Hello Hemingwaywantabes. Hope your writing adventures are coming along just dandy. Wanted you to know about a book that has been most helpful to many regarding writing fiction. It is called Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell. Good tips all around including how to create plots and structure guaranteed to assist with your first novel or your latest. Take a look. It’s a winner.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Scams Abound – Beware
Posted by Mark Shaw on January 17, 2011
With the development of such legitimate self-publishing tools as Create Space and PubIt, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to become involved with a subsidy publishers. So beware of the scams from Author House, IUniverse, Xlibris, Dorrance, and so forth. Sure, they do what they say they will do, but most books never are distributed enough to gain any sense of exposure. Authors, many of them with a good story to tell, and a good writing, end up with an empty wallet and boxes of books in the basement.
To educate aspiring authors, I provide free mentoring services. More information at www.markshawbooks.net.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Agents, Books, Editors, Fiction, Mark Shaw, Non-Fiction, Publishers, Self-Publishing, Writing, www.markshawbooks.net | Leave a Comment »
Read Good Books to Write Good Books
Posted by Mark Shaw on November 18, 2010
That’s right, reading good books helps with the writing of good books. So pay attention to what books are marked as the best written so you can learn from them.
For instance, Hudson Booksellers just listed its Top Books for 2010. Here’s the list. Read a few of them and see what storytelling methods were used, what the writing style is, and what kind of word usage is utilized. Learn from the best, and then write like the best.
Best Fiction
The Passage, Justin Cronin
Room, Emma Donoghue
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen
Tinkers, Paul Harding
The Eden Hunter, Skip Horack
Matterhorn, Karl Marlantes
Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart
Bitter in the Mouth, Monique Truong
The Lonely Polygamist, Brady Udall
Best Non Fiction
The Possessed, Elif Batuman
Let’s Take the Long Way Home, Gail Caldwell
The Wave, Susan Casey
Sh*t My Dad Says, Justin Halpern
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
Fatal System Error, Joseph Menn
Birdology, Sy Montgomery
The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
Last Call, Daniel Okrent
Packing for Mars, Mary Roach
Best Young Readers
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth, Jeff Kinney
I am Number Four, Pittacus Lore
It’s a Book, Lane Smith
Art & Max, David Wiesner
Best Business Interest
Switch, Chip & Dean Heath
Delivering Happiness, Tony Hsieh
Getting Naked, Patrick Lencioni
The Big Short, Michael Lewis
Aftershock, Robert Reich
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Query Letter Tracking System
Posted by Mark Shaw on May 24, 2010
Hello Hemingwaywantabes. Hope your writing is fruitful and that you are edging toward publication potential in the near future. Never give up – remember, it only takes one literary agent to say “yes,” and one publisher to say “yes.” Keep the faith, your day is coming.
Besides PublishersLunch.com, which I have suggested before as an important tool to help you with your publishing strategy, another side, http://querytracker.net/index.php may also be helpful. Take a look at what the site offers free of charge, a way to track submitted query letters. Scads of literary agents are also listed as well as some publishers and I like the site’s warning, “Never give money to a literary agent.”
Hope this information is helpful. Now go write “one true sentence” as Mr. Hemingway used to say.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Book Proposals, Books, Editors, Ernest Hemingway, Fiction, Hemingway, Literary Agents, Mark Shaw, Non-Fiction, Query Letters, www.markshawbooks.net | Leave a Comment »
Self-Publishing – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Posted by Mark Shaw on April 29, 2010
Interested in knowing all sides of the equation regarding the risky business of self-publishing? Then I suggest you take a gander at the following article:
reviews.cnet.com /self publishing
Good information all around, especially regarding all of the scams there are that trap unsuspecting writers into believing a subsidy publisher is their best friend. This is simply not true, as this article points out.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Amazon, Book Surge, Editors, Kindle, Literary Agents, Lulu, Mark Shaw, Publishing Companies, Publishing Scams, Self-Publishing, Shaw, www.markshawbooks.net | Leave a Comment »
Hemingway, Bugliosi, and Bush
Posted by Mark Shaw on July 11, 2008
Ever wonder what Ernest Hemingway would think of President George W. Bush. Would the macho writer bond with the macho, chest-beating president who goes to war under false pretenses and then boasts about the achievement despite the loss of life of more than four thousand American soldiers/kids and more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians? Or would he be repulsed by this administration, one that continues to be so disconnected from the real world that the pres did not not even know when a gallon of gas hit four dollars?
If you want to read one man’s opinion about this state of affairs, I encourage all hemingwaywantabes to read The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by former Mansion prosecutor and best selling author Vincent Bugliosi. Despite being ignored by the media, the book hit the NY Times bestseller list this week because Vince, as he always does, actually researches his topics and then tells the truth based on the facts. Amazing, huh, but Vince actually believes in this way of living. Bless this man, I say – what a refreshing change of pace from writers who merely make up the facts to fit their storyline.
I’m about a third of the way through this book and while I don’t agree with everything Vince says (I may call him Vince because we know each other with him having written a jacket cover endorsement for my biography of famed attorney Melvin Belli)), he speaks with straight tongue when it comes to describing Bush and his lack of real love for this country. The insights presented, if one keeps an open mind while reading, certainly help one understand why there is no question Bush is the worst president we have ever had, with the only shining light right now that the ego-driven, holier-than-thou pres will be gone in six months. Thank you Lord.
For my part, I feel very sorry for the pres and pray for him for he has no idea what chaos he has caused. But you don’t need my opinion – read Vince’s and then tell me what you think.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Belli, Bestsellers, Books, Bugliosi, Bush, Courts, Fiction, Hemingway, Law, Literary, Melvin Belli, Murder, Non-Fiction, President, President Bush, Prosecution, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Vincent Bugliosi | Leave a Comment »