"The Writing Life" Articles

By all accounts of the BUZZ at the Book Expo America (BEA) in May, reports of the Publishing Industry’s demise is greatly exaggerated. For four frothy days at the NYC Javits Center, BEA showcased a panel of publishing CEO’s, a gaggle of Celebrity Authors (Fergy, Jon Stewart, Barbara Streisand), seminars on Digital Technology and Self-Publishing, and acres of booths featuring everything related to books. As an aspiring novelist, I took a gander to get a feel for the industry and found it: Robust.

I made sure that no research sources were harmed in the making of my first book. The humor genre has no actual formula and comes with no rulebook. I could sit in my underwear and write down random thoughts that roughly fit into a random theme. That’s what attracted me to it in the first place. I figured that since my short-term memory … I forget what I was going to say.

Many book authors decide that they do not need their own book author websites. These authors feel that they can get enough exposure by listing their book on the various online book sites.

Yet, if you are truly interested in giving your book the best online marketing opportunities, you need to have your own book author website.

To begin with, if you use social media networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to promote your book, you will want to include a URL link that sends people to a dedicated book author website to show that you are a serious book author.

Billionaire Warren Buffet has been the subject of books and articles since the public first became aware his investments made him one of the richest men on earth.
I thought of writing a book about him when I was about to retire from one of his companies: The Buffalo News. I asked my publisher and Buffet’s longtime friend Stan Lipsey, who Buffet had lured from Omaha, if the billionaire would confide in me. He checked with Buffet.
I was told that Buffet had recruited a young, attractive woman financial writer to write an exhaustive book about him and his family. He would not talk to me.