Thursday, January 31, 2013

Chess Pie -- Recipe






Jack Watson Series, Vol. 1

Tabitha Solo thought nothing of dropping the name of Scot Cunningham, the object of her high school crush who recently died in a car crash, as the inspiration for her first hit song, “Dreamer,” during a TV interview. But now, the FBI is asking about him, people are following her, and Carren Bixby--Tabitha’s manager and Scot’s one-time girlfriend--is behaving suspiciously. When Tabitha finds a listening device in her bedroom, she runs away and hires private detective Jack Watson.

Jack met Tabitha once before and suddenly believed in love at first sight, but he was recovering from a disastrous marriage then and had yet to fight off the commanding influence of his ex-wife. When Tabitha arrives in his office looking for help, he is both thrilled and disappointed because his professional ethics forbid him from becoming personally involved with a client. He gets the career-making case he had been longing for in finding out why Tabitha’s life has been turned upside down. Was Scot’s car accident actually murder? Does someone in the Bixby family know the truth? Was Carren in on it? What secret does everyone think Tabitha knows? As the bad guys close in around her, the bond between Jack and Tabitha grows. If they can stay alive by figuring what role Tabitha plays in this chess game for power, can love flourish or is Tabitha’s case the only thing holding them together?

Chess Pie Recipe


  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 cups white sugar

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 4 eggs 
  • 1 tablespoon cornmeal 

  • 1/4 cup canned evaporated milk 

  • 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar 

  • 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell 

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, mix the butter, sugar and vanilla together. Mix in the eggs, then stir in the cornmeal, evaporated milk and vinegar until smooth.
  3. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 40 minutes. Let cool. Cut and top servings with whipped cream. You will think you have died and gone to heaven.


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Southern Fried Chicken -- Recipe






Southern Fiction at it's best!

This is a story about what home can mean to those fortunate enough to have spent their early lives in a place with a family history. It opens when the three Adams children face the fateful summer when Maiden Run seems besieged. The echoes of that summer sound in each of their lives thereafter. The theme of what is so often lost to "progress" runs through the story the way Maiden Run flows through the farm. Finally, the Adams children must deal each in his or her own way with how to continue without that place, and we are reminded of how deep some roots grow.


Southtern Fried Chicken from the Oven


1 whole broiler-fryer chicken (cut into pieces)
1 cup butter (melted)
2 cups Ritz crackers (crushed)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon cumin

Directions:

Spray a sheet cake style pan with a non stick spray like Pam.
  
Preheat oven to 350°F
  
Wash chicken thoroughly and lay on paper towels and pat dry.
 
Melt butter in Microwave in a medium sized dish. 

Place Ritz cracker crumbs in a large bowl.

Mix all seasonings together in a small bowl.

Dip chicken pieces in the butter then immediately into the cracker crumbs.

Place chicken in the sprayed pan.

When all chicken is in the pan, sprinkle chicken evenly with seasoning mix.

Bake in a 350°F oven for approx 40 to 55 minute or until chicken is completely cooked. You may be tempted to turn 1/2 way through baking. You can if you want, but it's really not necessary.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Character Planning?



Set in the 1890s, KILLRAVEN is the story of Hope Voeschell, a young woman brought up to believe in non-violence, and DeCoursey Rogers a man who has known violence first hand, and what happens when an isolated peaceful community is confronted with a murderer. KILLRAVEN is a fictional Chesapeake Bay island, an isolated place rich in the traditions of its independent people. The novel is based in part on characters that originally appeared in the award-winning short story collection, THE DROWNED LAND.

Question: Should I use a character planning sheet? If so, why?

 Answer: I think it is always a good idea to us a character planning sheet, then write a paragraph, showing the character in action.

    Meggan Darke had fiery red hair and the temper to go with it. Raised the oldesty girl in a houseful where only boys were valued, Meggie learned to fight early. Even in her sixties, the hair was untamed, though her frame had gone skinny with age, and she had lost most of the “figure” that had once been her pride. She wore ratty old sweaters, always out at the elbows, liked her coffee without sugar, but was never opposed to a little “sweetening” from the half-pint in somebody’s back pocket. Get on her “bad side” though, and she’d flash anyone the back of her hand like lightening.  They didn’t come too big, or too mean, for Meggie Darke to tackle.

Now from the paragraph above, we know she is elderly, skinny, and still has fiery red hair. But don’t you also know from that paragraph what Meggan Darke was like as a person? How her growing up years shaped her behavior? Quick-tempered. A woman of action. She is a strong woman, who will stand up to anyone for what she believes is right.

Meggan was my great-grandmother and lived in my house until I was nine. This paragraph describes her as I knew her. I have been on the wrong side of that hand many times. But sometimes it’s hard to write about the people we love and stand away from our feelings so we can see what they are really like as people.

That’s the purpose of the character-planning sheets. On Megan’s it says, Worst Trait: loses temper. Will slap you without thinking. Best trait, loved with her whole heart, lived life to the fullest. I’m not sure the last came across in the paragraph, though.  What do you think?

If I knew her so well, why did I need to do a sheet?  Because I knew Meghan in her 70's when she was a skinny old lady. In my book, Killraven, she is in her early 20s. At that time she had married (perhaps unwisely), been deserted by her husband leaving her with no resources and  two children to raise on her own. In desperation, Meggie had returned to her (gloating) father's farm as the only alternative to starvation in the city (no government help in 1892).

While I don't Outline, I do write character plans and keep them on file, just in case. 

One of the reasons for filling out the character sheet is to help you  know what s/he is like as a person and to help you convey that to your readers. This is the one I created for my own classes, simply because it helps me to know the character's motivation and physical description, so I don't give them blue eyes on one page and brown on another -- something I am famous for.

CHARACTER PLANNING SHEET

 Who IS Your Character?

Plot should come out of character, evolving naturally from each character's beliefs and desires. To understand your characters' feelings, take a look at the events that shaped their lives. Look first at the character's emotional life, then at world events.
    Use the following interview sheet to get closer to your characters. Remember, good characters do things for good reasons and bad characters do things for bad reasons, but all characters should have a reason (motivation)to do what they do. Fill our a sheet for each major character. Questions with a (*) must be answered.

This is the interview sheet I use:
 
Name, date of birth and place of residence? (*)


What does he or she want? (*)


What stands in his or her way? (*)


How will the character change by the end of the story? (*)


What is the character’s reason for taking action?


What are his or her strengths and weaknesses? (*)



What secrets does the character have?


What childhood or personal events shaped the character’s life?



What world events shaped the character?


Physical description: (*) (Hint: Sometimes it helps to pick an actor to play the role, so you will have a visual image of what he or she looks like)



Write a short paragraph about this character:



Sunday, January 27, 2013

Catching UP!



