Author Archives: Debbie Burke

About Debbie Burke

Debbie writes the Tawny Lindholm series, Montana thrillers infused with psychological suspense. Her books have won the Kindle Scout contest, the Zebulon Award, and were finalists for the Eric Hoffer Book Award and BestThrillers.com. Her articles received journalism awards in international publications. She is a founding member of Authors of the Flathead and helps to plan the annual Flathead River Writers Conference in Kalispell, Montana. Her greatest joy is mentoring young writers. http://www.debbieburkewriter.com

True Crime Thursday – Thanksgiving Reading

Posted on by

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

Thanksgiving turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to Kill Zone friends!

While you’re waiting for the bird to roast, how about reading a book with Thanksgiving as the centerpiece?

After all, it’s a True Crime not to read!

Here’s a list of holiday-themed books compiled by the Memorial Hall Library in Andover, MA. Some are mysteries, some are histories. Some are older, some more recent.

Thanksgiving Night-A Novel, Richard Bausch, Harper Perennial, 2007. The tagline sounds promising: “Will Butterfield can’t believe it. His 75-year-old mother is threatening to jump off the roof. Again.” But reviews are mixed.

Billy Lynn’s Long Half Time Walk, Ben Fountain, Ecco, 2012. This book juxtaposes war, sports, and social commentary. It won the National Book Critic’s Award and became a film in 2016.

This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiiving, David J. Silverman, Bloosmbury, 2019. Historian Silverman reexamines Thanksgiving from the Native perspective.

Turkey Trot Murder, Leslie Meier, Kensington Cozies, 2017. The 24th book in the long running Lucy Stone mystery series, featuring a small-town newspaper reporter.

Strangers at the Feast, Jennifer Vanderbes, Scribner, 2010. A novel about the colliding worlds of suburban privilege and urban poverty.

Mayflower Lives: Pilgrims in a New World and the Early American Experience, Martine J. Whittock, Pegasus Books, 2019. Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing.

Thanksgiving, Janet Evanovich, Harper Collins, 2009. A romantic classic originally published in the 1980s.

The Cat Who Talked Turkey, Lilian Jackson Braun, Berkley Reprint, 2004. From the venerable cozy series featuring felines that solve murders.

An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, Roxanne Dungar-Ortiz, Beacon Press, 2014. Recipient of the National Book Award. A “bottoms up history” describing effects of colonization on the Native population.

The Ghost at the Table, Suzanne Berne, Algonquin, 2007. A novel about conflict among siblings over their mother’s suspicious death 25 years before.

The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler, Vintage Reprints, 2002. A classic originally published in 1985 and made into a 1988 Oscar-winning film with Geena Davis.

A Great and Godly Adventure, Godfrey Hodgson, Lume Books, 2017 (original publication PublicAffairs, 2006). History focused on the pilgrims’ mission to spread religion to the new world.

The Ice Storm, Rick Moody, Back Bay Books, 2002. A grim satiric novel about two affluent suburban families whose dysfunction comes to a head during the turbulent era of Watergate and the Vietnam war. Later made into a 1997 film.

A Catered Thanksgiving (Mystery with Recipes), Isis Crawford, Kensington, 2010. A turkey blows up, killing a wealthy patriarch whose heirs are worried about being cut out of his will.

Thanksgiving-The Biography of an American Holiday, James W. Baker, University of New Hampshire Press, 2009. A cultural, historical analysis of Thanksgiving.

The Thanksgiving Visitor, Truman Capote, Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1996. An illustrated, read-aloud story for ages 6-12.

~~~

Photo credit: Dennis Wilkinson on Flickr

Today I give thanks to the fascinating folks I’ve met here at TKZ. I’m grateful to share thoughts and experiences, and appreciate the ongoing writing education generously offered by my smart, insightful TKZ colleagues!

Wishing you and your family a day of blessings, good food, and good reading!

~~~

P.S. Tomorrow, 11/29/24, I’ll be at an international Zoom Book Launch party, hosted by UK author Yvonne Battle-Felton. Authors from the US and UK will introduce our new books. I’ll read from Fruit of the Poisonous Tree. You’re all invited!

Zoom link: https://bit.ly/booklaunch2024autumnedition

The time is 8-10 pm GMT. Here’s a link to convert to your time zone: https://greenwichmeantime.com/time-gadgets/time-zone-converter/

I’d love to “meet” TKZers if you can attend!.

Small Town Author Finds Success in Paris-Interview with Janet Skeslien Charles

Posted on by

Janet Skeslien Charles
Photo credit: Eddie Charles

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

Every time I think I must know or have heard of every Montana author, I meet a new one. This summer, I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Paris-based author Janet Skeslien Charles, who wrote the international bestseller The Paris Library, and her new book, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade.

Turns out Janet grew up in the little town of Shelby, Montana, population 3200+.

The streets of Shelby must have seemed empty the day of her talk because a number of residents made the three-plus hour trip to Kalispell to see her.

They’re understandably proud of their hometown author who is probably Shelby’s biggest sensation since the heavyweight boxing championship there in 1923 between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons.

Janet and her charming French husband Eddie live in Paris where she immerses herself in history and culture from World War I and II when her books are set. She visits cemeteries where the dead from those wars are buried. Her meticulous research was evident in her slide show with many black and white photos and historic documents from those eras.

Since many TKZers read and write historical fiction, I thought Janet’s insights and experiences would be helpful to learn about and she graciously agreed to be interviewed.

Please welcome Janet to the Zone.

Debbie Burke: Congratulations on the success of your books! Please share how a small-town Montana girl wound up in Paris.

Janet Skeslien Charles: Thank you, Debbie! As you noted, I grew up in a small town near the Canadian border. Glimpses of the outside world came from my neighbor, a war bride from France, as well from my grandmother’s jigsaw puzzles with their images of French castles. Each week, my mother drove my grandmother, who’d never learned to drive, to the grocery store and the library. From these treks, I understood that books were as nourishing as food, and that the library was a window to the world. These influences inspired me to study French in high school and college, then apply for a teaching job in France. I first worked in eastern France, in Mulhouse, then in the suburbs of Paris.

Anne Morgan

DB: Your books are fiction yet are based on real life women who lived in Paris in the early 1900s, notably Anne Morgan, daughter of millionaire banker J.P. Morgan, and Jessie Carson, a NYC librarian. How did you learn about them and their humanitarian missions?

