KN Magazine: Articles

2/5/16 2/5/16

Self-Publishing: The Perfect Title

I used to have a professor who would often ask, “So, what are you writing right now?”

The first few times he asked, I gave him a synopsis of whatever plot I’d been kicking around, major character traits, etc. Inevitably, my professor would stop me and say, “Yeah, but what’s your title?”

His lesson was simple: if you aren’t committed enough to a piece to sit down and think of a good, working title, then why should anyone else care about what you’re writing?

Granted, that’s a bit harsh, but his philosophy helped me to understand that titles are paramount to shaping readers’ perception of your work, and the creation of titles is not to be taken any more lightly than any other component of the writing process.

Often, though, finding the right title for your work seems impossible. Nothing fits; nothing inspires. In this month’s column, author and self-publishing wiz Tom Wood offers insight into how to find the perfect title for your work.

Finding the Perfect Title
By Tom Wood

"Vendetta Stone: The Force Awakens."

“Whaddya think?” the marketing genius said. “It’s got a nice ring, huh?”

A thoughtful pause.

“You’ve had some wild ideas that worked before, but I don’t know about this one,” the treasurer/vice-president retorted. “What do you think, boss?”

An instant response from the chief executive of Me, Myself and I Self-Publishing, LLC: “Next! One more like that and you guys are fired!”

Sigh.

As great as it would be to capitalize on the success of the latest movie in the Star Wars franchise, it probably wouldn’t be the best title for the sequel to my self-published debut novel. So, I’ll pass on this one. Go in a different direction. Try something else, perhaps a little more in tune with what the book is actually about.

A silly conversation, at best, but it illustrates the decisions you have to make about perhaps the most important aspect of your self-published novel: The Perfect Title.

Look at it this way: You’ve spent countless hours writing and rewriting your novel, then run it past an editor, your critique group, your beta readers—or maybe just the relatives—and you’re going to spend just a few minutes, perhaps several hours (or maybe even a couple of days) coming up with the first words a potential reader sees about your book? Traditional publishing houses hold scheduled meetings to consider different titles for books.

There are a number of facets to consider in boiling the guts of your book down to one catchy turn of a phrase when trying to connect with potential readers.

But you have to think of it as a smart business decision, one that intrigues/hooks a reader before they’ve read the back cover or the first paragraph of the first chapter. The title may or may not tie in to the cover art, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Inspiration for The Perfect Title can come from anywhere.

It might be a line from your book. Or it could come from “The Good Book.” Some of the great book titles inspired by phrases from the Bible include Chariots of Fire, East of Eden, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Sun Also Rises, and Vengeance Is Mine.

Titles inspired by our literary predecessors are also not uncommon. Lines from some of William Shakespeare’s greatest works have wound up in book titles, including Something Wicked This Way Comes, Brave New World, and The Fault in our Stars.

Inspiration might be found in a sense of whimsy, a twist of a popular phrase, some other form of media, or an off-hand comment from a family member or friend. It might take weeks, months, and perhaps even years, to decide on the right title for your book. Then after you’ve settled on one, something else comes to mind and you go in an entirely new direction.

And sometimes we’re just in the right place at the right time for that spark of imagination that will lead to a great title.

For me, inspiration was a combination of all these. And it came from one of the last things I wrote.

Vendetta Stone tells the story of Nashville advertising executive Jackson Stone and his quest to find his wife’s killer.

After months of kicking around ideas, and not being happy with any of them, at my wife’s suggestion I decided to spend an afternoon downstairs boiling the book down to its basics to come up with ideas for the title. I had the television on, but wasn’t really watching.

Ten minutes into what I expected to be a day-long process, I decided to focus on these angles:

Jackson Stone. I wanted the main character’s name somewhere, somehow in the title. Stone provided more opportunities and gave it a little more grit. Stone’s _____ or _____ Stone. OK. That’s settled.
Play up the revenge element. I started thinking about synonyms for revenge and pairing them with Stone. Avenge, vengeance, retaliation, payback and retribution all came to mind. I said combinations out loud, seeing if that had that certain ring to them. Stone’s Vengeance? Nah. Payback for Stone? Nope.

At almost the exact moment I said “Vendetta Stone,” a commercial for Rosetta Stone, the language-learning software, came on the television …

Ding, ding, ding.

Excited, I quickly Googled for Rosetta Stone and found this definition at dictionary.com: “A clue, breakthrough or discovery that provides crucial knowledge for the solving of a puzzle or problem.”

Light bulbs exploded in my brain.

I knew I had found The Perfect Title.

But these moments of inspiration aren’t always so easy to come by. More often than not, finding The Perfect Title requires long hours and several bad ideas before you land on a good one. Test out different methods and figure out what works best for you. There’s no wrong way to go about finding your own perfect title.

A veteran sports writer and copy editor, Tom Wood has covered a variety of events ranging from the Iroquois Memorial Steeplechase to the Atlanta Olympic Games for The Tennessean in Nashville. After retirement, he continues his passion for writing, contributing to the Civil War-based anthology, Filtered Through Time and conducting an interview with Stephen King for Feast of Fear: Conversations with Stephen King. In the last year, Tom has begun writing Western fiction short stories, two of which have been published by Western Trail Blazer. “Tennesseans West” is his next project with four other authors involved. He is also an actor and can be seen in several episodes of the ABC series “Nashville”. He also coordinates the Killer Nashville guest blog series. Vendetta Stone is his first novel and he is working on the sequel.

Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.

2/5/16 2/5/16

From the Classroom: Writing a Thrilling Short Story

In the past few decades, we’ve seen a surge in popularity of the short story format. This rising popularity can be attributed to many factors—our increasingly fast-paced lifestyles, the form’s place as a staple in college curricula, increased accessibility to short works by emerging/established authors through blogs, Amazon’s “Kindle Singles,” and a near-limitless amount of other online sources—but what are the advantages and challenges of the short story format? How can the traditional novelist try his/her hand at short story writing and find success?

In this installment of “From the Classroom,” author and teacher, Kimberly Dana, demystifies the short story so you, too, can learn to write a compelling short fiction piece.

How to Write a Thrilling Short Story
By Kimberly Dana

The Benefits of Short Story Writing

Just about everyone I know wants to be a novelist. But let’s be honest. Writing a book is a long and tedious process that can take years to finish. To that end, almost every wannabe novelist I know never even comes close to finishing that elusive manuscript. Even writing that first chapter can be a daunting task!

But writing a short story is an attainable endeavor with many benefits to the aspiring writer. At 1,000 – 4,000 words, there is power in the short story. It’s lean and mean, and can be read in one sitting. The short story allows the writer the opportunity to explore the uncharted territory of a plot, character, and/or setting and make it pop. In addition, one can experiment with other genres, develop their style, and use their short story to expand their platform as a marketing tool.

But most importantly, crafting a short story teaches the writer a vital skill: word economy. To paraphrase my idol Stephen King, writing is “refined thinking.” Nothing could be truer than when writing a short story, where the prose must be clean, compact, and concise. If you are prone to a producing a bloated manuscript, trim the fat and turn it into a short story. It’s quicker to write and if you’re lucky, quicker to sell.

SWBS — Somebody Wanted But So…

Okay, so the benefits of writing a short story are clear, but the question still plagues most spinners of words: how do I write a compelling story in a condensed timeframe, i.e. one sitting? One word—conflict! Conflict creates the need for story in the first place. It is what adds tension and moves the story forward. Without conflict, there is no story!

You need proof? Think back in school when you first learned about story structure through Freytag’s Triangle. Do you recall what’s on top? Climax! It is the decision-making, sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat moment of the conflict-ridden protagonist that determines the story’s outcome.

When I teach my middle school students about conflict, we use the following SWBS Statement:

Somebody ___________________________ Wanted ___________________________ But_______________________ So __________________________________.

(It is the “but” that is the heart of the conflict in the story).

Let’s look at a few examples of conflict in three classic short stories: “The Necklace,” “The Monkey’s Paw,” and “The Lottery,” paying particular attention to the “but” element. Note: MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS!

“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant

SomebodyMadame Loiselwantedto appear rich at a partyBUTlost the fake necklace she borrowedsoshe spent years paying it off.

“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs

SomebodyThe White familywantedto wish for money on a cursed monkey’s pawBUTtheir son Herbert got killedsothey unwisely wished him back to life.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

Somebody The Hutchinsonswantedto uphold the town’s traditionsBUTTessie won the lotterysoshe’s stoned to death.

The Thrilling Threesome

Okay, conflict rules. But how do I actually get started?

It’s literally as easy as 1-2-3. Think of a thrilling threesome story prompt consisting of 1) character, 2) setting, and 3) a compelling conflict.

Here are ten short story prompts just begging to be penned into a story:

Ten Thrilling Threesome Short Story Prompts

A C.E.O. (character) gives a keynote address at a convention (setting) when overtaken by a panic attack (conflict).
A passenger (character) discovers an unattended carryon (conflict) when flying over the ocean (setting).
A book club hostess (character) receives a threatening anonymous note (conflict) at her own home (setting).
A disgruntled claustrophobe (character) finds himself locked in an elevator (conflict) at work overnight (setting).
A weary taxi driver (character) picks up a sinister stranger contemplating suicide (conflict) who wants to drive around town first (setting).
A couple (character) celebrates their anniversary at a cozy restaurant (setting) when a mysterious bouquet of flowers is brought to the table (conflict).
A daughter (character) cleans out her parents’ attic (setting) and discovers an urn of ashes (conflict).
A valedictorian (character) gets arrested for shoplifting (conflict) right before graduation (setting).
An unappreciated secretary (character) calls in sick and goes shopping (setting) where she runs into her boss’s wife with another man (conflict).
A first-day-on-the-job nanny (character) takes the children to the park (setting) where she loses the master key only to have a burglar find it (conflict).

