I had the job of producing this work. Al Philipson did a great job of finding and editing these stories. Not a pill in the bunch. But this created a problem for me. I'm supposed to do a final edit on stuff we publish, then convert it into several eBook formats. And I'm supposed to do it as quickly as I can (after all, the boss doesn't want me goofing off on the job). Wellllll, I had a problem. I spent entirely too much time reading the stories (I'm a SF junkie) instead of doing my job. Kinda got me in trouble with my boss. So, I'll issue a warning to other SF junkies: Don't try to read this when you're supposed to be working. You'll get lost in the stories and probably get caught by YOUR boss.

It seems like most people have already forgotten. A tragedy and act of war with a death toll greater than the attack on Pearl Harbor. And the object was to kill innocent civilians. At least Pearl Harbor was a military target and the objective was to cripple our Pacific Fleet. What's this country coming to? Can't we focus on anything longer than a TV sitcom? Al

Another way to improve the quality of your work is to belong to a writing workshop. It won't guarantee success, but a good workshop should improve your writing and hopefully your finished product (manuscript) will have fewer errors and be less trouble to your editor. Al

Right on the money, Jerry. This is something we forgot to mention in our marketing advice page (http://akwbooks.com/authors/marketing.htm) so we'll have to post a link to this article. We assume all too often that authors understand that they are in a business. Guess that's kind of naive given that authors are often "dreamers" at heart. It takes someone like you to give them a kick in the pants to remind them that dreaming may get the book written, but won't necessarily sell it. You're performing a great service, pal. Keep it up. Al, for AKW Books

Many good points here, Jerry. But I'd like to remind folks that if you want to sell what you write, someone has to buy it. If the "market" (actually the sum of editors and readers) isn't interested in what you have to say and the way you say it, all the passion and uniqueness in the world isn't going to sell one book. So, yes you'll write a better work if you do what drives you. And you may just hit a popular nerve. It's a risk and writers should realize that. For instance, my pet peeve as an editor is "the start". There was a time when a new author could get by with a slow start and still get sold if his writing was good. People were more relaxed than they are today. But today's crowd wants it "now". They expect a major war to be completed in the same time as one season of Survivor, if not in an hour-and-a-half movie. If they don't know you and trust you to give them a "good read", they are likely to be put off by your slow start, TV disaster movies notwithstanding. What I'm trying to say is that if you don't write to the market, or close to it, editors are less likely to risk time and money on your manuscript. That forces you into self-publishing (not necessarily a bad thing) and the personal financial risks involved. And with a book that doesn't appeal to a lot of people your sales efforts had better be more intense and focused, because your sales are going to be slower (unless you are lucky and your new approach catches on). Now, you may just set the next trend in writing style, but remember that "path finding" is a tough journey into the unknown. If anyone is interested in our take on How to Write a Salable Book, check out our Blog at http://www.akwbooks.com/authors/authorblog/blog/ and click on the last entry under "Categories" in the right margin. Then go out and do it YOUR way.

Another home run, Jerry. When I was a little nipper, you could buy a good paperback book for much less than a buck. Today, it's not unusual to see fat mass market paperbacks going for almost $20. Heck, hard bound books shouldn't cost that much unless they're VERY special. And as you stated, there is no supply/demand model that will explain this odd behavior. So, along come the self-publishing houses. The biggest problem here is that the output from these short press run outfits costs almost as much as the retail price of many mass market paperbacks. Now, you often get a trade paperback for that price which is nicer and looks better as a coffee table book, but the price is still do darned high and makes it hard for authors to make any money from their work. It becomes a labor of love, but not a profitable business. So, it behooves authors to do a lot of careful shopping before putting up the money to have their love child published. You've already covered the problems involved in POD (print on demand) outfits, so we won't go there. The contracts can bind you up for so long that your heirs may never see the end of it. ePublishers such as AKW Books can keep the price down and the royalties attractive, but the market for eBooks is still in its infancy. The best combination may be to self-publish after shopping around for a printer and publish an eBook version. Then market your brains out. Al for AKW Books

