Does Marketing Even Work?
If you're like me, you're probably wondering from time to time why you even bother marketing your books. I mean, there have been times when everything I'd try would seem to be in vain. When, at best, I broke even on my Ads. When people wouldn't read my work if I...
Free Historical Mexican Recipes
I love Mexican food and cook it regularly (including today, actually). So, I was thrilled when I heard on Atlas Obscura that The University of Texas at San Antonio was digitizing the largest collection of historic Mexican cookbooks in the United States. While the...
Video in Email Marketing
I have written in the past on the subject of using videos in your emails. I now came across a great infographic on the subject, courtesy of One Productions, a corporate video production company in Dublin. Apparently, the average office worker receives 121 emails every...
Perseverance Blasts Off
A $2.7 billion NASA rover, Perseverance, blasted off into clear skies over Florida’s Cape Canaveral yesterday (Thursday, July 30th) atop an Atlas V rocket, as The Washington Post and The Curious report. The launch marks the start of a nearly seven-month journey to...
3 Hard Science Fiction Ideas
Many of my readers enjoy science fiction as much as I do. Jacob Baumgardner recently shared an answer about which emerging technologies may have the greatest impact in the near future. He identified three: fusion power, rail/coilguns, and pre-coolers. I imagine that...
What Is the Oldest English Word?
Someone asked this on Quora and Oscar Tay gave a fascinating answer. The oldest recorded word In English is Gægogæ mægæ medu. The Undley Bracteate In 1982, a farmer in Undley Common, Suffolk, England, was walking across his field when he came across a fantastic bit of...
Medieval Rules for Travelers: Here’s My Wife
If you watch any fantasy movies or any fiction taking place in the Middle Ages, you will probably think that travelers camped outside in the open with nobody around for miles. As Joanna Arman explains in Quora, this is not the case. So, if you're a fantasy or...
Free Online Magazines
Two free online magazines are asking for submissions and looking for new subscribers. If you're not familiar with them, they're well worth checking out! Writer's Grapevine The first one is Writer's Grapevine, created by Patty Fletcher. As I told her when she sent me a...
Medieval Chess Troubles
Medieval monasteries had a serious problem. Instead of 100% focusing on their spiritual and earthly duties, many monks loved besting each other at chess. The Medieval version of “video games cause violence” was, “playing chess leads to blasphemy.” Things got so bad...
Some of My Favorite Writing Blogs
I haven't written one of these posts in ages, so I wanted to give you a few links to blogs and websites that have provided me with plenty of writing tips and inspiration. I apologize in advance if you have an excellent blog that's not mentioned below. Charles...
DesignCap Updated Review: Infographics, Maps, and More
Back in November 2019, I reviewed DesignCap, an online tool allowing you to create professional-looking visual material for social media and webpages. Six months later, I still use DesignCap occasionally, when I need to create stylish visuals quickly. This update...
How to Design Your Book Cover
Dave Chesson, aka Kindlepreneur, recently published what I think is the ultimate guide to designing your book cover. While I use Alex of 187Designz for all of my book covers, Dave has compiled a list of: The best book cover design software, both paid and free; Book...