The SLUSHPILE Blog

One of the things that (Oh, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, btw! and Happy New Year!) reading anything and everything that has to do with publishing and marketing has brought me is the inclusion in a pod newsgroup (courtesy of Aaron Shepherd, author of Aiming at Amazon – and, yes, I know his cover [...]

Book Review: The Shack by William P. Young — Rating 1 Star
First, I’m not going to do a Market Analysis as I normally do when doing a book review because the book has been on the best-seller list for some time and I think it suffices to say that the publisher (in this case, Wind [...]

Over the past couple of days I have been reading ‘The Shack” by William P. Young. This is a book I have avoided reading since buying it in July. Why? Because after my purchasing it but before reading it, I was informed that the author portrayed God as a human being in a woman’s form. That [...]

With the Christmas Season now in full swing and the big day itself only 12 days away, I must warn you that my blogging will be a bit spotty for the next two weeks or so.
As usual, I’m running behind. No presents bought yet. The nativity scene, tree and decorations go up today (that’s the game [...]

Gail MacMillan’s ebook Passion and Prejudice put out by Awestruck Books has won The Long and Short of It Review’s Book of the Week.
Congratulations, Gail!
Jim Spurr has turned in the first five chapters of the upcoming third and final book in his Great Lakes, Great Guns Historical Series. I’m anxious to carve out some time [...]

As a follow up to the article I posted yesterday, I’d like to present an interview by What They Think with Lightning Source (POD provider) President David Taylor. I think in contrast to the big publisher lay-offs it’s quite interesting.
Lightning Source President
 David Taylor Talks about
the Book Industry
By: Cary Sherburne
 December 1st, 2008 — In June, the [...]

Layoffs at Random House,
Simon & Schuster

By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer Hillel Italie, Ap National Writer – Wed Dec 3, 5:39 pm ET
 

 NEW YORK – The economy has crashed down on an industry once believed immune from the worst — book publishing — with consolidation at Random House Inc., and layoffs at Simon & Schuster and Thomas Nelson Publishers.

“Yes, [...]

Follows are outlines for the two workshops I’ll be doing at the anual Florida Writers Association Conference in October, 2009. Please forgive the messy formatting. Copy and paste does not come out well in Word Press:
WORKSHOP I: – WRITING
NOTES ON POV — UNDERSTANDING POINT OF VIEW AND HOW TO PROPERLY TRANSITION POINT OF VIEW
1.     Understanding [...]

As we are at a standstill awaiting on our Library of Congress Number for Skylar Burris’ upcoming second release An Unlikely Missionary, and as we’ve decided that since the Christmas sales season will be for the most part gone before we can release it, and have opted for January and a 2009 copyright date, I’m [...]