CONTINUING SERIES - 18 Stories! 15 Authors! Talk About A Project! The Corner Cafe: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories is riding high in sales, after a spectacular performance at its first freebie weekend on June 9 and June 10, 2012. The book is ready, but the work's not over. Dani Greer, owner of The Blood-Red Pencil, along with Morgan Mandel, Helen Ginger, Maryann Miller, Shonell Bacon, and Audrey Lintner, all contributors to the collection and members of The Blood-Red Pencil, are sharing our ongoing experiences with you about the project in this series. Perhaps, what we've discovered will aid you in your own endeavors.  Helen Ginger Today is Helen Ginger's turn to share. She's a busy gal, being one of the collection's editors, plus a two-story contributor to  The Corner Cafe . Helen's "One Last Run" depicts a skiing couple on a black diamond run in a blizzard. Her "Gila Monster" reveals an unexpected possibility concerning a b...

The Corner Cafe: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories is free to download this weekend. The Blood-Red Pencil bloggers who have stories in this e-book would love it if you downloaded the book, and shared your comments at the review page on Amazon. Help us reach #1 at Amazon! Here's the link: http://www.amzn.to/Cornercafe Thank you~

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program with a brief message: Dani Greer has been consumed by technology this week as she monitors popularity and sales of her first e-book through the Amazon KDP Select publishing program. We've talked about The Corner Cafe: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories here . It's a group project by the BBT Cafe authors. You can read more about it at her Blog Book Tours blog . This month, if she's hearing any voices, they are speaking in numerals. What fascinates her most are the online reports she sees at Amazon showing the progress of not only book sales, but also how the online promotion is impacting the book's Amazon ranking. These statistics show up right on the product page , as does the ranking in various Top 100 lists. On day #3 of the Corner Cafe blog book tour, the ranking went from #100,654 to #19,118. Quite an improvement with some online promotion to create noise! Who says blog book tours and sharing on social networks doe...

I'm excited to be part of a fun enterprise, called The Corner Café: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories , edited by Dani Greer and Helen Ginger, with special assistance by Bob Sanchez, and cover design by Sherry Wachter. Featured are stories by the following authors: Marian Allen, Shonell Bacon, Karen Casey Fitzjerrell, W.S. Gager, Helen Ginger, Dani Greer, S..B. Lerner, Audrey Lintner, Morgan Mandel, Maryann Miller, Bodie Parkhurst, Bob Sanchez, Mary Montague Sikes, Red Tash, and Christine Verstraete.  Dani Greer Dani Greer, fearless leader of the BBTCafé e-group and The Blood-Red Pencil blog, is the instigator. She's the inventive one, who always comes up with great suggestions to expand our blogging and marketing horizons. This time she asked for volunteers from her BBTCafé e-group to compose short stories for a free collection to offer our readers. Not just any stories. Each must contain the words "Corner Café"...

It's time for another What's Your Answer feature. I pose questions, you offer answers in the comment section. If you answer one, feel free to expand. If you answer more, please shorten your answers. You're welcome to include one URL or blog link when replying. Here we go: Since I am a contributor to the soon to be released anthology, The Corner Cafe , along with some of the others here at The Blood Red Pencil, I'm offering a few related questions. Do you like to read or write short stories? Sometimes. Short stories are a great diversion while waiting at a doctor's office or other place where I know I can't finish a full  length book, yet prefer to read something other than magazines. What about novellas, which are longer than short stories, but shorter than full length novels? I've been gravitating more and more toward novellas, which are typically in the range of 20,000 words. They're not as short as short stories, and have a little mor...

It's What's Your Answer Time Again. I ask three questions. You answer one or more in the comment section. The more answers you give, the shorter your answers should be. You're encouraged to include one website or blog URL in your comment, but no more. If you don't have one, that's okay, too. Today's Questions And My Answers: Question: Since some of our blog members are contributing short stories for a soon-to-be released anthology called the Corner Cafe, I wonder if any of you have a favorite eating place which you frequent on a regular basis, kind of like the characters on Seinfeld do? Identifying that place is optional, just describe it. Answer: Yes, my husband and I have two favorites. One is a family restaurant, the Dunton House, open daily. No matter how many other places we try, we always seem to make our way back there.The owners are friendly, the atmosphere is pleasant, and we're never disappointed by the menu. Another is a ...