To all readers and writers…
I spend time communicating with readers and writers around the world about all sorts of things. I have this luxury because I’m a full-time writer. Here’s a list of ways to reach me. Don’t be shy. I enjoy your questions and comments. There are several ways to contact me:
From This Website…
…you have two options: The most personal (that is, less public) is good old-fashioned email. The more public (in the sense that I probably will publish it if you pay attention to the rules below) is to write comments to blog posts. (Beware! I use spam filters in both cases and heavily censor commercial messages from web-traveling salespeople. And your first blog comment will require my approval, so if the WordPress auto-filters don’t work, mine well.)
For emails, you can use the contact webpage – your return email will never be divulged. Moreover, I don’t keep lists in order to spam you with stuff later.
If you have emailed me and have not yet received a reply, it’s usually because I need an assistant, not because I’m ignoring you. Be patient. I try to respond to all reasonable emails (emphasis on “reasonable”)—if you take the time to write, I figure I should make time to reply. Please, never send attachments unless I’ve previously okayed them—I won’t even open your email if there is an unsolicited attachment.
For readers wishing to contact A.B. Carolan, who writes our YA sci-fi mysteries, you can also use my contact page. I’ll forward the email to him (he’s a bit reclusive, you know).
Your comments to blog posts are always welcome, but please keep them clean. I accept that a reader might disagree with me, but I don’t accept foul language. (For more rules, see below…especially if your comment isn’t posted.)
Social Networking…
Although I’m not often online at the sites, I’m a member of LinkedIn and GoodReads. (Microsoft bought the first and Amazon the second, both take-overs a turn-off for me.) I’m no longer on Facebook or X (aka Twitter). I also have an author’s page on Amazon and Goodreads. (Recent blog post titles are indicated on all three of these websites for your convenience – you can also use this website’s RSS feature if that’s available to you.) I update this website as often as possible so that readers can follow new book releases and other news about my author-friends and me.
(If you want to discuss some topic with me, please use the information given above this “social networking” subtopic.)
Reviews…
You to Me: I now review only the books I’ve read for R&R and like well enough to review. DO NOT query me for a review of your book via email (contact page or otherwise). I post my reviews to my blog and only rarely to Amazon or another site. Older reviews of books will appear in the “Book Reviews” or “Mini-Reviews of Books” archives of my blog.
Me to You: Going the other way, if you would like to write an honest review of one of my ebooks, go to the contact page and send me an email query for a free copy. (I’ll choose the most convenient way for me to do that. No MS Word or PDF files will be sent.)
Interviews…
You to Me: If you are an author, agent, editor, or publisher, and would like to have an interview appear here in the blog category “Interviews,” shoot off an email to me with a brief bio. (I tend not to accept people offering services or products – fair warning!) I’ll return a list of questions with instructions (adjust your spam filter accordingly). You don’t have to answer them all (but enough to be interesting) and can add some of your own – I reserve the right to decide if they’re appropriate. (More procedural details accompany the list of questions.)
Me to You: If you are interested in interviewing me for a blog or some other publication, just drop me an email using my contact page. I’ll try to fit you in. It helps if you have a list of questions and/or suggested topics. It also helps if these questions are included in the email because I’m leery of attachments. I don’t do live interviews, not even for money. (Okay, I’ve been interviewed on a podcast and on the telephone – I’m talking about radio or TV.)
Check out my interviews on other sites for a glimpse at what makes me tick:
interview by Black Heart Magazine
interview by Feathered Quill Book Reviews
interview by the Indie Crime Scene
interview by WorkingWriter.com’s Berneta L. Haynes
interview by BookSmugglersDen.com
Blog…
My blog is where I write mostly op-eds commenting on current events in the publishing world, reading, writing, and the publishing business, but you will also find short stories, book and movie reviews, and interviews. It’s all free information that’s available that you could potentially use.
Comments to blog posts are generally welcome, but please respect the following rules:
No comment with foul language or pornographic innuendos is accepted. I try to keep this website PG-13. Please help me in this effort. For example, your marketing spiels about hot dates, porn, and ED drugs will be speedily trashed!
