4 books for the VETERANS in your life and the people who love them

Since the start of our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, I’ve met combat vets – but I have no one in my immediate circle who is a vet or has a vet in their family. Nevertheless, I am ever aware of their sacrifice and the devastating effects of these wars on them – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. In tribute to our vets and in honor of Memorial Day, I decided to compile a short book list. I didn’t start out with these books in mind (I was actually thinking more along the lines of Flags of Our Fathers), but this is where my research took me, and appropriately so.

Regardless of your position on US involvement in these – or any –wars, I’m thinking we all can agree about one thing: our vets deserve our honor, respect, and the best medical treatment they can get. Though I have not read the books below, they come highly recommended for vets themselves and the people who love them. Each segment contains an excerpt from the book, portion of a review, and shot of the book cover.

Fields of Combat: Understanding PTSD among Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work)

by Erin P. Finley

In Fields of Combat, Erin P. Finley deftly weaves the experiences of these young men and women who have participated in the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan into a larger fabric of the U.S. military enterprise, including the clinical responses to a health crisis in treatment and prevention of debilitating traumas of war. How Americans, civilian and military alike, respond to these veterans says as much about the mental health of U.S. society as about them.

— Matthew Gutmann, Brown University, coauthor, Breaking Ranks: Iraq Veterans Speak Out Against the War

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War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

by Edward Tick

I am a combat vet of the Viet Nam era. I purchased a copy of Dr. Tick’s book WAR AND THE SOUL last week. I can’t begin to express how deeply it affected me as a veteran, a father and as a man. Edward Tick has brought out into the open the essence of the problem with the aftereffects of war. We are of the “don’t talk about it and it will just go away,” generation. I’m referring to the loss or corruption of every mans’ soul as a result of the horrors of war, and the lack of a true warrior class in America as DR. tick describes it. Like no other terror on earth, war is so traumatic that indeed one’s soul may be lost forever. However, it does not have to be that way. We indeed may regain intimacy, trust and a purposeful life if treated as humans with souls, not like men having to be drugged with antidepressants to keep us away and out of public sight.

— Robert Cagle

 

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The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle against America’s Veterans

by Aaron Glantz

“A breathtaking rebuke to government hypocrisy and an overdue contribution to gaining critical public awareness of this official neglect.”

— Publishers Weekly

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Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior: Navigating the Transition from Combat to Home — Including Combat Stress, PTSD, and mTBI

by Charles W. Hoge, MD

“John Denver’s lyrics about coming home to a place you’ve never been before sums up this book. A brilliant guide, and very much needed now.”

—Gordon R. Roberts, Medal of Honor recipient

In sincere thanks to all of our troops –

Laura

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Kids and adults are encouraged to sign up for LIBRARY CARDS in September

We just learned that September has been designated as “Be Kind to Writers and Editors Month.” As it turns out, the 9th month also has another literary distinction: Library Card Sign-Up Month.

I cannot remember not having a library card. Library visits were a biweekly ritual in our house. These were the Saturdays I never slept in; I’d stack up my books on the coffee table as soon as I got up, and then dance around, anxiously waiting for my dad to finish his coffee, mow the lawn, pay the bills, or whatever other boring grown-up stuff he “had” to do before we could go to the library.

Too many kids today have never even seen the inside of a library – some for lack of library services in their areas; many others because their parents just don’t view the library as an essential part of any well-rounded education. With the financial situation in its current messy state, libraries are an unfortunate easy target when it comes to funding. As Marilyn Johnson laments in a July 2010 LA Times op-ed piece, “Libraries are an essential service in action, as well as an effective leveler of privilege and avenue of reinvention. As budget cuts affect more facilities, children will be the first to suffer.”

The good news is that the libraries that are still standing are persevering. But they can use our help. One way is to spread the news that September is Library Card Sign-Up Month – a time when the American Library Association and libraries across the country remind parents that the most important school supply of all is a library card.

September was designated as Library Card Sign-Up Month in 1988. Just in time for the Fall pennant race, former MLB All-Star, Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Jr., is this year’s Honorary Chairperson for Library Card Sign-up Month. Many other past honorary chairs and spokespersons also come from the sports world, including:

• NBA Star and Olympic gold medalist, Dwyane Wade
• WNBA Star and Olympic gold medalist, Candace Parker
• author and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• quarterback of the 2006 Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger

Comic George Lopez seems to be the only non-athlete spokesperson in recent years.

