New Title From Saguaro Books

 Urma Applebaum and the Pigman

It is customary that each generation passes many things onto the next. Sometimes it’s through spoken word. Sometimes it’s through things that we find out but were never told. Fourteen-year-old Trinity grew up visiting a small town in Vermont where her grandmother lived. This town is on edge, the Pigman dwells among them. His odd look and tenacious ways have caused great fear among the residents. With her grandmother's sudden passing, Trinity realizes that she's been left alone with a secret that only she knows. What will she do?

 Amazon $9.95 paper; $3.99 Kindle

 

Onomatopoeia

How do you represent various sounds in writing? The term for vocal (and written) imitation of sounds, onomatopoeia, means “to make names.” (The word, a Latinization of a Greek word, consists of the term that is also the origin of name, nominal, and the like and the one from which poem and poet are derived.) But making names is complicated by the fact that spelling of sounds is arbitrary.
Various languages represent common sounds with uncommonly assorted words. What in English would be spelled chomp or munch is in Indonesian krauk and in Japanese musha-musha. Shh, or hush, is translated as psszt in Hungarian and cht in Spanish. Achoo! is spelled apchix in Bulgarian and achhee! in Hindi. Sometimes -- for instance, because a frog in one country is a different species from one in another country and therefore may actually make a different sound -- this variation is logical. But often (look up the various representations for meow around the world) the differences are perplexing.
But even within one language, a writer is challenged by the ambiguity of sounds. How, exactly, does one spell a yell? That word itself is onomatopoeic, but “Yell!” is not a yell. A cry of anger is distinct from one of fear. And an exclamation of pain could be spelled starting with an a (“Aughhh!”), an o (“Owww!”), or a y (“Yeow!”).
Some variation from what a reader may be accustomed to is reasonable: If I routinely spelled an archvillain’s triumphant evil laugh “Bwah-hah-hah!” I would be distracted but not derailed to see it treated as “Muah-ha-ha!” But “Myau” would not alert me to the presence of a cat; in English, either the spelling above or the British English preference, miaow (or mew, a variation suggesting a gentler cry) is standard.
But how do I know that? The compositional catch-22 -- “How can I look something up in the dictionary if I don’t know how to spell it?” -- may come into play, especially when the word starts with a vowel. But that’s step number one: Look it up. Is a donkey’s bray spelled “Hee haw”? Type the word into Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, and you’ll learn whether your guess is validated. (In this case, English is in the minority among languages, most of which begin spelling of that sound with a vowel.) Or rely on your reading -- whether your sources are science journals or comic books, some standard is likely to prevail.
Neologisms or words not generally granted legitimacy in writing (fuggedaboudit, anyone?) can be a challenge, but try an online search if you’re not sure. You’ll likely get a response for more than one alternative, but apply the quality test, not the quantity test: Judge the preferred spelling not on which is most frequent, but which is used on the most authoritative (or least questionable) sites.
But in the right circumstance, go ahead and take a chance. If you desire, for example, that a character respond to another’s cattiness, a flat utterance of “Meow” may convey the first person’s cynical understatement, whereas “Reerrrrrrrrrrr!” will, despite its lack of resemblance to the standard spelling, clearly evoke an unambiguous judgment about the second character’s provocative statement or behavior.

From: Daily Writing Tips

New from Saguaro Books, LLC

Paperback: 249 pages 

Publisher: Saguaro Books, LLC (July 9, 2020) 

Language: English 

ISBN-13: 979-8647460158

Price: $11.95

  

Abigail “Art “ Ruth Teller thought her sophomore year would include the usual teenage worries: getting good grades, breaking away from an overprotective mom, dealing with hormones, having fun with friends and starting to date. Unfortunately, the School Board decided to throw a wrench in her plans by proposing to water down the science program to teach the decidedly unscientific creationism. With such a subpar curriculum, how would Art get into a top university so she could discover a cure for her diabetes? Someone was going to have to stop them and it looked as if it was going to be her. As if high school wasn’t hard enough. Art didn’t know if one teenager could really defeat a group of religious zealots dead set on bringing their political beliefs into the classroom but she vowed she would stop at nothing to save her school.