JSC: In 2010, while researching Dorothy Reeder, the librarian who stood up to the Nazis during World War II in The Paris Library, I discovered that during the Great War, an American librarian named Jessie “Kit” Carson traveled to France, where she created something that did not yet exist here – children’s libraries. After the war, she transformed ambulances into bookmobiles. I’d lived in France for over a decade and had never heard of Carson or the organization that hired her – the American Committee for Devastated France. (In French, the group was called Le Comité américain pour les régions dévastées, or CARD. Members called themselves Cards.) Several Cards received the War Cross medal for courage under fire. I knew I had to write the story.

In 2019, I traveled to the Morgan Library and the New York Public Library to learn more about Anne Morgan and Jessie Carson. There is a lot of information about Anne Morgan, but very little about Jessie Carson. Luckily, the Cards wrote many letters and kept journals, so was able to find more material about Carson.

DB: Why do you think your books resonate so much with readers?

JSC: My readers love libraries and know how important reading is to people of all ages. They enjoy learning about women’s war efforts that sadly have been left out of history books. Jessie Carson was a children’s librarian who changed the literary landscape of France by creating libraries with open stacks and children’s sections. She also paved the way for a library school to train the first French female librarians. Yet both in France and the US, she is unknown. I hope that my readers and I will change that.

DB: Please describe some of your research.  How did you blend actual history with the fictional tale?

JSC: I read books about World War I and memoirs by volunteers such as Mary Breckinridge, who went on to create the first comprehensive healthcare system in America. Breckinridge also wrote letters home, and described the situation and her surroundings very well. I read works by French civilians who described the brutal occupation of German soldiers. (Before reaching this book, I had no idea that northern France had been occupied during World War I. According to a CARD report, French children had “skin disease due to malnutrition or practical starvation… and curvature of the spine due to the fact that the Germans made them work in the fields and abandoned trenches.” ) Correspondence between Anne Morgan and her longtime love, Anne Murray Dike, helped me understand the Cards’ personalities.

Bombs destroyed schools and homes. Of course, at that time, there was no radio or television. Books were really the only form of entertainment. So Jessie Carson’s libraries were vital to the community. These children needed to learn how to laugh and play. They needed the enjoyment and escape that only reading could bring. Photos of the children through the years show a progression as they gained weight and learned how to smile again.

Reading the letters and memoirs helped me create the vocabulary and personalities of the volunteers. Documents about how women would be good at library work because they could “type reports and dust the books” underlined the challenges and contemptuous attitudes that the women faced. It is hard to describe the process of blending fact and fiction. Though I invented the dialogue, I used the women’s words from their diaries, letters, and memoirs. I had to tighten timelines and could not write about all the amazing Cards. So perhaps fictionalizing is about making these kinds of choices.

DB: When you visited historic sites, which one made the most meaningful impression on you and why?

Bierancourt
Photo provided by Janet Skeslien Charles

JSC: I was very happy to travel to northern France to visit CARD headquarters in Blérancourt. During the war, the chateau was in ruins. Now, it houses the world’s first and only Franco-American museum, with a large exhibit about the Cards. It was humbling to see how this group of 350 women rebuilt this part of France during and after World War I. Many aid groups left right after the war in 1918, but CARD remained to train French teachers, nurses, and librarians before leaving in 1924. This is the centennial of the Cards handing over the reins to Frenchwomen.

DB: Do you have favorite tips for writers doing historical research?

JSC: Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call people. I called every Breckinridge on the East Coast in order to find the descendants of Mary Breckinridge. We are so lucky to live in an age where information is digitized. The CARD reports were all available on line, as were Anne Morgan’s letters to her mother. It is easy to contact museums, historical societies, and libraries to get the information you need. Don’t wait!

DB: What are you working on now?

JSC: I’m waiting to get the copy editor’s notes on my latest novel, THE PARISIAN CHAPTER. It follows a young woman from Montana who lands a job in the American Library in Paris, where she writes her own Parisian chapter.

Lily Jacobsen and her best friend Mary Louise are determined to establish themselves as artists – Lily, a novelist, and Mary Louise, a painter. They share a tiny sixth-floor walkup and survive on brie and baguette.

When Mary Louise abruptly moves out, Lily feels alone in the City of Light for the first time, and is in need of rent money. As the programs manager, Lily is honored to follow in the footsteps of her French neighbor Odile, who infused her childhood with tales of heroic World War II librarians. Here in the storied halls of the ALP, Lily meets an incredible cast of characters – her favorite author, quirky coworkers, broke students, and high society trustees – each with their own stories… and agendas.

The story will come out as an audiobook and features eleven different voices, offering a panoramic view of a real historic institution, and revisiting characters from both of my novels set in France. Lily’s story is a love letter to the artist’s life, the importance of friendship, and leaving home only to find it again. I can’t wait to share it with readers!

Debbie, thank you again for taking the time to interview me!

~~~

Janet, thanks for taking us on a journey to historic Paris. I love your line, “I understood that books were as nourishing as food, and that the library was a window to the world.”

Website: jskesliencharles.com

Sales links for The Paris Library:

Readers in the US: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Books A Million | Kindle | Google Play
Readers in Canada: Amazon | Indigo | Kindle | Kobo | Apple
Audio: Audible | Google Play | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Sales links for Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books A Million | Bookshop | Kindle | Apple | Google Play | Kobo
Audio: Audible | Audiobooks | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Libro | Spotify | Apple Books

Instagram: jskesliencharles

Substack newsletter: https://jskesliencharles.substack.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jskesliencharles

~~~

TKZers: Did Janet’s experiences spark fresh ideas for your own research? When you read historical fiction, what qualities make it come alive for you?

Greatest Hits from the 2024 Flathead River Writers Conference Part 2

Posted on by

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

Late Breaking News: This morning, I’m being interviewed by radio station KGEZ (Kalispell, Montana). To listen live, visit KGEZ.com and click at the top left side of the home page.  Pacific 8:10 a.m., Mountain 9:10 a.m., Central 10:10 a.m., Eastern 11:10 a.m.

Or you can listen later by scrolling down KGEZ’s home page to “In Case You Missed It.” 

~~~

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the inspiring Flathead River Writers Conference.  If you missed Part 1, here’s the link.

Today features more highlights from the other excellent speakers.

