You Can Write About Anything

Yes, it's true. You can write about almost anything you wish. And yes, almost anyone now-a-days can become a published author. 

Example:
If my cousin Chris, wanted to write a non-fiction book about HAIR, even though she is not a professional hair dresser or stylist, she can. All she has to do is research a few key factors and the rest would be her personal outtake about how to deal with naturally curly hair. She has naturally curly hair and no doubt she has had nasty experiences with people who do not like curly hair, I bet it might make a good read for those interested in books about HAIR. She can write about her experiences with having naturally curly hair, her pros and cons on having to deal with it, et cetera. 

Much like my book, The Other Side of Things, where I state my personal opinion about certain HOT topics, non-fiction is easy to write especially if you are writing about your personal experiences and opinions you have about certain topics.

Writing a book is about writing what you know and what your passion is or what you've experienced. If you're writing sci-fi or fantasy and enjoy those topics, you can write about that too. 

What you know:
What I mean by, "what you know," is anything you are familiar with, people around you, places, and things. If you write a story about a woman living in a suburban city, you might want to use your city as foundation. 

Using a real person's name:
Yes you can use the name of a person you know, however as I stated in the past, be careful how you present the character. If the person you know is named Janet Bailey, and she has dark brown hair, blue eyes and her profession is a physician, make some minor changes by giving the character blonde hair or maybe giving her punked out color hair. 

Instead of the character being a doctor, make her a therapist, physical trainer or dentist. Remember names cannot be copyrighted, so no one can claim defamation just because you used their name, however make subtle changes to the character. You can write about anything you wish. Your audience depends mostly on the topic you choose for your book. Non-fiction seems to be quite popular now a days. There's an audience for every author. Your book may not be interesting to some people--people you thought it would be, however you'd be surprised to find that people you don't know, might fancy your book.

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So Grateful For….

So grateful for what we have now. Technology has come a long way hasn’t it? If it wasn’t for technology, Independent Authors, aka Self-published authors, would never be able to publish their books so easily and get them out there for readers. Think about it for a moment. 15, 20 or 30 years ago, an aspiring author would have to go through traditional publishers to get their books published. Some never got the chance to see their books published. It would take more than six months for their manuscript to be looked at and maybe accepted. It would take another six months for it to be edited and published.

How long did it take to get published?

There is no easy answer to this question. One book might take a year to produce while another is designed and printed in three weeks. It is sensible to allow at least three months for the process – six months is even better. The benefit in publishing with a traditional publisher is that you do not have to pay to get your book published. However, the wait time for some authors is disheartening.  

There were some subsidiary publishing companies at that time but only a few. After an author who was turned down through a traditional publishing company, he/she might publish through a self-publishing company but not without expenses.

How much does it cost? 

If you decided to self-publish back then, you’re looking at $500-1,000 to publish each book. It was and is a GAMBLE because many authors have to do their own advertising/promoting. As for distributing your books, the best that you can do would be to take a few copies to the local mom and pop bookstores and let people know your books area available there. If you wanted your book to be distributed to major bookstores, you would have to hire someone like an agent to do the job. Not an easy thing to do, trust me. When I first published Chandra’s Quest book 1 through a subsidiary publishing company, back then, it cost me $300. At that time, Amazon Kindle wasn’t around, so I did not publish for free.  Later, when CreateSpace came around, I revised my books and published them without paying for the printing. eBooks came into play and it became easier to publish.

Benefits of traditional publishing:

Monetary advance before publishing

Potential for traditional media coverage

Social signaling/feelings of acceptance

Some Bookstore placements

The cons:

Very hard to get a deal

Huge time investment

Loss of ownership
loss of marketing control

Loss of creative and content control

Limited financial upside, depending on the genre that is popular at the time.

Self-published books:                                                                                    
Some companies have incorporated self-publishing tools to their online websites and if you pick the right one, you won’t have to pay to get it published. When your book is published, some websites will post your book on their site for readers to see and possibly buy. Kindle publishing is one of the biggest publishing companies out there. They do offer marketing and promotional deals. Of course, for the services you'll have to pay, but you still don’t have to pay to get your book published.

Let’s talk about why we take this technology for granted. Why some people no longer find it amazing to know an Independent Author.

