The Author Guy Blog

23rd February 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. Last week, my son noted in an email reply to one of mine that he’d just noticed the hat in my signature line: I replied that it was a component of my author “branding” but I had hoped it wouldn’t be so subtle as to go unnoticed by a family member for the better part of three years. I am a proud member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, an organization here in my home state dedicated to doing important charitable work for those less fortunate. To become a Colonel, one must be approved by the Secretary of State before the certificate is signed-off by the sitting governor. I’ve been a member since the mid-1980s, so my certificate was signed by the only woman governor in Kentucky’s history – Martha Lane Collins. All by way of explaining the hat is a Kentucky Colonel hat. The Old English “G” (that also appears in my name on my book covers) holds special meaning to me because it’s how my late father signed his name. I recalled this...

16 th February 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. Last week I commented that opinions are like noses – everyone has one. I wrote it because I disagreed with what I felt was an untrue and unfounded statement of absolute posted to an author-centric Facebook group. It caused me to ponder so many other “absolute” statements and admonishments I’ve read over the past ten years regarding the craft of writing. It’s been my (albeit limited) experience that most of these proffers of advice come from people who are either not published authors, or if they are, unsuccessful ones. I’m remined of the old saw: “Those who can – do. Those who can’t or won’t – teach.” Here are just two that came two mind that I felt were worth sharing. A now-deceased supposed writing “expert” by the name of Bickham had an entire chapter in his book entitled “Don’t describe the weather.” He goes on with the added admonishment to never begin a book with weather. Well, perhaps he had in mind the infamous and much-maligned...

  9th February 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. I have so much to learn about my chosen craft of fiction writing that I seek advice and information whenever and wherever I can find it. As a result, I’ve joined several author-centric Facebook groups and up until now I just read the postings, make notes when appropriate, and keep on scrolling. But not this week. An author inquired of the group if her already-published indie novel had any chance of being picked up by a mainstream publishing house. Another group member responded “Absolutely not” and went on to opine that it would only happen if the book had achieved stunning sales success, as was the one-off and well-known instance of  Fifty Shades of Grey.  Two, possibly three, problems with that response. First, I don’t believe in “absolutes” in the co-joined worlds of writing and publishing. Second, from personal experience, I know the “absolutely not” to be absolutely not true. My award-winning fourth novel,  Blue...

  2nd February 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. Last week, I wrote about my affection for short books and offered several recommendations. But what is worth sharing, I believe, is that for authors penning short manuscripts, they’re swimming against the tide. Actually, more like a tsunami of bias driven by arbitrary (in my opinion) word count thresholds. To be considered “a novel” by agents, editors, publishers and professional reviewers, a manuscript must contain a minimum of 65,000 words, with 120,000 words carrying the author into a danger zone of overkill in terms of acceptability. When the word count fails to chin the bar of 65,000 words, the term “novella” comes into play – and more often than not, derisively. I’ve read and been told that short books “cheat” a reader, somehow lessening enjoyment and not offering good value for the purchase price. Others may think that way, but not me. Last week, among the short books I recommended are  Love Story, Bridges of Madison Co...