~~~

Maggie Doherty

Freelance writer Maggie Neal Doherty is a future thinker who knows how to take the initiative. When she realized the local newspaper had no female reporters, she pitched them with her qualifications and scored a regular op-ed column. She also initiated a new book review section at a time when many publications are cutting back on book reviews.

She specializes in finding unusual niches like “Duct Tape Diaries,” a publication by a major raft manufacturer that features articles about river rafting. With two small children, she came up with the quirky angle of waste disposal during family raft trips: “How I Got My Kids to Poop in a Bucket.”

Questions Maggie asks before querying editors:

  • What is the story? It’s not just the topic of the article but a compelling reason behind it.
  • Why is it important now?
  • Why are you the person to write it?

If the topic is “evergreen” (useable at any time), why is the story timely now?

Editors want to know you can deliver the story, meet deadlines, and write within the required word count.

Maggie’s strategy has resulted in credits in The Guardian, Washington Post, High Country News, LA Times, and more.

~~~

Keir Graff

Chicago-based Keir Graff had an enviable former career where he “got paid to read” as the senior editor of Booklist, the primary source for libraries when deciding which books to buy. Now he cowrites middle-grade mysteries with James Patterson, as well as adult and children’s fiction under his own name and with a coauthor under the name “Linda Keir.”

Keir revealed the secrets of a working writer, sharing the hard truth that few authors can survive on book sales alone. He cautions that “writing a book is like buying a lottery ticket that takes a year to fill out.”

He compares writing-related work to an investment portfolio. If you have only one income source and it dries up, you’re out of luck. If you diversify into related fields, like ghostwriting, editing, coaching, teaching, speaking appearances, etc., those other income sources take up the slack if book sales drop. Using a strategy of wearing many hats, Keir has forged a successful career.

While Keir gave straight talk about the challenges, he also offered encouraging, actionable tips to make a living as a writer, including:

  • Be the best writer you can be.
  • Leverage your expertise. Give talks about your areas of expertise, knowledge of a place, specialized abilities, etc.
  • Price yourself accordingly. Start low then increase fees as your experience and reputation expand. Ask clients and speaking venues, “What is your budget?”
  • Ask for help, advice, and introductions. Always be gracious if the answer is no.
  • In addition to writing, do five things every day. “Things” can be querying, promotion, outreach, networking, following up on queries, building platform, etc.
  • Set a goal. Once you achieve that goal, set a new one. Keep setting and achieving goals.

~~~

Zoe Howard

Zoe Howard is an associate literary agent with the Howland Agency and a literary publicist with Pine State Publicity. She walked us through DIY publicity angles for launching a book. She shared sample  questionnaires used by PR firms.

About the author:

  • Who are you?
  • Where are you from? If you moved, why?
  • How do you describe yourself to people?
  • What is your day job/work?
  • What gives you the ability to write this book at this time?
  • What interview questions would you like to be asked?

About the book being publicized:

  • What are one-word topics about this work?
  • What themes are you striving for?
  • What inspired this work?
  • What timely topics intersect with this work?
  • What research did you do?
  • How do you talk about the work with different people, e.g. friends, colleagues, your mom?
  • Who helped this book along the way?

What does publicity look like:

  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Events
  • Awards
  • Essays/excerpts
  • Momentum

~~~

Joanna MacKenzie

“Keep readers hungry but give them cookies,” advises literary agent Joanna MacKenzie of the Nelson Agency. IOW, make readers eager to find out what happens next but give them snacks in the form of hints that will pay off during the journey.

Joanna gave a shout out to TKZ alumnus Larry Brooks and his book Great Stories Don’t Write Themselves.

She offered a rare peek inside an agent’s head with 16 questions she asks when considering a manuscript.

  1. Is the writing good?
  2. Is there a market?
  3. Am I excited to turn the page?
  4. Am I confused?
  5. Is the premise unique?
  6. Is this the right point of view for the story/scene?
  7. Do I care about the character?
  8. Are there meaningful internalizations? Is there too much “show” and not enough “tell”? (Note: Refreshing to hear an agent break from conventional wisdom)
  9. Are there both internal and external arcs?
  10. Is there a sense of place?
  11. Is there a compelling conflict?
  12. Is the dialogue trying too hard to be realistic?
  13. Is it plausible?
  14. Is there a beginning, middle, and end?
  15. Does every scene move the plot and character forward?
  16. How much work are we going to have to do?

Digging into characters, Joanna says, “If the antagonist has time to lean, they have time to be mean. If they’re not doing anything, put them to work making life more difficult for the hero. Make sure every scene includes a shift in who has the upper hand.”

~~~

The criteria I often use for measuring a conference’s success is the level of interaction among attendees. Sometimes introverted writers are shy about talking with strangers or even admitting they write.

Not at this conference! Conversations were friendly and lively. People freely shared stories about their projects, struggles, successes, interests, and personal lives.

Old friendships were rekindled and new ones made. Business cards and emails were exchanged.

Exhilarating, energizing, and exhausting. You can’t ask for better than that.

~~~

TKZers: In your experience, what makes a successful conference? Want to give a shout out to your favorite?