I understand your frustration, Jerry. You're giving away something that's worth money and no one wants it. Maybe if you charged for the privilege of critiquing a book???? (I'm joking). You know why I won't participate, so I won't hang our wash out in public. I'd be happy to review the books we publish and post on NB, but I don't know if that would be kosher. Conflict of interest and all that. I'll continue to send potential reviewers your way, but I can't drag them up to the bookshelves to take a book just for the price of a few words. Perhaps readers are afraid of writing? Or too lazy? Silly since so many of them pound out hundreds of lines of text daily just sending emails to friends. C'mon folks! It's a great deal. If you're an author, grab someone else's book and write a review. You do the same thing in a peer-to-peer writer's workshop. With the economy bugging everyone, free reading sounds like a deal to me.

A nice kid's book to read to a child with a high curiosity and a short attention span. Semi-educational in that the child can learn about some of the animals who live around them.

Put on your thinking cap before loading this book. The cast of characters is fairly large and there are several plot lines leading up to the climax. Pay attention to David and Elijah. Their's are the two major plot lines. Once you get that down, the rest of the story is easier to read and truly enjoy.

This book is pretty hard to read. Not because it's poorly written, but because the story of Stacy is true and heart-rending. The author does a superb job of telling her own story as if it actually happened to someone else (hard to do). My reaction half way through the book was to run out, find her parents somehow, and make them pay for the living hell they put her through (not very practical). But that's just the caveman in me. The hope for other DID sufferers is that in the end, Stacy (Kriss) finally found help and is now living a normal life with a loving husband and a child of her own (not abused). The "Afterward" section gives an overview of her recovery program.

John, believe it or not SF is not about aliens running rampant over Earth. ANY good story is about some personality (alien or human) stuck in a situation and the struggle to rectify personal and external problems. Aliens can be window dressing or the main subject of the work. They don't even have to be there. What makes a story "science fiction" is the use of technology that currently doesn't exist or a mis-step into times past, or a future setting. Heinlein put it beautifully when he described SF as "what if?". What if some new item were invented? How does it affect the POV? What if someone living 100 years from now has a problem to solve? After you postulate a setting and the technology of the setting, you as a writer must now create the most important part of your novel -- THE STORY! And like ANY story/mystery/whatever it must have conflict, personalities, and all the other elements required of any genre. Your fighter pilot may sit behind the controls of a space fighter, but s/he's still a fighter pilot. Your businessman may have stores on several planets, but s/he still has to deal with product, competition, bottom line, and investors. Your young couple in love/lust may live on the moon, but hormones will be pretty much the same and personal problems will still exist. Add aliens only if you need them, but don't depend upon them to make the story interesting. You still MUST tell a good yarn and make the reader care about what's going on.

My wife is a huge romance fan and keeps bugging me to find some good romances for AKW Books to publish in eBook format. We've got science fiction coming out of our ears along with several other categories of fiction and non-fiction, but well-written romance seem to elude us. Can anyone give me an idea where to go to find top-notch romance writers who might be interested in our little corner of the industry?

Non-Indies are people too. At least I like to think so. I'm a non-indie and a non-vanity/indie publisher to boot. Got hornswoggled into the eBook business (people laugh at you when you get into a business dominated by big outfits like Amazon). But I'm having the time of my life doing what I love to do. All of our authors are by definition "non-indie" and we like them. So, Kate, I don't think you should be discriminated against. Jerry set this thing up to help all authors (granted with an eye towards indies). Anyone who publishes a book, unless you're someone special, has to do most of the marketing and Jerry has kindly set up one way to promote your work as well as a place to get information on the business of writing and selling your work.

Okay, I've started a thread for SF authors. First 10 people get to use it, then the 11th will have to start a new one. It's called "Science Fiction Crosslink #1" (big surprise). Feel free to start other threads such as: Romance (you can be specific if you think that will help, such as "Historical Romance"). Thrillers Spy stories Young Adult Children's Mystery Go to Amazon and look at their genre list for ideas. If you book sells through Amazon or B&N, use the genre your book is in. Or the main genre you used for your Nothing Binding post.