Make the Grade in the Homeschool Market

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Jun 16, 2020

 

The academic market is an opportune segment for publishers because it uses books as a foundation for its existence. It includes, but is not limited to schools, foundations, research organizations, professional associations, libraries, students, and individual educators. This marketplace impacts people of all ages, from preschoolers to professionals. Regardless of grade, age, major, and choice of home, public, or private education, people’s need for books is ubiquitous.

 

But, you say, “Public schools are closed, and no one is sure when they will reopen. How can this be an opportune time to sell to them?” The answer is to sell to the homeschool sub-segment of the academic market. 

 

There are over two million homeschooled students in the United States, and the homeschooling trend is expanding as parents are looking more closely at the quality of education their children are receiving, as well as at the environment in which it is being administered.

 

Homeschooling is not one, homogenous market, but is a market comprised of manageable segments, each with diverse buying needs. The following is a partial list of several of these smaller, homeschool market segments. 

• Categorical Associations. There are several associations that cater to specific demographic groups within the overall homeschooling market. For example, there is a Jewish Home Educator’s Network (https://a2zhomeschooling.com/religion/jewish_homeschooling/) and a National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance (www.naaha.com). 

• Online Directories. There are online directories that serve as homeschooling resource guides. They offer newsletters, support groups, message boards, tips-of- the-week, products, and online courses. Use these directories such as Homeschool.com (www.homeschool.com) to bring exposure to you and your book, which will bring you one step closer to another sale.

• Publications. The media also serves this market segment. For example, there is the Home Education Magazine, the LINK Homeschool Newspaper www.homeschoolnewslink.com), and Homeschooling Today (www.homeschooltoday.com). Additionally, the Old Schoolhouse Magazine (www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com) provides many ways to reach homeschooling families. It has a store, a print magazine with a circulation of 40,000, and three websites, including homeschoolblogger.com, which boasts 10 million page views.

• State, National, and International Associations. There are many sales opportunities at state-level homeschool associations. Most states have a parent-educator association, or a homeschool association, network, or organization. Examples include:

• Florida Parent Educators Association: www.fpea.com
• Smoky Mountain Home Education Association: www.smhea.org
• California Homeschool Network: www.californiahomeschool.net
• Washington Homeschool Organization: www.washhomeschool.org

Additionally, there are national homeschooling organizations such as the National Homeschool Association (https://nationalhomeschoolassociation.com), the Association for Experiential Education (www.aee.org). You may be able to utilize NHA’s free email newsletter and discussion list to spread the word about your books to homeschoolers, media contacts, and education officials. He also used NHA’s list of support groups and organizations as a resource for setting up personal presentations, when appropriate.

 

Finally, there are also international homeschooling associations. The following are a sampling of such organizations around the world:

• Alternative Education Resource Organization: www.educationrevolution.org
• Alternative Learning Organization: www.alternative-learning.org
• Education Otherwise: www.education-otherwise.org
• Home Education Advisory Service: www.heas.org.uk

• Book Fairs and Conventions. When the market for trade shows and conventions reopens, homeschooling book fairs and conventions will present excellent opportunities to sell books, and they occur annually across the country. For example, the Homeschool Fair (www.homeschoolfair.com ) occurs each Memorial Day in Ontario, California.

If you look diligently and strategically you may find a great source of revenue in non-traditional segments of the academic market, like homeschools. Remember to break the mass market down into manageable sub-groups and keep looking for new places in which you can sell your books.

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Brian Jud is the author of How to Make Real Money Selling Books, the Executive Director of the Association of Publishers for Special Sales (APSS – www.bookapss.org), and the administrator of Book Selling University (www.booksellinguniversity.com) Contact Brian at brianjud@bookmarketing.com or www.premiumbookcompany.com.

 

Neither... or?