~~~

Today is election day. Remember to vote.

~~~

For readers who like to hold a physical book in their hands, Debbie Burke’s new thriller Fruit of the Poisonous Tree is now in paperback as well as ebook! Sales link. 

Cover by Brian Hoffman

True Crime Thursday – No Honor Among Thieves

Posted on by

Photo credit: dolldreamer

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

Book piracy is a widespread, growing problem that cuts into authors’ already-dwindling incomes. Back in 2020, I wrote about book piracy.

In a recent ironic twist, an ebook piracy site was hacked, per a July, 2024 Scamicide post by attorney Steve Weisman.

Yup, the pirates got pirated.

The site itself Z-Lib didn’t suffer as much as the 10 million users of the site who had their information stolen. Steve’s post reports the theft of:

…usernames, email addresses and passwords, the stolen data also included Bitcoin and Monero cryptocurrency wallet addresses for the nearly ten million people affected.

Z-Library was a major site funded by donations that offered free access to copyrighted works including pirated material. In 2022, the FBI temporarily shut down Z-Library.

According to blog.acer.com:

Z-Library, the shadow library project that provided access to millions of textbooks, novels, journal articles, and magazines was shut down in November 2022 when U.S. authorities seized a number of the organization’s domain names. Despite the efforts of law enforcement, the project never fully went away. Z-Lib even staged an official comeback in early 2023 by working around the previous domain name issues. However, the project has been disrupted again by further FBI domain seizures.

In other words, if law enforcement seizes pirate domain names, just register new domain names and go underground on the dark web.

Are Z-Library, Z-Lib, and its clones legal?

In this article, DOIT Software says:

It is illegal in many jurisdictions since it offers pirated content and violates copyright regulations. Users are encouraged to consider the ethical implications of accessing content from platforms like Z-Library, which often involves the distribution of copyrighted materials without proper authorization.

The clone site Z-Lib charged to access its shadow library, meaning users entered their personal and financial information. That valuable cache of info made a tempting target for other thieves who hacked in and stole it.

That raises an interesting philosophical discussion: If thieves steal from other thieves, is it a crime? Or poetic justice?

Are there degrees of guilt? How would you rank these perpetrators?

  1. Pirate sites that steal copyrighted works from authors;
  2. Users who pay pirate sites;
  3. Hackers that stole from the pirate site and its users? 

TKZers, the floor is yours.

I’m traveling today and won’t be able to respond to comments until later.

Greatest Hits from the 2024 Flathead River Writers Conference Part 1

Posted on by

2024 Flathead Writers Conference
Photo credit: David Snyder

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

The 34th Flathead River Writers Conference was October 5-6, 2024. The conference is always good, but this year was stellar with superb speakers and enthusiastic interaction among attendees.

As I drafted this post from my notes, it kept growing with more information that needed to be included. As a result, it ran way too long for a single post. So I’m dividing it into two. Today is Part 1 of the greatest hits from the event. Part 2 will follow in a couple of weeks.

~~~

Debra Magpie Earling

Debra Magpie Earling (Native-American author of The Lost Journals of Sacajawea and Perma Red) gave the moving keynote which set the tone that continued through the entire weekend.

Debra opened with a description of “wonder”, which she defined as “surprise mingled with admiration.” She went on to tell a story of wonder about the last Christmas she spent with her dying mother. On a peaceful Montana night, she described their visit as like “being inside a snow globe.”

Her mother said, “When I die, I’ll send you a sign. A hummingbird.” Debra went along with her mom but had her doubts. After all, hummingbirds are common at her home during summer so how would she ever know which one was the sign?

Nevertheless, after her mother passed, the following spring Debra set up many feeders and waited.

It was a strange summer. Other bird species came and went. Crows sat on the feeders. But not a single hummingbird appeared.

On the evening of her mother’s birthday in July, Debra and her husband were sitting outside and Debra said, “Well, I guess she didn’t send the sign.”

At that moment, the only hummingbird of the year appeared. It flew to Debra’s forehead and hovered for a few minutes then left.

Debra and her husband asked each other, “Did you see that? Is that what I think it was?”

With that anecdote, she summed up the magical wonder of storytelling, the conference theme.

While talking about where inspiration comes from, Debra said, “The muse is a lot of dead people who want their stories told.”

That sentence sent chills through me. Recently I’ve considered writing historical fiction. Did Debra send me a sign that it’s time to explore the past?

~~~

Danica Winters

Million-selling Harlequin romantic suspense novelist Danica Winters told the audience, “This is not your grandmother’s bodice ripper.” Romance sales account for an astounding $1.4 billion each year.

Today’s variations are limitless: contemporary, historical, erotica, Young Adult, thriller/suspense, LGBTQ+, dark romance, paranormal, holiday, fantasy/romantasy. Even serious social issues like human trafficking find their way into romances.

Why are they so popular? Danica believes, “They are everyone’s escape. They bring joy and make people laugh. Romance is a promise. We writers are entertainers.”

Danica sells many more paperbacks than ebooks, unlike other genres where ebooks dominate. She added an interesting market detail: When Walmart changed its shelving to hold 6″ by 9″ books, that prompted publishers to shift book production to that same size because Walmart is such a huge market.

While most romance readers are women, Danica said about 20% are men, often in law enforcement and the military. Turns out even alpha males like escape, too.

~~~

Leslie Budewitz

Three-time Agatha winner Leslie Budewitz focused on crime fiction with an excellent summation of differences within the genre.

  • Mystery is “What Happened?”
  • Suspense is “What’s Happening?”
  • Thriller is “What Might Happen?”

Leslie has her finger on the pulse of the cozy market and talked about shifts within the genre, including a new trend of millennial cozies that include some swearing and adult language.

For a cozy, the semiofficial acceptable body count is three. So far, Leslie has only had two murders in one book.

With 19 published books, Leslie must keep track of two amateur sleuth series and multiple standalone suspense novels. She developed an ingenious system to avoid repetition of plots and characters. For each book, she creates a spreadsheet with the following headings:

Victim              Killer/Method             Suspects          Motive            VGR

What is VGR? The Very Good Reason why the amateur sleuth gets involved in a crime.

~~~

Kathy Dunnehoff

Only a truly gifted writing teacher can make grammar entertaining. That describes longtime college instructor Kathy Dunnehoff, author of bestselling romantic comedies and screenplays.

Kathy offered nuts and bolts hacks to improve writing productivity.

  • Measure your success by what you control, not by factors outside your control. Success is the number of words you produce.
  • Use a writing calendar to track production either by word count or minutes…as long as that time is spent actually writing. Watching goat yoga or doomscrolling doesn’t count.
  • When you don’t write, record your excuse in the calendar. Talk about making yourself accountable!
  • Recognize procrastination in its many disguises: research, reorganizing your office, talking about writing rather that writing, etc.
  • When revising, try the “Frankenstein Method” (from Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat Writes a Novel): Start a new document for the second draft, then copy and paste sections from the first draft.
  • There is no extra credit for suffering!

~~~

On Saturday evening, our local indie shop, the BookShelf, hosted a reception for conference attendees and speakers. Gather a bunch of writers in a bookstore and we’re more excited than dogs at the dog park. Even though people mock-complained their brains were overloaded and they were exhausted, no one wanted to leave. All that creative energy kept us buoyed and eager for the following day.

Come back here in two weeks for Part 2 of the Greatest Hits from the Flathead River Writers Conference. Highlights include freelance article writing, side hustles to supplement income from book sales, anatomy of a publicity campaign, and 16 questions an agent asks when assessing a manuscript.

~~~

TKZers: Do any of the ideas mentioned resonate with you? What is your favorite productivity hack?

~~~

Conferences are also a good venue to sell books and I did!

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, Cover by Brian Hoffman

 

 

Please check out my latest thriller Fruit of the Poisonous Tree at this link.

