Tattered Essence

The Guardian newspaper has done an article where they offered up eight rules authors should follow to avoid scandals. Here are those eight rules:

1. Do not use the word “memoir” unless you mean it.
2. If you’re not sure whether what you’re writing is a memoir or not, guess what? It’s a novel.
3. No more than half a page of plagiarism per book.
4. Don’t make up exact dates that you can’t remember. Instead, be general: “The most important day of my life was the day of my son’s birth, in the summer of 2005 . . . “
5. Just say no to sending a friend out in public with a wig as you.
6. If you’re in a flame war and you’re about to go sock puppet, take a 10-minute break and go to a coffee shop without a wi-fi facility. Maybe the walk will cool you down.
7. Go ahead and make up dialogue. Everybody except Tom Wolfe does.
8. Pick a name. “Benjamin Black is John Banville” is just not a good look.

You can read the rest of the article by visiting the Guardian site.

If you spend a lot of time on blogs and personal sites then you might have noticed something. There are a lot of people that are selling e-books.

There are even some authors selling e-books.

So I have one question for you. Are e-books books too? Or are they more like magazines? Or pamphlets even?

Should as much stock be given to e-books as there are to books?

I mean seriously? Does anyone read these days. I know that people write. But who are they writing for? Maybe it is just an American thing? Maybe Americans are the ones that do not read! I don’t know. What do you think?

It seems like more people read magazines than books these days. Why do you think that is?

It is because there are more photos? It is because they are basically shorter? The info is in a more compact format. Of course, if that were the case then you would think that a lot of people would read newspapers too. And we know that they do not. So, maybe it is because they are thing and can be carried places easily? Who knows!

Have you finished up your holiday shopping? How many people did you buy a book for? How many people are you going to buy a book for?

Remember that books are great gifts too! And also remember to shop at some indie bookstores. If we all keep shopping at the big discount places there will be no more indie bookstores left. So, be sure to stop in an indie bookstore today. And support a local business!

Do you consider yourself to be a writer? If so, where do you go for writing help? There are a lot of writing groups that meet in various cities. Most times you can find these writers groups at your local bookstores. So, if you are a writer and need some help or want to bounce some ideas off of someone you should look for a listing of writers groups in your area. Another option is to look for online support. You might be able to find a Yahoo writers group or something similar to offer you the help and support that you need.