Why is Genre Important to Success?

Genre?

Panzer and I parked the Panzermobile over at the Passive Voice blog today. Panzer found a post there by David Baboulene about the importance of genre.

Now my bad boy knows all about genre. I mean, Panzer always says, "What is mystery without a cat?" Notice, he didn't say, what is a murder without a cat. Panzer helps solve bank robberies, burglaries, drug deals; but not murders. That's what David Baboulene is talking about in his post. You need to pick a genre and then make it your own. Write your story within the genre, but add your own personality to the genre.

If you want to know about genre in your novel's world, tootle over to Why is Genre Important to Success?

National Novel Writing Month

Panzer's claws are down to little bloody nubs, but we are winners in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

Happy Cat Dance!

We wrote a 50,000 word novel in November! That's 50,000 words in one month!

Now starts the hard part. The rewrite/revision. Grrr!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Panzer, the Pirate and I are thankful for all of you who put Panzer's ebook Cats and Crime back in the Top 100 at Amazon for Mystery - Anthologies and Mystery - Collections & Anthologies today!

Happy Cat Dance! Happy Cat Dance!

Another Panzerism

You want love? Get a dog.

Panzer says:

The opposite of love isn't hate. It's indifference.

Feed me and I'll stop being indifferent towards you ...

for a while ...

maybe.

Karen Woodward: How To Write A Murder Mystery

Catch me if you can!

Panzer and I stopped in at Karen Woodward's blog today. We heard there was a fantastic post from back on October 18 for mystery writers.

You'll definitely be glad we did!

Have you ever wondered how to write a mystery? Well Karen Woodward did, so she did some reading and studying. Here's your chance to benefit from her studying and learn the ins and outs of clues, the sleuth, motivation, the crime, how to solve it and more.

If you want help with your mystery writing, tootle over to Karen Woodward: How To Write A Murder Mystery: I've never written a murder mystery, but I've always wanted to. I fell in love with detection and murder in grade nine when my...

Julie Musil: Marketing Your Independently-Published Novel

Where are we going?

To market. To market. To market we go! We parked the Panzermobile at Julie Musil's  IndieLife blog today.

You know my bad boy and I are always looking for marketing ideas. Rachel McCoy did a guest post here about where to market your indie pubbed book. Rachel discusses, blogs, websites, writers' forums and other online arenas.

If you're looking for some marketing ideas, tootle over to Julie Musil: Marketing Your Independently-Published Novel: Friends, for today's IndieLife installment, I'm happy to share a guest post by fellow author and blogger, Rachel McCoy! You can...

Smashwords: How to Add Navigation to a Smashwords Ebook

Navigation?

We were out in the Catosphere today and stopped in at the Smashwords blog.

Mark Coker has created a new video for Smashwords authors to help with end of ebook navigation. End of the book navigation includes a clickable link to your website/blog, your Twitter account, your Facebook page, etc. (You do include these in each of your ebooks, right?)

So, if you're having trouble figuring out how to put those links in your ebook, tootle over to Smashwords: How to Add Navigation to a Smashwords Ebook: Does your Smashwords ebook contain navigation?  Are you taking full advantage of navigation? This afternoon I produced and uploaded a ne...

Goodbye Pubit! Hello NOOK Press.

When Panzer and I came across this post at BiblioCrunch by Miral Sattar about NOOK Press, we were excited.

We don't know how many of you knew that Nook's Pubit! went away earlier this year. It was replaced with NOOK Press.

This post gives you exact step-by-step instructions about how to submit your ebook.

If you're ready to try out the new system and need some help, tootle over to Submitting your book to NOOK Press

The Middle Earth Travel Guide: INFOGRAPHIC - GalleyCat

Happy Cat Dance!

Panzer loves The Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth.

So ,,, it's no surprise that when he was out in the Catosphere he had to stop and read The Middle Earth Travel Guide over at GalleyCAT.

This is so great. There are maps, graphics, descriptions and destinations.

Panzer is doing the happy cat dance!

To see Middle Earth, tootle over to The Middle Earth Travel Guide: INFOGRAPHIC - GalleyCat

How to Make a Gift Card for an eBook

500 people?

Panzer and I found a way to give your family, friends and readers a special gift card.

 Do you want to put a gift card for your Kindle, Nook or Kobo ebook in your Christmas cards? A company called Livrada can do it for you. They assign codes to your books, print the cards and then the books can be redeemed with the cards.

Panzer says, "Be warned. This is expensive and there are minimum orders of 500 cards."

Don't know 500 people for Christmas cards? Give them away at conferences, events and as giveaways for book promotion.

If this sounds interesting to you, tootle over to Gift Card for your ebook.

Another Panzerism

Are you kidding? I am CAT.

Panzer on self-confidence:

The universe belongs to whoever is willing to reach out and grab it with his claws.



Panzer on self-confidence (2):

What?
Self-confidence?
I don't need that.
I am CAT.

NSA Surveillance is Making Writers Self-Censor - GalleyCat

They're know everything!

Panzer and I were out in the Catosphere today and we stumbled across some interesting news at our good friend GalleyCAT.

