Tag Archives: Goodreads

How to Read an Anthology

The subject of this post might seem silly, even condescending. You already know how to read, or you wouldn’t have gotten this far into my post.

Perhaps I should have titled it ‘How to Get the Most Enjoyment Out of Reading an Anthology,’ but that’s too long and cumbersome.

I have some experience with anthologies. I’ve read many dozens of them, my stories have appeared in sixteen of them, and I’ve recently co-edited one. Allow me to share my recommended eight steps for thoroughly enjoying an anthology.

  1. Read one of the stories. For most anthologies, the order doesn’t matter. The editors had reasons for organizing the stories as they did, but you can read them in any order.
  2. Ponder the story you just read before going on to the next one. You might need this pondering time to ‘get’ what the author was saying, since it’s not always obvious right after reading.
  3. Jot down some notes about the story, including its most memorable aspects and whether you liked it or not.
  4. Repeat Steps 1 through 3 until you’ve finished the anthology.
  5. Pick your favorite stories. Perhaps there are as many as five or as few as one, but I’m sure you’ll have favorites.
  6. Write and post a review of the anthology online, perhaps at Goodreads or anobii or at the site of the bookseller where you got the book. In your review, don’t be afraid to mention your favorite stories by title and author name. Consider including brief comments about why you liked these stories. If you have comments about the anthology as a whole, include those too.
  7. Look up, online, the authors of your favorite stories. See what else they’ve written that you might want to read next.
  8. Contact those authors who are still alive and let them know how much you enjoyed their story, or ask any questions you may have. Most authors love hearing from fans.

I know this eight-step process seems much more difficult than simply reading the anthology and going on to the next book on your extensive ‘must read’ list. But the act of taking notes on the stories will help you remember them better. Writing reviews will, in time, make you a more discerning reader, able to extract more meaning and enjoyment from stories. Contacting favorite authors could result in good additions to your ‘must read’ list, books you’re sure to enjoy.

Now that you know how to read an anthology, may I recommend one? It’s 20,000 Leagues Remembered, co-edited by yours truly and just released by Pole to Pole Publishing. It’s a sesquicentennial tribute to Jules Verne’s amazing undersea masterwork, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. You can purchase it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, or Kobo.

You have to admit, the process I described is a fine way to read an anthology. You might even call it The Anthology-Reading Method of—

Poseidon’s Scribe

July 12, 2020Permalink

Telling Readers All About You

How much should your readers know about you? In this age of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, when everything private is public, is it necessary to reveal every detail?

Before social media and even before the internet, authors were mysterious. Each one seemed like a magical wizard living in some unknown and hidden cave. A publisher would release a book, but readers wouldn’t know anything about the wizard, and publishers wouldn’t tell what they knew.

In those days, you could read the ‘About the Author’ section on the book jacket or an occasional magazine interview, but that was all you knew. The wizards stayed in their caves, typing away.

Times have changed. If you like a particular author, you can find out home town, number of cats owned, shoe size, political leanings, and a description of that writer’s most recent meal. No more wizards; no more mysteries; it turns out authors are just everyday people with an odd tendency to sling words around.

As a writer, you may still choose to remain a digital hermit, invisible to Facebook, a wizard in your cave. But you’d be going against the trend, and against the current guidance.

The web is filled with advice blogs for new authors. You must have a social media presence. Your readers are curious about you, so you must connect with them. Be authentic; show your audience you’re a real person. A few hours spent on social media will help grow your book sales.

Not all authors follow this advice. One of them, Tom Corson-Knowles, recommends writers shun social media entirely. He argues you’ll achieve better sales by writing better books; staying off Twitter will give you more free time to write; and social media is cramping your creativity.  

Each writer must take the path that seems right, and be willing to change if that’s not working. As for me, I write these weekly blogposts, post on Twitter and Facebook once a week or so, and sometimes post book reviews on Goodreads. I rarely talk about personal stuff on those platforms.  

Although I’d be more comfortable as a mysterious, cave-dwelling wizard, I’m willing to admit things are changing. Almost everyone shares personal details these days, and if I knew I could increase sales by posting a few things, I’d do it.

