Free Something Is Going To Happen post: Into The Weave (by Jennifer Black)

It's an interesting post.

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when he made a stop at Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's blog Something Is Going To Happen. There he found a post by writer Jennifer Black.

The post Into The Weave compares the writing of fiction to the weaving of yarn and spider webs.

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of iced tea and a chocolate chip cookie (biscuit) for your snack.

To read the post tootle over to Jennifer Black

Five Web Mistakes I See All the Time

Never-ever-ever-do-these things!

Panzer was traveling around in the Catosphere researching homepages today. He's been thinking he wants to make a few changes to the Panzermobile's landing site. He found an interesting post by Lisa Hazen over at the Book Promotion.com blog.

Lisa writes about the five most common mistakes she sees on homepages. She mentions things like putting too much "stuff" on the page, having outdated "stuff" there, the never-ever-ever-do-this coming soon "stuff" that you don't change forever, and  a couple more things to finish out the list.

If you want to read the top five no-nos for your homepage, tootle over to Five Web Mistakes I See All the Time

Similarities Between Writers and the Mentally Ill

You go out alone!

Panzer got tired of waiting for me today and he took the Panzermobile to the Thought Catalog blog by himself. That was definitely not a good idea.

One: he's not allowed out alone in the Panzermobile, so he's grounded;

 and

Two: what he found there is not good news for writers. In fact, it's really, really scary.

According to the post by Cody Delistraty, doctors say we can't be successful writers unless we're mentally ill! We have to be depressed and schizophrenic! The post names several authors from Stephen King to J.K. Rowling as examples.

Panzer says, "It's not that bad. They said human writers. There's nothing there about cats!"

Warning: this is a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g post.

If you want to know how to be a successful, crazy writer, tootle over to Similarities

Dave Eggers Tells Writers To Take A Stand

NSA?

Panzer parked the Panzermobile over at The Guardian today.

He wanted to read Dave Eggers' views on the NSA and writers. You see, my bad boy and I are always researching interesting ways to kill people. Panzer will tell you, we've used soap, tomato juice and Fox Glove besides your usual guns and poisons. Imagine what the NSA could do with that!

Wait. We have to go. There's somebody at the front door ... and the back door ... and the window ... .

If you want to read Dave's views, tootle over to Dave Eggers and the NSA.

Killer Characters: Cat Fight in the Offing

Panzer picked out our stop in the Catosphere today. He parked the Panzermobile at the Killer Characters blog to read about the library cat from Miranda James' "Cat in the Stacks" mystery series. We learn about Diesel the Maine Coon cat and what's going on at the library now. And it looks like murder is in more than the mystery books there.

If you're interested in cat mysteries (besides Panzer's, of course), tootle over to Killer Characters: Cat Fight in the Offing: Stewart Delacorte from the " Cat in the Stacks " series by Miranda James Charlie Harris is a great landlord, and he's actually beco...

Think Like a Publisher 2013: Chapter 5: Return on Investment

It'll take how long?

Panzer and I took the Panzermobile over to Dean Wesley Smith's blog today to learn about Return on Investment for our ebook. This blog post is part of Smith's update to his Think Like A Publisher ebook.

The ROI Smith is talking about in his post is the length of time and words it takes to write a short story, short novel and long novel and how much money you'll make in return. He includes calculations for how long time-wise it will take for you to make enough money to cover your time investment. Those time lengths may surprise you. Although Smith gives the time in months, it's actually years to cover your writing time investment.

If you want to determine where your writing time will be best spent, tootle over to Think Like a Publisher 2013: Chapter 5: Return on Investment

13 Ways To Kickstart Your Writing in 2013

I need help!

Okay, Panzer has been dragging his paws since New Year's Day. He just hasn't been able to get any new cat adventures started. So, he went out in the catosphere today looking for a little inspiration.  And he found it at the Andrew Jack Writing blog. He parked the Panzermobile to do a little reading. Now he's ready to hit the ground running and get some new cases started!

Do you need some inspiration, too? Well, here you go. Tootle on over and read 13 Ways To Kickstart Your Writing in 2013

Yet Another Panzerism

Panzer on the art of seduction:

Some cats say wine is fine.
Others think catnip does the trick.
Me? I just take them home and show them my big ...  huge ...

Panzermobile!

Miss Writerly Crankypants: A Writer in Bad Review Land

Panzer is laughing so hard he fell out of the Panzermobile! Every writer in the Catosphere who has ever gotten a one star review can relate to this post. Miss Writerly Crankypants' post should make you think twice before you post that bad review at Amazon!

Tootle over to Miss Writerly Crankypants: A Writer in Bad Review Land: Today Miss Crankypants finds herself wallowing with some other writers in Bad Review Land and boy, is the fur a'flyin'. Writers can't ju...

Free Fiction Monday (on Wednesday): Love and Justice

We all know how much Panzer loves free stuff. He was out in the Panzermobile today and found a great free story at Kristine Kathryn Rusch's blog.

Did you ever wonder what happened to Cinderella and Prince Charming? Over at Kristine's blog you can find out. And it's not happy ever after.

It was posted on Monday and will be gone by next week, so you'll need to hurry over before the story disappears from view. You'll want to bookmark Kris' blog and check back each Monday for Free Fiction. Oh, yeah, sorry ... no cats in this one.

Tootle over to Free Fiction Monday: Love and Justice

Killer Characters: Honeybee the Cat as told by Bailey Cates

Panzer parked the Panzermobile over at the Killer Characters blog. The newest post there is by Honeybee the cat familiar. We learned something from Honeybee we had never heard before. There are other kinds of familiars besides cats. Hold onto your fur now because this is unbelievable.  DOGS can be familiars! That's right. DOGS! It's enough to make any self-respecting cat cry. Panzer has already gone through a whole box of tissues. It's just so ... so ... unspeakable!

