Review: Monterey Shorts 2 - More on the Line

Storytelling is an art--and not an easy one to master--however, the ten authors with the Fiction Writers of the Monterey Peninsula (FWOMP) have done well with their latest compilation and anyone looking for an interesting collection of tales should certainly consider this book.

With its superb presentation, detailed editing, and clever illustrations, Monterey Shorts 2 creatively interweaves the history, the flavor, and the nature of not only the colorful populace but of the California Central Coast itself.

Whether reading of the first woman lighthouse keeper to the flight of a spritely being to the sinister side of desire or of love and beyond, this anthology of more than twenty stories charms the reader and makes them want to turn the page to discover what new tale lies just ahead.

Could it be the vampire or the murderer? The artist or the diviner? An exotic beast or just a monkey? Will he come home to a house not there? Or find a friend is not all they seem?

A few noteworthy mentions include Finding Anna, Snakeskin Jacket, Charlotte's Light, Moving Day, Lavinia, and Framed but as a whole, I enjoyed reading each of these wonderful stories.

I also want to mention how the stories--some strong enough to stand on their own merit--did not overshadow the others too much and therefore imparted to the reader a genuine medley of works.

Kudos to these writers who believe that solid criticism served with sincerity is a dish well served. They've proven a gift, shaped with honest effort, will stand high above the rest.

Well done!

©2005 Reviewed by Dehanna Bailee

Additional Book Information:

Title: Monterey Shorts 2: More on the Line

By: Chris Kemp, Byron Merritt, Mike Tyrrel, Walter E. Gourlay, Ken Jones, Mark C. Angel, Lele Dahle, Frances J. Rossi, Linda Price, Shaheen Schmidt

ISBN: 0976009609 416 pages $15.95

One Author's Publishing Tale

Since I've been in this industry, I've heard a lot of the good and bad but on occasion I get another casual note explaining some of the reasons "why" an author choose to publish their work independently.

Many times it's only a private word sent along with a quick thanks or something like that but now and then I'm alerted by someone who has taken the time to write about their adventures and publish it on their own site for others to read and hopefully glean some inspiration from.

Such is this recent memo from a Brazilian gentleman who wrote a lengthy article of sorts about his own experiences in the process and provides his thoughts on topics like researching, finding an agent, book doctors, translating, copyrighting, querying, submission packages, independent publishing, etc.

You can find the full article here: http://www.lamensdorf.com.br/eof/soiwrote.htm

Looking for another contest??

Fresh Voices 2006 Book Awards
Call for Entries!

The "Fresh Voices 2006" Book Awards presents an incredible opportunity for writers and self-published authors!

Winners & Finalists in each category receive:

• -WMAConnect.com Exposure
• -National Agent and Publisher Exposure
• -Promote Your Work as Award-Winning

Entry Fee: $49.00
Entries due by October 31, 2005
Winners and Finalists announced January 16, 2006

For official categories, full guidelines, and more visit the main website at: http://www.wmaconnect.com/pages/1/index.htm

[please note: inclusion does not mean i am endorsing this events--please read all rules and requirements carefully]

POD is a Printing Process NOT a Publisher!

POD is a PRINTING process NOT a PUBLISHING process, no matter what you might be led to believe elsewhere

This informative interview by Ron Pramschufer of WBJB Self Publishing Radio "gets to the bottom of the confusion surrounding the term POD (Print on Demand)" with guest J. Kirby Best, the President of Lightning Source.*

The interview also goes into detail about:

• How "the name has been hijacked by many online Vanity Presses…"
• Why "there are so few actual POD printers..."
• How "a book can appear to be available in thousands of … outlets…"

There's more presented in the audio interview than listed here so if you get a chance, don't miss this great opportunity to hear the truth of the industry straight from the horse's mouth!

The interview can be found at: http://www.wbjbradio.com WBJB Publishing Basics Radio is pod cast weekly at noon on Friday's.

* "Lightning Source is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries, Inc, the owner of one of the largest book wholesalers in the world. Lightning Source services over 2300 publishers including virtually all of the publishers claiming to be 'POD Publishers.'"

Dancing with Numbers: Estimating Amazon's Sales

Intrigued by the whole Amazon concept of selling and how small and self-published books might fall within the realm overall? Then don't miss this post!

A methodology for estimating Amazon's Long Tail sales
By Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine

By summarizing a collective wealth of information (including some analysis by a team from MIT and Morris Rosenthal), this article gets into the nitty-gritty of sales using reverse-engineering combined with experiments and tracking of the sales rank numbers to summarize the relation between sales and rankings.

Some high points:

"… the Long Tail still appears to be somewhere between a quarter and a third of
Amazon's book business..."

"… two sales of any title, independent of whether it's ever sold before, will propel it into the top 50,000 books for a few hours."

"Amazon sells somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 unique titles on any give day. The top 30,000 titles average over 1 copy a day."

"The ranks between 1,000 and 10,000 are selling a couple copies a day…"

But don't just go with this minute excerpt of data posted here: make sure you read the whole article for it just may explain (in much detail) how your own books falls in comparison to those "bestsellers."

LINK: http://longtail.typepad.com/the_long_tail/
2005/08/a_methodology_f.html