So this is happening...


Popular posts from this blog

IngramSpark vs. Createspace

To: Indpendent Authors: Re: Createspace vs. IngramSpark: A couple of weeks ago someone posted a link on Facebook to IngramSpark with free set-ups (I can't find it now - sorry), so I did some research into Createspace vs. IngramSpark. Everything I found said do both. Createspace distributes primarily to Amazon, but their expanded distribution isn't utilized by most bookstores because they don't give them a big enough discount. IngramSpark gives the industry-standard 55% discount to retailers, plus the option to return books, which makes ordering our books attractive (I just did a signing at a Barnes and Noble, and had to bring all my own books because they won't order through Createspace). They also have printers in Europe and Australia, which makes international ordering cost-effective. There is almost no money to be made for us on IngramSpark because of the discount to retailers. But it's the one way I've found to get into traditional brick and morta
Read more

I Read Banned Books

Image
  I sat through a loooong school board meeting last week because a few angry parents had called for a book to be banned. The book in question was written by a transgender author, and the protagonist was an eleven-year-old trans character. I mention this only because 41% of the more than 1600 books that were banned in the U.S. last year involved LGBTQ+ authors, protagonists, or main characters, and because the PVPUSD board room was packed with LGBTQ+ community and allies. The call to ban the book was not an agenda item, and the district had publicly said they were not considering banning that or any book, so the 50+ speakers and more than a hundred other allies were there to send a clear message to the district. We value diversity in our books, we need representation of the LGBTQ+ community not only for the people who identify as such but for everyone, and perhaps most importantly, the message was clearly delivered that a few loud, angry people do not have the right to dictate what an
Read more

Light a Small Lantern

Image
Reproduced by kind permission of the artist, Hassan Massoudy. "Instead of railing against the darkness, it's better to light a small lantern." Chinese Proverb. Hassan Massoudy on Instagram My husband just got back from working for six months in the Yukon Territory of Canada, very far removed from U.S. politics, natural disasters, hate crimes, mass shootings, and the growing sense of powerlessness among people who wish for something different. He'd been home only a few days when he pulled me away from the hearing of our children. "Where did all your possibility go?" His question was a direct punch to the solar plexus, and I knew exactly what he meant. I just hadn't put it into words because it had crept up slowly and insidiously, like a thin, poisonous darkness slipping under the door. Somehow, in the past nine months, my own sense of powerlessness in the face of all the negativity had become something smaller and more personal. Somehow, that po
Read more