From: Daily Writing Tips

 
Because I was taught a long time ago that either is used with or, and neither is used with nor, constructions like these bother me:

“Neither Mrs Thatcher or I, would have any time for the sisterhood approach” says Ann Widdecombe
No further details have been released, and neither Kim or Kanye have mentioned any engagement on Twitter.

Even though this is a rule of which I am absolutely certain, I did my usual warm-up research before writing about the errors in these quotations. I discovered that not everyone who writes about usage agrees on the immutability of this rule.
First I looked up neither in the OED. There I found an entry for neither...or. All it says is:

Numerous grammarians from the mid-18th century onwards criticize the use of or rather than nor as ungrammatical and improper.”

This note is followed by twelve examples of the use of neither...or from 1395 to 1997.
Next stop, Merriam-Webster:

neither: used as a function word before two or more words, phrases, or clauses joined by nor or sometimes by or...

In addition to allowing or in the regular definition, M-W gives a further nod to the neither...or usage in a note:

Although use with or is neither archaic nor wrong, the conjunction neither is usually followed by nor.

Leaving the dictionaries, I looked in at the Columbia Journalism Review where I found an article by Merrill Perlman which quotes various authorities and concludes with a litany of contradictory advice as to what is correct or incorrect usage with neither certain to leave any reader confused.
So, is “neither...or” all right to use? No, not in modern usage.
People who have the leisure and inclination to argue about such things are free to do so. Those who just want to write inoffensive standard English are advised to go with the conventional rule that either is used with or and neither is used with nor.
You don’t have to take my word for it:

If two or more particular things or people are being mentioned, neither is followed by nor, not by or...--Penguin Writer’s Manual (2002)

Saguaro Books LLC sides with Penguin Writer's Manual

Tips on How to Target Your Book's Audience

From Ingram/Spark:

by Brian Jud
 

You could sell more of your books if you'd answer two questions honestly. First, how often do people think about your book? Second, how often do people think about their own problems? You will probably agree that people think more about how they can solve their own problems, learn something, improve themselves, or be entertained than they do about your book. However, if you can show them how reading your book helps them achieve these things, you are likely to increase your book sales and revenue, so let's cover how to target your book's audience.

Define Your Target Reader

When I ask authors to describe their target audience, the most frequent response is “everybody who likes (their topic).” It is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to market to everybody. Defining your primary target readers and buyers is a basic, required task for selling books. But if you limit your marketing to those people, you are significantly limiting your sales and revenue.
Consider if you wrote a book about ways to resolve fear and your premise is that everyone is afraid of something, at some level. But how can you tell “everyone” the ways in which your book will help them? One way is to divide your target readers into categories. Using these techniques, you might address the people who are afraid of flying, dying, being in a relationship, or other types of fears individually—building a message specific to those audiences.

Think of Readers as Actual People

Remember that you are marketing to people, not to segments. So who is the typical person in each segment who will actually purchase your book? If you can describe those individuals and the problems that consume them, you can communicate the ways in which the content of your book can help them.
What if “soccer moms” were singled out as a target segment for your book about resolving fears? These mothers might be fearful of the safety, health, and future of their children. In this case, you would define the typical “mom” who will benefit by reading your book, in terms of age, education, lifestyle, and geography. Defining the “typical mom” and creating a composite of the person to whom you will promote your book, you might seek answers to the following questions:

• What is her average level of education? This may dictate the vocabulary you choose to use.
• About how old is she? This will help you specify your target based on where women in this age group typically spend their time and what concerns affect them in particular.
• How much money does she make? This could influence your book distribution choices. Should you have your book available in Wal-Mart or Neiman Marcus?
• To what ethnic or religious groups does she belong? Could you sell your book to churches as a possible target?
• In what leisure activities does she participate or watch? Could a home goods or sporting retailer be a potential outlet?
• What magazines and newspapers does she read in print or online? Try to get a book review, or submit articles for publications in the media she would be looking at. It's important to pick the right media for your audience.
• In what current events or issues is she most interested? Use examples in your articles and releases to increase your relevance and potential search volume by utilizing specific keywords.
• Is there a particular life event she is facing (e.g., divorce, career balance, childbirth)?
• What makes her happy? Unhappy?
• What are her problems or ponderous issues?
• What organizations or associations does she join? If it has a bookstore on its website, have your book in it.
• To what radio and television shows does she listen/watch? Choose these to perform on the air.
• Are there geographic concentrations of prospects?
• How can you reach her?