Bobbie Grant has no idea of how the world turns when she is hired as a waitress at Mama Trucker’s, a truckstop just off the interstate. Newly separated from her fickle musician husband, Bobbie vows to make better choices in her life, but nothing seems to go the way she plans until handsome Frederick March shows up and courts her with jewelry and flowers. Undone by the attention, Bobbie falls head over heels in love, despite friend Polly Polk’s advice to play it cool. The dead girls in the parking lot don’t offer any solutions to her problems, they scare her spitless, posing the question: will Bobbie Grant find love or end up like the dead girls in the parking lot?

Paper Books that went to press or back to press this week:

MURDER AT MAMA TRUCKERS by Terry L. White

THE COLLECTED STORIES OF VICTOR URIBE, by Victor Uribe

E-books that went to press or back to press this week:

MURDER AT MAMA TRUCKERS by Terry L. White


Galleys that went out, or went out again this week:

None

All the checks are in the mail!! We will swing back into book production gear next week!

Friday, January 25, 2013

Recipe!






            Hollis Ball and Sam Westcott Series, Vol. 2

by Helen Chappell

Hollis Ball is back, this time covering the Decoy Jamboree, still smouldering over the light sentence Judge Fish gave a wife-murderer. Then someone bashes Fish on the head with an antique decoy. Hollis is pretty sure it's not suspect #1, so naturally she decides to solve the murder herself, with the help of her dead ex-husband, of course, the charming ghostly Sam.



            Oysterback Jell-O Mold-off’s Prizewinning Watergate Salad

1 (3 3/4 oz.) box Pistachio flavor instant pudding (prepare according to the directions on box)
1  2 oz. can pineapple
1  9 oz. container Cool Whip
½  cup pistachio nuts
½  to 1 cup miniature marshmallows

Combine instant pudding with Cool Whip and stir until creamy. Add other ingredients, place in mold,  and refrigerate over night.

Contributed by Helen Chappell, author of the Oysterback Tales I and II, as well as the “Sam and Hollis” mystery series, Slow Dancing With the Angel of Death, Dead Duck, etc.  Helen insists that no cookbook is complete without a recipe that includes mini-marshmallows, or tater-tots, or both.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

A "real" publisher vs. self-publishing? --







A NEW book is one that you haven't yet read!
And Author Nina M. Osier has a dozen good ones to choose from.

Survey Team Leader Nora Falconi's closest friend, anthropologist Marcus Cranshaw, has disappeared on Class M Planet No. 8055. Nora must find and rescue him before a long-awaited treaty takes effect, and 8055 becomes part of Ast territory.

                       AN EARLY EPIC AWARD WINNER

Question from the e-mail:  Is there still an onus on self-publishing? Do I really need a publisher at all?

Answer: As a publisher, of course, I think we are useful. Otherwise, I'd find something else to do with my time.

A publisher knows the difference between a pear and a pair of scissors. Unlike a vanity press, we earn through your sales, NOT by charging our authors fees. As an author myself, I was delighted to find a publisher who did that, and accepted at once when she asked me to carry on after she became too ill to continue. She didn't want to leave 90 authors homeless, and I surely didn't want to be homeless.

A publisher can market your books across more than one venue. We can help you design professional-looking covers and give you text that conforms to the standard professional style for book publishers. While it is certainly true that self-publishing no longer carries the "vanity press" onus that it once did, it can lead to less-than-ready books being marketed. The author writes, prepares the book files (or hires a book-jobber to prepare them), and posts the book for sale. Sales, if any, are then paid directly to the author.


They may not pay as well as some expect, but the self-published need not share the profits with anyone else, so you get to keep the take -- whatever that take may be. The self-published will also receive bushels of e-mail solicitations offering to help them market and promising to increase sales phenomenally -- your e-mail box will never be empty. All for a fee, of course. Usually, quite a substantial fee. Beware, though. They are not always the kindly, interested, supportive and caring service-providers they pretend to be. They are in business to sell you hope and collect a healthy fee for doing so.


For the technically-adept, the self-marketing motivated, the Grammatically proficient, and the very prolific, self-publishing CAN pay -- quite well. If one can convert the files and market them on many sales venues, and in many different formats, it can work for you. All that will definitely cut into your writing time. A drawback. Especially if you, like most writers, also have a day job to support your writing habit.


It may not pay as well as some expect, but the self-published need not share the profits with anyone else, so you get to keep the take -- whatever that may be. The self-published will receive bushels of e-mail solicitations offering to help them market and promising to increase sales phenomenally -- all for a fee, of course. Usually quite a substantial fee. They will be interspersed with offers to sellyour book on certain websites -- and if you read the fine print, you will discover that you must pay a fee just to be listed, whether you sell any books or not. The fee is supposed to be deducted from sales, but at least one author I know received a bill for $18 for t he three titles she sent them, none of which had sold a single copy all year.

These folks are not always the kindly, interested, supportive and caring service-providers they pretend to be. They are in business to sell you hope and collect a healthy fee for doing so. A professional publisher is in business to sell your books. A vanity publisher (or vanity sales site) is in business to collect fees from YOU.


Whether you self-publish or have a publisher, the result will be the same. You will have a book for sale and be challenged to draw folks' attention to it, so they will know where to look to buy it. Unless you have a Big Name publisher, no one is going to spend a lot of money on advertising your book. Self-promotion is the key. Even the big publishers only buy it to promote books they know will be controversial and provoking. (See the blog link below.)

Some folks will do very well. Most will sell two or three copies per quarter. I have just completed the data-entry and spreadsheet info for all the sales (if any) that took place for our 350 authors.  Only about 1/3 had sales. Most of those sold one or two copies this quarter. NOT by coincidence, the author who promotes most conscienciously is the one with the greatest number of sales.

Fall is generally a slow time for electronic book sales and 90% of our sales are electronic books.  With everyone doing holiday shopping, the amount of discretionary income devoted to self-gratification activities like reading is way down. Our sales usually reflect that by dropping like a stone in the last quarter of the year.  They dip again in spring when gardening and vacations kick in, but pick up quickly as the summer progresses. That is the same for both Publishers and the self-published.

If you are one of our authors, just e-mail me at arline@mail.com and I'd be happy to share your personal spreadsheet data with you. When you get the list it will show at the top, the key listing sales site abbreviations:

Key: k=AmazonKindle; kuk=Kindle in the United Kingdom; kit=Kindle in Italy; kd= Kindle in Denmark; kj=KindleinJapan; Kfr=Kindle in France: ki=Kindle in India; FW= Fictionwise; b-n = Barnes & Noble/Nook: AR= All Romance/OMNI: cs= POD paper; WWI=Write Words, Inc. (including both paper and e-books).

Followed by: 

Author's Name       Title                    Date of Sale        #       venue     earnings
 
Chase                Final Exit                          0912       1        k            0.87
Chase                Go Down Moses                912        1        bn            2.11
Chase                Drowned Land                0912        1        k            2.26
Chase                Fire Next Time                1112        1        k            2.27

So from that data, you can see that I sold two Kindle books and 1 Nook book in September and another Kindle book in Nov. As an author, I'm certainly not getting rich, am I?  Since the publisher and author split 50/50 the company makes whatever an author is paid, so Write Word, Inc. also received $7.51 on my sales for the quarter. Out of that they pay salaries, web site fees, cable network fees, postage, office supplies, computer equipment and repairs, corporate income tax, and all other costs of running a business.

