There is one pile of grey snow left in my front yard. Once it stood a proud and glistering mountain--nine feet tall --and now it is a mere foot and a half high. Once it had a snow cave inside of it, built over winter break by some enthusiastic young men. Now it is surrounded by spongy wet moss and deflated grass. Gravel from our driveway peppers its granular surface.
I know we've had the first day of spring already, but for me the true first day of spring will be when the last bit of grey snow is totally gone.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Trail Blazer/Publisher/Writer Amanda Hocking
The title of this blog is Trail Blazer/Publisher/Writer Amanda Hocking. That is my take on how Amanda has made beautiful ripples in the publishing pond. Most importantly, Amanda Hocking is a trail blazer for authors everywhere to show us that great things are possible. But just like another trail blazer, Neil Armstrong, it doesn't mean that Amanda's trail was easy or even likely to be oft-repeated.
Interesting to note that this talented young woman first considered herself a writer. Then, when she couldn't get published traditionally, she became a publisher. After she published, thanks to her grass roots support (Amanda Hocking has a large following for her blog and her twitter feed that is growing by the day) and phenomenal sales on Amazon.com (mostly for Kindle downloads) she became a trail blazer.
Now that she is successful, she has an agent. Between her ten published books, she is selling about 95,000-100,000 books a month. Did I mention she is 26 years old?
I decided to download one of her books and see what all of the fuss was about. After all, it was only 99 cents. The first one went down like a bag of popcorn. Entertaining, not terribly nutritious, but I quickly read book #2 in the series. It was priced at $2.99. The girl has a good marketing strategy. At the end of each Kindle book was the first chapter from a different Amanda Hocking series. Brilliant.
Now, many people may scratch their heads at some of the editing, grammatical and spelling errors in Hocking's published writings. It's a little scary, but my guess is that 99% of her audience doesn't even notice these errors. Or if they notice, they really don't care. She is reaching a demographic that is texting "lol" or "u" for you. What does it matter if she wrote "chucking up" instead of "chalking up"? My prediction is that she will eventually have her books purged from all editorial errors.
In the meantime, I hope that Amanda keeps writing and publishing at the same pace. The publishing world will be chasing her down the street, cleaning up her text, selling the next deal, and hoping they can catch up.
Interesting to note that this talented young woman first considered herself a writer. Then, when she couldn't get published traditionally, she became a publisher. After she published, thanks to her grass roots support (Amanda Hocking has a large following for her blog and her twitter feed that is growing by the day) and phenomenal sales on Amazon.com (mostly for Kindle downloads) she became a trail blazer.
Now that she is successful, she has an agent. Between her ten published books, she is selling about 95,000-100,000 books a month. Did I mention she is 26 years old?
I decided to download one of her books and see what all of the fuss was about. After all, it was only 99 cents. The first one went down like a bag of popcorn. Entertaining, not terribly nutritious, but I quickly read book #2 in the series. It was priced at $2.99. The girl has a good marketing strategy. At the end of each Kindle book was the first chapter from a different Amanda Hocking series. Brilliant.
Now, many people may scratch their heads at some of the editing, grammatical and spelling errors in Hocking's published writings. It's a little scary, but my guess is that 99% of her audience doesn't even notice these errors. Or if they notice, they really don't care. She is reaching a demographic that is texting "lol" or "u" for you. What does it matter if she wrote "chucking up" instead of "chalking up"? My prediction is that she will eventually have her books purged from all editorial errors.
In the meantime, I hope that Amanda keeps writing and publishing at the same pace. The publishing world will be chasing her down the street, cleaning up her text, selling the next deal, and hoping they can catch up.
Friday, March 4, 2011
First Blog
Hey there, world. One more blogger has joined the blogosphere. I can already feel the ripples going out from my little town in Connecticut.
Seriously, this is a big step for me. I am a private person by nature. But I have a great affection for people. Go figure.
What I am wondering now, is how this reaching out to anonymous readers will affect my life. Or IF it will affect my life. Somehow I already feel lighter, more proactive. Less restrained. Will anyone ever read this first blog? Will it be like the electronic fossil that will lay buried for millennia before someone unearths it? Time will tell.
At the very least, this blog will soothe the writing beast inside. The one I have to feed in order to survive.
So, whoever you are, welcome to my blog. Thanks for coming.
Seriously, this is a big step for me. I am a private person by nature. But I have a great affection for people. Go figure.
What I am wondering now, is how this reaching out to anonymous readers will affect my life. Or IF it will affect my life. Somehow I already feel lighter, more proactive. Less restrained. Will anyone ever read this first blog? Will it be like the electronic fossil that will lay buried for millennia before someone unearths it? Time will tell.
At the very least, this blog will soothe the writing beast inside. The one I have to feed in order to survive.
So, whoever you are, welcome to my blog. Thanks for coming.
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