Need Suspense? Implement G.E.M.

Okay, now that you have a thrilling story starter, throw in a little suspense, which of course is the secret sauce to story telling. It’s easy with G.E.M.—an acronym I created to frontload my students when teaching the craft of suspense writing. G.E.M. stands for Gothicism, Expansion of Time, and Magic of Three.

GOTHICISM: All suspense stories can benefit from an element of the gothic genre, such as the supernatural; an eerie, mysterious setting; emotion over passion; or distinctive characters who are lonely, isolated, and/or oppressed. Throw in a tyrannical villain, a vendetta, or an illicit love affair - you've got Goth gold! Why Gothicism? It explores the tragic themes of life and the darker side of human nature. What’s more, readers are innately attracted to it. No one wants to read about someone’s perfectly wonderful life. It’s boring. Remember—conflict rules!

EXPANDING TIME: Next, I introduce the art of expanding time using foreshadowing, flashback, and implementing "well, um...maybe…let me see” dialogue." Expanding time allows the writer to twist, turn, and tangle up the plot. “Tease your audience,” I tell my students. “Pile on the problems and trap your protagonist with a ticking clock. Every second counts with suspense!” There is an old writing adage that says to write slow scenes fast and fast scenes slow. By delaying the big reveal, we build tension and punch up the plot, but with one caveat. Expanding time demands a fine-tuned craftiness when writing a short story because, of course, your time is limited. Remember, every word counts!

MAGIC OF THREE: Finally, the Magic of Three comes into play. The Magic of Three is a writer's trick where a series of three hints lead to a major discovery. During the first hint, the protagonist detects something is amiss. The second hint sparks a more intense reaction but nothing is discovered—not yet. And then—BANG! The third hint leads to a discovery or revelation. During the big reveal, I teach my students to use and manipulate red flags and phrases, such as Suddenly, Without warning, In a blink of an eye, Instantly, A moment later, Like a shot, To my shock, and To my horror.

Adding suspense to your short story tantalizes your readers and breeds amazing results. It’s what makes a perfectly adequate story “un-put-downable.” So go ahead, and write a short story that explodes with tension! 1) Start with a thrilling threesome. 2) Punch up the plot with conflict. 3) And, sprinkle it with suspense. Not only will you hone your craft and have your readers begging for more, it could morph into something bigger—like that elusive novel that no longer seems so impossibly unattainable.

Write on!

Kimberly Dana is a multi-award-winning young adult and children's author. She is the recipient of several writing honors from Writers Digest, Reader Views, the Pacific Northwest Writes Association, and various international book festivals. Kimberly’s most recent book is her YA killer-thriller, Cheerage Fearage, an award-winning Writers Digest Young Adult novel, Readers Favorite Young Adult Bronze Winner, and Honorable Mention in the 2012 New York Festival of Books. Kimberly invites readers to visit her at kimberlydana.com.

*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.

2/5/16 2/5/16

Dying for Dinner: Caroline's Eggplant Parmesan and Florentine Roast Pork

Dying for Dinner

Looking to serve your beloved a delicious meal this Valentine's Day? Look no further—Killer Nashville is here with tried and trued recipes that'll leave your mouth watering.

Because what's more romantic and intriguing than a recipe procured from a mystery/suspense magazine?

Caroline’s Eggplant Parmesan

By Caroline Davidson

As a new year rings in, the cold weather lingers, and Valentine’s day is right around the corner, there is something romantic about this time of year. It’s a time to reflect on what we want to accomplish over the next 12 months and time to maybe start a new hobby, or spend more time on one we already have! For me, cooking is my hobby and I always wish I could spend more time in my kitchen experimenting and trying new dishes. Maybe if you fear the kitchen and find it stressful, this year you can step outside of your comfort zone and impress your significant other with a warm, romantic dish on a chilly evening. I am sharing with you one of my personal favorite recipes, one that has taken me years to perfect after reading through recipe after recipe from both celebrity chefs and home-cooks. Pour a glass of red wine and dive into this comforting (& vegetarian) romantic dish…

Disclaimer: I’m a cook who doesn’t really measure anything…a dash of this, a spoonful of that…eyeball it and trust your tastebuds!

Serving Size: 4
Cooking Time: 1 hr and 30 min

Ingredients:
2 Eggplants

Salt & Pepper

Italian Seasoning

2 to 3 cups Panko Breadcrumbs

2 large eggs

3/4 to 1 cup Flour

3-4 cups Marinara sauce (homemade or store bought)

1 large ball of fresh Mozzarella cheese (cut into 1 inch slices…or you can use shredded if that’s more convenient!)

12 fresh leaves of Basil

Angel hair pasta

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Vegetable Oil

Instructions:

Slice the eggplant in 1 inch slices. You’d like to have 6 slices from each eggplant…creating stacks of 3 eggplant slices for 4 servings.
The key to a delicious eggplant parmesan is taking the bitter flavor that can sometimes be tasted when roasting eggplant. I have your answer! After slicing your eggplant, line them up on a baking sheet and sprinkle both sides of each slice with salt and let sit for 20-25 minutes. Why? This actuallypulls out juices that carry bitter flavors and it collapses the air pockets in the eggplant's sponge-like flesh, preveniting it from absorbing too much oil and getting greasy.
While your eggplant is soaking it’s “salt bath” prepare your marinara sauce…this can be homemade or from your favorite store brand. Although, I will admit homemade marinara is SO easy that once you learn to make a big batch of it at home you’ll never go back to buying it at the store! You can also freeze whatever you don’t use in ice cube trays and save in the freezer for months….pull out a few cubes when you want to whip up an easy spaghetti dish or a homemade pizza!
Preheat over to 425 degrees
Now you can set up your frying station. Here is how I organize my ingredients:
1. On 1 large plate—spread about 3/4 a cup of white flour
2. In 1 medium size bowl—crack the 2 eggs and add a tablespoon of water…add salt and pepper and beat until yolks are broken down
3. On 1 large plate—spread at least 1-2 cups of panko breadcrumbs and sprinkle a generous amount of italian seasoning into the panic.
Once the eggplant are finished soaking, rinse them off and pat dry
Heat about a 1/2 cup of vegetable oil in your frying pan until simmering. Note: you can drop a piece of panko into the pan—if it starts frying, you are good to go!
For each eggplant slice, follow these steps:
1. Pat both sides of eggplant slice in the flour
2. Dredge the eggplant slice in the egg wash
3. Dip both sides of the eggplant slice in the Panko Breadcrumb mixture (after about 4-5 slices, you may need to add some more panko to the plate so that the additional slices are coated well also)
4. Place in frying pan and fry at least 3-4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown
5. Place all slices on a paper towel after they are fried and golden brown!
After all your eggplant slices have been fried, you are ready to assemble & pop in the oven!
In a casserole dish, cover the bottom with a layer of your marinara sauce
For each eggplant stack, follow these steps:
1. place 1 eggplant slice on top of the marinara layer in the casserole dish
2. top with a slice of mozzarella, 1 basil leaf, and a spoonful of marinara sauce
3. place the second eggplant slice on top
4. top with a slice of mozzarella, 1 basil leaf, and a spoonful of marinara sauce
5. place the third, and last, eggplant slice on top
6. top with a slice of mozzarella (no basil leaf here, it will turn brown and ugly in the oven…you will add it at the end for presentation!)
After you have your 4 stacks completed and in the casserole dish, pop in the oven for 25-30 minutes
When your eggplant has about 10 minutes left, cook your angel hair pasta. Be SURE to toss the cooked angel hair with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil…the pop of flavor here is incredible!
Pull your eggplant out of the oven and top each eggplant stack with one large basil leaf
To assemble:
1. On a large plate or in a large pasta bowl…add a layer of angel hair pasta
2. Add a spoonful of marinara sauce on top of the pasta
3. Top with 1 eggplant stack & add a few crack of fresh black pepper and a pinch of salt
4. ENJOY!

Arista alla fiorentina/Florentine Roast Pork

By Alana White

MAKES 6 to 8 SERVINGS
PREP: 10 MIN.; BAKE: 1HR., 15 MIN.
STAND: 15 MIN.
PREHEAT OVEN TO 475 DEGREES THEN REDUCE TO 350 DEGREES

1 (4-lb.) boneless pork roast
4 sprinkles fresh rosemary
4 cloves peeled garlic, thinly sliced
5 whole cloves (the spice)
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
Meat thermometer
Aluminum foiled-lined broiler pan, 4-qt. or 9"x13"

1. With a small knife cut slits in the pork roast. Insert the thinly sliced peeled garlic and the cloves.
2. Rub pork loin with the olive or canola oil
3. Insert meat thermometer in thickest portion of the roast
4. Bake at 475 for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350, and bake 50 to 55 more minutes or until the meat thermometer registers 160. Turn off oven.
5. Sprinkle rosemary over the roast and return to oven. Let stand in the warm oven for 15 minutes or until thermometer reaches 170.
6. Remove from oven, slice and enjoy!

