Talking Dogs and Good Storytelling What Makes Good Storytelling No matter the media, good storytelling requires good material. It doesn’t matter if it’s a book, a movie, or a joke—the material has to be good. But even good material isn’t enough. Any comedian can tell you horror tales of jokes that fell flat or audiences […]
New Interview Book I’m writing to announce the launch of my new book: No Mistakes Interviews: How to Get the Job You Want. It is the second book in the No Mistakes Careers Series. Far too often the people who should get the job, don’t. And the reason they don’t is because they aren’t prepared, or, they make mistakes during the interview process. […]
Why Indie Authors Fail I’m not saying indie authors aren’t making it; in fact, some of them are doing amazingly well. Every day it seems as if another success story is in the news, not to mention that indie authors have staked permanent spots on the bestseller lists. It has taken a few years, but […]
Smashwords Levels The Playing Field With Pre-orders Smashwords continues to offer authors more tools to help them compete with the big publishers. Pre-orders have long been inaccessible to indies. We’ve been forced to sit on the sidelines and watch with envy while traditional publishers touted their up-and-coming releases. If you’ve ever wondered how to sell […]
Status Update on Mystery Books I had promised to have the sequel to A Bullet For Carlos out by now, and I don’t. Sometimes writing doesn’t go as planned. I had one book last year that really messed up my timing, and it delayed everything. I am pleased to say that I finished A Bullet […]
The only books writers buy are advice books: how to write, how to edit, how to create dynamic plots. The list goes on and on. But writers do not buy fiction books. Excuse Me While I Dodge Stones I know. I hear all the writers screaming. I buy books. A lot of books. I understand […]
Necessary Decisions, A Redemption Novel I’m writing to announce the launch of Necessary Decisions, the first book in my new Redemption Series. Necessary Decisions features Detective Gino Cataldi and his partner, Hector “Ribs” Delgado. It takes place in Houston, Texas. A Thriller That Won’t Let Go A cop who pushes the limits of the law… […]
What Makes A Good Book? To me, all good books are mysteries—in some fashion. I don’t mean there is a corpse or a detective in all good books, but there is usually a question that readers want the answer to, a puzzle that has to be solved, a character with a mysterious past—something. It is […]
Why Do I Need A Copy Editor? The online bookstores are overflowing. Bowker Identification Services estimates there will be more than 300,000 new books published in 2013. Along with all of that new reading material comes a significant increase in the number of complaints from reviewers citing mistakes in those books, and most of the […]
What Do Your Characters Look Like? Have you ever seen a movie where the characters look nothing like what you thought they would from the book? It’s a little disappointing isn’t it? And it makes it more difficult for that character to win the audience over if they start out with a negative. The question […]
