It was another successful book signing yesterday at Chapters, Stone Road Mall, Guelph, Ontario yesterday. We sold one third of the stock of From Mountains of Ice, made some new contacts, and developed two eager fans (hi, Aerius and Erin!) Huge thanks go to Sherrill and Sean at Chapters, as well as all the terrific staff, for their support and professionalism in what was a busy shopping day. Friday I’ll be at Smith Books, Heritage…
When Paul Lima came to me with his book, How to Write a Non-fiction Book in 60 Days, I thought sure, why not, although I must admit to some skepticism that the book would do well. With literally tens of thousands of books out there on the craft of writing, written by people with far more public profile than Paul (sorry, Paul, but it’s hard to compete with the likes of Stephen King et al),…
On Monday, November 30 Indigo announced their ambitious commitment to reaching 50% recycled paper in the books they retail within the next five years. While I very much applaud that corporate initiative, I might suggest it doesn’t go far enough, or encompass a growing alternative to paper waste, and that is print on demand technologies. No longer the poor second-cousin to offset printing, print on demand often produces a superior product, with less impact to…
I had a great book signing at Coles, Orangeville Mall this past Saturday. We sold half the stock on hand of From Mountains of Ice, all but one of Shadow Song, and even a copy of And the Angels Sang. It was great to have a fan, Anne, stop by to say how much she had enjoyed reading Shadow Song, and to sign a copy for her of From Mountains of Ice. Always love it…
Since sitting the other side of the desk again, I’ve been struck by the common traps in which so many writers are caught. In the interest of keeping my promise to the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, I thought I’d list some of those traps here. Active versus Passive VerbsPassive voice slows action, sometimes arresting it altogether. Not good. Take a look at this sentence in the passive voice: In the interest of brevity, little say…