BookRix member, smithmatthewd

Many of you know BookRix member, Smithmatthewd, as a prolific writer on the site with the unique ability to sneak in surprise endings. If you need any proof of that, look no further than his tales Anthropophagi (entered into the Frightening Fiction contest) and Easy Money?

In the following guest post, Smithmatthewd gives us a look into how he develops his stories.

Story Development

Before I began to write The Littlest Superhero, I went through the process of thinking about what a superhero symbolizes.  The two predominate characteristics I thought of were hope and action.  After developing this base from which to begin, I tried to find an environment for the story that would be relevant in modern society.  Lastly, I wanted to apply simple dialogue that reaffirmed the base of the story.

E-book by smithmatthewd

Hope was fairly easy to include within the story.  The obvious hope, that the main character, Gabriel wouldn’t be harmed, and that his mother would survive was a simple part of the story line.  However, throughout the story, Gabriel dons, removes, and then has his cape returned.  The cape is symbolic of hope in the story.  Gabriel begins the story having donned the cape in hopes of protecting his mother in some way.  When Gabriel’s hope is dashed, he removes the cape (and his hope) and offers them to his mother. Finally, as the story ends Gabriel is given the hope back by his mother (unknowingly to him, but consciously by his mother in an effort to keep him from ever becoming like his father.)

Action in the story is in two forms.  I opened the story with the comic book classics of “Boom, Pow, Slash! “to immediately insert a sense of action.  Both the domestic violence and reactions of Gabriel and his mother also apply action to the story.

Domestic violence and Gabriel’s presence in the situation came from having read a news article on the internet about children living in the middle of domestic violence.  The more I thought about heroes and hope, the more I found myself thinking about the hope of these children and their welfare.  Once that was established, I needed to place Gabriel into a situation that the reader would emotionally feel and share in the hope, and fear, of the situation.

The dialogue contained in the story is simple with a purpose.  In order to keep the story in line with the qualities of a child, I did not want to use complex words or dialogue.  The simple structure of the words adds to the innocence of the story.

I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this blog and hope you enjoyed The Littlest Superhero.

You now can check out the next chapters of “The Littlest Superhero” and find a list of all of Smithmatthewd’s books on BookRix.

As many of you may have seen on our BookRix YouTube Channel, while at the 2011 BookExpo America, I had the opportunity (and lucky chance encounter!) to meet in person and grab an exclusive interview with two of the most successful self-published authors of our time: J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch. Currently, they are grossing between $30,000 and $50,000 a month in eBook sales!

Watch this video (turn up your speakers) if you are serious about self-publishing your novel or book. They offer helpful tips and important messages to not only Author R. Lynn, who’s just started her journey down the same indie path with BookRix as a sponsorship partner (and was the perfect person to ask these guys some serious questions), but for all of the BookRix community and writers in the world wanting to expand their book’s potential horizons.

In this video Blake Crouch and J.A. Konrath discuss what it’s been like since they left their legacy publishers and how that’s changed their options.

They also talk about the importance of marketing and finding key influencers to write book reviews for their books (pre-launch), building a fan base and platform to sell books online and so much more.

Be prepared, the REAL, authentic and humorous personalities that Author R. Lynn and I got to see emerge during the interview are included, but with all seriousness about why they left their legacy publishers and the power of social media sites for authors including Facebook, Twitter and of course your very-own BookRix.

Follow the authors on Twitter:

@JAKonrath
@BlakeCrouch1
@AuthorRLynn

Now here’s a book that topped the Amazon charts before it even hit the shelves, with an unforgettable and unmentionable title: “Go the F**k to Sleep” by author and father, Adam Mansbach.

As it stands, this book is the second most popular book (was #1) out of the top 100 books on Amazon and getting tons of rave reviews.

This off-putting title may not sit well with everyone, but according to last month’s LA Times article by Susan Carpenter, the independent publisher of the infamous book actually had to push back the release date four months due to the sheer number of book orders they received pre-release, augmenting the first print run of the book to 150,000.