Lessons in Business Cards and Bookmarks

Posted on by

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

Today, we’re crawling down in the weeds to discuss a couple of minor details about promotion and marketing. Will these help you sell thousands of books? Nope. Probably not even hundreds. But every book sale is precious and small details matter.

Having been in business, I have decent marketing knowledge and experience. But self-promotion is a big problem for me so I’m always looking for ways to make it less awkward.

My new book, Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, #9 in the Tawny Lindholm Thriller series, published October 1.

That prompted me to rethink business cards and bookmarks. Yup, I warned this post was going to be about teeny-tiny details.

Author business cards are necessary. They lend a professional tone that says you’re a serious writer. Even if you haven’t yet published any books, it’s still a good idea to have cards printed with your name and contact info (email, website address, social media handles) to give to people you meet at conferences, book events, classes, etc.

Note: for privacy and safety, I don’t recommend printing phone number or physical address on business cards. If I want a particular someone to have my number, I handwrite it on the card.

Designing cards is a trial-and-error process. Mine have gone through many iterations. I use Canva (free) to design them. I started on the cheap with plain vanilla, one sided black & white. Next upgrade, I tried a slightly fancier, glossy finish version with a background pattern of books. My name, website, and email were printed on the cute background. But for aging eyes, lack of contrast made the text too difficult to read. Then I tried color but only one side. The most recent versions are two-sided and color.

Yes, each version is progressively more expensive, but the expense is deductible.

Business cards make an important impression at conferences, signings, teaching gigs, appearances. When you meet dozens or hundreds of new people, you want to stand out so they remember you in a positive way.

A couple of years ago, I discovered thumbnails of book covers make a much stronger impression than a straight business card. People turn the card over and say: “Did you write all these books?” “Yes.” “Wow! Cool!”

Whether you have one book or many, IMHO, adding cover images to your business cards is worth the expense.

A recent design is two-sided, full color. Side 1 is my name and the kinds of writing I do (novelist, journalist, blogger), my website address, social media links, and email.

Side 2 has thumbnails of book covers and sales outlets.

Here’s a sample with six book covers.

As I kept adding to the series, the second side of the card got crowded. At eight books, there was no more room for expansion.

 

Hmmm, did I need to consider a larger format such as a bookmark?

Many authors give out bookmarks, but I never had because I don’t use them myself. Why should I waste money on something that likely ends up in the wastebasket?

Did I have a lesson to learn? Yes!

As an experiment, I had color bookmarks printed. One side was my name, photo, website, and where to buy books. The second side showed thumbnails of eight book covers.

Last January, Barnes and Noble opened a new store in our town and hosted signings by local authors. Hundreds of eager readers showed up because there hadn’t been a major bookstore in the area since Borders shut down in 2011.

In addition to the books on my table, I laid out business cards and bookmarks. I noticed people didn’t pick up many cards, but they did pick up bookmarks.

Maybe I needed to rethink my attitude that bookmarks are a waste of money.

With the launch of book 9, again I’d run out of space for covers.

How to feature the new book?

I put the cover of Fruit of the Poisonous Tree on one side with my name, website, and where to buy. On the second side were the covers for the rest of the books.

I started carrying a pocketful of bookmarks in addition to business cards.

Pro tip: buy clothes with pockets.

Zumba friends have always been supportive of my books. When I offered the new bookmarks at Zumba class, people snapped them up. Several women asked if they could take additional ones to give to friends and their book clubs. One is heading to Arizona for the winter and wanted to share bookmarks with her reading group there.

The pocketful I’d brought to class quickly ran out. I brought more to another Zumba class with different people. Ran out again. People I didn’t know asked questions about my books. Passersby in the gym stopped to listen to our conversations and asked for bookmarks.

Why will people turn down a business card but eagerly accept a bookmark?

Here’s the first lesson that I needed to learn:

Many readers like and use bookmarks. Because of tunnel vision, I had discounted their importance.

 What I want or like doesn’t matter; what the reader wants or likes does matter.

In salesmanship, there are five steps to making a sale:

  1. Attention.
  2. Interest.
  3. Desire.
  4. Conviction.
  5. Decision.

Bookmarks accomplish two of the five steps necessary to make a sale.

The second lesson: people perceive business cards and bookmarks in different ways.

A business card is more than an identification and contact tool. It sends a subtle psychological message. When you accept a salesperson’s card, their unspoken request is, “You are going to buy this car from me, aren’t you?”

That’s why it’s called a business card. If you take one, that indicates an interest in purchasing goods or services.

Accepting their card is their first step in breaking down a buyer’s sales resistance.

When someone doesn’t want to buy or isn’t sure, they may be reluctant to take an author’s card because they don’t want their acceptance to be perceived as a commitment that they’re going to purchase your book. The implied pressure, even though it’s slight, can leave people with an uncomfortable impression of the author.

We don’t want that!

A bookmark is different. It’s a colorful, useful gift, not an obligation to buy. It’s a friendly reminder of books they may want to read. Reading is a pleasurable activity. That leads to a positive association with the author.

We do want that!

Of course, you’d like them to buy your book, but a bookmark is accepted in a different spirit than a business card. It’s a welcoming, open-ended invitation, not a commitment.

Watch the difference in people’s reactions when you offer them a business card vs. a bookmark.

Business cards and bookmarks serve different purposes and authors do need both.

It’s too soon in my experiment to tell if bookmarks lead to more sales but so far the favorable reactions from readers lead me to believe they will. Anything that increases reader interest and engagement can’t hurt.

~~~

TKZers: Do you use business cards, bookmarks, or both? Do you notice a difference in people’s reactions? Any tips to share about effective personal contact between authors ans readers?

~~~

Cover by Brian Hoffman

 

Jerome Kobayashi, 80, worked long and hard to achieve his dream cherry orchard on Flathead Lake. But now someone wants to destroy that dream.

Can investigator Tawny Lindholm and attorney Tillman Rosenbaum prevent that?

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree  

Ebook $3.99 or FREE on Kindle Unlimited

True Crime Thursday – Mishandled DNA Affects Hundreds of Colorado Cases

Posted on by

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, CCA-SA 3.0

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

In September 2023, reports were made that “star” forensic scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods mishandled DNA evidence. In October 2023, she was placed on administrative leave. In November, 2023, after almost 30 years with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Woods retired to avoid termination.

