Writing for Expertscolumn

Late last year I joined a writing site called Expertscolumn. I wasn't very active on there to begin with but in the last few months I've made sure to write there every day.

They are honest and helpful, and have been about for a relatively long time. They offer payments via PayPal or Moneybookers and you can cash out once you've reached $5. From my experience, payments are done within a few days.

Unlike some other writing sites, articles on Expertscolumn are highly ranked on Google. I've found several of mine on the first page and this obviously helps with page views: You can read a couple of my articles by following these links:

http://expertscolumn.com/content/ways-promote-your-articles

http://expertscolumn.com/content/finding-ideas-write-about

If you would like to join you can either use my referral link which is:

http://expertscolumn.com/referral/65788e25

alternatively, you can just sign up directly at expertscolumn.com

E.L. James: An inspiration for self-published writers?

I'm not saying that every aspiring writer should try and be the next E.L. James but her success is to be admired. I don't imagine even E.L, James herself ever expected this level for success for her Shades of Grey series and it's the same for every writer:  No one knows what will happen once they publish their work.

When I looked on Amazon earlier, I noticed that the books were getting mixed reviews; some said that the books weren't that well written but they are still a runaway success.

Books don't have to be perfect in order to be a success and the fact that E.L. James is self-published should serve as an inspiration. You can read my article about E.L. James at:

http://expertscolumn.com/content/why-el-james-should-be-inspiration-self-published-writers

Harry Potter comes to Kindle Lending Library

 If your one of the handful of people who have yet to read the Harry Potter books, then you might like to download them from the Amazon Kindle Library once they become available on 19 June.

Hundreds of millions of J.K. Rowling's book were sold and they became the best selling series ever and Amazon has signed an exclusive license with J.K Rowling's Pottermore to make the books available via the lending library.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, said:

We’re absolutely delighted to have reached this agreement with Pottermore. This is the kind of significant investment in the Kindle ecosystem that we’ll continue to make on behalf of Kindle owners."

“Over a year, borrowing the Harry Potter books, plus a handful of additional titles, can alone be worth more than the $79 cost of Prime or a Kindle. The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library also has an innovative feature that’s of great benefit for popular titles like Harry Potter – unlimited supply of each title – you never get put on a waiting list.”

The Harry Potter books will join more than 145,000 other books already available free in the Amazon Kindle Lending Library

Jennifer Crystal Johnson gives tips about publishing on Kindle

A few days ago I wrote about Jennifer-Crystal Johnson's new book  co-written with N. Jones called If you're human don't open the door which has recently been published on Amazon's Kindle.

With Amazon announcing that Kindle books are now outselling physical books, and given that Kindle is a free and assessable resource that can be used by anyone wishing to self-publish their own work, I thought that some advice on publishing on Kindle would be useful to readers of this blog, I emailed Jennifer and asked if she had any advice for people considering publishing on Kindle. Here are a few tips from Jennifer on formatting for Kindle:

 "As far as having advice on self-publishing for the Kindle, I would say that the most important aspects of having a professional eBook out are editing and formatting. Word can be tricky to do formatting with because it adds so much unnecessary html into the document that it gets to be pretty confusing for the Kindle to display quickly; for example, if you have something in bold and then take the bold formatting off, the html will keep the tags in front of the word or phrase but it won't show up bold. I get pretty OCD with that kind of stuff because I went to college for website design, so looking at html and having it appear messy is a "thing" for me."

"Since the Kindle only has one font face, if I want to make a title appear in a specific font style, I save it as an image and then put that into the document as a title. You can do this with opening paragraph letters, too, although you cannot wrap text around images in the Kindle yet."

"For now, I'll say this: one of the best investments for formatting eBooks that I have ever made is buying an eBook by Joshua Tallent entitled Kindle Formatting: The Complete Guide. It outlines everything from reducing your file size to spacing, line indentation, inserting images, and the pixel aspect ratio of the Kindle screen so you can make the most of the images you include."

 And some tips from Jennifer on editing:

"Once you have the formatting down, the other aspect of self-publishing that is important is to have an editor; not just someone to proofread, but having someone who can help with technicalities as well as suggesting minor changes in sentence structure and word usage. You can often hire editors through freelance web sites like oDesk, a site that provides me with clients on a very regular basis. I write, edit, and work on other random projects in graphic design as well, so I work entirely from home and write fiction when I'm not preparing publications for authors signed under Broken Publications."