Author Adam Mansbach was inspired to write the unusually-titled book “for fun” in 2010 based on the “grueling” experience of getting his then 2-year-old daughter to fall asleep.

To quote journalist Susan Carpenter’s article, “It’s Mansbach’s handling of this inescapable parental reality that has helped propel the book to the No. 1 Amazon spot, but it was after a 10-minute reading the author gave at an art salon in Philadelphia that the book went viral.”

Apparently during the reading of each subsequent verse in Philadelphia, with Ricardo Cortes’ images screening behind him, the room was filled with laughter and the 200-person crowd was said to be thoroughly engaged.

A now notorious sentence including the f-word reads much like any other children’s book, only this one ends it’s sweet lullaby with a word many people find sour:

“The cats nestle close to their kittens. The lambs that lay down with the sheep. You’re cozy and warm in your bed my dear. Please go the f… to sleep.“

According to the book’s listing on Amazon even musician David Byrne raved about it after checking out a PDF version, calling it “hilarious,” while bestselling author Jonathan Lethem said it was “total genius.”

At the time of that eventful reading in Philly, the book wasn’t scheduled to be published for months, but the author directed interested audience members to Amazon for pre-orders and the next day after that reading the book jumped to No. 125 on the site, then, a few days later, it escalated to No. 2 before reaching No. 1 at it’s peak.

The book now sits as No. 1 on a New York Times Bestseller list. It can also be referred to as GTFTS, according to Adam’s author page on Amazon.

What do you think about the title? Yay or Nay? Comment below!

As some of you may have heard, BookRix has chosen to sponsor famed community member and writer R. Lynn with her very popular book, Descendants, which she’s authored over the last year and graciously shared with our online community members during the entire writing process. Recently, she attended the BookExpo America with BookRix as we announced the launch of our author services to the publishing world at BEA, with Author R. Lynn as our ambassador and first-ever sponsored author for BookRix.com.

While we enjoyed a couple of fantastic days at BEA with R. Lynn, I was able to get a few quieter moments for our community to interview her.

As a self-published author, she’s kept her options open and held onto 100% of her rights. In this interview, she shares with me what she loves about BookRix and details about her journey and why she writes.

This year Author R. Lynn turned down a traditional publishing offer to accept an opportunity to become our BookRix sponsored author as we launch eBook distribution and print on demand later this year. She reviewed both options and chose BookRix, as she truly understands her fans and how they want to be reached: online with social media! Using our platform, she has consistently connected directly as an author with readers and pushed forward to gain a growing fan base.

With access to the same distribution channels and eBook outlets as traditional publishers offer and an upper hand over her own marketing already (you’ve probably seen her around on the site), she decided she’d rather self-publish through BookRix to retain the rights of her book, Descendants, and earn a much better margin on each book sold.

She was excited about the BookRix offer to support her with professional editing and marketing services in addition to the eBook and printed book distribution in exchange for promoting the new author services also launching this year, acting as the perfect poster child for a changing industry.

R. Lynn’s not the only one excited about the launch of her novel. Author R. Lynn, also known as Rebecca, was joined at the BookExpo America in New York with her supportive mother, Bonnie, and grandmother, Sylvia, in tow to promote Descendants. In this next interview I also captured at BEA, the three generations share with me family insights and the adventures of what the last year has been like.

Interested in an Advanced Reader Copy of Descendants? Email me at amber@bookrix.com or stay tuned to our BookRix Facebook fan page or @BookRixUS Twitter account where we’ll be giving away a few special copies this summer! Want to connect directly with Author R. Lynn? Check out her author website here!

Your BookRix USA team has traveled to NYC for the internationally renowned BookExpo America (BEA) at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, officially taking place May 23-26. If you’ve never attended before, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. That’s why we have compiled the Top 10 Reasons you should make a point of attending this event, whether this week or in the future:

1. Meet publishers, editors, agents and other industry professionals at the Exhibition Halls with over 1,300 companies represented.