Like most small publishers, we have no advertising budget. You will not see full page ads in Publisher's Weekly (as the author of the blog below did), though we do try to let folks know about your books through this blog and share every bit of good news from Write Words, Inc. authors who post on FB or Linked In, just as we hope you will share our news with your friends and ask them to share as well. Word-of-mouth is the best affordable advertising. Beat the Drums! Nobody ever bought a book they haven't heard about!

Here's a link to a blog with MUCH more about the self-publishing choice:


http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/01/23/the-ebook-path-to-riches-possibly-steeper-than-assumed/

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Foreshadowing -- writing tip






Obsession run amok—and one woman’s determination to survive…

Nora Hartmann is struggling to cope with life as a recent widow, a single parent, and a small business owner. The last thing she needs is the unwanted attentions of her neighbor Rudy. As Rudy’s interest deepens into obsession, those close to Nora, including her new lover, begin to suffer – and die. Her continued unequivocal rejection triggers Rudy’s final descent into madness. If he cannot have her, no one will. Can Nora outwit him and save herself and her child? Or will evil win the day…

Question:  A reader told me I need to do more foreshadowing.  What does she mean?

Answer:  The cover above is an excellent illustration of "foreshadowing." In one glance it tells you that strife will follow this glorious occasion.

Foreshadowing is a technique that leads the reader smoothly along, hinting at what is coming next without giving too much away.  Foreshadowing makes future action more believable.  You don't want to give everything away, of course. BUT Properly done, it will increase both tension and suspense in the story.



Now looking at this cover, we know that the  featured marriage will not be "happy ever after" and that both characters will be facing difficulty.  We don't know what the difficulties will be, but  we know there is a story to come.  You don't have to tell it all right there. Foreshadowing is a promise to the reader of more to come.



Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Phoenix and Dragon -- recipe






by Marion Robinson

Katy’s investment in a rental property pays an unexpected dividend when she catches the eye of the artist upstairs. They have little in common, but are they different like oil and water or like match and gunpowder? Katy’s sensible side warns her that being tied down in a long-term relationship is the last thing Daniel wants, but the fizz his spontaneity brings to her life keeps her seeing him. Daniel isn’t an alpha male who expects Katy to fall in line behind him – he admires her without trying to control her. Her business sense complements his creativity, and their relationship develops into something enchanting but, Katy fears, insubstantial. Then a household accident injures Daniel’s painting hand and pulls them apart. Katy thinks their affair has burned out, but instead, a new passion is being born.


Dragon and Phoenix -- recipe
    
1/2 lp chicken Tenders diced in 1 inch pieces
1/22 lp deveined shimp, with tails left on


 Seasoning

  • 2 tablespoons Chinese beer
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • Salt and pepper


 
 Shrimp marinade

  • 1/2 pound medium raw shrimp, shelled, leaving tail shell intact and deveined
  • 1/4 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
  • 1 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 2tbsp white cooking wine


    Chicken marinade
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon minced ginger
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 2 tsp. soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp white cooking wine

  • 1/4 red bell pepper, julienned
  • 1/4 yellow bell pepper, julienned
  • 1/2 cup snow peas, stemmed and halved on the bias
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
(We often use the above vegetables alone, but you can add a few others that you like.  We like water chessnuts and sometimes mushrooms with this dish.)
 
Preparation
Combine seasoning ingredients in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Combine the shrimp marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add shrimp and stir to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Combine chicken marinade ingredients in another bowl. Add the chicken and stir to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Place a wok or stir-fry pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add oil, swirling to coat sides. Add garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds.

Add chicken; cook, until chicken is no longer pink, about 1 minute.

Add shrimp and stir-fry until they turn pink, about 1 minute.

Add bell peppers and snow peas and stir-fry until snow peas turn bright green, about 1 minute. Add the seasoning and bring to a boil. Add cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens.

Serves 4.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Catching UP!



By Charles Wilson

The Russian military is trying to perfect a secret system that will make their submarines virtually immune to attack, and secure them control of the world's seas. An American working in Russia as a spy for Israel is trying to uncover the secret. In The U.S.A. an unsuspecting family has developed a product that is capable of solving the one problem preventing the Russians from achieving their goal. russian agents, led by the country's top femal operative, Olga Andreyeva, are dispatched to steal the product's formula.

ISBN-978-1-59431-776-7

No News is Good News!

And in case you are wondering, I do feel a bit as if I have been swamped by the ocean's depths right at the moment!  Not the best of times to get sick as my husband is quite ill just now. More tests today. Thank God for two wonderful sons.

The good news is, "This too, shall pass."

No new books went to press this week.

Catching UP!

No galleys went out this week.

The TAXES are DONE!!!!

Am working on the payroll. 

Data-Entry is Done!!
Checks should go out by the end of the week!!!

Hang in, everyone. We'll get back to regular business soon!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Opening Sentence question



A neat newspaper mystery for teens!

Question: How can  I find just the right opening sentence so I can write my book. When I worked for the newspaper, they told me, "Once you find your lead, the whole piece will write itself." And it did. But fiction doesn't work that way. How can I find just the right opening hook. Help!

Answer:  You are so right! The difference is because you have already experienced the whole news event before you begin to report it in the article. You know everything that happened, can pick the most important information, and write something clever about it for your lead. That is not always the case with fiction.

Since you write mysteries, I'll remind you that it's good advice to, "Drop the body on the first page." But just start right in on the book, write in scenes and show what happens. Let the story flow. Don't go back. Don't quit! Don't rewrite!  KEEP ON, keeping on, until the whole book is finished. THEN you can revise if needed, shuffle the scenes around so they  do come in the right order, and that's when you go back and write that all-important first sentence!

Hope this helps.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Catching UP!






CONGRATULATIONS!
 TO AUTHOR ELIZABETH EAGAN-COX FOR BEING OUR
BEST-SELLING AUTHOR IN 2012!
Shannon Delaney Paranormal Mystery Series, Vol. 5

Halloween night, 2012. Mount Esperanza Memorial Park, San Diego. Shannon Delaney and Alex Blackthorne accept assignment to guard the grave of Andalyn Dixon, who died on her twenty-first birthday, October 31st, 1892, before she could prove her innocence in one of San Diego’s most notorious bank scandals, October Hoax of 1891. Legend says, Andalyn was scared to death, by a ghost. And now, by request of Mt. Esperanza Restoration Committee, Shannon and Alex keep sentry over Andalyn to prevent scam artists from staging claims of Andalyn speaking to them from beyond the grave, and thus, allowing the truth to be revealed. The cryptic facts surrounding Andalyn’s life and death lead Shannon on a journey of discovery into the past to answer the nagging questions of: Was Andalyn Dixon involved in the bank scam? Did Andalyn attempt to hide her guilt? Was Andalyn scared to death, by a ghost?