Well, when self-publishing first was available through the internet, it was a God sent to self-published authors out there. They now had a way to show people their written work. As a matter of fact, when the internet came around, a lot of authors took advantage of it and posted their written work on their websites, forums, and chats. 

So, how do people take technology for granted? In the beginning when independent authors published their books, people thought it was a BIG deal. It was “cool’ to know an author, however somewhere along the way, it got around that independent/self-published authors were not good enough to be considered as real authors and to add acid to the fire, some people started posting negative comments about books written by independent authors, especially if they knew that author and jealousy came into play. Publishing your own book becomes common so therefore, Independent authors became common but not noted/recognized.

Example: if I had told my cousin 20 or 25 years ago that I was a self-published author and that I wrote a book, she would have thought it was “cool” however because of time and how we take technology for granted, it’s not a big deal anymore. 

Can anyone write a book and publish it? 

Yes, I suppose they can, but they need motivation and commitment to the art. Writing should be second nature to them. 

Options: Authors have many options now and traditional publishing isn’t the only way to go. I am grateful that we have the technology to publish our own books.

Food for thought: Self-published authors have courage and they did what they said they would do-- publish their books, despite of unwelcome comments.

So Grateful For....

I am grateful that I live in this time and I am grateful for those who have taken the time and read books by independent authors. Give them a thumbs up because they did what they wanted to do.

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In the Company of Elves: What you Need to Know

As the author of, In the Company of Elves, I highly enjoyed writing this fantasy story. It is one of my full-length novels, other than the Chandra’s Quest trilogy books. Even though Chandra’s Quest was my first book, I was inspired to write, In the Company of Elves by watching movies like Legend, Willow, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland to name a few. I published In the Company of Elves in 2009 but started writing the story back in 2004/2005. Yes, I came up with the title for this book many years ago. The first copy of the book was published through Instant Publishers, a subsidiary company. It only had 120 pages. 

Then I decided to revise the book, so I re-wrote it and added more chapters to it. For those who have downloaded my book and enjoyed it, Thank you. If you have a paperback copy, thank you for purchasing it. I recently donated 1 copy to one of those Little Library Boxes, in Menifee Ca. If you read it as a Summer read, please be sure to leave a review on Amazon or on my Facebook page or Instagram. Thank you. 

NOTE: In July, I will be publishing The Other Side of Things Part 2. It is a non fiction book, with issues on Health, Social relations, Romance and Fashion.Visit my Facebook page and my Website for more info.

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Mother's Day Deals!!

Mother's Day is one of the holidays on which I do a free download deal on Kindle. The Books that will be available for the free download Deals on Kindle are:

I will share a link in a future post to where you can download books. Please read, rate & review.

NOTE: I am sorry to say that In the Company of Elves will not be on this list this time around. But you can still download it or purchase the book. My books are reasonably priced. Please visit my website and follow the link to my Amazon Author's Page.

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FAKE 5-STAR REVIEWS ON AMAZON?

Recently people have been complaining about Fake 5-star reviews on Amazon. They buy a product; they don't like it and they complain that the 5-star reviews are Fake! Really?

 Yes, when I buy an item from Amazon, I do read the reviews first, however if I really want to buy that item, I do it anyways. I like to judge for myself.  I can understand how people can be fooled by 5-star ratings regarding items like speakers or clothing, etc. However, how does this affect indie/self-published authors? 

Well, I don’t know if other authors are having this problem, but I have been informed by a few of my readers who have downloaded or bought my books, that they can’t leave a review on my books! Personally, it doesn't matter to me if they give my book/books a 5 star or not, the point is that my books receive a review that can be helpful to potential buyers! 

example: I recently received a message from a reader who downloaded one of my books that was up as a free promotional deal a while back. That person finished reading it and he/she said that they tried to post a review but they couldn’t. On occasion I do a free download promotional deal on some of my books, on certain holidays, I believe that the individual must have downloaded the book during a free KDP download deal. I personally feel that even though they downloaded the book for free, they should be able to post a review. I see it as a verified buyer, but maybe Amazon doesn't see it that way. That's just my opinion. Also, I've heard from new author's that new reviews being posted on Indie author's books, are scrutinized possibly even ignored and never posted because it is a 5-star. They only accept 4 and below for new Indie Authors. I find that unfair and down right mean-spirited! 