2. Participate in many free educational sessions to hear industry leaders discuss the latest trends, developments and technologies affecting the book industry.

3. Be inspired by new and best-selling authors, while getting a sneak preview of the Fall Lists.

4. Collect autographs from more than 500 of your favorite authors!

5. Rub elbows with celebrities like Jane Fonda, Charles Frazier, John Lithgow, Jane Lynch and Michael Moore.

6. Get the latest updates on digital content and technologies.

7. If you’re a blogger, there are two concurrent events at BEA: BlogWorld and New Media Expo NY May 24-26 and a special one-day Book Blogger Convention on May 27.

8. Shopping!!! BEA has North America’s largest selection of children’s books, a remainders pavilion where you can locate both recent and hard-to-find books and music, and even a gift shop for non-book items.

9. Explore and enjoy the Big Apple!!!

And last but certainly not least:

10. Meet the BookRix USA Team! Gunnar Siewert, the CEO himself, Tim, Ayelet, Stefany, Amber and Andy! Plus, our newly appointed BookRix sponsored author, R. Lynn, will be making her debut appearance on Wednesday with her book, Descendants, edited, printed and promoted by BookRix!!!

We’re pulling out all the stops and unveiling our new author services at BEA which you can read more about in our recent press release or on our special BEA website pages. We’ll be hanging out at our exhibitor space in the International Digital Publishing Forum’s (IDPF) Digital Zone at booth #2110.

If you can’t make it to BEA in person you can listen to the recent podcast about our attendance online and connect with us through our social media to stay in touch and meet the team. Feel free to ask questions, share your thoughts, mention what you’re reading or writing, or just say hi!

Be sure to stay tuned in via the blog, our BookRix Facebook fan page and our @BookRixUS Twitter account as we’ll be bringing you on-site coverage highlighting the best of BEA 2011—the largest book publishing trade convention in North America!

So far, her astounding success story has been picked up by Huffington Post, USA Today and is soon to grace the pages of Elle Magazine. Twenty-six-year-old millionaire and self-published writer Amanda Hocking is taking the e-book world by storm with her mega-popular urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels that sell exclusively in e-book formats.

Just this past weekend, New York Times best-selling spy thriller novelist Barry Eisler announced that he recently turned down a $500,000 book deal with an unnamed legacy publisher in order to self-publish his own popular books.  “Based on what’s happening in the industry, and based on the kind of experience writers…are having in self-publishing, I think I can do better in the long term on my own,” Eisler told J.A. Konrath in a lengthy interview posted on his blog as well as Konrath’s.

Konrath, who sells an average of 1,846 e-books daily on Kindle, Nook and other online stores, is a successful thriller e-book novelist who pens a helpful blog for aspiring self-published authors, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.

As the long-standing relationship between traditional publishers and new authors continues to evolve, Hocking and Eisler are certainly not along in their lucrative forays into self-publishing. A first novel by Irish teen author Leigh Fallon, Carrier of the Mark, was discovered as an e-book on HarperCollins’ teen social network Inkpop and will be published in print by HarperTeen this fall.

After years of rejections from traditional publishing houses, Wisconsin-based novelist Karen McQuestion self-published several novels as e-books on Amazon’s Kindle in 2009. Since then, one of her novels, A Scattered Life, has been optioned for film and printed as a paperback through AmazonEncore, Amazon’s new publishing division, with more on the way.

The same USA Today article that profiles Hocking also mentions rising self-published author H.P. Mallory, who recently signed a three-book contract with traditional publisher Random House, and the success of German novel The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch, a top-selling (100,000+) Kindle book.

We’ve previously sung the praises of best-selling author Seth Godin in the BookRix blog after he chose to ditch his publisher, Portfolio (Penguin) and sell his books directly to fans via print-on-demand. Another non-fiction author, John L. Locke has gone the same route, selling his books through Amazon with excellent results.