ISBN 978-1-61386-080-9 Paranormal, Mystery, Series, Ghost,

Still working on corporate income taxes.

Once that is done we will finish the Author's Pay Roll.

Due to all the Accounting:

NO NEW BOOKS WENT TO PRESS THIS WEEK.

NO NEW GALLEYS WENT OUT THIS WEEK

NO BOOKS IN PROGRESS MADE ANY PROGRESS THIS WEEK

NO NEW BOOKS WERE STARTED THIS WEEK.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Jupiter Rock Cookies -- Recipe






A story of two young friends who e-mail aliens on Jupiter! When their space ship arrives, so does a lot of adventure. When the space ship leaves-a special bond has been formed.

978-1-61386-130-1 Young Adult/Science Fiction/Suspense

Available in PDF, RTF and HTML formats.

The link at Amazon Kindle is:
http://www.amazon.com/I-Have-Friend-Jupiter-ebook/dp/B00AQJSXI6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357915658&sr=8-1&keywords=I+have+a+friend+on+Jupiter

And for Nook is:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-have-a-friend-on-jupiter-celine-rose-mariotti/1114010322?ean=2940016113203

                            Jupiter Rocks (Cookies)

Cookies:

2 sticks butter (1/2 lb.)
1/3 c. Dry Orange Juice drink mix (Tang or any similar brand)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. sugar (or spenda
4 beaten eggs
2 c. plain flour
1/2 tsp. salt


Cream together, butter, eggs, vanilla, and add Tang. Mix well and add nuts, salt and vanilla. Work flour into mixture until dough forms a loose mixture Dough should be stiff, but still loose enough for portions to be dropped in uneven spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12  minutes. Cool thoroughly on a wire rack.


Coating:

1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 tbsp. Orange Juice Drink Mix

Place in a large Zip-lock bag. Zip the bag and shake well.

Drop cookies into the zip-lock bag, a few at a time, and shake until coated. Serve to alien visitors with a smile!




 

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Dredge Boat Coffee






                   Barfer Robinson’s Dredge Boat Coffee

In a percolator pot, fill basket with about as much ground coffee as it will hold –  add a dash of salt and throw an empty egg shell in the bottom of the pot. Fill the coffee pot up with water level to the basket.

Percolate on high heat until liquid in the bubble top is good and dark. Remove from fire and when it has stopped perking, remove the percolator basket. Fill up the rest of the pot with white lightning, if there’s no white lighting, bourbon or dark rum will do.

Serve black to six hungry crewmen along with bacon, eggs, and pancakes smothered in molasses and it will help keep them warm even when sailing against the wind on a frosty morning.

Contributed by Arline Chase, whose character, Barfer Robinson is ship’s cook aboard the Hope V. Rogers. “Barfer”, so called by his mates because he is often seasick, made his first appearance in The Drowned Land...The novella won The Governor's Award in 1984 in Maryland, and the short story collection was an Eppie Finalist in 1999. Many of the same characters appear in the later novel Killraven.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Tuna Noodle Salad -- recipe







       Bride of the Condor Series, Vol 1 by Terry L. White

Join Qwana on the Nazca Plain where she is the last priestess to the Temple of the Moon. Follow the last priestess through her initiation, then onto the plain where visitors from another world wait to catapult her into another world.

ISBN 1-59431-606-6 Fiction / Sci-Fi / Romance/Series



                       Terry White’s Tuna Noodle Salad

2     cups macaroni, uncooked
½     cup low-fat mayonnaise
1    can tuna packed in water, drained
1    can peas drained, or 1 cup leftover peas
1    cup diced celery, or 1 tsp celery seed
½    teaspoon coarse ground pepper   
½     teaspoon salt
    Diced onion to taste.

Boil macaroni in salted water, drain and chill. Add other ingredients and mix well. A good one-dish meal on a hot day. Most of the salt goes down the drain. This will keep in the refrigerator for two or three days. Makes enough for four.

Contributed by Terry L. White author of The Last Priestess...Qwana is The Last Priestess to The Mother for the Temple of the Moon.... Can she survive when a visitor from space plunges her world into war, and opens Qwana to the possibilities

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Structure





Apologies to Marjorie Doughty!  

Her book, I, THE SPARROW, was inadvertently left off the "went to press" list last Friday. 

Question from the e-mail: Arline, I got a return letter that commented "lacks structure," from a publisher this week?  I remember you had comments about structure, when I was your student, and had even sent me a handout sheet from one of your workshops. I no longer have it, but if you do, would you send me one?

Answer: Congratulations Rhona, for remembering to call it a "return" letter. Very professional!  I will post the handout below and also send you a copy via private e-mail. Hope it helps!

                Writing in Scenes – Dramatic Structure
                             and Use of Narration
          
In the beginning all writing teachers say three things. “Show don’t tell. Write what you know,” and “Write in Scenes.” That is good advice as far as it goes. What it doesn’t say clearly enough is that your story, or article should unfold in an organized fashion, letting the reader in on facts as they become important for the reader to know. Some people call this giving the work “structure.” This concept is usually easy to identify in non-fiction, but harder in fiction. In non-fiction you state a premise, give additional facts that help to show it's worth, and then, in the final paragraph, sum up the concepts that support your premise. We all learned that doing essays in school.
              
Just like the “lead” in an article, a fiction transition is the most important sentence you can write. A transition is the first line when you move the reader from one place to another, or one scene to another, or from their chair into your story. A good transition, like the lead in a newspaper or magazine article, should answer the questions, Who? Where? and When? Otherwise it leaves the reader aware that something is missing and causes editors to write in their refusal letters, "This story needs to be better grounded in time and space!" I know. I have the letters to prove it!
         
Dramatic structure is a little more involved, though not as involved as one might think. Every scene has the same structure.  Here it is:
    1. Transition, preferably with hook. (Who, when, where, and end with an unanswered question)
    2. Rising action and dialogue
    3. Turning point of the scene (the place where something important changes forever)
        (if there's no point, the scene goes, no matter how well written)
    4. End/resolution of the scene, preferably with another hook. When we come to the end of a scene,
        
    * * *
          
we indicate it with the double line break, and at least two extra lines of "white space"  and most people use the three stars, a wavy line, or some other typed indication.This is important to so as many programs used by publishers to set type, will take out all blank lines, leaving them with a single uninterrupted block of copy unless you type a signal of some kind at the end of a scene.

Once the turning point is reached, then a final hook for that scene is set, and the scene ends.  The Scene Ends Right There! Yes, as soon as the point is made, regardless of what else might have really happened later. Do not stay with the character for pointless paragraphs while he goes to the grocery store and the library. ONLY write scenes about important action.
        
Say for instance a medical examiner is called to the scene of a murder. He looks at the corpse and at the uniformed cop on standby, then says, "He's done it again. This is the same as the last one."
         