Answering these questions can help narrow down your target book audience to more effectively reach your ideal reader.

Research Groups and Organizations That Communicate With Your Target Reader

Suppose you have a book to help divorced parents deal with their children’s trauma of being bounced back and forth between mother and father. Divorced parents would comprise the expected target segment, and most authors would stop there. However, the actual market is much larger—without being labeled as “everybody.”
Enlarge your sales opportunity by seeking buyers among people and groups that help divorced people cope with their split-up and its impact on their children. These could be divorce counselors, divorce attorneys, divorce mediators, marriage clinics and retreats, marriage counselors, American Counseling Association, Parents Without Partners, The Fathers' Rights Association of New York State, Inc., the store on the website for Focus on the Family, and ministries such as The Center for Divorce Education. You might also sell books where divorce rates are particularly high, such as on military bases. There is also niche media to consider, such as Marriage Builders Radio. The lesson here is to look for sales in places you may never have considered before.

Find New Sales Opportunities

Below is an example of how I expanded the opportunity for my book, Job Search 101, which helped people use marketing techniques to find employment. Find new sales opportunities by asking yourself—and answering—these questions.

• Who could use the information in your books? The answer to this question defines the obvious segments for anyone seeking employment for the first time, anyone ready for a career change, or anyone looking for new employment after being laid off. Describe your primary buyers in terms of age, education, gender. Then think about what (the form in which your content is delivered), where (retail stores, online), and when they buy.
• Where do they look for that information? The initial answer would probably lead you to sell through bookstores, but unemployed people do not want to spend money if they can get the information for free. So, instead of waiting for job seekers to go to bookstores, I went to them by making personal presentations at colleges and high schools, and to groups of unemployed people at libraries, churches, state employment departments, employment agencies, outplacement firms, and networking groups. In many cases, I had meeting planners buy books for everyone in the audience in advance of my presentations.
• Who else could use the information in your books? Finding new segments in which to sell existing titles may be the most efficient way to increase your sales and revenue. I found more prospects in new niches comprised of high-school and college students, people who are over 50 years old, women, and blue-collar workers.
• Who could use your content in generally over-looked segments? Prisoners must be trained to find jobs before they are released. The the same concept applies to military personnel before they are discharged. People in both segments need job-search information, perhaps explained in a different way. This opens the door to an opportunity for niche-specific content.  
• Where do they look for that information? Prisoners go to their prison library or search online for career information. Military exchanges sell books for people in the armed services who are about to re-enter civilian life, and for their spouses who change jobs as they move with the transferred service person. 
• Who could act as a decision influencer on people who could use your content? Instead of marketing directly to prospective customers, market to the people who can influence them. This could open the door to selling job-search content to career development officers at colleges, to guidance counselors in high schools, or to the parents of graduating seniors, which I did through direct-mail campaigns.
• Do people use the information in any unusual way? One state government loved Job Search 101, but would not place an order. They conducted regular workshops, and perfect-bound workbooks do not lay flat. I had the binding replaced with a spiral binding, and the government office placed a standing order for 8,000 books a quarter. I volunteered to conduct the workshops for additional income, and I took that spiral-bound book to other states.
• What is the biggest hassle of purchasing your content? Some people do not want to be seen in a bookstore buying a job-search book. Heavy and oversized books do not sell well in airport stores because people do not want the aggravation of carrying them through the airport and on the planes. If your content can be delivered in a more portable form, it may be purchased in larger quantities. This might lead you to download your podcasts or publishing an audio version of your book.
• Who spends money to adapt your content to their specific needs? Informal research disclosed an absence of career information available for the Hispanic market. I found that Latinos were spending time and money translating into Spanish job-search information written in English. Hence, I had my content translated into Spanish as Elementos basicos para buscar trabajo. 
• What knowledge about your content could lead to a new product form? In writing, I found it difficult to adequately portray the interview skills of body language, gestures, eye communication, and facial expression. That led to demonstrating those skills in a video.
• What information about your customers could lead to a new product form? Research among college students uncovered the need for job-search information in an easier-to-use, less expensive format. Using existing content, I created series of booklets, each devoted to one traditional job-search tactic such as writing a resume or interviewing. With a little re-writing, I easily adapted the booklets to meet the needs of other markets, including state unemployment offices.
• How could this information lead to a by-product that could be the key to entering another business? The titles Job Search 101 and Help Wanted: Inquire Within describe many of the basic techniques for finding employment. Together, they explain where to find the names of prospective employers, how to contact them, and how to interview effectively. Fortunately, these are the same steps required by authors to secure and conduct performances on television and radio shows. Even the interview skills of correct posture, eye communication, gesturing, and voice control are similar. This observation bore an entirely new product line, using as its foundation the fundamentals of job-search communication. I repurposed this versatile content and presented it to a new market as the video program, You’re on The Air. This media-training product helped authors get on and perform on television and radio shows. Its two companion guides, Perpetual Promotion and It’s Show Time, extended this product offering.
• Who uses your content in ways you never expected or intended? Who else could use media-training information in You’re on The Air? An association of civil engineers thought its members could enhance their practices if they could get on the air as local industry experts. I convinced other associations to do the same.
• How could the delivery of your content change if it were tailored for every customer? The fact that I was the author of a large product line positioned me as an expert in the field, enabling me to perform one-on-one consulting services. In this case, my books served as an expensive brochure rather than as stand-alone products.