JKS02small

Caroline Davidson graduated with honors from Belmont University with her Bachelors degree in Entrepreneurship. She worked for a start-up company a few months after college and learned the inside world of the distribution business. After this business dissolved, she joined Turner Publishing in Nashville as the marketing director. She organized marketing campaigns for 30-35 books a year and worked directly with Ingram distributors. Caroline joined JKS Communications as a publicist in the fall of 2015.

alana Alana White's debut historical mystery novel, THE SIGN OF THE WEEPING VIRGIN, is set at the height of the Italian Renaissance. The book features powerful (real-life) Florentine lawyer and diplomat Guid'Antonio Vespucci and his nephew and secretary, Amerigo Vespucci, as they investigate a plot involving a painting of the Virgin Mary that has begun weeping in the Vespucci family church, a missing girl, and Pope Sixtus IV's scheme to overthrow the Florentine Republic.

SignOfTheWeepingVirginLGfront-330 Alana's first short fiction featuring the Vespuccis was a Mystery Readers International Macavity Award finalist. Her book reviews appear regularly in the Historical Novel Society "Historical Novels Review." Her lifelong fascination with Renaissance Italy has taken her to Florence for research on the Vespucci and Medici families on many occasions, and she is currently writing her second Guid'Antonio Vespucci mystery.

In addition to fiction set in 15th-century Florence, Alana is the author of a biography of Sacagawea, SACAGAWEA: WESTWARD WITH LEWIS AND CLARK, and of COME NEXT SPRING, a novel set in 1940s Appalachia. She is a member of the Author's Guild, the Historical Novel Society, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and the Women's National Book Association.

These recipes are so good they should be a crime. If you concoct either of these great recipes, let us know what you think and send us a picture. We may include it here with a link to your website.

What are you cooking? Submit your favorite recipes. They can be based on your favorite literary character, your Aunt Clara’s, or some amalgamation of ingredients you’ve discovered that makes life worth living (nothing with arsenic seasoning, please). Make sure to include your contact information and explanation of the origin of the recipe. Send your submissions (to which you avow in a court of law that you have all rights to and are granting the nonexclusive rights to Killer Nashville to use in any form and at any time) with subject line “Dying For Dinner” to contact@KillerNashville.com.

Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.

2/5/16 2/5/16

In The Public Eye: The #1 Novice Mistake in Self-Publishing

Self-publishing is becoming an increasingly popular option for many authors. And, in recent years, the industry has seen a flood of self-publishing companies hit the market—CreateSpace and Lightning Source chief among them.

In her latest article, PR expert Julie Schoerke discusses the pros and cons of self-publishing, and how companies like CreateSpace or Lightning Source simultaneously help and hurt writers, readers, and bookstores alike.

The #1 Novice Mistake in Self-Publishing
By Julie Schoerke

You may be, no you are, brilliant with what you’ve chosen to do with your life up to this point. However, nothing prepares you for book publishing and the myriad of ways that you can get screwed.

Because there are so many books being published today—some estimates based on ISBN purchases, put the number at more than 3 million in the United States alone each year. And 2.2 million of those are self or “indie” published books.

There is a whole industry that has emerged to “help” authors publish their books for the first time. But, a number of these are predatory or are not the right fit, and it’s tough for an author to know that unless they’ve been down the publishing path before.

Here’s what you need to do if you’re going to self-publish, while going for the “traditionally published” look of your book:

Hire a professional book editor. Not a journalist, not a former teacher, a book editor. At JKS, we require the book to be edited by a book editor that has either worked for a major publishing house (a lot of them freelance now) or has edited a book that has won a major national award. They know how a book is supposed to be packaged so that the reader has an enjoyable experience. This is developmental editing with copy editing coming at the very end.
Hire an amazing book cover designer. While there are lots of über-talented and creative graphic artists, a book cover is very specific and if you don’t do it correctly, it will look shoddy. Unless you’re coming from a publishing background, you really need to have a pro to create and evaluate the cover. A book is, sadly, judged on its covers oftentimes.
Find a book designer who has laid out interior books for a publishing house in the past. There are all kinds of amateurish mistakes that can be made here that will make your book look unprofessional. Trust me. I shudder when I see these, as I know that, no matter how good the writing is, it’s just not going to get the respect it deserves if it isn’t done well and to industry standards.
Hire a book publicity firm that you feel like you click with, understands what your goals are, and is enthusiastic about your particular book. There are various ways to find out if a book publicity firm is legitimate. Talk to friends. Research them online. Research the mid-list books that they represented 6 to 18 months ago to see if you can find plenty of things online about the book. Talk to the publicity firm and see if the personality fit is comfortable for you. Find out how they are held accountable for what they say they will do for you (there are no guarantees of specific media in book publicity, but reporting and transparency are paramount).

There are many questions about self/indie publishing through CreateSpace (Amazon) vs. Lightning Source or Spark (Ingram). If you are publishing through CreateSpace, and have that name inside of your book, then know that it will be looked upon favorably by Amazon when “optimizing” it’s viewability on the book buying site, but will be a total buzzkill for bookstores who want nothing to do with Amazon and consider the company to be ruthlessly setting out to ruin their business. CreateSpace indicates in it’s promotional materials that your book is available for order by any bookstore—just understand that no bookstore will order your book whether it’s available or not since it’s been produced by their toughest competitor.

If you publishing through an Ingram subsidiary, that is very friendly for bookstores and makes it easy for them to order your book—it’s always “in stock” because Ingram can produce a beautiful print-on-demand copy (they’ve come a long way, baby!) within an hour of the request and it will be mailed the same day. What’s more, if you publish through an Ingram subsidiary, the largest distributor of books in the U.S. is producing your book across all distribution chains. The best feature is that a bookstore can order your book and see it in the Ingram catalog without having to set up a new payment system to get your book. Indie bookstores would like to be able to keep track of all orders in one place and Ingram or Baker & Taylor are the top choices. Your book won’t be highly “optimized” on Amazon, but it’s not penalized either.

Many of our indie authors publish on CreateSpace for Amazon and Ingram Spark for bookstores—it takes two ISBNs, but is well worth it. Anyone who is going to publish a book, an ebook, or audio book, and will potentially write more books in the future, should buy a set of 10 ISBNs (cheaper in a bundle) from Bowker (www.bowker.com), rather than through CreateSpace (again, you will be tagged as an affiliate of Amazon if you use one of their ISBNs, which bookstores can see in their computer systems).

While both CreateSpace and Ingram subsidiaries have their benefits, you’re most likely to experience positive results if you eschew the Amazon self-publishing option. Whichever route you take, one thing remains constant: you will need professional help in order to turn your manuscript into a well-polished, marketable reality—or else risk undermining the book you worked so hard to create.

Happy writing in 2016!

Julie Schoerke founded JKS Communications, a Literary Publicity Firm, 15 years ago, and the firm has gone on to represent more than 600 authors, as well as publishers and literary organizations. Personalizing creative campaigns for each author, having an accountability system in place throughout the authors' campaigns and including former journalists on the publicity team are hallmarks of her vision for the firm. Julie speaks at writers’ conferences, universities, and book festivals across the United States. She also writes book- marketing and book-promotion columns for trade publications and is a featured guest frequently on radio. JKS Communications is headquartered in Nashville, TN with operations in New Orleans and New York as well. For more information please visit www.jkscommunications.com

2/5/16 2/5/16

In The Public Eye: The #1 Novice Mistake in Self-Publishing

The #1 Novice Mistake in Self-Publishing
By Julie Schoerke

You may be, no you are, brilliant with what you’ve chosen to do with your life up to this point. However, nothing prepares you for book publishing and the myriad of ways that you can get screwed.

Here’s what you need to do if you’re going to self-publish, while going for the “traditionally published” look of your book:

Hire a professional book editor. Not a journalist, not a former teacher, a book editor. At JKS, we require the book to be edited by a book editor that has either worked for a major publishing house (a lot of them freelance now) or has edited a book that has won a major national award. They know how a book is supposed to be packaged so that the reader has an enjoyable experience. This is developmental editing with copy editing coming at the very end.
Hire an amazing book cover designer. While there are lots of über-talented and creative graphic artists, a book cover is very specific and if you don’t do it correctly, it will look shoddy. Unless you’re coming from a publishing background, you really need to have a pro to create and evaluate the cover. A book is, sadly, judged on its covers oftentimes.
Find a book designer who has laid out interior books for a publishing house in the past. There are all kinds of amateurish mistakes that can be made here that will make your book look unprofessional. Trust me. I shudder when I see these, as I know that, no matter how good the writing is, it’s just not going to get the respect it deserves if it isn’t done well and to industry standards.
Hire a book publicity firm that you feel like you click with, understands what your goals are, and is enthusiastic about your particular book. There are various ways to find out if a book publicity firm is legitimate. Talk to friends. Research them online. Research the mid-list books that they represented 6 to 18 months ago to see if you can find plenty of things online about the book. Talk to the publicity firm and see if the personality fit is comfortable for you. Find out how they are held accountable for what they say they will do for you (there are no guarantees of specific media in book publicity, but reporting and transparency are paramount).

Happy writing in 2016!

1/8/16 1/8/16

Killer Cocktails: The Conundrum

This month’s exclusive Killer Nashville Killer Cocktail: The Conundrum

The great mystery writer Agatha Christie lived a bit of a conundrum. It turns out she was not a fan of her own character, Hercule Poirot. In fact, Christie hated Poirot so much—she said he was prim and fussy—that she wrote his death story, which was published before her own death in 1975. Much to her chagrin, Poroit’s death made the front page of the New York Times.

Mark “Spaz” Morris thought the story about Christie’s loathing of Poirot so compelling, he developed the perfect cocktail to ease any conundrum. We like to think Christie would approve.