We hope to report about future best-selling BookRix authors someday soon, so keep writing and posting on our site…and share it with your friends!

In just a few days it will be the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday again. Born on January 19 back in 1809, perhaps one of the most referenced writers of all-time and still making an impact from the grave. His leadership into new written territory later proved to be influential even to writers born in the last few decades. And, in a world of constant change it seems, it’s nice to take a moment to reflect on this classic contributor who’s quotes pop up regularly. January also marks the anniversary of the 1845 publication of his famous poem “The Raven,” which was a quick and widespread success!

Poe was not only an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, he was considered to be part of the American Romantic Movement, and is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. Poe was one of the very early American practitioners of the short story and is considered to be an inventor of the detective-fiction genre, according to the collection of data on the subject found on Wikipedia. He is also further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Wow! Did you know that Poe was also an orphan? Pretty amazing that he was able to accomplish what he did back then. Thanks to the kind-hearted nature of John and Frances Allan during his younger years, Poe was able to work through challenges and come into his own.

To honor Edgar Allan Poe, literary legend and master of the macabre, I’m taking a look back at his renowned works that were later adapted into popular culture references in film, television and music (even the Beatles made reference to Poe!). I thought it might be a nice remembrance to start a dialog about where we’ve seen his influence in main stream media, and our thoughts and opinions on his classic works.

Can you think of other places “The Raven” has served as inspiration, or other works by Poe that have appeared? What other Edgar Allan Poe pieces do you like? Join the dialog about Poe in the BookRix Forum Thread, Edgar Allan Poe Remembered!

In case you’ve never read “The Raven,” here’s your chance! It’s available (along with several others by Poe) on BookRix as a download or readable online with ViewRix:

A poet, storyteller, BookRix contest winner, moderator of the BookRix Poet Society group… these are all synonyms for BookRix community member, Dr.Wardha. Below she describes how she gets inspired to write her poetry.

Poetic Secrets shared by Dr.Wardha

There are these moments of trance-like brilliance when my awareness of all things real becomes, ever so slightly, vague. Generally, these happen during my long drives when I feel compelled to entertain myself with the ministrations of my own Mind and philosophise upon an Idea for poetic expression.

I talk to myself. Often. Yes, that’s my big secret, my most incriminating habit, if I were to be analysed by a psychiatrist. I do it even when in company (of course, not out loud, I mean THAT would be crazy). Many of my ideas for poems come from these mental monologues based on observations of the human psychology. Man, the phenomenon, the chemical, volatile being — oscillating rhythmically between deceit and faith — fascinates me.

Human nature — its failings and its strife, its inexhaustible desire to rise above and beyond the call of the hour, its fragile psyche, its strong passions — all serve as my Muse. I watch people with an eye, which I feel, is compassionate and nonjudgmental. I listen to their views with a mind, I feel, is ever interested in understanding the definition of “human.” I often deliberately don my trance to do a bit of role-playing where a certain set of circumstances I wish to write about prevail, and I imagine the emotional ague of the sufferer. Most of my cherished (by me mostly) verses have been written in such a way.

I find great inspiration in the works of renowned authors of the nineteenth century. Their mode of expression was, to me, an art in its very construction. I often find myself re-reading, and marveling at their acumen in sentences phrased like a sphinx, descriptions sculpted like a Madonna, brilliant-like gems, in their perfect use of the perfect word.

Yes, that is my wonderment at the art of writing, discovering the perfect word.

Dr.wardha was the winner of the BookRix Cowboy Contest with Kat and Sable and a finalist in the BookRix Drabbles Contest.

You can read her other work here:

"Shades of Grey" by dr.wardha

"Known Stranger" by dr.wardha

"Sweet Treats" by dr.wardha

Popular BookRix author Steven Nedelton says that American fiction is far from “culturally irrelevant”, as cultural critic Lee Siegel recently wrote in The New York Observer.