That's the final point of the scene, because we have let the reader know a serial killer is on the loose. Now, the criminalists will  descend, take photographs and fingerprints, pick up blood samples, and eventually the body will be removed leaving the inevitable tape outline on the floor, but to show the reader all that after the medical examiner speaks would be anticlimactic. UNLESS we move the scene's action to before the "same as the last one" comment. Because letting the serial killer loose is the whole point of the scene. Once your serial killer is on the loose, end the scene, and get on to the next scene where your detective is hot on the trail instead of wasting your and the readers time on pointless action, however well written. Most short stories have three major turning points and coincidentally three major scenes.
        
Often there are things that happened in the past that affect the present. Sometimes this requires a flashback scene, but not usually.  Flashbacks tend to distance the reader from the action. Therefore, I believe it's good policy not to put anything in flashback, unless you have information that can't be told any other way, or action that can't be shown sequentially. Instead, use mini-flashbacks to relate action that happens before the beginning of the story, and is too previous to be moved to a later time frame. Just in case I need to explain the difference: A real flashback, is a whole scene from the past shown out of time sequence, and a mini-flashback is having a character remember something that happened before for a line or two, then going on with the present scene’s action.
        
This can be the time for good use of narrative.  They always tell us "show don't tell" and narration is "telling." But you can't show everything in the space allowed. So my advice is to narrate the mundane, or the action in pointless scenes if the reader has to know about it. Basically your story scenes should be like shining jewels and the narration like the silver wire that strings them together. Most writing texts don't get into how to do narration and it was years before I figured it out.

Look at the following sequential plot idea synopsis for a trite romance as an example:

After meeting her fiancé, Don, for lunch, Melanie buys an antique statue that strikes her eye in a small shop. After taking it home, she becomes conscious of an aura about it. It begins to affect her dreams.  Over the next two weeks, as she goes to her job at a local library, at home, and even on dates with her fiancé, Melanie cannot get the little statue out of her mind. Don is disturbed by her lack of attention and his assumption that Melanie’s life should revolve around him is established when he presents her with airline tickets for their honeymoon set for a date she has already told him she can’t possibly get leave from work.

He suggests she quit her job and devote herself to keeping him happy in the future.  Melanie does some research and finds the statue was once the symbol of an African River god. She writes to the embassy asking more about the history of the river god and is referred to the Museum of Humanities. She calls the museum and makes an appointment to speak with the curator, an expert in African culture. He tells her the statue was stolen and that the three tribal factions of that area each blame the other two for the theft.  War among them is imminent.

Maybe she should give the statue back. Melanie thinks about quitting her job, but the little statue looks angry and  her dreams are filled with visions of air crashes of their planned flight for weeks. Her nerves are on edge when Don comes by unannounced and berates her for spending so much time on the stupid statue.  They break up. Don goes on their planned honeymoon alone and his plane crashes. Though he survives, Melanie has no desire to resume their relationship. Melanie learns from the museum curator that the statue is authentic and makes arrangements to ship it back to Africa.

Looking at the above, almost anyone would assume they’d start the story at lunch with the fiancé. Or at least with the purchase of the statue. But look at the three scene outlines below:

Scene one: Melanie’s apartment. Quarrelsome phone call from Don. Initial Problem: Melanie’s relationship with fiancé Don is not going well. He wants more attention and to have his way in every decision. Melanie hangs up on him and eyes the statue that looks like a humpbacked waterdrop with a  head. The face keeps changing, sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes faceless, depending on the angle of view. Mini-flashback: She remembers where she bought it for next-to-nothing and the mixed feelings she’s been having ever since. An angry Don arrives and they continue their quarrel after she learns about his making honeymoon plans without consulting her schedule. Don leaves, angry. End hook: Melanie wonders if marriage to him is a mistake.

Scene two: Museum. Melanie meets the youthful, good-looking, museum curator. Definite interest on his part. Mini-flashback to the dreams of air crashes. He’s nice and attentive. Gives her background on the statue and agrees to come and look to see if it’s the original. Curator makes a mild pass. Melanie mentions her fiancé. Curator suggests she return the stolen statue. Hook: Melanie is not sure whether she wants to let it go.  She is becoming fond of it, despite its aura of anger.

Scene Three: Melanie’s apartment. Curator telephones. Statue is the original. Melanie asks him to make arrangements to ship it to Africa. Melanie warns him not to book it on Flight 801, as in her dreams it always crashes. Don drops by and they quarrel again. He gives her an ultimatum, tells her to quit her job or else! Melanie dumps him.  Don announces he plans to go on the trip on Flight 801 whether she goes or  NOT! Melanie tells him she dreamed it would crash, but Don laughs at her fears. Melanie tells him they are through. Don leaves, still angry. The statue then definitely looks female and smiling. As Melanie packs the statue, for  return, she feels at peace for the first time in weeks.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Hot Prawn Canapes -- recipe




Nancy Madison’s Hot Prawn Canapes

12     slices of thin bread
1 lb.     shrimp, boiled, chopped fine
12     tbsp mayonnaise    
1         tbsp onion, chopped fine
1/4     Tsp pepper
2         Tsp paprika
1         cup butter, clarified*
 4         Tsp lemon juice, fresh
 2         Tsp horseradish
 ½     tsp salt
1         cup Parmesan cheese

Cut crusts off of bread. Cut each bread slice into 1/4, either round, oval or toast point. Mix the shrimp and other ingredients except Parmesan. Cover bread slices with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over bread. Place on cookie sheet and bake in 500-F or 260-C degree oven 3-5 minutes until cheese melts. Serve right from oven.  12 servings.

* To clarify butter, melt in a saucepan and measure out only the clear yellow oil from the top, leaving behind the whey residue at the bottom.             

Contributed by Nancy Madison

Friday, January 4, 2013

New Contract in Effect

Our new contract went into effect on Jan. 1, 2013 and the terms of payment and operation are unchanged, though some points of responsibility have been clarified.  

These rights covered are now for both electronic and print books, as far as it is possible for them to be produced.  Henceforth, no new contracts will need to be signed to have a print edition produced. 

These new terms will effectively become those under which the company will operate henceforth. The contract is shown below in detail. If anyone finds they don't wish to accept them, this is your official notice to contact us about your rights. Unless you do contact us, we will consider all contracts will remain in effect, self-renewing yearly and continuing under the new contract specifications



Cambridge Books
            ebooksonthe.net
                        Write Words, Inc.
Phone: 410-229-3671                                                     2934 Old Route 50
Fax: 410-221-7510                                                         Cambridge, Md 21613


This agreement, dated ________________________, 20____, is made between
WRITE WORDS, INC., and its imprints EBOOKSONTHE.NET / CAMBRIDGE BOOKS / herein called the Publisher and   

_________________________________________________, herein called Author, as respects
please print

________________________________________________________, herein called the Work.
Please print


I. PUBLISHING RIGHTS
Author agrees to grant to Publisher exclusive worldwide English language rights to publish and sell the Work in:

Readable digital (text) format (electronic download, disk, CD/CD-ROM, E-Book reader or similar media of presentation, (Excluding motion picture/television/video/DVD rights).

