Dover Books has been reissuing facsimile editions of literary classics since 1941. During March, for Women's History Month, they feature the many feminist authors in their collection. You'll probably remember some of these titles from your college literature classes. Here are some of my favorites from their Dover Thrift Collection, most of them priced for $5 or less and also available in ebook format. Buy Link Buy Link Buy Link Buy Link Other titles you will find are: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman  by Mary Wollstonecraft Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Women's Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton The Vagabond by Collette Woman in the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Fuller A Burst of Light by Audre Lorde The Feminine Future: Early Science Fiction by Women Writers And plenty of Jane Austen - I confess I haven't been a fan, but intend to change that! There must be a reason she is so popular to modern readers. I str...

“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.” F. Scott Fitzgerald April can be a troublesome month. April showers (continual in my part of the world), taxes, spring cleaning, April, as T.S. Elliot observed “...can be the cruelest month.” But, raise your heads, my fellow readers and writers! In the spirit of I Will Wade Through the Puddles and Get New Boots if Necessary - here is a list of 10 authors initially rejected by publishers. 38 rejections - Gone with the Wind ( Margaret Mitchell )  After 5 rejections, this author put her manuscript away in a hat box. Two years later she resubmits - Anne of Green Gables ( Lucy Maud Montgomery ) “Stick to teaching” advice given by publisher rejecting her manuscript titled Little Women . Louisa May Allcott   140 rejection letters saying ‘Anthologies don’t sell’ - Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen authors of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series   “An irresponsible holiday story that will never sell” ...

Names are important. We spend a lot of time and energy naming our pets, our children, our books, even our properties. So when I first thought of creating a little press to publish my own books, I wanted a clever brand that would really communicate what my writing was about. I started using Hotbutton Press in emails and on a blog ten years ago. Now I'm ready to take that a step further with a website, business registration, tax forms, etc. Easy peasy, right? Wrong. I'm a little hot under the collar. Someone else beat me to it and there is another Hotbutton Press already. Dang. So now I have to come up with Plan B. What about Red Button Press? Red is my favorite color. A search brings up all kinds of Do Not Press the Red Button links. Too weird to consider. Sigh. How about Red Queen Press since I'm affectionately dubbed the queen around here? Already taken again . Red House Press? Gone too. I just want Hotbutton Press! Hubbo suggests it's just a darli...

News that self-publishing author James Oswald has gained a £150,000 ($240,000) advance this week from Penguin in a three-book deal will bring new hope to writers struggling to market their own novels. Oswald, a Scottish farmer, had self-published his crime mystery ebooks in a casual way for several years, but with limited success. The tragic death of his parents gave him a new determination to achieve stardom, as a tribute to their memory. He followed the now familiar route of offering his first novel Natural Causes on Amazon as a ‘loss leader’ without charge. Buyers were encouraged to pay £2.99 ($5) for the follow-up novel. He stumbled on the ‘funnel’ strategy now being used by many authors. Buyers went on an email list and were followed up. Repeat buyers were transferred to a ‘friends’ list. They got personalised attention, special offers, discounts, and lots of love. That’s how John Locke sold his first million ebooks and it worked for Oswald too. He had already sold or given ...

This month marks my fourth year participating as a contributing blogger for the BRP, and it's a ride that I've enjoyed immensely. I have connected with some wonderful editors, writers, and advocates of the writing craft here on BRP, and as I reflected on that and these last four years, I found myself pointed toward one topic for this post: the importance of community in a writer's life. Sure, we all know the saying, writing is a solitary act , but the success of that writing, the success of the writer is connected to the community the writer belongs to. And what community is this? Well, there are many communities, to include (My category titles are fairly loose; I apologize in advance for that.): The "familial" community, those in our family (and I would add close friends) who support our zany idea of becoming an author, who listen to our doubts and help to push them away, who put the pot of coffee on in the late-night hours, who clean the house and make d...

For years, the term POD (print on demand) has been controversial. Recently, it garners less animosity than in the past, but its mention can still heat up the conversation in a room full of authors. The reasons for this may be varied, but it seems that some still don’t believe that using POD truly makes one a published writer. Is that true? Let’s examine what POD really is and the role it can play in getting a book from writer to reader. POD technology came on the scene as a result of digital printing. Before that, it wasn’t financially feasible to print a short run, or just one, or a handful of books on an offset press. POD means that books are printed after they are ordered, not before. Garages and basements don’t overflow with unsold novels, and large publishing houses aren’t stuck with huge inventories. Self-publishing authors who, in the past, have been required to pay for large print runs no longer have to do that.  They don't have to save thousands of dollars—or max o...

I evaluate fiction manuscripts for a publisher, using a standard form crafted by the publishing house. The form contains a list questions, grouped by subject: opening, premise, plot, POV, character, dialogue, and setting. I’m sharing some of the questions here, so you can see specifically how a publisher might evaluate your manuscript. Opening: Does the first page grab the reader’s attention? Does the first chapter set up the basis for the rest of the story? Premise and Tone: Is the basic premise or theme interesting? Believable? Unique? Is the focus of the work revealed early in the novel? Is the basic premise of the novel well executed? Point of View: Is the point of view consistent throughout? Are shifts in point of view, if any, necessary and simple to follow? Is the point of view used appropriately to convey the thoughts or emotions of various characters? Structure, Plot, and Pace: Is there a planned series of carefully selected interrelated incidents? Are there ...