CBI launched an internal affairs investigation into Woods’s conduct and the results were released on June 5. 2024. 

Some of their findings included:

“In 2014, a coworker questioned Woods’ testing of evidence in a case and reported concerns to a Technical Leader.

In 2018, Woods was accused of data manipulation. In response, she was removed from casework and given other duties pending a review of the accusation.

After the review, Woods was later reinstated.

The results of the 2018 review were not escalated to the former CBI Director or CDPS leadership.

CBI has initiated additional investigations into the circumstances surrounding the 2018 process.”

 

As of the date of the report, 654 cases had been identified as affected by Woods’s data manipulation. The report goes on to say:

“[The investigation] revealed that Woods manipulated data in the DNA testing process, leading to incomplete test results in certain cases. It also found she concealed her activities from the technical review process. She engaged in the deletion and alteration of data, and she failed to provide thorough documentation in case records related to certain tests performed.

While the review did not find evidence of Woods falsifying DNA matches or fabricating DNA profiles, Woods deviated from standard testing protocols and cut corners, raising concerns about the reliability of her testing.”

The investigation continues, with Woods’s cases back to 1994 being reviewed. CBI said they would not release further information because of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Parts of a November interview between Woods and investigators were played by 9News.com in July 2024. Initially, Woods’s answers were: “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember.” When asked why she altered or omitted test results, she answered, “I think I’m burned out.”

Later in the interview, her answers were more revealing:

“The implications were not even a thought and I think that for that stuff it, it was like click done, move on, click done, move on and not even, not even an additional thought…I don’t know any of these people. I don’t have any reason to pick this one and not the next one that I took forward all the way through whatever.”

[Investigator] Hassenstab asked her how she felt about what she was doing and if she felt bad about it. 

Woods said, “I didn’t even think about it. I didn’t even think about it until five weeks ago.”

Five weeks ago refers to when she was removed from her position and retired shortly afterward.

According to CNN, a week after Woods’s resignation, a federal lawsuit was filed alleging James Hunter was wrongly convicted of burglary and sexual assault in 2002 based on “fabricated and false [hair] evidence” examined and tested by Woods.

Westword.com reports a lab worker recounted an incident in 2014 or 2015 when “Woods allegedly threw away fingernail clippings that were assumed to be evidence.”

Woods came in, brushed the fingernail clippings in her hand, and threw them in the biohazard or garbage bin,” the worker said, telling investigators she was “99 percent” sure the clippings were evidence.

James Karbach, director of legislative policy and external communications for Office of the State Public Defender says, “This has become about more than just one longstanding analyst tampering with evidence and deleting data, but it also is about the systemic failures of an accredited state crime lab, the people, and the processes that should have stopped this from happening over and over for years…there have likely been hundreds of public defender clients who were given intentionally manipulated data and who were prosecuted with unreliable evidence.”

Misconduct raises concerns not only of wrongful conviction, but also that guilty parties may walk free. If courts rule DNA evidence was mishandled, cases can be thrown out.  

~~~

TKZers: Have you heard of other crime labs where evidence can’t be considered reliable? Does this scenario inspire story ideas? An innocent person wrongly imprisoned? A killer skates because mishandled evidence is thrown out?

~~~

Cover by Brian Hoffman

 

 

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree is a legal doctrine that says if evidence is illegally obtained, it’s not admissible in court. It’s also the title of Debbie Burke’s new thriller.

Preorder sales link. 

New AI Survey Results from Draft2Digital

Posted on by

 

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

Almost 20 years ago, a giant communications company decided to outsource their phone customer service to other countries. I learned about this from a friend who worked there. The company announced massive layoffs of employees because overseas labor costs were cheaper than using American workers.

Then, to add insult to injury, those employees whose jobs were being eliminated were required to train their replacements.

Not surprisingly, outsourcing didn’t work out too well. There was massive consumer backlash because neither the customers nor the new workers could understand each other on the phone. But the damage had been done. Thousands of American workers lost their jobs and the company’s reputation took a big hit that it never recovered from.

That kind of parallels today’s situation with writers and AI. Our work is being scraped from illegal pirate sites and used to “train” AI to replace us.

Some people joke that AI (artificial intelligence) is “artificial insemination.” Writers are being screwed without receiving any enjoyment. They didn’t even buy us dinner first.

The Authors Guild (AG) has been on the forefront to try to protect writers from unauthorized use of copyrighted works to train AI. In July, 2023, they sent an open letter to the CEOs of AI giants including Open AI, Meta, Microsoft, IBM, and others with a petition signed by 15,000 authors. AG also testified before the senate, decrying pirate sites that are used by tech companies to “train” AI models.

The genie is out of the bottle. AI is here to stay. The question now is: can the genie be forced to compensate writers for their words?

Here’s an excerpt from the Authors Guild statement on AI:

“The Authors Guild believes that the right to license a work for AI training belongs to the author of the work unless the rights are expressly granted in an agreement.”

A bill called “The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act of 2024” is under consideration by the House of Representatives. This only requires disclosure by anyone who uses copyrighted work to train AI. It does not address fair compensation for that use.

Recently Draft2Digital (D2D) did a survey among authors, publishers, and others to determine how they felt about the use of AI and what authors would consider fair compensation for use of their work. D2D CEO Kris Austin kindly gave permission to quote from the survey results (full results at this link).

Here are some highlights:

1. “Why do authors oppose AI training?” 

AI companies are unethical/untrustworthy – 25%
Harms creatives & people – 25%
Ethical Objections to AI – 19%
Other Reasons – 14%
I worked hard for my work and it’s mine – 10%
AI has no place in creative work – 8%”

2. “Do authors consider current scraping methods fair use?”

It’s not fair use – 49%

Ethically questionable – 42%

Fair use – 5%

No opinion – 3%

3. “Do authors know that AI companies might be willing to pay for training data?”

Unaware – 57%

Aware – 38%

Unsure – 5%

4. “Are authors interested in the opportunity to sell their AI training rights?”

Yes – 31%

No – 25%

Maybe – 45%

5. “Does it matter to authors how the end product LLM (large language model) will be used?”

Yes, it matters. – 76 %

Not as long as I am compensated – 22%

No opinion – 2%

The next two questions concern whether authors would consider having their work used for non-competitive markets (places that would not affect the author’s income) and competitive markets (e.g. an AI-written mystery could sell on Amazon right next to your book but at a much lower price).