The Conundrum

A Killer Nashville Signature Cocktail

Ingredients:

2-ounces Marquis de Montesquiou Armagnac VSOP

1-ounce Merlet Crème de Fraise

Orange slices

Sphere of ice

Directions:

This cocktail works best with a large ice cube or sphere. Molds for larger than normal cubes can be purchased at your local liquor store or wherever you might find kitchen gadgets.
To prepare The Killer Nashville Conundrum, place one sphere of ice into a shaker. Pour the Armagnac and add the crème de Fraise.
Do not shake, but swirl the shaker. With tongs, put another sphere in a martini glass, add a slice of orange, and pour the shaker contents.

Cheers!

Send us pictures and comments of you and the Killer Nashville’s Conundrum. We’ll share them here along with a link back to you.

About Spaz:

Spaz started in the restaurant/bar business back in 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he was a student at Louisiana State University. Instead of becoming a chemical engineer, he became a social legend instead, he says jokingly. He later transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1989. He has worked in biker bars to 4-fork-setting restaurants. An avid traveler, he has lived in 13 states and visited 40, so far. He enjoys reading sci-fi and sci-fantasy books. He currently holds court at Red Dog Wine and Spirits in Franklin, Tennessee. Check out the store: www.reddogwineandspirits.com.

1/8/16 1/8/16

The Writer's Life: Supporting Characters: Allies

Monk has Sharona Flemming. Hercule Poirot partnered with Capt. Arthur Hasting. Sherlock Holmes needs Dr. Watson. These well-known detectives were nothing without their sidekicks. They helped the detectives to be better at everything from detecting to being human. Author Beth Terrell takes on the importance of allies in this month’s writing how-to column.

Supporting Cast: Allies
By Jaden (Beth) Terrell

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about your main character, and we’ve touched on the victim and the villain. Now let’s look at your protagonist’s allies.

No matter how much of a loner your character is, or how reluctantly he plays with others, a crime investigation doesn’t take place in a vacuum. Whether he’s a professional investigator or an amateur sleuth, sooner or later, he’ll need to get information he has no way of learning for himself from someone else. Maybe he needs to identify a fingerprint or trace a license plate? Where can he get that information?

Then, there’s his personal life—perhaps he has a love interest, sidekick, or confidante. Or maybe she has a family that will play a role in one or more subplots.

There are several things to take into account when creating allies for your main character. First, ask yourself what needs to be accomplished that your character can’t do. If she’s a sharpshooting martial artist who relies primarily on brawn and charm to get what she wants, and the villain is stalking his victims in cyberspace, then, one of her allies will need to be someone who can help her navigate the digital universe.

Allies can fill the gaps in your character’s skill set and knowledge. Look at the clues that need to be found and interpreted; then think of who might best be able to provide that information. Does your PI need a source at the police department? At the DMV? Does she need access to a computer hacker? An informant in a street gang?

An ally should also be someone whose skills and personality traits complement the protagonist’s. Is your character serious to a fault? Maybe one of his friends or allies can be a light-hearted jokester who brings some much-needed humor to the story. Is the main character impulsive and devil-may-care, someone who rarely takes anything seriously? Maybe he needs someone more serious alongside him to remind him to be wise.

While many allies help the protagonist out of affection or a sense of responsibility, others (such as an informant who cooperates only because the protagonist has something on him) are more reluctant. Each can play a valuable role. Might that reluctant ally end up betraying your protagonist at a critical moment? That doubt can increase tension and keep your reader wondering what might happen. Another way to ratchet up tension is for the villain to threaten someone the protagonist cares about. The love interest, perhaps? The best friend? A family member? A partner whose skills are integral to solving the crime?

Allies can reveal your protagonist’s character traits. For example, my protagonist is a private detective named Jared McKean. Jared is competent and impulsive, a martial artist and horse whisperer. His interactions with Frank Campanella, his surrogate father and former partner in the homicide department, show his tough-guy side. But he also has a son with Down syndrome and an ex-wife he’s still in love with. Jared’s interactions with his son and ex-wife reveal his compassionate side and the lengths he’ll go to in order to preserve a loving relationship with both.

You can also use an ally to reveal a skill or some specialized knowledge your character has. In the second Jared McKean book, A Cup Full of Midnight, Jared recalls sitting at the kitchen table with his ex-wife, Maria (who is an artist), and a big box of Crayola crayons. She holds up a crayon and asks him what color it is.

“Blue?” he asks.
“No, cobalt.” She holds up another. “And this one?”
“Cobalt?”
“Cornflower.”
He thinks, I never knew there were so many colors in the world.

This scene does two things. First, it shows you how Jared feels about Maria—that she’s expanded his vision and opened his eyes to a brighter, more vivid world. Second, because of this scene, when he has to describe a suspect or a witness’s living room, it’s believable that he’s able to use more nuanced descriptions of color.

What qualities do you want to reveal about your character? What kinds of allies will most effectively showcase or explain those qualities? Do you want to show that your protagonist is uncomfortable with praise? Give her an ally who loves to give compliments. Do you want to show his fear of heights? Give him an ally who insists on meeting on the roof of the city’s tallest apartment building.

Once you’ve established what roles are needed, you can begin to fill them. To avoid a cast of thousands, ask yourself if one character could plausibly play multiple roles. Could the sidekick and confidante be the same person? Could she have one or more of the skills your protagonist will need to reach his goals?

Below is a chart that might help you figure out who your protagonist’s allies are. Some of these characters will be more developed than others. That’s fine. Use the questions you’ve learned so far to flesh out each character as much as you need to.

Download or Print a FREE Supporting Cast Worksheet – Created by Jaden (Beth) Terrell

Supporting characters are an important tool in your Novelist Took Kit. Their foibles and passions can underscore your theme, reveal your main character’s strengths and weaknesses, and add depth to your novel. A rich, well-crafted supporting cast can help turn a pretty good book into a great one.

Jaden Terrell (Beth Terrell) is a Shamus Award finalist, a contributor to “Now Write! Mysteries” (a collection of writing exercises by Tarcher/Penguin), and the author of the Jared McKean private detective novels Racing The Devil, A Cup Full of Midnight, and River of Glass. Terrell is the special programs coordinator for the Killer Nashville conference and the winner of the 2009 Magnolia Award for service to the Southeastern Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA). A former special education teacher, Terrell is now a writing coach and developmental editor whose leisure activities include ballroom dancing and equine massage therapy. www.jadenterrell.com

1/8/16 1/8/16

Self-Publishing: Finding Your Audience

So, you’ve published a book? Now, the real hurdle is getting it to your readers. This is an extremely difficult task—especially for self-published writers—and dooms a good many. Author Tom Wood shares his own methods to distribute his novel, Vendetta Stone.

Finding Your Audience: Festivals, Events, Book Signings
By Tom Wood

Over and over, an old media axiom was reinforced during several workshops at the recent Film-Com event in Nashville.

“If Content is King, then Distribution is King Kong.”

For self-published authors, truer words were never spoken.

Or harder to achieve.

Writing your book is just the first baby-step in this process. Distribution of your novel is everything.

On one hand, distribution is easier than ever, thanks to the Internet. I self-published through CreateSpace, and get worldwide distribution through Amazon and Kindle.

My book, Vendetta Stone, sells very well in Europe and I have registered sales in Australia and many other countries outside the U.S.

On the other hand, I have trouble getting my fictional true-crime thriller in chain bookstores and even some independent bookstores. The latter especially bothers me.

I understand how indie storeowners would consider Amazon the enemy, but not carrying my book isn’t hurting Amazon. It’s hurting me—and, potentially, readers who might enjoy my book.

Some chain bookstores won’t carry Vendetta Stone on the shelves, but it is available for order on their website or at a store.

So distribution can be a tricky puzzle to solve.

A grass roots approach seems to work, at least it does for me.

I do as much promotion as possible, arranging events and interviews, festivals and libraries, speaking engagements, etc. My motto is: Never turn down an opportunity.

When Vendetta Stone first came out in late 2013, John Seigenthaler, my former boss at The Tennessean, invited me to tape a segment for his long-running talk show with authors. It aired in late July 2014, just a few days after his death at age 86.

After the taping, John and I discussed marketing strategies. When I told him I didn’t want to be seen as too pushy, he smiled and offered two words of advice that have stuck with me. “Be pushy,” was all he said.

And that is about the best advice I have to offer—be pushy (but in a kinder, gentler way).

You are going to have to network to find some of those opportunities, keeping your eyes open for any prospect. One author I know announced that she would be appearing at the prestigious 2014 Dahlonega Literary Festival. I made a couple of calls, looked at the event’s website, sent a few emails—now I will be at the 2016 Dahlonega Literary Festival in March.

So, finding lists of major book events in your region is one key. Reach out to your local and state libraries for contact lists. Scan the local newspapers for lists of upcoming events that don’t have a thing to do with books. They publish those lists sometimes months in advance or have a website with that information readily available. They might even provide you with a list, or at least point you in the right direction.

Festivals and fairs are always looking for vendors to hawk their products. And if you’re an author, your books are your products. Go to FestivalNet.com for an idea of what’s out there. It will blow your mind just how many different events are listed in your area.

It’s like this: when you are writing, you are creating worlds, spinning yarns and living the dream. When you are promoting, you are a salesman, and you have one product to sell. Well, two. Besides the book, you are selling yourself (but not your soul) as someone to whom an audience should pay attention. It takes a lot of confidence, and a little brass. But if you don’t do it, who will?