Finally, for any out there writing short stories or poetry, here is a chance to submit your work for two anthologies:

"Broken Publications is open for submissions for two anthologies: Soul Vomit, focusing on domestic violence, and the Apocalypse Project, featuring end-of-the-world stories of all kinds (zombies, disease, natural disasters, planetary collisions, you name it!). I'd like to invite people to submit their work for one or both of these projects =)."

You can find out more about Jennifer's work by visiting: http://www.jennifercrystaljohnson.com/index.html

Author of 'The Nostradamus Secret' named one of the 50 great writers that you should be reading

Joseph Badal, the author of historical novel The Nostradamus Secret, has been named as one of the '50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading'. Mr Badal had appeared on The Author Show and a public vote decided which names would appear on the list.

Commenting in a press release Mr Badal said:

"I was thrilled."

"To be included in The Authors Show's 2011 edition of '50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading'. This recognition is an affirmation of my writing and further encourages my commitment to the art."

The Nostradamus Secret is part of the Bob Dankworth series and it has been getting rave reviews. So far the book has 36 five star reviews on Amazon and New York Times best seller Tony Hillerman has described the book as "an amazingly intricate tale of international intrigue, political deception and terrorism." Hillerman went on to say "Joe Badal delivers a gripping, fast-paced story that carries the reader on a wild ride and, once again, weaves a fascinating historical context into the fabric of this contemporary thriller. A must-read for fans of Ludlum and Clancy."

In an email I asked Mr Badal, a former commissioned officer in the US Army, about how he became involved in writing and publishing and his plans for future books. He told me:

"I have wanted to be a writer all my life, but didn't really start writing seriously until a little more than 10 years ago. My first novel, The Pythagorean Solution, was released in hardback in 2003 and in paperback in 2005. My second novel, Terror Cell, was released in 2004. The Nostradamus Secret was released in February 2011, and my latest novel, Evil Deeds, just came out last November. My last 3 novels are part of the Bob Danforth series. I am working on a 4th book in that series."

"My next novel, Inside Job, a stand-alone thriller, will be released in May of this year."

As any aspiring writer knows, inspiration can be hard to come by at times. When I asked Mr Badal what inspires him to write he told me:

"The inspiration for my writing is a pathological need to tell stories. I love the "telling" and I love the feedback from readers. In short, I cannot not write. Even if I knew I'd never be published, I would still write."

I also asked if Mr Badal had any words of advice for writers starting out. Mr Badal replied:

"The advice I give to people all the time is that they must have a passion for writing. Without that passion, writing would just be another job, and most writers already have another job. Passion for writing and the inspiration for my writing are what drive my writing."

You can visit Joseph Badal's website at http://josephbadalbooks.com/ and view his blog at http://www.josephbadal.wordpress.com

New horror ebook available free for five days

Fans of horror fiction have until Friday to download a free eBook entitled "If You're Human Don't Open the Door", written by author Jennifer-Crystal Johnson and co-author N. Jones.  The book is published by Broken Publications, an independent publisher.

The eBook -which features a selection of short stories - has already proven to be a success with rankings increasing in the Kindle store.  The book currently stands at  #28 in the Occult sub-category of Horror eBooks.

For a synopsis of the stories, and to find out more about the author, visit: http://www.jennifercrystaljohnson.com/published-books.html

Free Kindle Downloads

As from Tuesday, my two Kindle books - on a compilation of news stories and another the first chapter of a book about RMS Titanic - will be available for free via Kindle. Usually, they sell for 99 cents. 

If you'd like to contribute to my news site or to the Titanic book then please use the contact link on here to let me know and I'll get back to you.

Here are the links: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007UJWYD0

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007I8RVBS

Dark Horse Tami Hoag

Dark Horse is the 2002 Tami Hoag book set in the equestrian world. The lead character is Elena Estes - a former police officer still paying the price for a wrong judgement that she made some years before which cost the life of one of her colleagues.

In the book, 12-year-old Molly Seabright hires Estes to help find her missing sister Erin. The plot is complex and dark in places but I like the way that it all comes together. The action scenes are believable and I found the book easy to read.

I also liked Elena Estes - the flawed but gutsy protagonist. The character really brings the book to life and I liked the way the character is offered new hope by the end of the book.

This book is a bit of a departure from Tami Hoag’s usual work and I enjoyed every minute of it – even the more gory details.

Hunger Games most popular in Sunnyvale, California

The popularity of Hunger Games, the novels aimed at young adults and written by author Suzanne Collins, continues to grow and on Friday Amazon revealed the top twenty cities that have brought the most copies.