I also try to keep my blog commercial free. Help me in this effort. No marketing comments are accepted. Period! Don’t try to disguise them either. My spam filters will recognize the keywords used by marketeers; if they don’t, I will. In particular, posts about SEO, WordPress plug-ins, and other general website improvements aren’t acceptable. I’m sure there are many creative website gurus out there, but I already have trusted consultants who help me with this website.
Please refrain from making comments in languages other than English. That’s unfair to readers who don’t know your language and hinders continued discussion if a thread is started. I apologize for any inconvenience this might cause. I know a few languages, but I’m no polyglot. Let’s all use English so everyone can understand the comment thread. (Even though I’m a writer, I won’t hold incorrect spelling or grammar against you – the world is interested in your ideas, not your lack of a spell-checker.) All posts in other languages besides English will be eliminated. Sorry.
Please comment on just the particular post. Please, no generalities about how great the blog is, or how you’re going to recommend it to everyone. That wastes everyone’s time, including mine. You can start your comment with a simple “I agree” or “I disagree” or something similar (even just a “Hi Steve” tells me you’re not spamming the Universe – I don’t test to see if you’re a robot), but readers (and me!) will want to know your thoughts about my post. Zero information comments will ALWAYS be eliminated. I really don’t need any gratuitous pats on the back other than your reading the blog, but I welcome comments that contribute to the conversation.
Please also note that some comments are held automatically by WordPress’s antispam software, so if yours doesn’t appear immediately and is acceptable as part of the conversation (i.e. it follows the above rules), I will fix the problem. Also, your first blog comment has to be approved by me. From then on, you might sail through, unless WP flashes the red light and calls the cops (with their spam filter), or I catch you breaking one of the above rules.
Please don’t think you have to agree with me. Intelligent debate can be refreshing in these crazy times, and I respect other people’s opinions. Keep the discussion to the topic in the blog post, though.
Follow these rules if you want to join the conversation. Doing so will make the blog a pleasant experience for every reader. Thank you for your understanding.
For my or other authors’ participations in the blog experience, consider the following:
Me to You: If you are a blogger and would like me to make a guest post to your blog, drop me an email summarizing your blog info, what you might be looking for, and your rules for submission.
You to Me: If you would like to make a guest post to my blog, just shoot me an email with the proposed post as part of the email text, not as an attachment. I’ll let you know if it’s acceptable, but I reserve the right to edit.
Like a particular blog post? Use it, or repost it, or call me your guest blogger, but give me credit. Credit for the post and links back to this website are the only suggested payment. You are also free to quote from a post if you give me credit.
Where have all the political posts gone? Starting 8/24/2021, op-eds with a purely political orientation will be posted on my second blog, Pub Progressive. The same rules of engagement as above apply, but this author site’s blog will now only focus on reading, writing, and publishing topics. This might upset some readers and authors; others might breathe a sigh of relief.
Authors do have opinions, sometimes strong ones. Maybe it’s better that they just creep into their prose as important themes? I don’t know. I certainly don’t do fluff in my fiction, and my characters often express opinions often contrary to my own. Editors and publishers in the traditional publishing industry, not self- or indie publishing, certainly prefer that fiction authors aren’t opiniated, so that has to bias modern prose in traditionally published works toward fluff.
In any case, this new website is an experiment. At the very least, it will help me keep things organized.
So…reading, writing, and reading topics are found in this site’s blog, and politically oriented op-eds at Pub Progressive.
The Business of Writing…
Have questions about writing? This website might not be your best choice, but check out my blog archive “Writing”—I might serve up some unconventional ideas and opinions there you won’t find elsewhere. Some writing topics are also mentioned in a few of my book reviews.
Course on writing fiction. You can download the free PDF, or I’ll send you the PDF upon request. The compiled lessons might be helpful to writers and also interest readers who want to know something about writing and publishing fiction. (This document is continuously updated and is in its eleventh revision – see the entire list of free PDFs on the “Free Stuff & Contests” webpage.) I’ve written and published a lot of fiction, and I have something to say about how to do both, but my opinions can be a bit contrary to what all those “gurus out there” or other authors will tell you at times. Just remember mine are completely honest, not misleading, and come from an indie and small-press author’s perspective. Check out the course. It’s free! What do you have to lose?