Knowing who buys, and why, will help you more effectively position your author brand in the minds of your customers and build your author platform. Be creative in your definitions of potential buyers. Finding new prospects for your books is the lifeline to more long-term book sales, revenue, and profits. Like electricity, it gives energy and power to the publisher, author, and title. It brings good books to life.

When writing Fiction - Chapter One

USE CAREFULLY CHOSEN DETAIL TO CREATE IMMEDIACY.

Your Chapter One must move along smartly, but in being economical you cannot become vague. Difficult, you say? It’s all in the context.

The genius of books as diverse as Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Robin Cook’s Coma lies in the authors’ generosity with good, authentic detail. Cervantes knew that a suit of armor kept in a junk locker for years wouldn’t merely be dusty, it would be corroded to hell—and that would be a problem to overcome. Likewise, Cook, himself a doctor, knew that a patient prepped for surgery would typically be given a calming drug before the main anesthetic—and that some patients, somehow, do not find peace even under the medication, especially if they have reason not to.

If you’re an expert on something, go ahead and show that you know what you’re talking about. One of the reasons my novel Damn Straight, a story involving a professional golfer, won a Lambda Award is that I know golf, and let my years of (painful) experience inform the book. I felt I’d done a good job when reviewer after reviewer wrote, “I absolutely hate golf, but I love how Sims writes about it in this novel. …”

Let’s say your Chapter One begins with your main character getting a root canal. You could show the dentist nattering on and on as dentists tend to do, and that would be realistic, but it could kill your chapter, as in this example:

Dr. Payne’s running commentary included the history of fillings, a story about the first time he ever pulled a tooth, and a funny anecdote about how his college roommate got really drunk every weekend.

Bored yet? Me too. Does that mean there’s too much detail? No. It means there’s too much extraneous detail.

How about this:

Dr. Payne paused in his running commentary on dental history and put down his drill. “Did you know,” he remarked, “that the value of all the gold molars in a city this size, at this afternoon’s spot price of gold, would be something on the order of half a million dollars?” He picked up his drill again. “Open.”

If the detail serves the story, you can hardly have too much.

From:
Elizabeth Sims

8 Ways to Write a 5-Star Chapter One