Our Authors Circle group annually has several members at events in Franklin, Tennessee, such as the Main Street Festival in the spring, and Dickens of a Christmas in early December. We are right out there with all the food vendors, the candlestick makers, the jewelry sellers, and everyone else. Books make great Christmas gifts, right?

For speaking engagements which may lead to sales opportunities, contact the Rotary Club, the Lions and any other civic groups you can think of, especially those which have something to do with your particular genre. Think outside the box—and the books!

Here’s a final suggestion: always carry a few bookmarks to distribute wherever you are. If I see someone reading a book at the airport or a coffee shop, I’ll politely interrupt and offer them a bookmark with a picture of my book cover, a teaser, and information on how they can order a copy.

Maybe someday they’ll look at it and decide it intrigues them enough to buy.

That’s old-school distribution: one reader at a time.

1/8/16 1/8/16

Marketing Your Book 101: Don't Artificially Boost Your Twitter Account

Save shortcuts for traffic congestion. That’s what marketing guru, Erik Deckers says. Build your Twitter following with care. In this month’s column, Deckers talks about the pitfalls of padding your Twitter account and how to do it right.

Don't Artificially Boost Your Twitter Account
By Erik Deckers

I'm not impressed by your gigantic Twitter account.

Your tens of thousands of followers. Your legions of fans. The rampaging throngs of people who follow you and you follow back. The Kardashian-ness of your Twempire (Twitter + empire) only makes me look down my nose at you.

(Said the guy with 18,500 followers. More on my hypocrisy in a minute.)

It's become an epidemic among new Twitter users, this belief that you need 50,000+ followers just to be somebody. That Twitter success means having inflated numbers, and no real content to back it up. I especially see authors falling for this, believing that more followers equals more sales.

It doesn't.

I can spot these Twitter fakers from a mile away. They're the ones with 30, 50, even 100,000 followers, and yet they've only written a few hundred tweets. I've written over 50,000, and yet have only 18,500 followers. Nobody is that awesome at Twitter that they've got 100,000 people hanging on their every word after just a few hundred tweets.

There's no rule of thumb here. Nothing that says "you must have 2,000 tweets before you have 2,000 followers." But unless you're an A-list celebrity who just announced on Conan that you joined Twitter, you're not going to magically get 100,000 followers without publishing much of anything. It's only achieved through cheating.

Here's How They Do It

There are two ways you can build up a massive Twitter following, and they're both morally repugnant. I'm only telling you so you can avoid them, not do them.

1) You pay someone $25 or so for 5,000 followers. Sure, you have 5,000 shiny new followers, but they're not real. They're fake accounts, usually created by spammers in The Philippines. It's like filling the audience with mannequins at your next reading and bragging about a full house.

2) You yo-yo follow people. If you follow me, I get a notification, and follow you back. A few days later, you unfollow me, but I don't get notified, so I keep following you. Imagine doing that to 2,000 people. You follow them, unfollow them a few days later, and repeat, thus growing your army.

I call that yo-yo following. You raise and drop your follower/following count like a yo-yo. Do that for a few weeks with some black market software, and soon you're in the 100K club.

Here's The Best Way

There's a third way to get a big following: Create good work.

Write interesting stuff on Twitter that people want to see. Not inane motivational sayings every single morning. Not an uninterrupted stream of news articles. Just have conversations, and be interesting (I discussed this more in-depth in last month's column).

I've Twitter chatted with one of my favorite authors, Christopher Fowler (@Peculiar), author of the Bryant & May mystery series, about the weather in Indianapolis versus Barcelona, and the genius of interior windows for cooling a house. Even if he weren't already a favorite, I would check out his work just because he took the time to chat. That's the power of a simple person-to-person connection.

It will take a long time, but this is how you build a network of people who like you, trust you, believe in you, and want to support you. If you can fill your network with just 500 of these followers, you're doing much better than the person who yo-yo'ed their way to 50,000.

You have 500 readers, 500 friends, 500 people who want to see you do well. Not 50,000 faceless people who couldn't care less about you.

I've been on Twitter since 2007, and have amassed a respectable following by slowly adding people. It also didn't hurt that I've written three social media books, which attracted a lot of attention in the early days of social media.

I follow authors, artists, and people in my line of work. I follow people who interest me and I want to have conversations with. They're the people I remember, and the people who respond when I tweet something funny or ask for help with a problem, or even share something I've written.

I was recently followed by an author who had over 235,000 followers and was following 225,000. Needless to say, I ignored her. She had no interest in hearing what I had to say. At best, I'm one of a massive crowd. At worst, she'll unfollow me later, letting her black market software fill the hole.

Even if people follow her, they probably don't read her messages. They don't know when she's written a new book or see any new announcements. They don't care about her, because she hasn't shown she cares about them. Her strategy works if she's relying on statistical probability to create sales, but as a true communication strategy, it's ineffective.

You build a strong Twitter network the same way you make new friends: slowly, over time, letting people get to know you, and sharing in their interests. If everything grows naturally and organically, without being forced or faked, you'll have a network of true fans and friends who want to support you and see you do your best.

Erik Deckers owns a content marketing agency in Indianapolis, and is the co-author of four books on social media. He is also a professional speaker and newspaper humor columnist, and was named a 2016 writer-in-residence at the Kerouac House Project.

1/8/16 1/8/16

Under the Microscope with Todd Matthews and Joshua Savage: Behind the Scenes at NamUs

In this installment of “Under the Microscope”, Todd Matthews, Director of Communications and Case Management for the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and Joshua Savage give us a behind-the-scenes, myth-debunking look at NamUs—what it is, does, and how it works.

Behind the Scenes at NamUs: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
By Todd Matthews and Joshua Savage

In 2015, nearly every major television network had a lineup of programs that focused on forensic investigations. Through their programming, television networks have given the public a never-before-seen look into the world of forensics—a look that, unfortunately, is not entirely accurate. Many of these programs are limited to a 30 or 60 minute time slot, with many of those minutes being devoted to commercial breaks, resulting in a program that has to solve a crime or a mystery in an extremely short time period. In so doing, the networks have inadvertently given the public an inaccurate accounting of the actual processes involved. The paragraphs that follow will give readers and writers an accurate account of the various resources that are available to law enforcement and the public through NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Since its inception in 2007, NamUs has made great strides towards combatting our nation’s Silent Mass Disaster. Beginning as a centralized repository for information regarding missing and unidentified persons, NamUs has expanded into a world-class organization that has become the gold standard for countries around the world seeking to replicate its successes. It is the go-to tool for authorities nationwide, offering its services free of charge, thanks to a generous grant from the National Institute of Justice.

Entering Into the System

Once a Missing Persons (MP) case is entered into the NamUs MP Database, the case is assigned an MP number located in the top left near the subject’s name and photograph (if one is available). The investigating agency will receive a default set of automated possible matches based on a standard search criteria. The default setting is a general system search based on geography, chronology, and physical characteristics. Once entered into the system, the search can be fine-tuned to be more specific based upon available information and biometrics. The more information that is available, the more accurate the search will be.

Forensic Odontology

The NamUs subject matter experts will then work with investigators in their process of elimination. NamUs currently has two Forensic Odontologists on staff who can analyze and enter dental coding information into the NamUs MP and Unidentified Persons (UP) Systems, allowing for comparisons and exclusions based on available dental records. Recently, they have made great strides in this area by building a working relationship with the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Through their efforts, they have opened the door to quick and easy access to military dental records for comparison to current unidentified persons cases.

Fingerprint Unit

In addition to Forensic Odontology, we also have a Fingerprint Unit that can analyze and enter fingerprint information and conduct comparisons using our sophisticated Cogent Automated Fingerprint Identification System (CAFIS), the first of its kind in the United States. This system allows NamUs to store and compare fingerprint information related to missing and unidentified persons cases from across the United States, creating the only database of its kind in the country. Other databases allow for local storage or one-time searching of missing and unidentified fingerprints, but do not serve as a permanent repository for these types of biometric records. In addition, the CAFIS system ensures that identifications are not missed, especially when dealing with fingerprints from unidentified decedents, which are often of inferior quality due to decomposition of the remains.

So long as we have the needed biometric information for comparisons, we can issue an exclusion based on scientific evidence. If we do not have the needed criteria to compare or exclude a case, we do our best to further enrich the cases. Our Regional System Administrators will then contact local authorities to inquire about the cases, and secure the relevant information, if available. This information could also include securing a family reference DNA sample from any living relatives in the area. Written records might also be available, but not digitized and uploaded.

Shared Information

With the biometric data entered (dental, DNA, and fingerprints) the investigator not only gets to compare his or her case to the system suggested matches, but through their efforts, they are also making their information available to other investigating agencies who might be searching for the same information. Furthermore, NamUs is the only organization that not only allows access to the general public, but encourages it. Family and friends can oftentimes provide critical information that can assist authorities with their investigations. Our staff can further aid this process by facilitating contact between the public and investigators, allowing for efficient use of resources and time on both sides.

Future Updates

In the very near future, NamUs will be entering its newest iteration dubbed “NamUs 2.0”. This upgrade will provide additional features, and make the system easier for everyone to use—from the input of new cases to searches across the databases. One of the newest features currently in development is a system designed to assist families and law enforcement during “critical incidents”. While the NamUs Unidentified Persons and Missing Persons Databases largely deal with the long-term missing and unidentified, the Critical Incident (CI) Database will be an entirely different entity within the NamUs system. Drawing from its already established successes as a web-based platform and its capable and highly-trained staff, NamUs can activate the CI Database in emergency situations when needed.