Besides actually going to the library to sign up for a card and/or check out books, other ways to celebrate Library Card Sign-Up Month include visiting a few key websites:

• Between the Lions. Explore the public library that is part of PBS Kids and home to lion cubs Lionel and Leona and their parents, Cleo and Theo.
• Library of Congress. The Library of Congress website offers a wealth of information about life, history, government, and culture in the United States. Searchable online resources can help you find what you’re looking for, or you can use the site map and index tools to locate specific information.
• Presidential Libraries. From the National Archives, this site has links to 10 Presidential libraries and two Presidential materials projects. Includes items from Presidents George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman.
• KidsReads. This site promotes quality reading through book reviews, related games, author biographies and interviews, and more. Students can also learn how to set up successful book clubs and find discussion guides for particular books.

If you have a child who doesn’t yet have a library card, take them out to get one this month! If you and your children haven’t been to the library in a while, why not make a point to go this weekend? Even if you don’t have kids, your local library more than likely has all kinds of cool things waiting for you, too! What are you waiting for? Hit the road, Jack – and doncha come back without a library book!

Laura

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Lists for all you taphophiles: lots of books about cemeteries

I remember a trip through New England where I made a point to stop at virtually every cemetery I passed on a single day. I don’t have a morbid bent – but if you’ve ever seen a New England cemetery, you know how beautiful they can be. The sense of history is awe-inspiring. Of course my visits were during the daytime.

In one of those incidents that could be construed as nothing other than perfect timing, I came across this blog post from Publishers Weekly just as my sister an I are planning the funeral for our mom, who passed away on Wednesday. This post is dedicated to my mom, Betty P. Orsini, 1/8/1929-8/31/2011.

Literature Graveyard: Which Cemetery is the Most Literary?

Last month, we posted an article detailing some very strange ways that authors have met their end. The morbid side of literature got us thinking about the final resting places of authors, so we did some research and uncovered the cemeteries that can boast the most about the literary quality of their residents. Read on for more gloom.

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About a month ago, I did a post featuring a list of lists of kinds of books. Books about nurses, hermits, grandmothers, beekeeper, pirates, US presidents, and more. Since this post is about cemeteries in literature, I thought I’d give you a few lists of books about cemeteries.

• This first list, at shroudeater.com, is a thorough list, albeit a fairly esoteric collection of largely European titles. According to the site:

Unlike the type of vampire that we meet in novels and films, traditional vampires hardly ever live in a castle. The kind of undead that we are interested in, are said to “live” in their graves. Sufficient reason for us to also have a strong interest in churchyards, crypts, ossuaries, cemeteries, funeral customs, burial methods, etc., etc. This section concentrates on books about churchyards and cemeteries. Titles related to funeral customs and burial methods can be found in our DEATH section.

• Next up was Authonomy.com, with a list of “books tagged with ‘cemetery.’”

• After that, we have Potifos.com, with a list of “books about cemeteries (in association with Amazon.com).”

• Lastly, there’s the blog post “For Love of Cemeteries,” posted at MurderBlog: “In honor of the release of Melissa Marr’s book Graveminder, here are some of my favorite books featuring cemeteries…”

If you have any interest in cemeteries – or books about them – these lists should give you a good starting point.

Happy haunting!

Laura

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Today’s marketing is ANYTHING but a linear process

Not all that long ago, it was virtually a given when studying marketing to learn about the sales funnel – the top-down model of building a customer base.

Social media has largely changed that. A fantastic article from Marketing Profs details this shift and the emerging winding road that is now the “client cycle.” Whereas metrics – knowing WHERE your clients and customers are coming from – are still important, the methods for tracking them has changed in response to the new marketing. According to Marketing Profs:

Whether they’re interested in a new pair of shoes or a new virtual private network, future customers can first engage with a potential purchase in many ways. That engagement could be via a billboard with a URL that they type into their smartphone’s mobile browser, or a click on a Facebook wall post from a friend’s feed, or a search on Google.

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The best marketers can hope to do in such an environment is to manage the process so that even though all roads may not lead to Rome, eventually all roads lead to, and through, digital “toll booths” of content and information exchange.

What this means is there’s no right way or wrong way to begin a book marketing campaign, and there is no correct point of entry. That being said, you have to start somewhere. Do your research to determine where YOUR readers are most likely to come from. I still believe a blog is one of the fastest ways with the best return when it comes to staking a claim for your market, but you must determine the right way for you.

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Once you understand that marketing is not a linear process, you can embrace the holistic approach necessary to create your various on- and offline “toll booths.”

