Show Me the Money

Fiorella is tired of hearing that writing is fun but doesn't pay.  Au contraire, Fio knows people who make a lot of money at it.  The secret is that they write catchy stories and have figured out how to market themselves--the commodity won't sell unless it's interesting all the way through, and nobody will know about it unless someone spreads the word.

At least that's how it is in romance writing.

Thee first step to fame and fortune process is writing better, better, best.  Classes abound, but some are more helpful than others.  Fio recommends April Kihlstrom's Book-in-a-Week, which is not only on-line, but on Kindle and Nook.  You are not limited to one hard-scrabble week, and there's no pressure-drive for you to actually write a complete novel in one week.  Not only is Kihlstrom supportive, but she has a track record of thirty-some romances put out by top-flight publishers.  But if you're not the joiner type, you can do a pretty good job all by your lonesome by studying the techniques used by your favorite authors.  (Spoiler alert: you will never read a novel the same was again.  Is a writing career worth it to you?)

Fiorella can't give you much advice about the marketing side of the equation.  That's why she accepted the offer from Grand Central rather than publish independently.   But one thing she knows for sure--your best advertising is word of mouth, and the best way to get the good word out there is to write a crackerjack story.

It's a closed circle, but there very well may be a pot of gold somewhere along the way.

A Look at Nook

Labor-saving devices are getting more complicated every day.

The new dishwasher is terrific, but the levers that raise and lower the upper rack are tricky. The new car can darn near drive itself--but only if one has mastered the two-hundred page instruction manual. And you already know that Fio considers vacuum cleaners too rocket scientisty for her Luddite brain.

First came Kindle and then came Nook. Santa gave Husband one of the latter for Christmas. Fio doesn't know about Kindle, but no written directions were provided with Nook and it is NOT what one would call user-friendly. Husband has studied the hard-to-find on-line information, driven ten miles over to the nearest B&N for mano a mano instruction twice, and waited on the telephone for almost two hours in order to get personal assistance.

He says he likes what Nook does, but so far Fio notes all it's done is cause him a lot of extra work.

Meanwhile she sits on the couch and turns the pages of her book with an easy flip of her hand.