When activated, emergency personnel will gain a centralized repository for information relating to the missing, injured, or deceased, as well as those found alive during CI events. Government officials and other agencies will be able to access the information entered into the CI Database by logging into the system using their username and secure password. By creating the CI Database, NamUs hopes to provide a simple, secure, and scalable system to provide accurate tracking and documentation during any event that might require use of the system.

NamUs will continue to grow as these new features come online, so please stay tuned to our website, http://namus.gov/new-features.htm, for more information.

Todd Matthews serves as Director of Communications and Case Management for the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. In his current role, he manages the NamUs Regional System Administrator staff, oversees quality assurance and quality control of NamUs data, performs outreach and training, coordinates all NamUs print and broadcast media, and serves as the media spokesperson for NamUs. Matthews previously served as a NamUs Regional System Administrator and was a member of the NamUs Advisory Board for the development of the NamUs database and program. In those roles, he piloted efforts to coordinate data exchanges between NamUs and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. He has also served as the Media Director for two important volunteer programs related to missing and unidentified persons: The Doe Network and Project EDAN. He has worked as a blogger for Discovery ID and served as a consultant for Jerry Brukheimer on "The Forgotten" and Dick Wolf on "Lost & Found", two scripted series related to missing and unidentified persons.

Joshua Savage joined NamUs in February 2015 as a Communications Specialist. He is a graduate of Tennessee Technological University (B.A. History, 2011) and East Tennessee State University (M.A. History, 2014). During his time at ETSU, Josh served in a number of roles ranging from President of the Alpha Epsilon Epsilon Chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society to Councilman on the ETSU Graduate Council. His research centered on the American Experience in World War II, with a focus on the Tennessee Army Maneuvers of June 1941 which ultimately became the focus of his Master's Thesis. Because of his service with the History Department of ETSU, Josh received a full graduate assistantship for the 2013-2014 academic year and the Dale J. Schmitt Outstanding Graduate Student Award in May 2014.

1/8/16 1/8/16

Live From Italy: Reflections from an Italian Streetside

In this month’s “International Corner”, author Timothy Williams takes us to Italy to paint a picture of the political/economic climate in the 1970s. A young man working at an Italian university, Williams faced much fiscal and personal hardship when he chose to speak out against what he felt were unethical, illegal business practices. Here, he tells us how he surmounted those hardships with the help of Piero Trotti—the man who served as the inspiration for the protagonist of Williams’s six novels.

Finding the Hero Through Hardship: Reflections from an Italian Streetside

By Timothy Williams

Walking up Strada Nuova I noticed a naked black woman. Her photograph had pride of place in one of the boutiques where she was sitting, with her back to the passers by and with her face hidden.

I would have recognized the shape of the back and plaited hair anywhere.

It was 1977 and we were poor. My wife had never told me she had posed for the photograph but I knew she was grateful for any money she could bring in. When we were in the south of Italy, she had done some modeling. In the seventies, black mannequins were a novelty and she had even gotten as far as Palazzo Pitti presenting clothes for Max Mara. She had never enjoyed the job. The other girls were catty, she said, and you're old at twenty-seven. She was twenty-seven.

I taught at the university. The pay was paltry and we survived only because we ate cheaply in the college restaurant. No frills: a cappuccino was a luxury and a doughnut was out of the question. Fortunately my wife didn't drink coffee and didn't like doughnuts.

We were poor and then the Italian government, in a hiccup of fiscal rigor, decided to make us even poorer, by imposing income tax.

We'd been married for four years and we got on well. My wife was fun and I could make her smile. Being beautiful, she attracted many glances and once a prelate outside the college where I worked had seen her pedaling an old bicycle while I perched contentedly on the cross bar. Perhaps he thought that I had acquired a lady chauffeur from Africa to ferry me about his flat Lombard city.

We did not want to leave Italy, but with the threat of taxation, financial ruin loomed. We liked this northern city in the summer with its mosquitoes, frogs and rice, and in winter with its fogs and snow. We liked the cobbled streets, Habsburg architecture and dour, hardworking folk. My job gave me free time and my wife made friends—Rosanna who ran a little shop, Pisanelli and Spadano who were students at the university. Despite her origins, my wife had a background Italians could identify with; she had been brought up Catholic in a devout and provincial backwater.

Two people couldn't live on the 145,000 lire the faculty gave me each month, but there were rumblings in the university and I soon learned that other foreigners like me were unhappy about the new taxation. People who were teaching French or Spanish or German found themselves facing penury. They said the university was employing us illegally.

We worked as teachers, they told me, but we were being paid as researchers. Either we were teachers or we researched; we could not do both. No research was ever asked of us so, clearly, we were teachers in everything but name. Imposing tax on us when we were so poorly paid was unjust and, more to the point, illegal.

These were the years of lead. The Partisan War, now over for more than thirty years, was still being re-enacted on the streets of Italy. Young men and women were killing and maiming civilians in the battle between communism and fascism. My immediate employer, the university, was decidedly to the left—a nest of communists, Maoists, Trotskyists, Lotta Continua, etc. Everybody from the Magnificent Rector down to the last bidello or college porter knew our situation was untenable, but the humanist convictions and generosity of our bosses did not stretch as far as to actually doing anything to help us, their exploited collaborators and subordinates.

I was young and naïve: I had yet to learn the ancient Italian law of not raising your head above the parapet. Furious that I was being exploited by a communist university, I withdrew my labour. I ceased to take class or exam, telling myself that my colleagues would follow suit and join me in my strike action. No one did. I merely alienated my colleagues who, with families to feed, could not afford to rise above the parapet. No matter how badly paid, they needed the job that brought prestige and a modicum of security. Not theirs, then, to rock the boat.

My one man's strike served no purpose other than to put me on the front page of the city's newspaper: Bizarre protest at the university. Insufficient pay. On strike alone. Thirty years old, English, without health insurance.

Knowing the university was going to sack me, I started writing letters to America, seeking employment in a distant land of milk, honey, decent pay, and sensible labour laws.

Somebody suggested I should also see the Inspectorate of Labour, an organization set up by Mussolini, to protect the interests of the worker in the corporatist state. They might be able to help me, I was told. My wife had said she would be happy in America, but she was putting on a brave front. She did not want to say goodbye to Rosanna, Pisanelli, Spadano, and all the others.

I found the Inspectorate Building in a nondescript back street of the foggy city, and I was sent to the fourth floor where a thin man with bright eyes, a long nose and dark hair, shook my hand and invited me to sit down. He appeared amused that an Englishman should come to his office.

That is how I met Piero Trotti.

Not the policeman Piero Trotti who was to become the protagonist of my six novels, but the real Piero Trotti: the good Italian on whom I based my honest policeman.

The real Piero Trotti worked as a labor inspector and he took me under his wing. We became friends and, in time, through his doggedness, understanding of labor law and cunning, Piero Trotti forced the university to recognize the folly of its ways. Abbiamo fatto giurisprudenza, Piero Trotti wrote me more than a year later. The law has changed. We have won.

Our victory came too late; by the time Italian law was changed to accommodate foreign collaborators in universities, my wife and I had said goodbye to Rosanna, Pisanelli and Spadano. We had left the foggy city.

The University of New York at Stony Brook came up trumps and offered me decent pay and sensible labour laws on the other side of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, the offer got lost in the Italian postal system and my wife and I were already back and working in Manchester when the letter inviting me to America fell onto a damp doormat.

Nearly forty years on, thanks to Piero Trotti, I now receive a pension from the Italian government. It's not a lot of money, but it pays for the daily cappuccino and an Italian doughnut.

When my wife and I returned to her Caribbean island, I started work on my first book, a novel set in the city on the Lombard plain. Instinctively, I knew my policeman had to be Piero Trotti. In a byzantine world, where conspiracy and chaos vie, I needed a protagonist of integrity, a man whom readers would identify with and through whose eyes they could get a better understanding of the frustrations and, yes, joys of living in Italy during the years of lead.

Converging Parallels was immediately accepted by a London publisher. At about the same time that the book was published in England, my wife left me.

I sometimes wonder whether she ever kept the photo from the boutique in Strada Nuova.

Of course, there is always a black girl in all my books.

In 2011, The Guardian of London selected Timothy Williams as one of the ten best modern European Crime Writers. His first novel Converging Parallels, featuring the policeman Commissario Trotti, was published in 1982 and was followed by four more procedurals set in Northern Italy. Soho Press republished the entire series in 2014/15. The Second Day of the Renaissance, the last novel in the Trotti cycle, will be published in 2016. Soho has also published two Caribbean books, featuring the investigative judge, Anne Marie Laveaud. Now retired from teaching in Guadeloupe, Timothy Williams spends his time in France, Italy, and Kenya, and was in Nairobi during the Westgate massacre of 2013. To find out more about Timothy Williams, visit http://timothywilliamsbooks.com.

1/8/16 1/8/16

Dying for Dinner: Peach Sangria and Masqueraded Chicken & Dumplings

Dying for Dinner

Congratulations! You survived the holiday season. This Thanksgiving, Aunt Grace shared her views on immigration, tax reform, and her opinion of Millennials (and what’s that trash they’re playing on the radio anyway?). Cousin Jim brought his new girlfriend to your house for Christmas, and they spent the entire dinner arguing on the front porch while your uncles finished off yet another bottle of booze. Hey, that’s family, right? But now that fiasco’s out of the way and you can finally get some much-deserved peace and quiet.