Coming in at the number one spot was Sunnyvale, California, followed in second place by Salt Lake City, Utah and Tallahassee, Florida.  Amazon carried out the research by analyzing the sales data from all versions of the books and counted both print sales and Kindle sales, figures were calculated on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents; the research also showed that Suzanne Collins is the number one best selling Kindle author ever.

Jessica Schein, Amazon.com Young Adult Books Editor, said:

“There’s no denying that the Hunger Games has become a worldwide phenomenon, and we love that it all started with a great book."

“These books appeal to customers of all ages – adults and teens alike – and you can see from our Top 20 list they’re captivating readers across the whole country. All three books in the trilogy are best sellers in print and on Kindle, and now our customers have made Suzanne Collins the best-selling Kindle author of all time.”   

Barnes and Noble introduce the NOOK Tablet™ 8GB

Barnes and Noble announced its latest version of the NOOK Tablet™ on Wednesday.  The latest version has 8GB of storage space (which should be enough storage space for the ridiculous amount of books I have if  could bear to part with them).
The NOOK sells for $199.00 and comes with a 1GHz dual-core processor to enable video streaming, Internet access and email.

A battery life of 11.5 hours if you're are reading and 9 hours if you are viewing videos.

Music, movies and TV shows can be downloaded from services such as Netflix.

Users will also have access to the Newstand and comics and graphic novels.

Thousands of apps will also be available to NOOK users and these are just some of the features included on the latest version of the NOOK.

William Lynch, Chief Executive Office of Barnes & Noble, said:

“For any customer who likes to read digitally, watch movies or TV shows, browse the web, or help their kids read and learn through interactive books and apps, our new $199 NOOK Tablet with 8GB is the best product value on the market,”

“NOOK Tablet is the highest-rated wireless media tablet in the 7-inch class, ultra-portable at under a pound, offers our exclusive VividView^™ screen technology, and since its introduction this holiday has received rave reviews from customers about all its great features. We’re pleased to now offer customers the ability to experience NOOK Tablet’s unmatched content experience for only $199.”

This is the year I'm going to read the books on my shelf

Over the last three or four years, I've brought an absolute ton of books.  Some of them from charity shops, some from companies with special offers such as ten Harlen Coben for ten pounds, plenty from Amazon, and most of them have ended up collecting dust on my bookshelf.

This year I've decided that there is no point having all of these books (and it's not just thriller type books, there is come classics among them) and not finding time to read them so I've started by getting 2-3 of them going and I'm going to make time to read them.

When I've finished reading them, I'm going to review them on here and on my other writing blog at http://writingandpublishingnews.blogspot.com/

I love reading and enjoy books from most genres so if you have a book you'd like to recommend or a review you'd like to include on the blog then please contact me.

New George Pelecanos ebook just 99p

Fans of George Pelacanos have the chance to get his latest book, What It Was, for just 99p.

The offer is only on to the end of the month and is available as an ebook.

To get your copy you can visit:

http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/what-it-was-ebook

Is Knoxville the most romantic city?

According to Internet giant Amazon it is.  Amazon used sales data from romance novels and relationship books, romantic comedy movies and Barry White albums, which can always be relied upon to get people in a romantic mood.

Amazon counted both Kindle books and print books, digital movies and DVDs and CD and MP3 sales to work out the winner.

Amazon used figures dating back to January 1 this year and counted sales on a per capita basis in cities with over 100,000 residents.

Last year's most romantic city, Alexandria, came second this year and Springfield came third.  Las Vegas is way down the list at 18. 

There wasn't a lot of romance going on in New York City if the list from Amazon is anything to by with the Big Apple coming out as the least romantic according to the purchasing habits of Amazon customers.  Also flailing in the romantic states were Patterson, New Jersey and El Monte, California.

Charles Dickens 200th birthday marked today

February 12, 2012 marks the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens, the man who gave us classic books such as Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities.

The Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum, which is based in Portsmouth, UK, will be holding a number of events throughout 2012 to celebrate the bicentenary of Dickens' birth.  Numerous events have been held and there are plenty more planned to mark the occasion.  On Tuesday, events in Portsmouth began at 10.00am and throughout the day.  Local schools took part, ceremonies and speeches were made and a thanksgiving service was also held.

Such was Dickens' impact on the literary world, his birth is being celebrated with events throughout the world.

Anyone who hasn't read Dickens' work can now do so for free or at little cost.  His work is out of copyright and Amazon offer free Kindle downloads and an entire collection of Dickens is available for just 99p.