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The takeaways from this message are important:

• We are inundated with thousands of marketing messages every day.
• People are taking diverse paths to find the market for the goods [books] they consume.
• You are missing the boat if you are not using a diverse strategy to reach them.
• Your diverse strategy must include BOTH on- and offline components.
• A deep understanding of relationship marketing is utterly essential.
• Relationship marketing means the focus is on the prospective buyer, not the campaign.
• You are not your buyer, even though you wrote the book they will wind up buying.
• We need new tools to measure the new marketing.

As Marcie said early on, the most important thing is that you get started!

Happy marketing…

Laura

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You an EXPERT? Leave the public domain works alone and write your own stuff

OK – this is just my opinion (as is most of what you’ll read on this blog), but I think co-opting public domain* materials to create your own books or info products is a cop-out.  It’s not illegal, but it is a lazy shortcut that shortchanges the reader, the person whom you, as a writer, want to be keeping at the forefront of your focus.

“Wow – those seem like fightin’ words, Laura!”

I suppose they do, because I am adamant about this. And here’s why:

I believe that whether we acknowledge it or not, we each have an area of expertise. It doesn’t have to be business related, but there’s probably something in your life that you do better than most people, even if it’s just taking the time to chat with Grandma and Great-Aunt Edna when they come to visit. If you’re writing a book you plan to sell, owning that expertise is crucial.

The question to ponder is: How did you develop your expertise? Perhaps you studied, read, researched, interviewed, and/or put in lots of hands-on time and effort developing this specialized knowledge. The fact is, now you have that knowledge, and that’s what people are paying you for.

By the time you get to the point where you are willing to commit to writing a book, I honestly feel that you should have enough experience, opinions, and knowledge to craft your OWN book. That’s not to say that you can’t and won’t use other experts’ knowledge as source material for your work, but in writing your book, you are publishing your thoughts, your opinions, your expert point of view.

On the other hand, reading a public domain book, rearranging a few words, and putting it forth as your own do not make you an expert. If you’re honest, you’ll admit that  this amounts to nothing more than a cheesy get-rich-quick scheme, and we all know where most of those wind up, don’t we? If making money is your only reason for writing a book, you might want to rethink that.

I encourage you: If you want to write a book, write a book. But put in the work, time, energy, effort, and money to become a REAL expert. Your readers will thank you, and it will pay off in your business.

Laura

* Here’s a great explanation of public domain and the accompanying questions of copyright.

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The Art of Captivation: What makes us LOVE that book, movie, song…?

You probably have one of your own. That CD or MP3 you’ve listened to 1,000 times. For me, it’s the first 3 songs from U2′s Joshua Tree (Side A for you old-school vinyl enthusiasts). I’m not sure what it is about The Edge’s primal guitar beat that is so captivating, but it is as intoxicating to me as any drink. I hear the intro to “The Streets Have No Name” and I want to climb inside the music. Add an open car window on the freeway at midnight, and I’m in heaven.

Right now, you might be relating, or thinking I have terrible taste in that overblown Irish quartet. The point isn’t that you agree with my taste, but that you can relate to the concept of music you absolutely love.

 

These passionate responses are not exclusive to music. What about that movie you’ve watched dozens of times? The painting that mesmerizes you? The book that’s falling apart, you’ve read it so many times?

What makes them so special? Although there are general success indicators, the answer to that question is personal to each of us.

For example, the music industry has distilled the prediction of hit records (primarily from new artists) down to a science. Ever wondered why so many hits have such a similar sound? It might be related to the fact that music researchers in labs hook up test subjects to electrodes and measure their responses to numbers of beats, rhythms, and tones. The studios then generally take risks only on those artists whose music meets the standards predicted by the research.

Similarly, a guy decided to research what makes an Academy Award-winning movie. He got copies of 25 years’ worth of Oscar winners, watched them, and dissected and recorded the similarities between them. Then, he turned his research into a screenwriting class for which he charges thousands of dollars. Not surprisingly, many of his students sell their scripts and see them made into films.

Even with these behind-the-scenes “manipulations,” not every song the studios release becomes a hit, nor does every screenplay from this man’s class become a movie. They are indicators, though.

One thing I’ve observed about most popular art forms is that they’re usually of decent quality. Of course, every now and then a lousy book or movie finds a cult following, but more often than not, the things we like as a culture are pretty good. However, even the most popular books, movies, and music will never appeal to everyone.

As a personal example, it’s just in the last 15 years that I’ve begun to like the Beatles. And to this day, I’m still not a fan of one of the most popular bands of all time, The Rolling Stones. Both inarguably quality artists, but one appeals to me much more than the other, and even that one took some time to grow on me.