Print on Demand trade paperback format in the United States, and abroad, in the event sales figures indicate that the added expense of a paper edition would be feasible and given that the manuscript in question is less than 85,000 words in length when submitted for publication.
All rights in the Work not specifically granted to Publisher in this agreement are reserved by the author and those granted may be returned to the author upon request after five years from the actual publication date printed in the originally released work, or earlier at the discretion of the publisher.       

II. AUTHOR WARRANTIES AND DESIGNATIONS

Author warrants that s/he is the author and sole owner of the Work or has been assigned the rights delineated above as a literary representative of the author; that it is original and contains no matter unlawful in its content, nor does it violate the rights of any third party; that the Work is not in the public domain. Author or representative also warrants that these rights are owned or controlled by him without encumbrance and that the Author has full power to grant the listed rights to Publisher, himself, or through his literary representative.

Under US Copyright law, the author’s rights originate at the date of creation and belong to him or her or the author’s designated assignees for an additional 75 years and is renewable for an additional 75 years. In the event the author, though illness or other untoward circumstances, should no longer be able to handle his or her own business affairs, the below named, business, representative, or chairty,   

_____________________________________________________________________ ,
Please print

is the author’s delegated authority and that person, charity, or organization and should the author
become incapacitated through accident or illness, that person, charity, or organization, will accept any and all royalties due from the author’s work at the following address:
__________________________________________________________________________
street
_________________________________________________, ___________
city state

Publisher will pay royalties to above-named representative at the author’s request.
After the initial five years, the contracts shall remain in effect, self-renewing annually, unless some
other determination is made by the publisher or author.

If this work has been previously published in any form, the author warrants that the rights granted herein have reverted to him/her. As an addendum to this agreement, the author shall present some written memorandum documenting the reversion of the rights granted by any publishing company that may still own proprietary rights to the Work.

If a judgment is obtained against Publisher for usurping rights still controlled by a publisher or other entity than Publisher or Author, the Author agrees to hold the Publisher harmless and to indemnify Publisher for reasonable damages and costs. If Publisher prevails against a suing party or resolves the matter by out of court settlement, Author will not be liable to indemnify Publisher for defense and settlement costs.


III. COPYRIGHT

In the USA copyright applies automatically from whenever a work is first created, whether that work is officially registered with the US Copyright Office, or not. Author will be responsible for registering the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office if desired, including payment of any and all fees and the costs of preparing printed and/or electronic documentation of the work as required by the U.S. Copyright office.

Author understands that if s/he chooses not to register the copyright with the U.S. Copyright office, in order to have legal documentation of when the work was completed, s/he may be limited in the damages that could be awarded in court if there is a lawsuit over copyright violation.


Publisher will place a copyright notice on all versions of the Work, using the month and year of first release if no earlier information is available.


IV. BOOK PRODUCTION COSTS

ISBNs: Publisher will obtain, pay for, and assign ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) as required by law for editions of the Work. Publisher will assign as many ISBN designations as required by the various publication formats listed in Section I. Publisher will use the assigned ISBN(s) as part of the formal identification of the work, will provide bar codes on printed works and will notify Books in Print or other equivalent service(s) of the titles and release dates of said Work.

Please initial_____. ISBNs are publisher-specific and may not be transferred if the work is withdrawn.

Editorial Services: Publisher will provide editorial services, typesetting, and formatting, at no cost to    the Author, using guidelines laid down in The Chicago Manual of Style, with a few exceptions dictated by in-house preferences and the specific demands of digital preparation. Publisher will use the house’s own book design in typesetting and cover layout.   

Please initial_____. Author will present the work for publication in final form and any additions and corrections needed at the galley stages should be minimal and based on demonstrable error, rather than a change of mind.

Galley Proofs: Publisher will provide a galley proof copy of the Work, either in print or printable digital format, which Author must read. A list of corrections designating page, and paragraph numbers, as well as the line as it appears in the manuscript, with the corrected line below, will be provided by the author so that corrections can be made. Author should keep a copy of the lists as s/he will have the opportunity to review the changes to make sure they have been made, before the book goes on sale.

Publisher may make corrections of grammar, usage, and typographical errors without the Author’s consent. US spelling and grammar rules are to be used throughout with the dictionary at www.m-w.com to be used as the spelling authority.

Please initial ____. The corrections will have to be entered in the typesetting file, therefore authors cannot fix mistakes themselves, but must provide the specified list. If the list of changes is not received as agreed, the Publisher has the option to delay release or terminate the agreement as warranted.

Book covers: Publisher will provide a full color cover design at no cost to the author unless the author wishes to use work by his or her own private outside cover artist. Costs of any outside editorial services or cover art the author deems necessary or proper will be done with approval of the publisher, and by private arrangement between the author and the service providers, and will not be paid for by the Publisher, but be provided on the sole responsibility of the author.

Author will be asked to produce a proposed back cover blurb advertising text (200 words or less) and suggestions for cover art. If Author engages an artist other than him/herself to produce an alternative cover, Author must present documentation that s/he has permission to reproduce the proposed cover art from the copyright owner, or warrants that the cover art is in the public domain. If Author provides his/her own cover art, s/he is responsible for formatting it in an appropriate graphics format of suitable reproduction quality. (Specifications may change and are available upon request.) Publisher will give copyright credit in the published Work to the cover artist. Publisher has final approval of any cover art and back blurb material.       

Title: Publisher has final approval of release title of the Work. Every attempt will be made to use the title suggested by the Author, but Publisher has the option to change the release title if the Author’s suggested title is too long, too similar to any books already in release by Publisher, or recent releases from another publisher, or if Publisher deems that a more appropriate title is necessary. In the event of a title change, Author will be given an opportunity to suggest alternative titles.

E-book Formatting: Publisher will be responsible to prepare the Work for electronic distribution. This would include all conversions from the manuscript into various digital formats compatible with various brands of e-book readers and formats required for submission to sales sites. The exception to this provision is for Works containing a substantial number of color graphics and/or illustrations that are not translatable into all electronic formats. In Works of this type, Publisher will format for those digital programs best suited for the nature of the files. If a particular formatting type is controlled by the distributor/vendor, Publisher will prepare the Work in a manner acceptable to that distributor/vendor and submit it to them for formatting.

Please initial ____. It is understood Publisher may not be able to control the final visual
appearance of the work after the distributor/vendor completes reformatting and places the Work in the stream of commerce at their venue.


V. SELLING PRICE

Publisher will set the retail price (“cover price”) of the Work, based on length, comparable works, costs of production, and format. Publisher reserves the right to raise or reduce the price as needed to stimulate sales and or cover costs in the case of paper editions. Various distribution outlets may discount the work and will pay a percentage of what they collect from customers.

Please initial______. It is understood that not all books will appear the same or earn equal
royalties at all outlets.


V. PAYMENT

Advances
Publisher will pay no advance to the Author, but instead will contribute to the joint venture in terms of work and the costs of book production, exclusive of any add-on costs incurred by the Author’s choice of outside cover artists, private editors, etc.