6. “If the use case is non-competitive, will authors consider selling their AI training rights?”

No Amount of money will ever be enough – 49.5%
Open to non-competitive opportunities – 50.5%
Would accept less than $100 per book – 11.1%
Only if $100 or more per book – 39.3%
Only if more than $5,000 per book – 14.1%”

7. “If the use case is competitive, will authors consider selling their AI training rights?”

No amount of money will ever be enough – 62.8%
Open to competitive opportunities – 37.2%
Would accept less than $100 a book – 6.3%
Only if $100 or more per book – 30.9%
Only if more than $5,000 per book – 15.8%

Here’s a summary of D2D’s position:

D2D’S STANCE
Until we see significant reforms, especially around greater contractual protections and transparency governing use, intellectual property protections, and rights restrictions, Draft2Digital will not offer AI rights licensing opportunities.

·       It’s a positive development that AI developers are seeking to pay for licenses

·       Better protections are needed before D2D or its publishers can entertain such licenses

·       AI training rights are an exclusive, valuable subsidiary right under the sole control of the author or publisher

·       The rights-holder deserves full control over decisions related to if, when, and how their books are used or licensed for AI training purposes.

·       Authors and publishers should refuse AI rights licensing contracts that are opaque, or that provide inadequate protections for author concerns

·       AI developers must stop training upon books obtained without the rights-holder’s permission; otherwise, they will face continued reputational harm in the eyes of their customers and the creative community

·       LLMs previously trained upon unlicensed content, and the applications built upon them, should either negotiate retroactive licensing settlements with rights holders, or scrap their LLMs and rebuild them from scratch by training upon licensed content only”

“At this time, Draft2Digital will not offer AI rights licensing opportunities.”

I believe most authors agree that compensation should be paid and payment should be retroactive to include past unauthorized use.

The devil is in the details.

·       How to implement systems that detect/determine use of copyrighted material?

·       How to enforce fair use?

·       How much are authors paid?

·       What if an author doesn’t want their work used for AI training  under any circumstances?

The communications company my friend worked for treated their employees shabbily but at least they told workers in advance that they had to train their replacements.

Authors and publishers were never told in advance. Tech giants simply started using creative works without permission nor compensation to the creators. AI-written works currently flood the marketplace that was already crowded. Our incomes suffer.

We study, rewrite, and work hard to create meaningful content and deserve fair compensation.

Those devilish details will be fought out in courts for years to come.

~~~

TKZers, how do you feel about AI’s use of your creative work to train LLMs?

Please share your answers to any or all of the questions.

~~~

Cover by Brian Hoffman

 

 

Debbie Burke writes her thrillers without AI.

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree is now available for preorder at this link.

 

First Page Critique – Untitled Comedic Crime/Black Comedy

Posted on by

 

by Debbie Burke

burke_writer

Please welcome a Brave Author (BA) from South Africa who submitted a first page described as “Comedic Crime/Black Comedy.” Read and enjoy then we’ll discuss.

~~~

It was an icy Monday, the day they came for him.

I’d crunched across the frost that covered the office courtyard.

I’d been reconciling the company bank statement when I felt, more than heard, a silence fall over the open plan office. Two men stood in the doorway. Plain clothes. But they had that look about them. They wore ties and reeked of government.

Millie, in reception, gestured towards the glassed-in cubicle at the end from which Primo conducted the affairs of the firm.

The men nodded as they passed our desks. Primo pushed his chair back and stood, arm stretched, hand open to greet them. A broad smile fixed on his florid face.

Was I wrong about the men?

They shut the door. I glanced around at my colleagues. Everyone was watching. Some gawked unabashed, others peered surreptitiously over the top of their PC’s. We couldn’t hear the words, but we could witness the gestures, expressions, and movements. I bet Primo regretted all the glass now. His motive was to keep an eye on us, but now we had prime seats for a mime spectacle.

Primo tapped the pack of Peter Stuyvesants on his desk, plucked out a cigarette and lit it. He took a deep drag, then with an arrogant tilt of his head, blew smoke rings to the ceiling. He waved at the two chairs, but the men kept standing. The older man spoke.

I imagined he was inwardly chanting, deny, deny, deny.

Finally, the smile slid off his face, and he slumped into his chair.

It didn’t take long.

One gent unplugged the computer and tucked the chassis under his arm with ease. The other helped Primo out of the chair.

Primo’s eyes found mine with an unblinking stare. A vein throbbed at my temple. I was a rabbit caught in the headlights. The tax tip-off line’s anonymous, but he knew. I was the only one who could know. The bookkeeper knows everything.

He walked through the office, shoulders squared, but he was stiff and lurching. He could feign innocence, but the evidence I provided was irrefutable. I looked away, but lifted my gaze to watch his retreating shape. His stink of cigarettes was now laced with the sour smell of fear.

He faltered, then looked back at me, and with an intense fevered stare, he dragged his finger across his throat in a slitting gesture.

~~~

Okay, let’s dig in. I found a lot to like about this first page. The opening sentence sets the time of year without over-describing the weather. The tone is foreboding.

By the second and third paragraphs, the first-person narrator is established as a bookkeeper for a company under investigation by government officials.

“I felt, more than heard, a silence fall over the open plan office.” That’s a fresh way to describe the auditors’ arrival, showing the palpable effect on all employees who immediately know something is very wrong. This also establishes the physical setting in a few words. Well done!

“They wore ties and reeked of government.” Another quick, efficient description.

“…the glassed-in cubicle at the end from which Primo conducted the affairs of the firm.” The honcho is quickly revealed as the probable antagonist to the “I” character.

Peter Stuyvescent cigarettes and blowing smoke rings at the ceiling are great specific details that show Primo’s arrogance. You don’t need to also tell the reader. I suggest deleting the adjective “arrogant.”

“I bet Primo regretted all the glass now. His motive was to keep an eye on us, but now we had prime seats for a mime spectacle.” This observation by the protagonist further characterizes Primo, shows the resentment of the workers, plus raises suspense. What spectacle is unfolding? The reader is pulled in by curiosity and tension.

As Primo is being escorted out, he looks at the protagonist.

“A vein throbbed at my temple. I was a rabbit caught in the headlights…I was the only one who could know. The bookkeeper knows everything.” Skillful, economical summation of the protagonist’s role in the story problem.

Up until now, the reader knows very little about the “I” character, including the gender.

