Tag: authors

Pin the Phrase on the Author

This should be some fun. Everyone has gotten a chance to read articles by the IU staff, but could you pick their writing out of a lineup?

Below, you will see lines excerpted from the books of five Indies Unlimited authors. Can you tell which author wrote which line? Bonus points if you also know the book from which the line comes!

Below and to the left are pictures of the IU authors and next to each, a line from a book. The authors are not next to the lines from their own books. Or are they? See if you can mix and match the author with the line. Put your guesses in the comment section below (1. author name, 2. author name, etc.). The winner gets bragging rights.

Answers will be posted at 2 PM Pacific Time on Sunday, April 15. Good luck!

Continue reading “Pin the Phrase on the Author”

Ed’s Casual Friday: On Hero Worship

Super HeroesBy the title, you might think that this is going to be a post about heroic characters in books, particularly as I myself write mainly in the Epic (or at least, really long) Fantasy genre. But that is not what this is.

Instead, these are my ruminations on a question that’s been rolling around in my head over the last eleven months or so, in the time since I first uploaded a book to KDP and discovered I had become something called an “Indie.” The question presented itself after wandering around threads in various places with names like “How to avoid Indie books,” and in the wake of the unabashed joy some expressed on the Kindle Forums when all “spamming” writers were herded off to the “Meet Our Authors” enclosure (smallpox-laced blankets now available). The question, basically, goes something like this: Continue reading “Ed’s Casual Friday: On Hero Worship”

Moving the Velvet Rope – by Stephen Hise

There are and have long been exclusive clubs. Some exert their exclusivity through means of social status or wealth. That’s why Cousin Eddie won’t be seen golfing at Snobmore Country Club. Others use the velvet rope and a bouncer who makes the individual decision as to whether someone is cool enough to get in. Often, the decisions of the bouncer seem enigmatic, capricious, and objectionable to those on the wrong side of the velvet rope.

That model of exclusivity is the one used (or perhaps imposed) by the traditional publishing industry. Their idea being to preserve the integrity of the written word by selectively choosing those who would produce the written word. What a great idea. I wonder how that worked out. Continue reading “Moving the Velvet Rope – by Stephen Hise”