Nicholas C. Rossis

dream-protecting author

Free Online Character Name Generators

Sep 17, 2020 | Writing

I have an unusual relationship with character names, probably because I have such a poor memory (as Electra likes to point out). Quite frankly, I don’t particularly like the process of coming up with names. As the saying goes, you don’t know how many...

A New Normal for Publishing?

May 7, 2020 | Publishing

How do people and firms respond to the pandemic lockdowns? One particularly interesting example comes from Books-A-Million. As The New Publishing Standard reports (shared by Passive Guy), America’s second-largest bookstore chain, Books-A-Million, is readying for...

COVID-19 Enhances Amazon’s Reliability and Credibility

May 5, 2020 | Publishing

The Covid-19 pandemic has upended our lives, forcing us to live digital lives rather than physical ones. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Amazon.com Inc. reported soaring quarterly sales because of a surge in online orders from homebound customers contending with the...

Amazon Releases Amazon Advertising

Sep 14, 2018 | Marketing

As you may remember, I’ve been experiencing computer trouble for the past week, so I’ve been using Electra’s computer. The first time I tried to log in, I was stunned to see a new login screen asking me to specify what kind of Advertising I was...

A Moving Passive Voice Update

Jun 15, 2017 | Random Musings

Most readers of this blog will have noticed the many posts I credit to The Passive Guy (aka PG) and his excellent, free newsletter, which is chock-full of information regarding the publishing industry. Not so many will be aware that my family includes members who are...

45 Idioms from the World of Boxing

May 23, 2016 | Writing

As you know, I’m fascinated by idioms and how their origin. The Passive Guy recently alerted me to a great post by Daily Writing Tips that includes 45 idioms from the world of boxing. Thanks to the Planetary Defense Commander for correcting a couple of them....

How to Tame Amazon’s Algorithm to Increase your Sales Rank

May 7, 2016 | Marketing

When I launched Honest Fibs the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that with just a couple of dozen sales in a few days, it had reached the phenomenal sales rank of some #40,000. This got me thinking: how is that even possible? I don’t think any...

The Shortest Stories

Jan 26, 2016 | Publishing

I found in the Guardian a fascinating article: Readers in Grenoble can now nibble fiction instead of vending machine snacks, after publisher Short Édition introduced eight short-story dispensers around the French city. The free stories are available at the touch of a...

Amazon Pulls Books Because of Wrong Keywords

Nov 13, 2015 | Marketing

As the Bad Luck Detective informs us, Amazon removed thousands of books from their site on November 5th. Books were removed because of three keywords located in the title’s information page in the keywords section: Free, Bestseller and Kindle. It didn’t matter if your...