Royalties
Please initial_____. Payment may vary from venue to venue, from day to day, from title to title, even for the same book depending upon vendor discounts. They always pay us a percentage of what they collect. If they have a book club or special sale price the amount they collect will not always be uniform.


Please initial _____ . For digital formats: Because a sales web site must be maintained, Publisher will pay Author a royalty, based on U.S. dollars, of 40 % of the U.S. Retail Download Price, for sales of the Digital Work sold at the publisher’s home web site: www.writewordsinc.com
For digital books sold through other outlet venues or requiring distribution discounts, Author will
receive 50% of all royalties received by the Publisher from sales of this work.

Please initial______. Authors living outside the US will always be paid via PayPal in the currency of their country of residence. Authors within the US are encouraged to accept payment via PayPal as well in order to save on postal charges, etc. PayPal is available in most English-speaking countries.

A Note on web safety: Paypal is safe as long as you do not click on a line in any e-mail messages that may appear to come from Paypal, and then fill in blanks with your log in information. FOR YOUR OWN ON-LINE SAFETY, NEVER click on a line in ANY e-mail message No matter how well you know the purported sender. Never respond to an e-mailed request for ANY private information. Always go directly to your personal web account and log in to see and share your private and personal information.
NEVER share your Paypal password with anyone. No password is Ever needed for someone to pay YOU, only the appropriate e-mail address.

If you live outside the US, please set up an account in your home country. If you already have a PayPal account, please enter the e-mail address that will accept your royalty payments below:

______________________________________@__________________________________
please print

Paper Book Royalties: For paper editions sold to wholesale outlets through the publisher’s web site, the author will be paid 15 % of the retail price. (In that case, all costs of book production are to be paid by the publisher and costs of store discounts absorbed by the publisher.) For paper editions printed, delivered, and sold through on-line outlets or through POD distributors, and/or at in-store printing stations, the author will receive 50% of any fee paid to the Publisher for that printing and sale. Fees from those sources vary depending on the venue and/or store’s sales discounts.

Please initial_____. Personal copies: The author may buy personal copies by credit card or Paypal transfer at a discount through Write Words, Inc. No royalties will be paid to the Author on books printed for the Author’s personal or promotional use at personal appearances, etc. Every effort will be made to keep costs of promotional copies low as the more promotion an author does the more sales s/he will eventually make to benefit both parties.

Royalty statements. All sales data will be compiled and forwarded to Author quarterly, not more than 45 days after the end of the calendar quarter (March 31, June 30, September 30, December 31). All due payment shall take place contemporaneously with the statements.   

Please initial _____. No statements will be issued unless a payment is due.
(If you don’t hear from the publisher, it usually means you had no sales. Though you may feel free to inquire at the end of any quarter.) The quarterly statements will serve as due notice of earnings unless the yearly total is large enough to require official IRS documentation.


Please be aware that for tax purposes, income taxes are due in the year when you are actually paid, not at the time of sale. Due to the payment practices of the various venues, these may not be the same calendar year.

Please initial _____. Payment of taxes on royalty earnings is the sole responsibility of the Author whether or not a 1099 is issued.


Payments to authors may be made by either physical check or electronic funds transfer through PayPal, but 1099s will always be delivered by US Mail.

Please initial ______. Author understands that royalties will be paid in the quarter after payment is received by the Publisher. If distributors or vendors delay payment to the Publisher, said Publisher is not obligated to pay the royalty on sales until after the funds have been received from the distributor venue, or sales vendor.

Please initial_____. It is the Author’s responsibility to communicate with the Publisher any
change in Taxpayer Identification Number, Social Security Number, Postal Mailing Address, telephone number(s), and Electronic Mail address if royalties are paid by Electronic Funds Transfer.       

If the Author fails to advise Publisher of any changes in the above that prevents the timely
payment of royalties, the Publisher is authorized to hold, without penalty, payment of royalties until updated information is received. If a check sent by regular post is returned by the post office or express delivery service as undeliverable or an Electronic Funds transfer is rejected for an invalid address, the Publisher shall first attempt to contact Author by all existing contact information before unilaterally withholding payment of royalties until the author contacts the publisher. Please Remember:
Always to send us your change of address if you move. Even if you fill out a forwarding order, the post office will only forward your mail for six months, after that, they send it back.

VII: Term of contract: Contract shall be in force from the date it is signed by all parties until five years from the actual release date that is printed in the front of the book. The contract will then automatically self-renew until one or both of the parties decides to cancel.

Publisher may, at its discretion, remove the Work from publication or distribution for reasons of poor sales, or any other reason deemed by the Publisher to be injurious to the Publisher’s or Author’s best interests. Publisher shall give due notice to Author of any removal from distribution. If the publisher removes the Work from sale, this contract shall terminate and all rights granted herein shall revert immediately to the Author.

After the first five years, contract may be terminated by either the author or publisher with a 90-day written, certified mail notice or other receipted or traceable delivery service, and all rights granted the publisher will revert to Author at the time of the termination. Upon this termination, Publisher will remove listing of the Work from its web site and all distributor sales venues, and shall advise Books in Print the ISBN and title is no longer in print. (ISBNs are publisher specific and may not be used by any private party.) The exception to this termination of contract is that Publisher may continue to sell existing stock of physical formats (diskettes, CD’s, cassette tapes, print books) but may not create any new physical copies upon depletion of its existing stock.

Should Royalty payments from sales that took place before cancellation come in after a book is
withdrawn, the Author shall receive due payment.

IX. PSEUDONYMS

The author’s legal name must appear on the copyright page unless s/he has a “Doing Business As” license registered at their local county courthouse. The Author has the exclusive right to the use of his/her name or pseudonym listed as the author in connection with this Work. Publisher cannot prevent Author from using the same name or pseudonym for any other publisher or for any other book genre.

Publisher will have a nonexclusive right to use Author’s name, likeness and biographical material for the purposes of advertising, web site listings, publishing and promoting the Work itself.

X. OWNERSHIP OF CHARACTERS AND SERIES BOOKS
Except as allowed under the sections of this agreement governing promotion of the work, Author owns the characters and controls their use in sequels or series books. Publisher will have a nonexclusive right to use the title, and all material, including characters in the Work, for the purpose of advertising, publishing and promoting the Work.

Please initial_____. If the author writes another Work that is a sequel or in series to the Work covered in this agreement, using an identical theme and/or major characters from the contracted Work, Publisher retains a right of first refusal of the subsequent work. Such subsequent works will not need to be evaluated by the Book Committee, but should be submitted upon completion, ready for publication. Publisher may ask for revisions if necessary. All rights and earnings on subsequent series books shall be subject to the terms of this contract.

Nothing in this agreement shall obligate the Author to submit any additional, unrelated works to
Publisher.

