Google's Gmail team, along with Yahoo and Microsoft (Outlook and Hotmail), has begun the process of cracking down on junk mail of all kinds - not just spam, phishing, and virus-ridden pests, but also mail that is chronically ignored by recipients. As from this month (February 2024) the extended date of April 2024, there will be a number of requirements that need to be met before any bulk mail you send out will even be delivered.  Google announced  this change to email delivery conditions late last year, but, before we all panic, let's go through what you need to know if you’re planning on sending messages to your mailing list this year. Firstly, though you may see some sources reassuring you that this applies only to marketers sending more than 5000 messages per day per domain, you still need to take this seriously even if your mailing list is smaller than that. The 5000 emails criteria is only what Google has stated so far; the other major players (Yahoo and Mic...

Ask any author how they come up with their ideas, and the reflexive response is likely to be, “It just comes to me.” That’s not helpful, however, if you’re having to ask yourself that question because your idea-well has temporarily run dry. It can easily happen at the start of a new year when you’ve made the decision to begin something new, or write a sequel to last year’s novel, or you just want to enter a writing competition. Often our brains are terrible teases, serving up numerous ideas that are completely “wrong” in the moment – wrong genre, wrong book series, wrong historical period, wrong age group... Discovering how your mind works, how the spark of a story begins to flicker into existence for you, will allow you to light the flames of your creativity whenever you like, and fan them in the direction you need them to go. Browse through the 24 sources of inspiration listed below and see which of these resonate with you, and whether there are a few unexpected options you’d like ...

  Many of our team members have been dealing with personal issues and challenges this year, so we are taking a break until 2024. See you in the new year! Painting "Decadente" by Ramon Casas, 1899

Have you ever found writing difficult in times of worldwide chaos? I doubt any of us is old enough to have been putting serious pencil to paper during World War II. I am among BRP's eldest contributors, and my first attempts at childish poetry came at the very end of that war (or perhaps shortly after it was over). On the heels of WW2 came the Korean Police Action followed by the civil war in Viet Nam that eventually involved military personnel from other countries. And along came Iraq and Afghanistan wars. While none of the more recent military actions reached the magnitude of the Second World War, all have impacted people around the globe. Then Covid-19 rode into the world with 2020 and introduced a global pandemic that has infected more than 767 million people and snuffed out 6,935,889 million lives as of 6 a.m. on May 31, 2023, according to WHO. While this huge death toll pales compared to the deaths of an estimated 75 - 200 million people in Western Eurasia and North Africa du...

Four publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley, and Penguin Random House) sued the Internet Archive after it created a National Emergency Library that ran from March 24, 2020, to June 16, 2020, under its Controlled Digital Lending program (CDL) . This was a temporary book collection created from thousands of e-books and was intended to provide reading matter to people in lockdown when physical libraries had to close during the early stages of the pandemic. Although libraries have been allowed to create and lend out one electronic version (i.e., scanned) for every physical book it owns (in lieu of lending the physical copy, not in addition to), for the National Emergency Library the Internet Archive was lending out multiple copies of a digital book at once , and the four publishers sued over a number of their books included in the collection. The Internet Archive claimed they were operating under the fair use doctrine , but the publishers have sued for mass copyright infringement . O...

April has been a hard month for me. I've had knee problems, our heating unit failed, and our water heater needed to be replaced. But nothing could compare with the sadness that's consumed me in the aftermath of the passing of my beloved dog, Bogie, who’s been by my side for almost ten years, who slept with me, followed me from room to room, and loved me without reservation. I know I’m not alone in this situation. I’ve read the stories of friends on Facebook who have gone through the same thing, lamenting that they’ve lost their best friend, that there was and never will be another pet like theirs. I feel the same way. Our pets just don't live long enough. I asked myself if there was anything more I could have done or steps I could have taken to extend Bogie’s life. The answer is no, and even the vet said I had performed a miracle to give him the extra few months he lived. I bought special food for his renal failure, gave him daily injections of fluid and pills to ward off...

Good news for independent authors: the self-publishing platform IngramSpark has ceased to charge book setup fees. The change in policy came into effect on May 1st. This means that authors can now upload their new books free of charge, as long as they meet standard requirements. In addition, authors can also revise their books for free within the first 60 days of publication. IngramSpark has always been a popular choice for self-published authors due to its wide distribution network and print-on-demand services. For authors not resident in the US or the UK, it is often the only option for combined publishing and distribution. But the fees have been a hurdle for some authors looking to publish their work, with many authors waiting for the one or two times per year that IS offered coupon codes for free setup. The removal of the setup and revision fee is a welcome helping hand for indie authors looking to publish their work on a tight budget. According to IngramSpark's official announc...

Over the past several months, Linda Lane has been working really hard to get her first two novels ready for publication. Now she's excited to announce that they’re finally available on Amazon as both paperbacks and eBooks.  The first is titled The Accounting , and the second is Tormented Tango . Both books explore family dynamics in depth as members struggle with the unexpected. Visit Amazon and check them out, and  please leave Linda a review if you read them.  If you know anyone who might like to read these books, let them know! The Accounting What if the person who should love you the most hurts you the worst? A powerful story of families that you won’t soon forget. Woven through its pages, The Accounting shares within its carefully crafted plot and well-defined characters events that will forever change the lives of four Kohler households. Family dynamics expose their weaknesses and reveal their strengths as they adjust to the sudden death of their beloved husband a...

Brutal Season the fourth book in my Seasons Mystery Series made its digital debut on April 10, and long before the release I was working on marketing and promoting, hoping to give it a big boost when it launched. So much of a successful book launch depends on luck, popularity, and marketing skills, and not every writer - certainly not this one – excels in the marketing department. Still, I did my best to develop a plan for this book.   After finishing the writing, and my own self-editing of the manuscript, things were set in motion for getting some pre-pub ducks in a row - cover art design, editing, requesting blurbs from other authors and getting ARCs to them, and formatting. Then I made a calendar of when each task would be completed. This process started in mid-January, and I jumped ahead several months to choose a release date, giving the various professionals plenty of time to hatch their individual duck. Once there was a working cover image, the book was listed for pre-...