‘Tis the season to celebrate cats. Halloween cards and decorations feature black cats sporting witches’ hats, slinking through graveyards, and riding on brooms. Halloween is synonymous with fun—and frights, but for cats, Halloween tricks can seem all too real. Strangers slink through the neighborhood. Unusual smells and horrifying noises fill the air. Costumes turn ordinary people into monsters. Make no mistake, Halloween is a spooky time for cats. Those frights come with an even more frightening history. Continue reading
Author Archives: Khaliela
Book Distribution: What are your options?
Your book is written, edited, and formatted. You’ve purchased ISBNs and barcodes. You have a stellar cover and a pretty spiffy author photo, too. You’re moments away from uploading to Amazon, popping some bubbly, and announcing your book release . . . but have you really thought through the supply chain connections necessary for a successful book launch?
Marketing on your blog, through social media, and spamming your email list is a no brainer. But, how do you get your book in bookstores? There’s no getting around the need to connect with retailers. Therefore, it’s incumbent on you to figure out what kind of distribution system you want. Continue reading
Party Platforms
My political cartoon ran in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News this morning.
After listening to both the Democrat and Republican conventions, I was inspired to find a way to effectively sum up both parties’ platforms in a single sentence. I believe I have succeeded.
Book Review 102: Galleys vs. ARCs
Launching a book with strong word of mouth sales right from day one takes a lot of groundwork done months (and years) in advance. Most people realize they need to post excerpts and teasers on their author website, in email newsletters, and on social media, assuming that reviews will trickle in from readers after publication. If you wait until after your book has been published to post a listing on Goodreads or similar sites in order to acquire reviews, you have waited too long.
Many consumers use reviews to make purchasing decisions. This means authors need to develop a plan to obtain those reviews about a year prior to publication. When sending materials out for review send exactly what the reviewer requests. Some reviewers will accept galleys others require an advance reader copy (ARC). So what is an ARC and how is it different from a galley? Continue reading
Book Review: Gritty, Grisly and Greedy
Gritty, Grisly, Greedy: Stories Inspired By True Crooks And Crimes From My 28 Years As A Fed.
A collection of short stories by Stuart L. Scott
$14.95 available on Amazon.
It’s rare to get fiction and nonfiction all in the same book, but Stuart Scott artfully manages to do both. His book includes 13 short stories, ranging from well researched accounts of actual events, like the “The Easter Massacre Mystery” that occurred in Pullman, Washington in 1949 to fictionalized accounts of events using characters loosely based on parolees he supervised over the years, like “Pinky and the Piper,” the story of a botched bank robbery in Priest River, Idaho. Continue reading
Beyond Terrestrial Podcast
After coming across my article, “Grizzly Ghosts: Tales of the Hoodoos,” I was invited to be a guest on Dan and Lee’s pod cast with ‘Beyond Terrestrial.’ The article covers ghost stories new and old that have been passed around campfires by decades of scouts attending Camp Grizzly as well as some mysterious happenings that occurred elsewhere in the Hoodoos.
Are these all fanciful tales told by rambunctious Scouts? Or is there something darker lurking in the Hoodoo Mountains? Find a stick for roasting marshmallows and sit down by the fire as we swap summer camp ghost stories! Continue reading
Submitting to the AR Catalog
You have written a book. It’s great book, a stellar book, a magnificent book. Yet, it sits on the shelf unsold.
If your intended audience is between the ages of 6 and 18, unless your book is listed in the Accelerated Reader (AR) catalog, it’s unlikely to be purchased by anyone. Teachers cannot possibly be familiar with the plot, storyline, and characters of every book available to school-age children. Because of this, many schools turn to Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Reader (AR) program. The AR software provides assessments that measure comprehension and reading level. Consequently, school and library purchasing decisions are often dependent on AR catalog listing.
Authors hoping to bypass schools and libraries, marketing directly to kids (and their parents) are out of luck. Summer used to be a time for kids to catch-up on ‘fun’ reading. Now, even it has fallen victim to the AR Catalog. Racking-up AR points is highly competitive. Pizza parties and tickets to amusement parks on the line. Many schools allow students to log points for books read during summer break, so most school-aged children simply will not read a book that does not appear in the AR catalog.
In order to be successful with the school-age demographic, authors need their books listed in the AR catalog. But, how does one do that? Continue reading
Grizzly Ghosts
Looking for spine chilling ways to amuse your family during this time of social distancing? My article, “Grizzly Ghosts: Tales of the Hoodoos” was published in the April 2020 edition of IDAHO Magazine. The article covers ghost stories new and old that have been passed around campfires by decades of scouts attending Camp Grizzly as well as some mysterious happenings that occurred elsewhere in the Hoodoos. Continue reading
Covid-19: Surviving Isolation
I seldom panic and wasn’t going to prep. Then both of my kids asked me about Covid-19. And then the President declared a national emergency and the CDC said we should have a month’s supply of “stuff” on hand. And now, we’re supposed to avoid places with more than 10 people.
Thanks to the wisdom of my ancestors, who instilled in me the need to preserve and store large quantities of food, I’m still not going to panic. Some of you may remember the last government shut-down in which I went eight weeks without buying groceries and suffered no adverse effects thanks to my “Mormon Pantry.” At the time, I joked that it was a dry run to see if I could survive the Zombie Apocalypse. Turns out, it was a test run for surviving Covid-19.
For the benefit of my children (and possibly their friends and random strangers) I have created menus and a shopping list detailing the items one person needs to shelter in place for a month. Since most recipes serve four or six, you’ll be eating left-overs several nights in a row, but it beats starvation. Continue reading
Ostara: Eggs and Bunnies
The time of the vernal equinox was auspicious in ancient cultures. In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, Eostremonath was named after Eostre (Ostara in Old High German), the maiden goddess of dawn and the spring. At the time of the equinox a feast is celebrated in her honor, replete with offerings of rabbit shaped cakes and colored eggs. This is because Eostre adopted both the hare and egg as her symbols.
According to legend, a magical white hare wanted to please Eostre by bringing her a gift. After careful contemplation of which gifts to bring, he settled on eggs, however, not the usual white or brown ones. Using his magical powers, he charmed the eggs, so the shells were a variety of pretty colors. In lieu of a basket, he presented his gift in the very same nest from which he stole the eggs. The goddess was very pleased with the gift and bestowed upon the hare the nickname ‘Egg Bringer.’ For this reason rabbits and hares, especially white ones, are sacred to her. Continue reading