XI. Publisher’s Name and Trademark. The Author will not have rights to, or in, any trademark, service mark, trade name or logos used by Publisher, unless expressly permitted to do so in writing. The Author may, with Publisher’s permission, have limited use of Publisher’s marks, symbols or names for use in approved promotional material. Author may use the cover art in his/her promotional materials or on his or her personal web site, and may link his or her personal web site to sales links, etc.

Publisher’s designed and/or copyrighted cover art may not be used by other publishers producing the Work in formats not listed in Section I without permission of Publisher.


XII. PROMOTION AND PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS

Author’s biographical information. Author will provide Publisher with a short (250 words or less) biography and suggested advertising blurb(s) for use on book cover, web site and promotional literature.

An author’s photograph, in either digital (.jpg preferred) or hard copy, is optional. Publisher reserves the right to edit or rewrite blurb(s) as necessary for length or content.

Author’s copies. Publisher will provide the Author will one copy of each format, download or 1 copy of any print proof and .jpg copies in large or small .jpg formats for promotional purposes.

No royalties will be paid on extra promotional copies purchased by authors for promotional purposes. Authors may feel free to distribute copies of the digital books as review copies and to post the covers on personal web sites or social media sites and to attach them to e-mailed press releases. If printable quality images are needed for advertising purposes, authors may request them at any time.


Publisher and Author agree to supply each other with copies of any professional reviews.
When feasible, Publisher will promote the Work through its web site, other Internet avenues of
promotion, social media, blogs, etc.

Publisher will make every effort to maintain an attractive, updated sales web site and to distribute files though as many web sites and sales channels as feasible. Publisher will not be liable for site downtime or interrupted transmission.

AUTHOR-PUBLISHER INDEMNIFICATION
Author shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless Publisher and its owners and affiliates, editors,
shareholders, officers, directors, partners, associates, agents and representatives and the Publisher shall indemnity, defend and hold harmless the Author from any and all claims, debts, demands, suits, actions, liens, proceedings and/or prosecutions (“Claims”) based on allegations which, if true, could constitute a breach of any of the foregoing warranties, and any and all liabilities, losses, damages and expenses including, but not limited to, attorney’s fees and court costs. Each party to this Agreement shall give prompt notice to the other party of any Claims. No compromise or settlement of any Claim shall be made or entered into without the prior written approval of the Author and Publisher. If a Claim if filed, Publisher shall have the right to suspend payments otherwise due to Author under the terms of this Agreement as security for Author’s obligations under this section.

XIV. INSOLVENCY OR SALE OF PUBLISHER

Please initial_____. Insolvency: If the Publisher files for protection under the Bankruptcy Laws, all rights delineated in Section I shall immediately revert to the Author. If the bankruptcy filing involves a reorganization and Publisher continues to operate during the reorganization, Author and Publisher may agree in writing to continue this agreement under the same or revised terms.

If the Publisher suspends operations, other than a temporary suspension for technical difficulties such as a loss of Web Server, all rights delineated in Section I shall immediately revert to the Author.

If the Publisher’s operations are ordered suspended by any governmental or police entity, or by Injunction or Restraining Order, all rights shall immediately revert to the author. If the suspension is lifted and operations resume, Author and Publisher may agree in writing to continue this agreement under the same or revised terms.       

If the Publisher sells its assets to another publisher who does, or plans to, market and promote books of the type and genre of the Work, the successor publisher will be bound, as a minimum, to the same terms delineated in this agreement. If the successor publisher does not or does not plan to market and promote books of the type and genre of the Work, all rights delineated in Section I shall revert to the Author not more than thirty days after the sale of Publisher.

If, within 6 months of the release of the digital format delineated in Section I, the Publisher has taken no action toward exercising the other rights; (such action may include but not be limited to assigning an ISBN, format/layout preparations, setting an estimated release date, producing or contracting for production of salable paper copies of the Work in that form, the Author may withdraw the print rights by sending a written notice of withdrawal by traceable means. Withdrawal of these rights will not automatically nullify the remainder of the agreement regarding those rights the Publisher has already executed and placed in the stream of commerce.   

Reversion of withdrawn rights shall come into effect 90 days after Publisher receives the notice of withdrawal unless satisfactory proof of action execution of those rights is presented to the Author by Publisher.

XV. COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT   

Publisher is not obligated to initiate legal proceedings should a Claim arise regarding a third party
infringing the Author’s or Publisher’s rights. If such a Claim arises, Author and Publisher may sue either jointly or severally. Publisher shall not be held liable for failing to take action upon a Claim.


XVI. AUDIT ACCOUNTING

Publisher will keep accounts of all receipts and expenditures regarding the Work, and these accounts will be available for Author’s inspection. Author may, on reasonable notice, through his/her designated representative, examine Publisher’s records that relate to the Work. Such examination shall be at the Author’s expense. If any errors are found, publisher shall pay Author any sums due, up to the amount owed Author by Publisher, within thirty (90) days.

XVII. APPLICABLE LAW

The Publisher is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Maryland. Regardless of the place of its physical execution, all interpretations of the terms of this agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, in the United States of America.

Should there be a lawsuit between Publisher and Author related to the terms of this agreement, the proper venue shall be in Dorchester County, State of Maryland, USA. If it becomes necessary for any lawsuit to be filed in the Federal District Court rather than the primary level Trial Courts of Dorchester County, Maryland, the proper venue for that lawsuit would be the closest Federal District Court in whose jurisdiction Dorchester County falls.

XVIII. RIGHTS

Please initial_____. Under this agreement, both worldwide digital e-book rights and POD print rights are covered by the terms. No second contract is needed to do both.

Nothing in this agreement is intended to conflict in any way with the provisions of any other agreement between the parties. If there is an apparent conflict, it will be negotiated between parties. If no resolution is reached, this agreement shall be null and void.

XIX. Signatures:

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Author and Publisher have executed this agreement on the day and year below, to be effective immediately if the dates are the same, or on the date of the later signature if the dates are not the same. If either Author or Publisher have electronic signature capabilities and both agree to accept an electronic signature as valid, that electronic signature will be considered of identical weight to a handwritten signature.

Author_____________________________________ Date:_________________
signature

Print Name_____________________________________________________   

Pseudonym (if applicable) ______________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________

City, State, __________________________________________________

Postal Code, Country________________________ ___________________

Author’s Social Security or Tax Id Number____________________________________

Daytime telephone number _______________________________

Evening telephone number _______________________________

E-mail address: _____________________@____________________________
WRITE WORDS, INC.
_____________________________________________ Date:________________
Signature

Print Name: Arline Chase, Publisher, or Shelley Rodgerson Chase, Editor


Corporate Name: Write Words, Inc.
2934 Old Route 50
Cambridge, MD 21613 USA

E-mail address, Arline: arline@mail.com
E-mail address, Shelley: raz@bikerider.com

* Ideally, galleys should be returned within three weeks. Ideally all print books should go to press
between three and five months BEFORE the official publication date listed in the front, in order for the authors to provide review sources with “advance review copies.”

PLEASE INITIAL_____.
The Timely release of your book entirely depends upon your timely return of the galley proofs and correction lists.