What does all of this have to do with you and marketing your book? A few quick reminders:

• If you want to sell books, make the best book you can.
• There are success formulas; one of them may work for you.
• When it comes right down to it, taste is individual. Some readers will resonate with you; those are the ones you want to find and cultivate.
• Even if you hit a home run with your book, there will be some people who don’t like it.

Study the movies, music, and books you love; pay attention to what about them captivates you. Are there hints you can glean about developing and capturing a similar passion in your readers?

Laura

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Authors, your readers would love to know what YOU’RE READING!

Authors, your readers would love to know what YOU’RE READING! A list of lists…

The other night, I came across a wonderful list of books about dragons. The list maker, obviously a huge fantasy fiction fan, had painstakingly drawn up an extensive list of dragon books, including cover shots. Now I loved the movie Dragonslayer and even thought the lady dragon in Shrek was cute, but I’m not much of a fantasy fiction fan. Nevertheless, I found this list compelling enough to share on my Facebook page.

It also got me to thinking about who creates such a list and what the value might be in doing so. I’ve been subscribed to GoodReads.com almost since its inception, but beyond the first dozen or so books I listed, I’ve never added a title nor paid much attention to it. I suppose I read what I want, whatever strikes my fancy (or need) at the time, but I seldom seem to consult others for ideas.

I worked with a guy a few years back, though, who read only thrillers. Not only that, he read only thrillers by authors he already knew. Seriously. I couldn’t believe someone would be so limited in their reading choices, but the only way this guy would try a new author was if they were strongly recommended by someone he trusted, and even then, he did so with great skepticism.

The fact is, some people just prefer to have someone recommend titles to them, perhaps because it’s easier than staring at the millions of books on Amazon or the gazillion titles in a book store or library and trying to choose one.

I think this can benefit authors, because one thing your readers always want is to know more about you. And what better way to do that than by sharing your own reading list? If you don’t have one, maybe you could compile one around a topic of interest to you.

The dragons list compelled me to look for other lists. Not all are as well done as the dragons, but some are much more exhaustive. Perhaps my list of lists will give you a jumping off point for creating your own list.

Books about NURSES

Books about HERMITS

Books about GRANDMOTHERS

Books about BEEKEEPERS

Books about PIRATES

Books about PLAYWRIGHTS

Books about U.S. PRESIDENTS

Books about DOGS

Books about the CIRCUS

Books about GHOSTS

Books not about, but by SCIENTISTS

Books by DEAD AUTHORS

Writers writing on the topic of WRITING (not necessarily books)

Happy reading and list-making!

Laura

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There’s NO SUCH THING as a nonfiction novel!

There’s NO SUCH THING as a nonfiction novel!

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may have come to know my penchant for, “This should go without saying, but…” THIS ONE definitely should go without saying, but there it was, on an indie book review blog:

This blog is for novels (over 50,000 words) by indie writers in any of the following fiction or non-fiction categories:  action / adventure / chick lit / drama / fantasy / historical / horror / mystery / thriller / romance / and science fiction.

Seriously. I’m not making this up. I’m not going to name the blogger here, but if you’re on the Google, you can figure it out with a few key strokes. HOW can someone post that they’re reviewing only novels … and then say they’ll accept books “in any of the following fiction or nonfiction categories”?

Let’s clarify this once and for all.

FICTION: Prose literature, esp. short stories
and novels (i.e., not poetry), about IMAGINARY
events and people.

NONFICTION: Prose writing based on FACTS,
such as biography or history… or science or politics
or music or medicine or publishing or sports or …

Thanks, Wikipedia, for the definitions.

Therefore, a novel can never be either fiction or nonfiction. It is always fiction. Period.

There is a relatively new genre known as Creative Nonfiction (also known as literary or narrative nonfiction) , which is described as writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. It’s still FACTUAL, though, so it’s still NONfiction; however, it uses literary devices often found in novels and other fictional writing.

On the other hand, some novels are based on real-life incidents; historical fiction is one such genre. You may have seen TV crime dramas based on true stories and real characters; they are fictionalized versions of the stories on which they are based. One would never confuse an episode of Law and Order (fiction) with an episode of Cops (nonfiction). Fiction can contain real characters set in actual places – the distinction is that the story is make-believe.

Are these the thing that are confusing people? I wish I knew. And I wish our indie book review blogger was the only person ever to make this blunder, but she’s not. Lots of people you’d think should know better have done the same. You, on the other hand, have NO more excuses.

Here’s to happy fiction and nonfiction writing!

Laura

P.S. The word “nonfiction” is not hyphenated. That’s another mistake you often see.

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