with ACX, Audible’s platform for audiobook production. It’s open to all authors, indie and traditional, as well … Read more
Audiobook sales are booming. Goodereader says that the global audiobook industry is currently worth 2.8 billion dollars and that approximately 3.88 million audiobooks were downloaded in 2015 compared to 2.47 million ebooks. Indeed, audiobooks are the fastest-growing distribution method in publishing today. I won’t go into all the reasons–you probably already know them–but I will … Read more
“We have made new friends, fostered business relationships, have fantastic memories, and were a part of history that will forever be a chapter in the publishing industry.” World Book International director Kristin Norell on the Havana Book Fair. Cuba’s publishing scene in 2012 I visited Cuba in February, 2012, and went to the Havana Book … Read more
For the first time in 10 years, Chicago video producer Ellie Foreman is back in Jump Cut, which will be published March 1. In this, the 5th mystery-thriller of the series, Ellie is producing a video for a giant Chicago aviation company. But she is soon entangled in a web of espionage, drones, hackers, and … Read more
When you buy books online, do you read reviews? Of course you do. I look at the general star ranking, read a couple of 5-stars, then 1-stars, then 3- stars, for an overall assessment. Unfortunately, people have tried to game the system over the years, and controversies have flared about authors paying for reviews, deliberately … Read more
Print books are enjoying a revival, some say. So what’s up with that? Print has been the poor cousin as the digital revolution looked set to change the way we consume literature. But ebooks didn’t kill print after all, just as video didn’t kill the movies, and TV didn’t kill radio. Some people have always valued the … Read more
I am thrilled and honored to be a part of a brand new, just-launched crime fiction Box Set… Story Bundle.. or whatever you like to call it. Take a look at some of the authors in this bundle (like Lawrence Block, Kris Nelscott, Rebecca Cantrell, Julie Hyzy, and Dean Wesley Smith) and tell me you don’t … Read more
Hi, all. Now that the The Incidental Spy is out in print and ebook, I thought I’d tell you where I got the idea. This segment is part of an interview that I will excerpt all week on the blog. In addition, there’s a summary of wartime spies in the US that you might not know about … Read more