Scribd.com has recently risen in my esteem. After discovering one of my eBooks on their website some weeks ago–copied and placed thereon by a book pirate–the folks at Scribd had the offending PDF taken down before 10 hours had elapsed. Soon after that, my husband and I began posting “sample” chapter PDFs of our various [...]
Almost everyone considers themselves to be a writer of some sort. Those who most appreciate the art will define it as a means of connecting to oneself, to others, to reality and to fantasy. This definition excludes no one. The book business, unfortunately, does. Industry experience teaches that every writer is not an author, and [...]
When I was in elementary school, I remember getting assigned a project once regarding favorite foods. We had to select a favorite food, write a paragraph or two on why that food was our favorite, and then create a three-dimensional model of our food, art class-style, out of construction paper. I declared that my favorite [...]
By Kaye Cloutman, Photography by Martin Delfino Reviewing books, meeting deadlines, doing author interviews and preparing the layout for a monthly publication are probably some of the furthest things from glamour. For two and a half years I have known Heidi (my boss and publisher for the San Francisco | Sacramento Book Review) as the [...]
In Northern California, the weather proved unusually mild this summer. Normally, we experience over 100-degree heat wave upon heat wave, inducing in me an almost hermit-like existence indoors. Instead, the cooler temperatures allowed for several trips outside, staying longer typing away on the trusty laptop. As the kids scampered about the landscaping with vacation-borne glee, [...]
By Kaye Cloutman Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, announced a month ago that it has increased the first printing of Mockingjay, the final book in the nationally bestselling The Hunger Games trilogy, to 1.2 million, from a previously announced 750,000 copies. First published in September 2008, The Hunger Games was an [...]
By Kaye Cloutman, Photography by Martin Delfino Mexico has had its share of triumphs recently. From the crowned beauties to the wonderful people and food, this country is definitely included in my list of go-to-destination-vacations in the future. There is something truly admirable and humbling about Mexican people that you can almost taste in their [...]
So, as an author, you obviously want to make sure you’re doing everything in your power to support the publication of your book and entice as many people as possible (friends, acquaintances, and – most importantly – strangers) to buy a copy, or two or five. You’re being pulled in a thousand different directions at [...]
Pretty much everyone has a soft spot for Southern food. Whether it’s fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, mac and cheese, or congealed salad (more commonly known as jello salad to many), nearly everybody will confess to liking the good old-fashioned comfort food that can be found in abundance in Southern states. Even I like Southern [...]
By Kaye Cloutman, Photography by AK Sandhu I love my job… There is nothing more enjoyable to me than writing down my experiences and sharing them with the world. I have been all over California like a cheap suit, but mostly frequent the Silicon Valley and Bay Area. Apart from San Francisco and Sacramento Book [...]
My husband and I recently embarked on a journey fraught with elocution: turning our various ebooks into Podiobooks, or serialized audiobooks broken down into 30-40 minute ‘episodes.’ Apparently a growing number of daily commuters like their audiobooks in these shorter segments, rather than having to fast-forward through entire books files. Audio books have been slowly [...]
Although marketing fiction is not particularly easy or inexpensive, it becomes easier if you treat your story as if it were nonfiction. Begin by making a list of all the issues and topics in your book. For instance, if there is a murder in your book, the issues and topics might be incarceration, crime scene [...]
When I first thought about writing book reviews (decades removed from writing music reviews at the college newspaper level), I thought it would be easy to get new releases from publishers. I had no idea how difficult it would be. I discovered that publishers – being reasonable business people – want samples of your work [...]
By Kaye Cloutman Empowerment of women has come a long way… From gaining the right to vote and serving in government to fighting for equality in family concerns and in the workplace, I, together with all my female colleagues and friends are the direct benefactors of the hard work of these historical heroines. Burning bras [...]
By Kaye Cloutman Kepler’s was founded in 1955 by pacifist and conscientious objector to WWII, Roy Kepler. His original objective was to create a business that was in line with his core ideals, but could also enable him and his wife to raise a family. Roy’s goal was to have every paperback in print [...]
As Amazon’s slashed eBook pricing period drew to a close, Kindle/Kindle app consumers saw a decided increase in prices; the pricier titles included newly re-introduced Penguin books as well as a handful of other publishers’ titles, and immediately some folks cried “Foul!” Over a dozen articles were re-tweeted to me this past week, featuring mild [...]