I visited the community forum for the writers on KDP. I asked about the supposed, 'FAKE REVIEWS'. I have to say that the people there are no different than the people you'd encounter on Craigslist forums! Has anyone ever been on Craigslist forums? I'm sure you have, so you know the kind of reaction you'd get when you ask a half decent question, right? My sons say not to get on Craigslist, because you'll only encounter half baked people that don't know a damn thing! They're right. However, on occasion, I do get on Craigslist and yes, I'm disappointed. 
Anyways, I am the kind of writer who is REAL. I like to write from my heart and write exactly what I think, as some of you know by reading The Other Side of Things part 1.    It came as a surprise to me when I read some of the responses posted on KDP after I asked a question about the fake five star reviews. The first response:

*Wait, I do want to say something else. Why can’t people get it? Why do they persist in believing that a few reviews from there friends/neighbours/coworkers will sell a book that couldn’t sell on its own merits? Why do they ignore recommendations for better cover, better product description, better editing/any editing, and learning to write in favour of pestering acquaintances for a review that says, “oh, yeah, Bob’s a great person and this here book that he wrote is just a work of genius, absolutely brilliant, and you have to read it, and I can’t wait for the sequel, which you should preorder right now just like I’m gonna do.”

Okay, that got something off my chest. Back to work now. And you too, C. Gold, whose sequel I am looking forward to reading. I won’t review it though, not because I sort of know you in the slightest possible way, but because I haven’t spent $50 on the US site in forever due to a lack of materialism.

So this person had something to say but not productive, not to me. First of all, the weekend job I have requires very little contact with co-workers. I do NOT know them and I wouldn't ask them to post a review because I don't want them to know who I am online!  As far as I'm concerned, they have to find it out for themselves. 

Second, I do have family members, but not a whole lot on my Facebook list. Since my 'Personal' Facebook list is private, I don't believe the public can view it and I have never asked any of them to post a review, not without reading one of my books first. 

Third, this person talks about neighbors, well I have to be honest, I don't know my neighbors, I rarely talk to them and again, I do not want them to know who I am online. 

 So, he/she says, "better editing/any editing," Well, how did E.L James get away with it? I am sure you know what i mean by that and I am certain that some of her acquaintances, family and even neighbors posted reviews on her books. 

As for that last part, Miss Laundry Maid was referring to another author. Someone I don't know and don't care. 

NOTE: Haters are the only ones who would post a comment such as Miss Laundry Maid's comment. They try to be subtle on their hateful responses as to not come off as a 'Bleep'.  Just saying.

 Second comment:

*If people can't leave reviews on Amazon, tell them to leave them on GoodReads. As people on this forum have found out, if we leave reviews for another's books they tend to get taken down because we have enough of a connection to be considered bad. I don't see how you can really be considered 'friends and family' if you don't even know the person's real name, but it is what it is.

Well, this person is right. If you have followers on Facebook who are not necessarily on your friend's list but are just following you, they might be considered a red flag to Amazon's standards. Ridiculous, I know but as she said, it is what it is. Someone also said if you sign into Amazon through Facebook, that their bots can track people who know you? I don't believe that hogwash, but I don't sign in with Facebook, never. I keep all that separate. Perhaps others do.

In all fairness, GoodReads is okay but it's still important to have a fair amount of reviews on your books or products on the website you're selling your items on. 

My questions are: Does Amazon only accept 1 to 4-star rating reviews, even if the person leaving the review really liked the book or product? 

Are Indie/self-published authors targeted for 'supposed' fake reviews?

Final thought: I would like to see more authors, especially Indie authors stop tearing each other down on forums! You do know that we're all in the same boat when it comes to publishing our books, getting them recognized and liked. Why say such disparaging remarks? We have enough people out there that don't even want to recognize us as real authors, do we need to be so condescending to one another?

With that said, what are your thoughts? Express your opinion in the comment box. I will approve them.