That’s where Killer Nashville comes in. Need to relax for a moment? Diane Kelly shares her recipe for a quick and simple sangria blend. Hungry and would rather do your taxes than be reduced to eating one more piece of ham or turkey? Cynthia Lott has a vegetarian “chicken” and dumplings recipe guaranteed to hit the spot.

Easy-Peasy Peach Sangria Recipe

By Diane Kelly

I fell in love with sangria after trying a fruity batch at a friend’s party. I decided to incorporate the drink into one of my books, and thus came Death, Taxes, and Peach Sangria, the fourth book in my Death and Taxes series. My heroine, IRS Special Agent Tara Holloway, treats herself to glass of the light, refreshing drink after a hard day’s work pursuing white-collar criminals funneling money to terrorists.

Ingredients:

1 bottle of your favorite white zinfandel wine

1 ½ cups peach schnapps

½ cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate

One peach, sliced

½ cup raspberries

1 small orange, sliced

1 ½ cups lemon-lime soda

Directions:

Place fruit in a pitcher. Add wine, schnapps, and lemonade concentrate. Stir well. Refrigerate at least one hour.
Add soda just before serving and stir again. Serve over ice, enjoy with friends, and forget your troubles!

Masqueraded “Chicken” & Dumplings

By Cynthia Lott

The recipe is something I pulled in bits and pieces from other places and made my own. I have been vegetarian for fifteen years and this recipe is a comfort food for those of us who don't eat chicken. The Irises is book 2 in my Southern Spectral Series.

For the Dumplings:

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 stick margarine

3/4-cup soy milk

For the soup:

1/2 stick margarine

1/2-cup onion, chopped

1/2-cup celery, chopped

1/2-cup flour

1/4 tsp. celery salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

A dash of red pepper flakes or cayenne if you like it spicy

8 cups vegetable broth

2 medium carrots, diced

A package of fake chicken such as Morningstar, Gardein, Lightlife, or Beyond Meat Brands

1 bay leaf

Directions:

Combine the dumpling dry ingredients in a bowl, and mix the margarine with the dry mixture until it becomes crumbly. Add the soymilk and stir until moistened.
Knead the dough for thirty seconds on a floured surface. Roll to 1/8-inch thickness and cut into ½-inch squares. Set aside.
Sauté margarine, onion, celery in a large saucepan until soft.
Add the flour, salt, and pepper (and hot spices if you like) to make a thick paste. Slowly mix in the broth and bring to a boil.
Add the carrots, fake chicken and bay leaf.
Add the dumpling squares one at a time, stirring gently. Reduce heat. Simmer for around twenty minutes, stirring often.

Makes 6-8 servings.

DIANE KELLY CROP

A former Assistant Attorney General and tax advisor, Diane Kelly inadvertently worked with white-collar criminals. Lest she end up in jail, Diane decided self-employment was a good idea. Her fingers hit the keyboard and thus began her award-winning Death and Taxes romantic mystery series. A graduate of her hometown's Citizen Police Academy, Kelly also writes the hilarious K-9 cop Paw Enforcement series. Sign up for Diane’s newsletter at www.dianekelly.com. "Like" Diane on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dianekellybooks, and follow her on Twitter @dianekellybooks.

Cynthia

Cynthia Lott is a professional researcher/librarian and writer. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University and an MLS from University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Feathers is her debut paranormal thriller in The Southern Spectral Series, published by RiverRun Select. The second book, The Irises, was published in June of 2015.

These recipes are so good they should be a crime. If you concoct either of these great recipes, let us know what you think and send us a picture. We may include it here with a link to your website.

1/8/16 1/8/16

In The Public Eye: Three Quick Ways to Become an Outcast on Social Media

Social media, and the use of it, has become an undeniably important component of our daily lives. When you’re a writer or public figure, social media can prove to be one of the biggest tools in your arsenal. But what happens when you misuse this tool, and how can you avoid doing so? Public relations expert Julie Schoerke lays out the dos and don’ts of social media to keep you from committing common faux pas.

Three Quick Ways to Become an Outcast On Social Media
By Julie Schoerke

Social media is just great, until it isn’t.

Everyone wants to be the life of the party—witty, fun, sought out. Without realizing it, some very nice people whom I know, have managed to alienate people on social media to the point of getting blocked. And, I truly believe, they just don’t understand the etiquette.

Three of the best ways to become persona non-grata on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media are to:

Vomit on your audience—There’s the 9:1 rule. Post about your book only one time to every nine times that you post something to support your fellow authors, share an interesting statistic or information you just learned, or something fun and funny. Vomiting on your audience is when you boorishly self-promote. Most people wouldn’t do it at a party (well, maybe some would), don’t do it at the all day/all night cyber party we call social media.
Tagaggressively. This is akin to name-dropping, but kind of even worse. When you have a post that you think will be interesting to others, have faith that they’ll see it in their newsfeed. If you want to tag others so that their friends see it on their newsfeed…well, DON’T. Tagging is reserved for highlighting others in a positive way—tag people who are featured in the photo that accompanies the post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, etc.
Negativity can easily drive friends away in a social situation, and the same goes for virtual friends. Of course there is the political screaming that is rampant on social media—as an author/public figure, it doesn’t do your career much good to entangle in that unless that’s what your books are about.

But, even more importantly, complaining can come off as crass and ungrateful. For example, there is one New York Times bestselling author, whose books I adored—they were funny, ironic, and self-deprecating—but I came to realize that the books obviously had a great editor, because this author wrote the meanest, cruelest things about strangers that she came upon in her everyday life. She ridiculed them and sometimes even took photos and posted them of poor, unsuspecting people in grocery lines that offended her. I blocked her—it was just too mean-spirited. And I’ve never read another of her books.

There is another multi-New York Times bestselling author that I continue to follow just to use as an example for our clients. She has had great success. She is a brilliant writer—terrific wordsmith with riveting stories and fabulous titles that cause her books to fly off the shelves around the country. But, on social media she berates fans and reviewers and shares her personal frustrations as an author very publicly. For someone who has attained such great success in a field that is more competitive than making it onto a U.S. Olympic team, it feels small and ungrateful to complain that others don’t understand how challenging her life is as an author.

Killer Nashville wants to follow YOU!

Join us on our social media accounts.

There are some great examples of generous, fun, interesting authors on social media. There are thousands of great people on social media who are generous, encouraging to other writers, fun, thought-provoking and real members of the community—some you probably know, others you probably don’t. I’ll share a few of my favorites here, and please add authors that you think would be great for the rest of us to follow. Feel free to include yourself in the comments (as long as you feel pretty confident that your newsfeed follows the above advice):

Clay Stafford (if you have to ask why, you’ve flunked the test)
Jenny Milchman (always promoting other authors—generous)
Charles Salzburg (every day has a fascinating true crime story to share and is funny)
Kay Kendall (interesting tidbits of all kinds to share)
Roy Burkhead (he’s like BuzzFeed for the publishing industry)
Karolyn Sherwood (great combination of book reviews with heartfelt posts and personal insight)
Rita Dragnotte (she’s quickly becoming a celebrated Chicago literary tastemaker)
Peter Golden (fabulous photos on social media, past and present)
Dinty Moore (pithy, clever, smart)
Harrison Scott Key (straight David Sedaris of the South)
Dawn Lerman (good example of an author of a very popular book right now who is also genuine on social media and responds to others’ posts…it’s not all about her)

1/8/16 1/8/16

In The Public Eye: Three Quick Ways to Become an Outcast on Social Media

Three Quick Ways to Become an Outcast On Social Media
By Julie Schoerke

Social media is just great, until it isn’t.

Three of the best ways to become persona non-grata on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media are to:

Vomit on your audience—There’s the 9:1 rule. Post about your book only one time to every nine times that you post something to support your fellow authors, share an interesting statistic or information you just learned, or something fun and funny. Vomiting on your audience is when you boorishly self-promote. Most people wouldn’t do it at a party (well, maybe some would), don’t do it at the all day/all night cyber party we call social media.
Tagaggressively. This is akin to name-dropping, but kind of even worse. When you have a post that you think will be interesting to others, have faith that they’ll see it in their newsfeed. If you want to tag others so that their friends see it on their newsfeed…well, DON’T. Tagging is reserved for highlighting others in a positive way—tag people who are featured in the photo that accompanies the post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, etc.
Negativity can easily drive friends away in a social situation, and the same goes for virtual friends. Of course there is the political screaming that is rampant on social media—as an author/public figure, it doesn’t do your career much good to entangle in that unless that’s what your books are about.

Killer Nashville wants to follow YOU!

Join us on our social media accounts.

Clay Stafford (if you have to ask why, you’ve flunked the test)
Jenny Milchman (always promoting other authors—generous)
Charles Salzburg (every day has a fascinating true crime story to share and is funny)
Kay Kendall (interesting tidbits of all kinds to share)
Roy Burkhead (he’s like BuzzFeed for the publishing industry)
Karolyn Sherwood (great combination of book reviews with heartfelt posts and personal insight)
Rita Dragnotte (she’s quickly becoming a celebrated Chicago literary tastemaker)
Peter Golden (fabulous photos on social media, past and present)
Dinty Moore (pithy, clever, smart)
Harrison Scott Key (straight David Sedaris of the South)
Dawn Lerman (good example of an author of a very popular book right now who is also genuine on social media and responds to others’ posts…it’s not all about her)

1/8/16 1/8/16

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding

So you’ve just finished your latest book and, boy, is it a good one. You’ve got characters who jump off the page, an engaging plot, and you’re certain if you could get Bill Shakespeare, Stephen King, and Hemingway in the same room, they’d sing your praises ‘til the cows came home (They were at the river. It was there.). It’s time your baby bird flew the coup and landed safely in the arms of a competent publisher. But where do you start?