For now, I’ll reveal one spicy secret. Though I like dogs and (sometimes) cats, there are currently no pets in the home of—

Poseidon’s Scribe

February 2, 2020Permalink

8 Reasons to Comment on Books

Did you just finish reading a book? Congratulations! But your work’s not done. Consider leaving a comment about that book. Let’s discuss why.

We’re in the Age of the Internet now and everything’s interactive. That includes reading books. These days, businesses thrive or fail based on comments left by customers. The writing biz is no different.

Still, I understand why you don’t often comment on books. You’re busy and have many other things to do. There is some effort involved in leaving a comment and it just doesn’t seem worthwhile. I get that.

Consider, though, that you made time in your schedule to read the book. It affected you in some way, good or bad. What if I could give you a good reason to take 2-5 minutes to leave a comment about that book you read?

I’ll do better than that. I’ll give you eight reasons:

  1. It’s easy. Just go to the site where you bought the book, or to Goodreads.com, and leave a comment. It can be brief, but it’s best to be specific about what you liked or didn’t like.
  2. You can. For the first time in history, you can easily leave impactful comments. Before the Internet, you might write a book review for school, an analytical essay in a professional journal, or tell your friends. Most of these actions didn’t matter much to the book’s sales.
  3. Your comment matters. It affects whether other people buy the book. Readers sometimes base purchasing decisions on others’ comments.
  4. You already rate other businesses. These days, companies are always asking to be rated. Authors can’t really do that directly, since they don’t know who’s buying their books; they can’t reach their individual customers.
  5. Your comment influences the book’s promotion. The number of comments and the average number of stars go into website algorithms that cause the book to appear on lists like “You might also be interested in…”
  6. You might connect with the author (if living). Many authors welcome personal contact with fans and exchange correspondence with them. Even some deceased authors have active fan clubs you can join.
  7. Even negative comments help. The author (if still active) will learn what doesn’t work and will strive to correct weaknesses in subsequent books.
  8. Things improve through feedback loops. With tight and near-instant feedback loops, businesses (including writers) can hone their business to better please customers (including readers).

I do have some caveats to think about before leaving a comment. If you’re a friend of the author, consider how and whether your comment might affect that friendship. Also, if you are an author, don’t comment on your own books, and don’t get into flame wars with those who leave negative comments. No good can come from that.

To sum up, consider commenting on the books you read. Make it a new habit: read a book, leave a comment. Every comment helps. That’s useful feedback from—

                                                            Poseidon’s Scribe

September 1, 2019Permalink

Book Giveaway!

There’s just no way to believe this–they’re giving away copies of a valuable, new anthology. I worked hard to get a story in there, and now someone’s just offering it up for free?

Here’s the deal: check out Goodreads between now and November 11th, and sign up for the giveaway. You might win, and they’ll send you a copy without any fuss at all, without you laying down so much as one thin dime. There’s no justice in the world, no justice at all.

catseye_final-72dpiHere’s the enticing book blurb:

Egyptian cats. Victorian cats. Space Cats. Cat stories in pre-history Mexico, grim magical worlds, during the zombie apocalypse, and a typical neighborhood give a glimpse into the mysterious lives of felines. And each cat, whether friend or fiend, believes in this truth: In a Cat’s Eye, all things belong to cats.

Cat-lovers and readers of science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror will find a tale to sink their claws into from an international roster of authors.

Featuring fiction from Jody Lynn Nye, Gail Z. Martin, A.L. Sirois, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Doug C. Souza, Oliver Smith, Jeremy M. Gottwig, K.L. Borrowman, Gregory Norris, Christine Lucas, R.S. Pyne, Steven R. Southard, Joanna Hoyt, Elektra Hammond, A.L. Kaplan, and Alex Shvartsman.

In a Cat’s Eye is purr-fect reading for a dark night–just beware of paws on the stairs.

That mention of “space cats” might be a reference to my story, “The Cats of Nerio-3.”

Anyway, you’re wasting time reading this post when you should be surfing to Goodreads to enter the book giveaway. Go there now. Win the book. There will be plenty of time later for you to thank—

Poseidon’s Scribe

 

November 4, 2016Permalink