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Free Promotional Book Download for Mother's Day

Hello my Readers,
I will be doing a free promotional book download for Mother's Day! Yes, I usually do one of these on certain holidays. Please visit the link to my Amazon page to view books. Only certain books will be available as free. If you choose to download books, please READ, RATE AND REVIEW on Amazon. Much  appreciated. Thank you.

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Let’s Talk about What Can’t Be Copyrighted

Two years ago, when I revised my book, In the Company of Elves, CreateSpace, the publishing company, informed me to show proof that the book in question is in fact my personal work. I was beside myself. Of course there wasn't a problem. They just wanted me to show them proof of copyright. 

I copyrighted the original book back in 2009 long before I revised it. I had no problem sending poof, however after finding out that another author, had published a book under the same name and she or should I say someone who she knows, complained-- I was irked! 

The author passed away back in 2015, that is what was posted but her sister in law or someone who is in charge of her written work really should have done their research. 

I am the original author who thought up the title, In the Companyof Elves, many years ago. But as I had mentioned in my book, The Other Sideof Things Part 1, you cannot copyright titles. Below is a list of what can’t be copyrighted. This is for the people who get triggered over seeing their name or title in a book. If your name is Julie or Vic and you see it in a book, remember the names are common and can be used.

There are many things that cannot be copyrighted, they either don’t fall under the jurisdiction of copyright or don’t qualify for its protection. There are also exemptions and that place some content immediately into the public domain. So, if you’re wondering about the things you can’t copyright, here is a short list of five of the more important ones.

Public domain images, written work, et cetera: 
Is in reference to creative materials such as patent drawings that are not protected by copyright, trademark, patent, or any other intellectual property laws. A public-domain work can be used without cost. The written work or image has not been copyrighted.

Titles and Names

Copyright protection does not extend to titles, names, slogans or short phrases, the Copyright Office has made that very clear. You cannot copyright your name, the title of your post or any short phrase that you use to identify a work. The reason is that copyright is designed to protect works of creative authorship, it is not designed to protect how that work is identified in the marketplace, the same goes for people and places. Furthermore, such short phrases rarely meet the requisite level of creativity to be considered for copyright protection.

Caveat: Titles may not be copyrighted.

Recipes: recipes also fall under this category. Specifically, the listing of ingredients (even if it's your own recipe ingredients) is not protected by copyright. This applies to formulas, compounds, and prescriptions as well. There are exceptions however, such as when recipes are compiled in a cookbook for instance or if the recipe is accompanied by “substantial literary expression,” a term that refers to text such as directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, there may be a basis for copyright protection.

Ideas: Ideas, methods, and systems are not covered by copyright protection, because they are not fixed into a tangible medium of expression.  For a work to be copyrighted, it has to be written down, saved to a hard drive or somehow otherwise fixed. For example, if you give a speech but fail to write it down first and it isn’t recorded, there is no copyright protection. Likewise, if you tell an idea to a friend, you don’t receive copyright protection if they run with it and use it for themselves, that is, unless you write it down. However, even ideas that are fixed do not receive protection in and of themselves. Rather, it is the expression of the idea that is protected.

Commonly Known Information: This category includes items that are considered common property and with no known authorship. Examples, include standard calendars, height and weight charts, telephone directories, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents. A phrase such as “The sky is blue” also falls under this category since there is no known authorship associated with it.

Fashion: Contrary to what you might think, fashion (that is, a shirt, dress, or other article of clothing) is not protected by copyright law. Despite the fact that copyright law protects such things as architectural design works (Circular 41) or works of the visual arts (Circular 40), fashion is all about clothing and accessories, which under copyright law are considered “useful articles." It is possible however, to copyright a specific fabric pattern (Burberry plaids for example), but not the actual dress. It should be noted that while designs can't be copyrighted, they can be patented.

Protected by the First Amendment

Expressive Use: Using someone’s name, image or life story as part of a novel, book, movie or other “expressive” work is protected by the First Amendment, even if the expressive work is sold or displayed. Therefore, using a person’s life story as part of a book or movie will not be deemed a misappropriation of the Right of Publicity.

 NOTE: I’ve never used an actual person’s life story, but I grant permission if someone wanted to write about me, after my death. By that time, I’ll be dead and won’t really care except maybe my children or grand-children. Of course, it depends on the content of the written work.

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