First person narrators need to slip in the character’s name, gender, age, and other pertinent details. That’s challenging to do in a way that sounds natural and doesn’t stop the story flow. BA’s voice is adept enough that I’m willing to wait a bit to learn that info.

For now, the emphasis is his/her worry. “I” blew the whistle on Primo’s misdeeds. “I” can’t maintain eye contact with Primo out of fear and/or shame. The throat-slitting gesture sends a clear threat of retribution, raising the anticipation and stakes. Primo will be back to take his revenge and “I” is scared but also feels satisfaction.

“His stink of cigarettes was now laced with the sour smell of fear.” Good sensory detail that reinforces the mood.

BA has an economical yet vivid way of setting up the location, problem, conflict, stakes, as well as introducing the protagonist and antagonist. The characterizations are well drawn with specific details and gestures that reveal far more depth than a bland driver’s license description of height, weight, hair color, etc.

My suggestions are small tweaks.

One typo: PC’s should be PCs w/o an apostrophe. S indicates plural, ‘s indicates possessive.

Suggested edit: It was an icy Monday, the day they came for Primo. Use his name rather than the vague pronoun “him.”

Original:

I’d crunched across the frost that covered the office courtyard.

I’d been reconciling the company bank statement when I felt, more than heard, a silence fall over the open plan office.

Two sentences in a row that begin with “I’d” is weak. Plus there’s a minor bump in the transition between the courtyard and office. Maybe combine the sentences.

Suggested edit: “I’d crunched across the frost that covered the courtyard, settled into my cubicle, and was reconciling the company bank statement when I felt, more than heard, a silence fall over the open plan office.”

Delete “But they had that look about them.”   You show that look so you don’t need to tell it also.

Suggested edit: “Two men stood in the doorway. Plain clothes. They wore ties and reeked of government.”

Original: Was I wrong about the men?

Suggested edit: Unless this question has meaning later, I suggest you delete it b/c the narrator clearly is right about the men’s purpose. 

Original: I imagined he was inwardly chanting, deny, deny, deny.

Suggested edit: I imagined Primo was inwardly chanting, deny, deny, deny.

Original: I was a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Although it wouldn’t stop me from reading, rabbit (or deer) caught in the headlights is a bit cliched. You can find a better line.

Original: “The tax tip-off line’s anonymous, but he knew.”

Suggested edit: “The tax tip-off line is anonymous” rather than “line’s”. When I first read it, I thought it was possessive rather than a contraction.

The genre is described as “comedic crime/black comedy.” This page had a foreboding tone, but I didn’t pick up on “comedic.” With the Brave Author’s skill, I expect that will be introduced soon.

Congratulations on a compelling first page that checks off many important boxes: a story problem, interesting characters in opposition, a life-altering disturbance, tension, high stakes, and a promise of more complications.

Brave Author, thanks for the chance to read this and best wishes for publication.

~~~

TKZers: What are your impressions of this first page? Would you turn the page? Any ideas or suggestions for the Brave Author?

Making Your Author Website Friendlier

Posted on by

Photo credit: mariakray at Pixabay

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer 

An author’s website is their billboard to the world. This is the one-stop site where readers, potential readers, editors, agents, and others go to learn about the author and their writing.

Social media sites owned by others can ebb, flow, and sometimes disappear altogether (remember My Space?). Or they can suspend or ban your account.

Your website is your one constant showcase as an author.

That’s why it’s important to make it as welcoming, friendly, and accessible to the broadest number of visitors.

And that includes those with disabilities.

Recently on the Author’s Guild discussion thread, the topic of ADA-accessible websites came up. Rumors had started on social media that authors could be fined if their sites weren’t accessible per standards set by the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) act.

Apparently, the source behind those rumors were individuals and possibly law firms threatening suits against authors.

As far as I can tell from my research, there is no current law requiring author websites to be ADA compliant.

The ADA does require websites and mobile apps for federal, state, and local governmental bodies to be ADA compliant.

We’re all aware of the necessity for businesses and buildings that are open to the public to meet ADA requirements, such as barrier free entrances, ramps, restroom facilities, etc. Also new construction must meet ADA standards for physical accessibility with hallways wide enough for wheelchairs, etc.

But until recently I hadn’t given much thought to online accessibility.

With increasing use of websites and apps to do everyday tasks like making travel reservations, ordering merchandise and services, applying for employment, bill paying, banking, etc., consumers need to be able to actually use those online services to take care of the business of living.

What if you have low vision or are color blind? What if you can’t read the text onscreen because of poor contrast or small fonts? What if you can’t see the color images onscreen that instruct you to click here?

Despite recent successful cataract surgery, my close vision is not good even with reading glasses. I’m frustrated with online sources that feature elaborate but undecipherable fonts. Often they feature tiny text. Worse is low contrast text on a background that’s a similar color (light gray text on dark gray background). Moving icons or videos that flash past, or other quirks can make content hard to read.

I just ran across an appealing website about wine with many gorgeous professional photos. The background image is a beautiful bunch of grapes. But…the text is 6 point font in white. Small, low contrast text combined with a busy background made it challenging to read. This otherwise stunning site was a disappointment.

If I visit an author’s site and it’s difficult to navigate, I really don’t care how cool it looks. I close the window.

When authors update their websites or create new newsletters, it’s good to be mindful of various disabilities. Here’s an article from ADA.gov with potential problems to look for and suggestions for easier accessibility. Levelaccess.com offers a free color checker test.

Website builders like WordPress offer many different themes. Maybe changing the theme can make your site more welcoming. If you publish a newsletter, review sample templates to find the most attractive and readable options for fonts, background colors, and images.

Because I’m not techie, the goal of my website has always been to make it as friendly and easy to use as possible for fellow troglodytes. I use large, easily readable fonts and bold typefaces.

While I believe the concern over possible fines or lawsuits is overblown, I also don’t want my website to turn off visitors because of issues that make it difficult for those with disabilities.

When I make future updates (or have my web guy make changes), I’ll be more conscious of potential barriers to readers.

As authors, we strive to make it as easy as possible for readers to engage with us and read our work. That starts with a website that friendly to all users regardless of ability. 

~~~

TKZers: Do you have pet peeves that turn you off about a website?

Please share suggestions of how authors can make their websites friendlier.

Have a favorite site? Include a link in the comments.

~~~

Grab Instrument of the Devil, the first book in the Tawny Lindholm Thriller series, for FREE. Offer ends soon.