I have a favorite author. Even when I say that I don’t because I like styles and genres more than I might like a particular person’s writing, it’s not true. I discovered this about myself in the last few weeks as I picked up Stephen King’s On Writing again. This time I am reading it and digesting it in small savory bites instead of in one big gulp. I am learning to slow down and savor rather than feed my need for instant gratification. It’s a slow and painful process because instant gratification is the very basis of the information age, isn’t it?
We have Kindle and Nook devices because it allows us to find a book on the internet and be able to read it within minutes. In earlier days, we would either have to wait until the next trip to the library, or hope we would get a chance to visit a friend who has a hopefully larger or more diverse collection than you do. I still remember the glee at being allowed [ more ]
Oddly enough, today the idea of getting an ISBN for my floundering novel entered my mind. In the same way that all other ideas of its kind occur to me, a fleeting thought that never sticks around long enough to take hold. In this case, the trail it left as it raced through my mind made me think about the process of getting an ISBN for a book and what it entails.
My first stop was actually to search Google for ISBN to see what turned up. Interestingly, the first few results were quite relevant: a wikipedia reference page, and pages that linked to isbn.org, bowker.com (an ISBN broker) and several international links to ISBN organisations ( isbn.nu, internationisbn.org, etc.)
The next thing I found, was that I needed to know exactly what an ISBN is because although I was peripherally aware that it is a number used to uniquely identify books. As it turns out, it’s a little bit more complicated than that.
The letters ISBN are an acronym for International Standard Book Number and uniquely identifies a book based on it’s [ more ]
As Editor, I have come across a few reviews on our eBooks that indicate some of you would like to see some of our eBooks set to Hollywood. This has made me wonder what it is you think makes for a good candidate for a movie-making story.
I am biased, as I am sure regular readers of this blog may have been able to determine already, towards the thrilling, action-packed, whodunit type of stories. I like a movie that keeps me guessing and surprises me at the end with a heroic win. This makes my inclinations towards stories that are mysteries, murder-mysteries, and so on.
This isn’t about me, however, this is about you, our readers.
Suzanne Coleman writes: “This kept me on the edge of my seat! I could see it turned into a hit movie someday” on Ken Merrell’s The Landlord.
David Swinders states: “A very sad story. Excellant [sic] read, but upsetting, a must read book. This Author has had a very sad but interesting childhood in the care system. Would make a brilliant movie.” on Kevin Slater’s autobiographical story more ]