To find out what's going on, tootle over to Killer Characters: Honeybee the Cat as told by Bailey Cates: By Honeybee the Cat from Bewitched, Bothered and Biscotti, the second in the Magical Bakery Mystery series by Bailey Cates Well, hello...

Smashwords: Mark Coker's 2013 Book Publishing Industry Predict...

Panzer took the Panzermobile over to the Smashwords blog to read Mark Coker's 2013 predictions for the ebook market. Interesting stuff here for indie writers and publishers. Mark's predictions are worth considering when making your publishing career plans for the coming year. Also, you'll find links for his previous predictions. They're worth reading too.

Tootle on over to   Smashwords: Mark Coker's 2013 Book Publishing Industry Predict...: It’s that time of year when book people make their predictions for the year ahead.  I bring you, my dear reader, my epic predictions for 2...

Panzer Did It. He's On Smashwords!

Panzer is doing the happy cat dance! He got his ebook up at Smashwords. He's an indie publisher. Now the whole world will know carpet snakes don't stand a chance when he's around.

You can read the ebook description and 20% of it here Cats and Crime. (We haven't set up an affiliate account yet, so you can just click through using this link.) The ebook is still pending vetting, which can take awhile. When it passes, it will be available in all the eRetailers Smashwords distributes to.

Some tweaks to the formatting and next up is Amazon.

For all of Panzer's friends, we'll be putting together a free PDF of the first two stories (one is really, really short) for download here.

My bad boy is so happy today! He's flying all over the Catosphere in the Panzermobile. So be careful, it's a jungle out there.

Yet Another Panzerism

When you're traveling with Panzer in the Catosphere, there are two things you have to understand.

1) The second law of thermodynamics: for every positive action there is a negative reaction.

2) Panzer's first law of diminishing kitty litter: when you run out of kitty litter, you've got big problems.

Facebook Pages vs Profiles

Panzer and I are still not feeling 100%, but we managed a short trip into the Catosphere today.

We parked the Panzermobile at author Nathan Bransford's blog. He has an informative post about whether as an author you should use Facebook's Pages option or Profiles option. He's got the pros and cons of each listed for you. You can study each and make your own decision about which is right for you.

Tootle on over to Author Nathan Bransford's Blog.

Smashwords: How to Sell Ebooks at the Apple iBookstore

Panzer and I parked the Panzermobile over at Smashwords to see what the latest news is about ebook distribution.

Smashwords' Mark Koker has some great tips about how to increase your sales at the Apple iBookstore.  A lot of the information is about romance ebooks because the iBookstore has been doing a romance promotion. However, you'll find all the information can be applied no matter what your genre.

Be sure to read all of the post. There are also links for downloading the Apple widget for your website or blog.

So, tootle on over to our good friends at Smashwords: How to Sell Ebooks at the Apple iBookstore: R.L. Mathewson tops Apple iBookstore charts for second day running The Apple iBookstore, which last week expanded its global reach to 50...

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Amazon Removes Reviews

Don't do it!

Panzer and I were traveling around the Catosphere and we parked the Panzermobile at Joe Konrath's blog.

Konrath's most recent blog post deals with the fallout from the news a few weeks ago about the Amazon authors who were using fake reviews by paying for good reviews of their ebooks, writing good reviews for their own ebooks and writing bad reviews for their "competitors" ebooks.

As a result of the situation with these few authors, Amazon has instituted new review policies. Because of these new policies a multitude of reviews have been removed from ebooks not even involved in the original situation. This has resulted in some ebooks even getting their rankings lowered because their "stars" have been lowered.

You can read Konrath's take on the situation at  A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Amazon Removes Reviews .

Panzer says, "Don't post fake reviews!"

Mystery Writing is Murder: Getting the Hang of the Business End of Things

Still looking for a costume.

My bad boy Panzer has absolutely no concept about the business side of writing.

Panzer can tell you an exciting story about his and Lori's latest adventure, but ask him how his audiobook sales are going and he'll give you the deer-in-the-headlights-look. So, when he found Elizabeth Craig's post about the business side of writing, he parked the Panzermobile at her Mystery Writing Is Murder blog and stopped for a visit.

Elizabeth has some interesting information about her experiences with her agent and the business side of her writing. You'll want to read her whole post as there are some great links at the end.

So tootle on over to  Mystery Writing is Murder: Getting the Hang of the Business End of Things: by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’m not going to say that all writers are a little foggy when it comes to the business side o...

MAKE MINE MYSTERY: What’s a Blog Hop? Social Marketing 101 Series

Cats do not hop!

Okay, Panzer and I admit it. Neither of us had any idea what a blog hop was. So, when we saw the post about it in the Catoshere at Make Mine Mystery, we parked the Panzermobile to read about it.

Turns out it's a kind of social media marketing tool a lot like a blog tour only a little bit different. Instead of one author doing a blog tour, several get together, pick a topic and let the blog hop begin.

Tootle over to  MAKE MINE MYSTERY: What’s a Blog Hop? Social Marketing 101 Series: and then see if you and some of your fellow bloggers might be interested in a blog hop.

What Is Your Brand?

Panzer and I went out into the Catoshere (read our October 19 post) today. We couldn't pass up Cheryl Bradshaw's A Place for Aspiring Writers of Fiction blog. We parked the Panzermobile to take a look around.

Cheryl has a great post about formatting your brand. It's her opinion that your name is your brand.

She has several book covers as examples of how authors have used their names as their brand. There are covers with different fonts and font sizes for book titles and the author's name. According to Cheryl your name should be the same size or larger than the title.

So tootle on over to A Place For Aspiring Writers Of Fiction and learn about using your name as your brand.