Creating a Fictional Newspaper Blog

Blacktip Times logoMany of us have seen instances where authors take their fictional characters beyond the books that spawned them: interviews with a character, blog postings by them, Facebook pages, Q&A sessions with readers. Recently, however, I came across something that was new to me. Tim Jackson, author of Mangrove Underground, has created a newspaper blog for Blacktip Island, the location where his book is set. Tim describes the site like this:

South of Imagination and east of Flor de Caña lies Blacktip Island, the setting for Tim W. Jackson’s forthcoming second novel, Blacktip Island, and for his many short stories. The Blacktip Times is a weekly record of news and events in the island’s small community of dreamers, reprobates and ne’er-do-wells.

Seeing this as a rather unique spin-off of a book, I decided to interview Tim and find out the behind-the-scenes story. Continue reading “Creating a Fictional Newspaper Blog”

What is a Reviewer? – Part 2

Big Al

Last month in What is a Reviewer?, I took a stab at answering some specific questions about the complete spectrum of book reviewers. This month I’m looking at two specific questions. First, what qualifications does a typical book blogger possess? Second, what are the thoughts of readers about book reviewers: How do they use them? What qualifications do they think they should have? What influence do they have on their purchasing decisions?

Last year in an internet forum frequented by many indie authors, a New York Times bestselling author who has gone from traditionally published to indie made the comment that “anyone can start a blog and be a ‘reviewer’ now.” He was right. A free Blogger or WordPress account and the desire to review books is all that’s required. The barriers to entry are low, just like they are to become an indie author. What the author I quoted above may not have been aware of is that while the removal of the barriers is a relatively new development for authors, it isn’t for reviewers. I was reviewing music for a multi-reviewer website more than ten years ago. Continue reading “What is a Reviewer? – Part 2”