Writers are starting to see we have to be very careful about what we post online. We already have to be careful what we check out at the library and what we research on Google. Now we have to be careful what we post on social media online.

These are very scary times my bad boy lives in!

If you dare to read about the NSA, tootle over to NSA Surveillance is Making Writers Self-Censor - GalleyCat

Smashwords: Bowker Ranks Smashwords the #1 Producer of Indie E...

How many?

Panzer couldn't believe it when he read Mark Coker's newest post at the Smashwords Blog.

Mark is posting about Bowker's newest Self Publishing Report. According to the report Smashwords was the largest U.S.A. "producer" of indie ebooks last year. This is based on the number of ebooks with ISBNs "produced" by Smashwords.

As you know Smashwords is not a publisher. You upload your document to Smashwords. Their "meatgrinder"  "produces" your ebook for distribution to the ebook outlets. Smashwords "produced" a lot of ebooks last year!

If you want to read the whole post, tootle over to Smashwords: Bowker Ranks Smashwords the #1 Producer of Indie E...: Bowker has ranked Smashwords the largest US producer of indie ebooks in 2012 according to their new annual Self Publishing Report for 2012...

Have you ever wondered where books come from?

Aren't they cute?

Panzer and I meant to post this last week when we saw it in the Catosphere at The Passive Voice blog.

Tootle over and find the answer to  Have you ever wondered where books come from?

Veterans' Day

Thank You Veterans!

How Writers Can Use Twitter - GalleyCat

Dogs? Dragons? Putey!

Panzer and I have been learning how to use Twitter for the past three months, so when we saw this post at GalleyCAT we stopped the Panzermobile over there.

We have almost 500 followers at Twitter. Panzer told all his relatives and some of his cousins signed up as followers.

Panzer says, "Hi Tiny Pearl!"

We even have ... Grrr ... dogs as followers! And dragons!

Oh, yeah, and some humans, too. ( Hint: You can follow us too as @FionaLeeWoods )

We're still learning all the hashtags. Whew! There are hundreds!

But, we have been having fun over there.

If you want to learn more about Twitter and writers who use it, tootle over to How Writers Can Use Twitter - GalleyCat

Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and More: Christmas Truffles' Creative Writing Challenge

Christmas?

Panzer and I were out in the Catosphere today and we stopped in at Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and More. We love to visit his cousins there.

Christmas Truffles and his Mom are having a Writing Challenge. Are you ready to write a Kitty Christmas Tail? Good Kitty? Bad Kitty? What will Kitty get for Christmas?

To read the rules and the prizes, tootle over to Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and More: Christmas Truffles' Creative Writing Challenge: Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas Truffles here!!! Am I rockin' my pink Santa hat or what??? Mommy and I are so excited to be participating in the...

NaNoWriMo Prizes, Motivation, and Fun

50,000 words? No, Mom, No!

Yet another chance at prizes if you're participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which Panzer and I are!

Fantasy author Lindsay Buroker (whose also taking part in NaNoWriMo) is sponsoring contests for participants.

If you're interested, tootle over to NaNoWriMo Prizes, Motivation, and Fun -- Enter Here!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Book Trailer

Panzer found the movie trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. My bad boy got it for me ... because the movie will have a dragon! He won't watch it with me or go to the movie with me ... because it has a dragon.

At the back?

Panzer and I were enjoying a little trip out in the Catosphere today. We stopped in at The Future of Ink to read a guest post by Shelley Hitz.

Shelley talks about the three things we should include at the back of our ebooks. Her list includes 1) information about your opt-in list, 2) information about your other ebooks, and 3) requesting reviews at Amazon. She includes samples from her own books to illustrate each item on her list.

If you want to read the whole list, tootle over to The Future of Ink.

PD James solves a 1931 murder?

Hmmm? How did she do it?

Panzer found a post at The Guardian website that mystery author P.D. James may have solved a murder mystery from 1931.

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. That's what we mystery writers do. We solve mysteries!

If you want to read about the murder and how she solved it, tootle over to PD James solves a murder?

Smashwords: How Ebook Subscription Services May Redefine the V...

Part Two for you.

Panzer wanted you to have Part Two of yesterday's Mark Coker blog post about ebook subscription services.

To read the second part of the post, tootle over to Smashwords: How Ebook Subscription Services May Redefine the V...: In part one of this two-part series, I examined business models of the all-you-read ebook subscription services.  Here in part two, I’ll ...

Smashwords: Examining the Business Model of Ebook Subscription...

Hmmm. Oyster? Where's the pearl?

Panzer and I were out in the Catosphere today and we stopped in at the Smashwords Blog.

Mark Coker has a post about the business models of Oyster and Scribd. If you haven't heard, these two are ebook subscription services. Readers pay a subscription fee and then can download ebooks they want to read.

Oyster has an agreement to carry Smashwords' authors' ebooks as part of their service. Authors were asked to opt-in before their ebooks could be carried by Oyster. This post (and a second to follow) is an explanation about the service.

If you want to learn how the service works, tootle over to Smashwords: Examining the Business Model of Ebook Subscription...: This is the first installment of a two-part series in which I explore the business models and potential impact of ebook subscription s...