Veracity: Conformity to facts; accuracy,

_{Probity: The quality of having strong moral principles; honesty, and decency.}

Most likely, the two words above are spoken infrequently in one's daily conversations. Or, for that matter, are not part of a typical businessman's or woman's thoughts. 

On the other hand, these words are likely to be separate from the clie...

I have decided, after much deliberation, not to waste any more money paying groups or individuals my hard-earned money to market my books. I will explain to you why. Recently, on LinkedIn, where I try to mind my own business and share ideas, I get inundated with people trying to sell...

Just a note... I wanted to say a few words about people who claim to dislike literary agents, as if there is a plot to keep us authors from being discovered. If that is the case, as an infantry officer who has gone through many training schools to avoid capture in various climes, they are really good! Especially how they get away from me, LOL! Here are a few of my thoughts.

Every job has its fun parts, and every job can make you feel overwhelmed by the sheer force of the job. Too much work, insufficient time, boss constraints, talent, deadlines, how much money you must make for the company to keep your job... I could go on and on, but why bore you with facts you already know. Being a literary agent must be a job that is hell on earth. There are so many books to look at and decide what will sell and what won't. After a while, being in a sort of bubble, you begin to lose the ability to know what is good or bad or what will sell. You start to lose perspective, like a person who rates restaurants and must eat food every day. Tastes start to mingle together, taste buds get overworked, and food becomes an enemy. You lose the zeal to eat food. They may look at the next book like I do after a Thanksgivin...

Sir:

Good morning. I wrote a blog post, "Why is it so hard to form a publishing team." (Visit my author website at gunnymac.com to read.) I have been a businessman, a Marine Corps officer, and a high school teacher. Now I write novels. I only do business with people who see me as a partner, not a client, as a friend, not a means to an end. Over the years, I have worked with editors who demand outrageous sums of money and deliver really bad results. Website designers who demand outrageous sums of money to take a year to develop a horrible site that does not allow me to change the website or do what they say it will do. I have worked with professional marketers who take my money and deliver nothing. I have sold more of my books than a marketing company I have hired. Companies in this day and age lack probity, employ legal thievery, and hire people with no conscience or desire to do their job correctly. Instead of looking at me as an author... as a potential source of income, they decide to take the money first and hell with me. No longer do I do that. I'm looking for an editor to join my team, but they will earn that right by editing for me first and completing the job before I pay them. Sounds strange, doesn't it? Just think of clients who have to pay and hope for results—that is even funnier! My team consists of an actual artist who does my covers; now he is my friend who knows me and knows he will get paid b...

Marketing is an area that takes much time to master, and money. Not only do you have to write an entertaining book, but it must be edited correctly, the cover must be just right, and the writer must be one tough cookie. A writer friend once told me that you don't start making your money back until you have at least five of six books published in multiple formats. It's expensive and time consuming. The knowledge base you must have is enormous. Building out your Amazon page, blurbs, author website, and education is almost heartbreaking. A writer must look long term and not be looking to make immediate money... (my opinion only) because od...

Interview for Red Headed Book Lover                              

By Aimee Cook, originally published on redheadedbooklover.com

1. Thank you for joining us at Red Headed Book Lover! Please tell us more about yourself.

I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio in a Slovak family. My mother never finished the eighth grade to help support her family and my dad did not finish high school because he e...

Gunny Mac Private Detective Trouble in Chinatown by Steven Walker

by Tim O’Mara, originally published on thebigthrill.org

It’s the onset of World War II. President Roosevelt is collecting and burning the currency in Hawaii in case the Japanese invade. Corrupt military officers, gangsters, and police officials are poised to steal as much of that money as they can. A badly wounded Marine Gunnery Sergeant and three other wounded veterans team up to stop them.

Got it? Good. That’s the plot of Steven Walker’s crime thriller, Gunny Mac, Private Detective—Trouble in Chinatown (Seadog Publishing, October 2020.)...