I spent my morning copying over the reviews that I had done on the most recent edition of Abyss & Apex onto Goodreads, and added them to Amazon. Putting up a review of a book that you did not pay for on Amazon is often fraught with peril: because I was not a “verified purchaser” will they disallow it or allow it to be published? I will have to watch my email to find out.
Goodreads doesn’t care about that, but has its own hazards. This time I ran into a short story collection that had two different versions posted. One mentioned the editors as if they were authors, and the other mentioned some of the authors. I asked the Goodreads librarians to merge the two.
Then I started reviewing a book I’d just read for the coming July edition of A&A.
Today’s #bookqw keyword is “Better,” so I thought I would us a quote from Better Dating Through Engineering. (Updated for 2019!) In that book, among other things, I do a cost/benefit analysis regarding which dating sites work best, especially for the older woman. I did the engineering so you won’t have to!
Here’s a link to my “Little Green Men” in last August’s Strange Fiction ‘Zine. I cannot believe I forgot to share this! http://strangefictionszine.com/little-green-men/
As editor of Abyss & Apex I’ve helped launch the careers of several writers. Let me put my years of experience as a writer and editor to work for you. Note that I will usually give your work three passes for these prices.
Developmental editing/copyediting rates:
Flash Fiction (1,500 words or less)………$15
Short stories (up to 7,500 words)…………$35
Novelettes (7,500 to 17,500 words)……..$75
Novellas (17.5K to to 40K words………$120
Novels (40K words to 150K)………………$400 (longer works slightly higher)
Non-fiction articles and books have similar rates based on word count.
Once upon a time there was a child in my son’s second grade class who had a birthday party. Not just any birthday party: it was a birthday party held in a bowling alley, where all the children could bowl (in lanes with inflatable bumpers to cut down on the gutter balls). There was also a sheet cake with a Barbie on it, because this little girl absolutely love Barbies.
In fact, she loved them so much that she asked my son if he could please get her a Barbie for her birthday. That was a simple enough gift, and readily available, so I went to the toy store and got her nice Barbie in a box. I wrapped it and put a bow on it, but was pretty obvious what was inside and I hope that the little girl would see the shape of the box and know exactly what she was getting.
The day of the party arrived. My son put on his Sunday best and we drove to the bowling alley. As is my habit, I got there a little early, and asked if there was anything I could do to help the party. The birthday girl’s mother smiled and said no, and when I asked her where to put the box with the obvious Barbie wrapped in it, she smiled and pointed to a table where the gifts were supposed to be placed.
One by one, the little girls classmates came in, bearing gifts. One by one, the same shape of box was seen under the wrapping paper and bows. Little by little, the birthday girl’s mother became more embarrassed and the birthday girl herself became more and more excited.
And when it was time to open the gifts, one by one the little girl opened up 31 presents containing Barbies.
Despite her mother’s embarrassment I decided the girl was going far. I love a woman who can tell everyone what she really wants.
Today’s #bookqw keyword is “Important.” The graphic is an excerpt from my work in progress, Writing The Entertaining Story. The book has several types of sidebars: Pro Tips, or Danger, Will Robinson! (huge pitfalls) Or Here There Be Dragons (potential danger areas).
