Crowdfunding for Tips for Authors

To start, ask yourself a couple questions.

First: “Do you want your book to sell?”
Second: “Do you want to sell your book?”

These questions illustrate vastly different mindsets. Most authors want their book to sell. Few are willing to actively sell their book.

Self-published means self-promoted. If you want your book to sell, you must sell your book. There is no magic formula that will compel people to hand you cash. Authors need to employ all the same marketing strategies to promote a Kickstarter campaign as they do when promoting their books.

Earlier this year I used proven business skills to successfully launch a Kickstarter that raised over $3,000 for my debut novel in just 30 days. In this post, I share my marketing tips.

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Movies Based on Banned Books

Banned books are trending on social media and in the news. Parent groups concerned about the content in books stage protests and overrun school and library board meetings. If you’re not a reader and want to know what this banned book whoopla is all about, have I got a surprise for you. Many banned books have been made into movies!

Common refrains from book banners are, “Books should have a rating system, like movies” and “Books for adults should be kept separate from books for children.”

Both of those things already happen! Books are rated and organized according to age-appropriateness and reading level. There’s no way a child perusing picture books would accidently stumble across a western, a romance, or even a Christian fiction novel because they are all shelved in different parts of the library.

But my question to book banners is, “If the books are so bad, how come no one is trying to ban the movie?”

Below, I’ve outlined the basics of how books are organized and catalogued in schools and libraries. I’ve also included lists of popular movies based on banned books for each category. Continue reading


Celtic Cat Myths and Legends

I’m in the process of putting in a fairy garden. At the outset, I did not realize it would be a multi-year process.

Last summer, I removed enormous juniper shrub. It was easily 30 feet across. But on July 19th my cats were poisoned. Speculation and conjecture filled the neighborhood with everyone chiming in with a new theory about how or why it happened. Tabby pulled through, but Storm died.

I buried Storm at the site of my future fairy garden. After creating a cat-sized mound over the grave, I told my son, “This will be Storm’s Garden. Her ghost will probably spend all day catching fairies and ripping off their wings.”

The problem with that sentiment is, as onery as Storm was, fairies like cats. In Scotland and Ireland there are legends of cat-sìth—mythical fairy cats. Continue reading


Idaho’s Banned Books

There are several problems with banned books lists, the first of which is that they keep getting longer. The American Library Association (ALA) reported a record number of book bans in 2022. Last year there were 1,269 attempts to ban books, up from 729 in 2021 and 156 in 2020. And they just keep coming.

The other problem is deciding which list to check. Do you want children’s books, novels, classic literature, or nonfiction? Do you want books banned anywhere in the United States or only those banned in your state? Do you want a list of the most banned books of all time or just those that were banned last year? How about a list of banned books that are over 100 years old? Or better, how about a list of 100-year-old books that were banned last year? 

After a lot searching, I’ve created a list of 83 books recently banned in the State of Idaho. Continue reading


Natural Egg Dyes

The Ostara Sabbat marks the end of the dark half of the year. In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, Eostremonath was named after Eostre (Ostara in Old High German). Eostre is maiden goddess of dawn and the spring. At the equinox a feast is celebrated in her honor, replete with offerings of colored eggs. Exchanging eggs was thought to ensure abundant crops in the coming autumn and Saxons exchanged colored eggs as a talisman representing new life. The eggs were consumed in Eostre’s honor.

A favorite way to celebrate the holiday is by dying eggs. If you feel adventurous, skip the dye kits available at the grocery store and use vegetable dyes. It’s a fun way to connect with our ancestors and lets kids of all ages feel like a potion master in their own kitchen!

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City Spotlight: Viola

My most recent article, “Viola: Here, Gone, and Coming Back” appears in the March 2023 issue of IDAHO Magazine. The article contains Viola history, ghostly run-ins, and interviews with current businesses and residents, along with a little hope for the future. Locally, IDAHO magazine is available at BookPeople of Moscow.

Purchase a copy directly from IDAHO Magazine for just $6 here:
Buy it now!
OR
Purchase only the Viola article for $1.99 here:
Viola—Spotlight – IDAHO magazine

Thank you for supporting Idaho businesses and Idaho authors.


Klara’s Journey on Kickstarter

I just launched Klara’s Journey on Kickstarter! On the Kickstarter website you’ll find:

The trailer was created by Damonza and is absolutely amazing. You definitely don’t want to miss it!

In addition to the trailer, there’s a video describing the project, my project budget, images of the map and the calendar created for the novel. You’ll even get a peek at the initial inspiration for the novel. (Hint: It started with a song!) I even posted the first editorial review . . . and it’s good. Really, really good!

Kickstarter allows you to pre-order both ebooks and paperbacks. Books will ship the last week of May. As a bonus, all paperbacks will be autographed before they’re shipped.

Pre-order on Kickstarter today!

 



Book Review: Poems from the Asylum

Poems from the Asylum

Edited and arranged by Janelle Molony*
Introduction by Jodi Nasch Decker**

List Price: $19.99

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*Janelle Molony is Martha’s great-granddaughter.
**Jodi Nasch Decker is Martha’s granddaughter.

Poetry, Insanity, and a New Religion

In 1927, Martha H. Nasch underwent a secret medical procedure. Cryptic family notes and correspondence refer to her operation but never give details. As she recovers, Marth complains that she has lost her appetite and food has become tasteless. These events coincide with the discovery that her husband, Louis J. Nasch Jr., was having an affair.

With no more wrong with her than “a case of nerves” and a signature from her adulterous husband, Martha was committed to an asylum. For nearly seven years, Martha was patient-inmate #20864 at the St. Peter State Hospital for the Insane. The real shocker is, Martha wasn’t insane. Continue reading


Yuletide Traditions

Early Germanic calendars were lunisolar, meaning they combined both lunar and solar aspects. In the Runic calendar, the New Year begins with the first full moon after the winter solstice. The first month of the year is Aefterra Geola (After Yule). The last month of the old year begins with prior full moon and was called Aerra Geola (Early Yule).

Multiple sources attest to the importance of the winter solstice in determining the New Year. However, it’s less clear as to whether or not Yule was celebrated specifically on the solstice. Since the Germanic calendars were set according to the timing of the solstice, there is a good argument in favor of holding Yule in conjunction with the solstice. However, there are other traditions to consider. Continue reading