Author Archive
Posted on March 10, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Writer’s Block? Maybe it’s “Writer’s Avoidance” Behavior
I was fortunate to attend a presentation given by author Kathy Steffen, who talked about ways to overcome writer’s block. One of the things she talked about was how writer’s block isn’t always a “block” of creativity, but you’re actually engaging in something she called “writer’s avoidance behavior.”
I feel that this is especially true [...]
Posted on March 4, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
What Other Writers Can Learn from Romance Authors
I joined a local romance writer’s group last year and, admittedly, I was a bit nervous at first because I knew nothing about that arm of the publishing industry.
Well, here we are months later and I’m very happy with my involvement with this group for several reasons…
Posted on March 3, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Guest SFWA Blog Post on Website Usability and Design
Hop on over to the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America website to read my latest guest post entitled, Authors! 8 Tips For Your Website’s Usability and Design.
Here’s a quote from the article:
In today’s article, I’d like to share with you some tips to consider when you’re reviewing your current website or when you’re [...]
Posted on March 1, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Announcing the Release of THE QUEEN OF CROWS
Centered around a short story entitled “The Queen Of Crows,” I designed a unique, digital product that I think you’ll really enjoy. At a retail price of $4.99, you will receive a magazine-style layout of THE QUEEN OF CROWS, a professional illustration of a character named Mahochepi and more!
This product is the first digital release [...]
Posted on February 18, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Guest Post: Gender Portrayals and Genres at Apex Book Company
This month, I talk about Gender Portrayals and Genres over at Apex Book Company.
In early science fiction and even horror, gender roles were often idealized according to the culture and the author’s views and experiences at the time the work was written. A good example of that are the few female characters in H.P. [...]
Posted on February 17, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Writing and Conventions
For the past, few months I’ve been taking a serious look at my short-term and long-term goals, and I’ve come to some pretty interesting conclusions.
When I look back at the projects that I have published, I realized that I have just as many that fell through the cracks due to bad business partnerships, horrible [...]
Posted on February 10, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
On Writing a Historically-Accurate Paranormal Short Story
Currently, I’m working on revisions for a short story entitled THE QUEEN OF CROWS that will be released as part of a digital product through Flames Rising Press. Set in the late 1800s, the plot revolves around a Navajo medicine man who is trying to summon a vengeance goddess called Mahochepi, the Queen of Crows. [...]
Posted on February 1, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
This Is Not Another Amazon Post
If you haven’t heard, there was a bit of an awkward business kerfluffle between Amazon and MacMillan this past weekend. No, I am not talking extensively about it other than to say that I believe we are seeing the result of what happens when people are anxious and start to panic. E-Books are a hot [...]
Posted on January 25, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Calculating the Cost of an E-Book
I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from my previous post entitled Weighing in on E-Books, so I wanted to talk about ways to calculate the cost of an e-book.
First, let’s pull some arbitrary numbers. (And by arbitrary, I mean that these are not precise figures.) Let’s say that we paid our author $3,000 for [...]
Posted on January 22, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
New Guest Post on Apex: Discussing Rape, Incest and Abuse in Horror
This week, I offered the folks over at Apex Book Company a blog post entitled, “Why Do Some Horror Authors Write about Rape, Incest and Abuse?“ This was a sensitive topic to write about, and I found out after the article was published that I made a slight oversight in the post.
My goal for this [...]
Posted on January 21, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Do You Need to be Heard, Or Do You Need an Answer?
One of the things I’m beginning to find pretty frustrating, is the need for people to publicly rant about something that they haven’t tried to resolve on their own. From misprints to crappy downloads, it seems like ranting about bad business experiences, politics and other frustrations is the “thing” to do. The trouble is, there’s [...]
Posted on January 13, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Weighing in on E-Books
It’s been really interesting for me to watch the complex discussions about e-books online, because I work for a digital publisher. My company provides digital sheet music files to our customers and there are a lot of similarities between our industry and the publishing industry. However, books have a broader market than sheet music does, [...]
Posted on January 8, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Marathon Wrap-Up and a Quick Look Ahead
First of all, marathoners — I owe you an apology. I had a summary post written (I really, really did) but somewhere in between plowing full steam ahead to 2010 and my WordPress updates I lost it. I’d like to share with you some closing thoughts on the Marathon.
For me, December was a kick start [...]
My Recent Releases
The Queen of Crows
Download THE QUEEN OF CROWS e-book at DriveThruHorror.com
Family Games: The 100 Best
Pre-Order at Amazon.comBuried Tales of Pinebox, TX
Available at Amazon.com
Available at DriveThruHorror.comCurrent Project