In this first of three installments, Milt Toby explores the ins-and-outs of the standard publication processes. As an accomplished author and attorney, Toby is better equipped to be your guide than most.

Contract Decoding (Part 1 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Making sense of a publishing contract is not for the faint of heart. Faced with page after page of mind-numbing legalese, nearly always written by the publisher’s attorneys, authors sometimes give up midway through the process. They throw up their hands in despair and sign on the dotted line with minimal understanding of the long-term commitments they are making. This is a mistake, a serious one that often cannot be rectified. Publishing contracts set the parameters for what often will be a long-term relationship between parties that may have competing interests in their respective approaches to selling books.

“I didn’t read the contract”, or “I read it, but I didn’t understand it”, or “it doesn’t mean what I thought it did” are common arguments from authors who want to get out of a contract. These arguments hardly ever carry any weight in court, however. A contract with an author’s signature carries with it the strong presumption that the author read the contract, understood it, and approved the terms.

Authors’ questions should be answered and their concerns resolved before, rather than after, signing the contract. Deciphering all the language in a typical publishing contract is beyond the scope of this article. For the same reason, the article will be limited to so-called “traditional” publishing contracts. Self-publishing, whether print, or ebook, or a combination of the two, has its own set of issues, as do the pay-to-play arrangements in which the author pays at least a share of the publisher’s expenses associated with getting a book in print. Instead, the focus here will be on a few of the most important contract clauses. Coincidently, these issues also are the ones that frequently cause problems for authors, the first of which will be explored in this installment:

the rights being sold;
getting paid;
warranties and indemnification.

Competing Interests

Fundamental to evaluating a publishing contract is an understanding of the nature of the relationship between an author and a publisher. While it is tempting to view that relationship as a partnership—and in some sense that characterization is a fair one—a publishing contract represents the competing interests of the two parties. The best deal for a publisher is one that maximizes profits while limiting potential liability in case of a lawsuit. Authors want the same things, maximum profit and minimal liability.

The parties’ goals tend to be mutually exclusive, however, and authors must understand that a contract drafted by a publisher’s attorneys is going to reflect the publisher’s interests and not necessarily the interests of the author. There is nothing unethical about this. It is a fact of life that an attorney’s obligation when representing a client is to protect the client’s interest. It also is a fact of life that authors (or their agents if they are lucky enough to have one) must protect their own interests in contract negotiations. There are no contract police that swoop in to protect an author’s interests.

The first step is figuring out exactly what the contract language really means.

Rights and Wrongs

Two questions matter the most to an author evaluating a publishing contract:

First, who really owns the rights to the manuscript?
Second, which rights are being sold?

The answer to the first question is not as obvious as it might seem. The default rule pursuant to Section 201(a) of the Copyright Act is that authors start out owning all rights to their work, beginning the moment the work is fixed in some tangible form. Copyright ownership is important because it allows an author to make money, either through self-publishing or through selling the publication rights to someone else. Publishing contracts typically require an author to warrant (legalese for “promise”) that she is the copyright owner and that she has the legal right to transfer those rights—more about potentially troublesome warranties later.

There are important exceptions to the general rule of copyright ownership that affect an author’s ability to earn money from her writing, however, including works made for hire and works produced by two or more contributors.

Work Made for Hire

If you write a book or magazine article as part of your job duties, as a staff writer for example, the employer, not the writer, is the “author” for copyright purposes. In this situation, which seldom applies to authors of fiction, the employer is the “author” and is the owner of the copyright. This means that the author of a work for hire, the individual who actually put words to paper, has no rights in the book or article.

Work for hire arrangements are most common in the newspaper and magazine publishing world. Work for hire language might appear in a book contract as well, though, and should raise a serious warning flag for authors.

Before signing a work for hire agreement, an author should weigh the effect of the clause—no rights in the resulting work—against the money (including royalties, if applicable) being offered by the publisher. A general rule of thumb is that the more rights being transferred, the more the author should be paid. A work for hire contract, in which all rights belong to the publisher from the start, should command the highest payment of all.

A contract that requires the author to transfer all rights to the publisher takes a different route to achieve the same effect as a work for hire agreement: although the author owns the copyright initially, the author winds up with no rights to the book. Authors should be wary of contracts that call for a transfer of “all rights,” “all world rights,” or something similar.

A question that sometimes arises involves registration of the copyright in the book. The contract should specify that the publisher will register the copyright for the book in the author’s name. With work for hire and all rights agreements, however, the copyright will be registered in the publisher’s name.

Collaborative Works

A second exception that can hamper an author’s ability to transfer rights in a book to an interested publisher arises when there is more than one author. Ownership of the copyright in a “joint work” is shared by the contributing authors, and problems can result if one co-author wants to sign a publishing contract and the other co-author does not. In such a situation, one of the joint authors may not have legal authority to act unilaterally when negotiating a publishing contract.

Authors considering a joint writing project should have a written agreement setting out their respective rights in the resulting work.

The answer to the second question—which rights are being sold—is more straightforward: the rights being sold are those specifically identified in the publishing contract. Corresponding language stating that all rights not specifically identified in the contract remain with the author always should be included in the contract.

The primary right, the most important one to both authors and publishers, is the right to actually publish the book. Typical language is “the exclusive right to publish the book for the first time in an English-language version” or something similar. Open-ended language, such as simply the “right to publish the book” should be avoided.

Everything else is a “subsidiary right.” These include electronic rights, serialization, book club editions, foreign language translations, audio recordings, Braille/large type, and film/television/radio/stage rights. Publishers generally ask for all subsidiary rights as a matter of course, and for many authors this is not a bad idea. The party in the best position to exploit a particular subsidiary right is the party that should have it, and this often will be the publisher. If, on the other hand, an author has a relative or friend with a high-powered job in Hollywood, for example, the author might want to retain performance rights. Publishing contracts typically call for a 50%-50% split between author and publisher for income from the sale of subsidiary rights.

Lessons Learned

Beyond the right to publish the book, with appropriate limitations to that right, there is no “correct” answer to which rights an author should transfer to a publisher. That is a business decision and an author should consult with an attorney, her agent, or other advisors familiar with publishing contracts for advice on whether the proposed contract accomplishes what it is supposed to do to protect the author’s interests.

In our next edition, Milt will explore one of the more popular aspects of publishing: getting paid.

Milt Toby is an attorney and award-winning author of nonfiction. He joined the Board of Directors of the American Society of Journalists and Authors in July, after several years as Chair of the ASJA Contracts & Conflicts Committee. The information in this article is presented for educational purposes only and is neither legal advice nor a solicitation for clients. For more information about Milt’s books, visit his website at www.miltonctoby.com.

1/8/16 1/8/16

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding

Contract Decoding (Part 1 of 3)
By Milt Toby

the rights being sold;
getting paid;
warranties and indemnification.

Competing Interests

The first step is figuring out exactly what the contract language really means.

Rights and Wrongs

Two questions matter the most to an author evaluating a publishing contract:

First, who really owns the rights to the manuscript?
Second, which rights are being sold?

Work Made for Hire

Collaborative Works

Authors considering a joint writing project should have a written agreement setting out their respective rights in the resulting work.

Lessons Learned

In our next edition, Milt will explore one of the more popular aspects of publishing: getting paid.

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KN Magazine: Articles

Finding the Perfect TitleBy Tom Wood

How to Write a Thrilling Short StoryBy Kimberly Dana

Dying for Dinner

Arista alla fiorentina/Florentine Roast Pork

The #1 Novice Mistake in Self-PublishingBy Julie Schoerke

The #1 Novice Mistake in Self-PublishingBy Julie Schoerke

The Conundrum

Supporting Cast: AlliesBy Jaden (Beth) Terrell

Finding Your Audience: Festivals, Events, Book SigningsBy Tom Wood

Don't Artificially Boost Your Twitter AccountBy Erik Deckers

Behind the Scenes at NamUs: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons SystemBy Todd Matthews and Joshua Savage

Finding the Hero Through Hardship: Reflections from an Italian Streetside

Dying for Dinner

Easy-Peasy Peach Sangria Recipe

Masqueraded “Chicken” & Dumplings

Three Quick Ways to Become an Outcast On Social MediaBy Julie Schoerke

Killer Nashville wants to follow YOU!

Join us on our social media accounts.

Three Quick Ways to Become an Outcast On Social MediaBy Julie Schoerke

Killer Nashville wants to follow YOU!

Join us on our social media accounts.

Contract Decoding (Part 1 of 3)By Milt Toby

Contract Decoding (Part 1 of 3)By Milt Toby

Submit Your Writing to KN Magazine

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2025 Sponsors

Finding the Perfect Title
By Tom Wood

How to Write a Thrilling Short Story
By Kimberly Dana

The #1 Novice Mistake in Self-Publishing
By Julie Schoerke

The #1 Novice Mistake in Self-Publishing
By Julie Schoerke

Supporting Cast: Allies
By Jaden (Beth) Terrell

Finding Your Audience: Festivals, Events, Book Signings
By Tom Wood

Don't Artificially Boost Your Twitter Account
By Erik Deckers

Behind the Scenes at NamUs: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
By Todd Matthews and Joshua Savage

Three Quick Ways to Become an Outcast On Social Media
By Julie Schoerke

Three Quick Ways to Become an Outcast On Social Media
By Julie Schoerke

Contract Decoding (Part 1 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Contract Decoding (Part 1 of 3)
By Milt Toby