WRITING ANOTHER ‘FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS?

They say this is the end of American fiction. “For about a million reasons,” Lee Siegel claims.

I believe I heard of Mr. Lee Siegel, but I doubt that he is right in his rather far-fetched prediction. For most of fiction comes from actual events and characters disguised into the fictitious, and so, fiction and non-fiction are inseparably intertwined.

L.A., June 17 (UPI) — Film stars Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman have been cast in an upcoming HBO film about late U.S. author Ernest Hemingway, TVGuide.com said.

Hemingway, even vampires, are still very much alive. Thank you UPI.

The first books I had read were Gogol’s short stories and then Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, my presents for my twelfth and thirteenth birthday. And they hooked me. Since then, I never stopped reading.

I began writing seriously about ten years ago. My first novel ended after thirty thousands words with a firm writer’s block. Whatever it was, I was flat out of ideas. For a while, I thought I would never write again but then, quite unconsciously, I recalled a short sentence I read in a major newspaper back in ‘92. And that was it, I just had to write a suspense novel based on paranormal. My Crossroads was the result, the novel of espionage, of international and extrasensory, and based on true happenings. I did a lot of research for that book and rewrote it — at least twice.

By then I had started my second one, The Raven Affair. I was almost done with my third, Dawn for the Fearless, when I found a publisher interested in Crossroads.

I would say that in order to get accepted by a publisher, one must have a well-edited manuscript. A high score in BookRix competitions is a great help, witness Scott Kelly’s Frightened Boy.  However, getting published is only the first step along a very muddy road to acceptance by readers. Good reviews are important, yet, I am not yet sure which ones are the most beneficial. Midwest Book Review is one of the prestigious and so is the Kirkus Review. Which one results in a larger readership, if any, I really don’t know. I must add that Preditors & Editors is a very useful service for all, published and unpublished writers.

You can read samples of Steven’s published novels on BookRix. They’re also available for purchase at Amazon.com and other major book retailers. You can also learn more at his website, snedelton.com.

In 2007 when I brought the New York Times bestselling memoir Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert on a summer trip to Europe, I had no idea that I would end up reading parts of her story while actually visiting Italy – one of the book’s captivating settings!

Since this novel is based on true adventures for Gilbert, I suddenly became engrossed with noticing details as she did while I roamed the streets in a small town in Italy.

I knew that if enjoying simple pleasures like gelato or pasta could be that life-changing and descriptive for her that they could be for me as well (and they were). I began to eat gelato at odd hours and pasta a few times a day and found myself appreciating her vivid journey as I connected with the pleasures of taste and texture as she once had.

Fast forward from that memorable summer in 2007 (a year after the book’s release) to now, 2010, when this delectable, divine and desirable written story comes to life in a block-buster film starring Julia Roberts!

This movie will surely fill my mind with vibrant visuals as she tries to convey Gilbert’s journey as her own on screen in front of millions of readers like me.

My trepadation is simple. Will watching the movie change how I feel about this beloved book I personally connected to? Despite my hesitation my curiosity will surely out win and I will go see, “Eat Pray Love.”

Below is an interview with Gilbert before the movie was made about her reflections on the bestseller and spending that fateful year of her life in Italy, India and Indonesia.

Interview with Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat, Pray, Love bestselling author

Gilbert’s memoir captured my heart. Will the movie do the same for me? Will I feel connected to the screen the way I was connected to the pages that summer?

Gilbert’s novel was a New York Times Best Seller as “Paperback Nonfiction” for over 182 weeks. With over seven million copies in print, and lord knows how many downloads for kindle, this movie will surely be seen by millions across America and beyond.

I’m on a mission now to ask readers like me, what they thought about the movie, and if they were glad to have read the book first. I’ll report back what my findings are after I see the movie as well.

Grazie, Namaste, & Terima kasih,

Amber