Some useful websites:
Note: These are useful websites where the parties concerned offer trusted services and/or products. (Links come and go. If the link no longer works, please inform me by using my contact page.)
Carrick Publishing (editing and formatting)
Sara Carrick–Illustration and Design (book cover design)
Penmore Press (small press)
Black Opal Books (small press)
Book Buzz (online book marketing)
Castelane (video trailers and other book promo material)
Draft2Digital (an aggregator and a more trusted ebook publishing alternative than Amazon)
monkeyCmedia (website services)
Jeniffer Thompson–Smart Publishing for Smart Authors (marketing)
BookSmugglersDen (news and information for readers and writers)
WakingWriter (Berneta L. Haynes’s author interviews and other writing news)
Smashwords (an aggregator and a more trusted ebook publishing alternative to Amazon)
Bookpleasures (review site)
Bobbie Christmas (improving your writing)
Jameson whiskey (a taste of Eire, thrice-distilled)
Mail Chimp (email newsletter service)
Bushmills whiskey (another taste of Eire)
Guinness beer (the traditional Irish beer – a full stein is a meal)
Hanna Hats (good wool hats for winter, made in Donegal, Ireland)
Lectures, book clubs, reading groups, etc…
To get a flavor of my talks, here’s a YouTube link. (Talks can be given at any of the above events.)
I find all the activities mentioned in this section’s title more interesting than book signings. For the latter, the reader always plays a secondary and more passive role compared to the host bookstore and the author. Writers don’t really get to know their readers and their opinions in that kind of setting. In lectures to small groups with Q&A time, there is more reader-writer interchange. (That occurred in the example above, but the TV channel didn’t include the Q&A, perhaps because of audio difficulties or time limitations.)
Book clubs and reading groups are even more reader-oriented. In all of the above, the participants either are reading, have read, or want to read one or more of the author’s books. They have opinions and questions about that reading that I love to hear.
Consequently, if you want a lecture with a Q&A session on something relating to my writing or the publishing business from a writer’s perspective, or if you’re in a book club or reading group and want a sit-down discussion session, contact me via email with details and I’ll see if we can set something up. “With details” means approximate location (never divulge anything like specific personal information in a first email), how many might be attending (I prefer smallish groups that allow more interaction), the proposed time of the meeting, which books or topics your group might want to discuss, and, of course, a return email address.
I reserve the right to decline your invitation. Some locations might be off limits, for example (North or South Pole, nudist camps, war zones, ET motherships, etc.). Topics that are definitely off limits include: witchcraft, astrology, vampires, werewolves, romance, porn, abortion, pseudo-science, politics, and religion. Although I might be interested in or even have strong opinions about some of these topics, or they might arise naturally in a discussion, I believe that they shouldn’t be the focus of the discussion.
Note: In many of my later books, I’ve included suggested questions for book clubs and discussion groups to consider.
Book freebies! If you’re trying to decide whether a book in my oeuvre is appropriate for your group, query me via my contact page with the name of the group, and I’ll send you a freebie for your perusal. If you’re in a small enough book club, I can even provide free ebooks for the members to read. I require an email list of your members so I can send a special Smashwords coupon to each one for a copy. That list will be deleted as soon as I confirm each member has her or his copy (I respect people’s privacy).
Event publicity. Your group will receive some free publicity because I’ll announce the event on my “Home” web page!
Book fairs and other events…
Sometimes. You won’t see me at big trade shows, though. Or events sponsored by big publishing conglomerates. (I’m only a member of International Thriller Writers. While they hold events and publishers are affiliated – Black Opal Books, one of mine, is an example – the author members organize the events.) When I participate in an event, I’ll announce it on my “Home” web page so that you’ll see it when you first land here. I’ll try to announce it in other places too. I love to meet and talk with readers about reading, writing, and publishing, either online or in person.
“Press Kits”…
A “Press Kit” is now available (more just a bio and a list of books). You can find it in the list of free PDF downloads on the “Free Stuff & Contests” web page. (This list also includes free fiction and my little course “Writing Fiction.”)
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!