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Meet Cathy Presland

May 1, 2012 by Dina Santorelli

Today’s featured debut author, Cathy Presland, wants to help you get your business up and running and has written a nonfiction book to show you how to do it.

Name: Cathy Presland

Name of book: Get Momentum Guide to Starting a Business: 30 Days to Turn Your Inspiration to Income

Book genre: Nonfiction/Business & Entrepreneurship

Date published: January 2012

Publisher: Self-published with BookBaby

What is your day job? I run my own business – author, speaker and mentor to inspired entrepreneurs.

What is your book about? How to start a business. I wanted to take what can be a very overwhelming process and break it down into straightforward steps that guide a new entrepreneur through the essentials. My aim was to help readers get their business up and running quickly. And start making income – this bit was important because I found that new business owners who don’t make an income very quickly get very disheartened. I’m sure it’s the same for authors who don’t sell. We lose confidence, and that can stop us from doing the things that matter to get our products out there.

Why did you want to write this book? I had been teaching this material and wanted to get it out to more people in an accessible form. And partly it was simply wanting to write a book. There’s still something magical about it, even if it’s only an e-pub right now.

What would you say is the most challenging part of writing a book? For me, it’s definitely the editing, just the idea that I have to read through those 40,000 words and make them better – although I find that the idea is always worse than the reality. If I chunk it down, it’s not too bad. One section or one chapter. But if I didn’t have to do it at all… that would be perfect!

What kind of research did you conduct in order to write this book? The book was a couple of years in gestation. I’d been mentoring women entrepreneurs, and this came out of my experiences with them. You know that when you find yourself going over the same ground and repeating the same message that there’s something that needs to be said.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Debut Author Q&A, eBooks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Writing Tip #81

April 29, 2012 by Dina Santorelli

Got Oxford comma? Style is in the eye of the beholder. Just when I thought I had a firm grasp of spelling and punctuation, I started working with a London-based magazine that called into question all that I knew to be right and true.

As an American writer, I like my closing quotation marks outside my periods, my “organizations” spelled with a “z” and not an “s,” and my “percents” written as one word, not two. However, I had to make all kinds of concessions as I edited the UK pub, since, as one UK writer reminded me, I should stick to “using US style in US magazines and British style in British magazines.”

But style differences are not only found across the pond. When I submitted Baby Grand for copy editing, the American copy editor stuck in all the serial, or Oxford, commas that I tend to eschew and replaced all my spaced en dashes with em dashes firmly planted, space free, next to the neighboring words (apparently, my preference for spaced en dashes is quite British — go figure).

Style is not really etched in stone. It can be fluid, depending upon your audience. Therefore, as I continue to edit the UK pub, I will keep the magazine’s style guide next to my laptop to keep me from spelling “program” without an extra “m” and an “e” at the end (“programme”). And while I’ll probably continue to use spaced en dashes and leave out the Oxford commas as I write the early drafts of my next novel — since that’s the way I write comfortably — for my final draft, I will add those commas and do a “find and replace” on those en dashes and convert them to em dashes if that is what the American literary world wants.

I’ve always been a big proponent of proper grammar, and I think it’s important that we all strive for correctness. But sometimes there is no “correct,” just “preference.” And in those cases I think you should adhere to the rules of whatever audience you’re writing for. In the end, punctuation and spelling are just structure, guideposts that help readers navigate and understand your words. Your words are what REALLY matter.

Posted in Grammar, Writing Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Should You Invest in a New Head Shot?

April 27, 2012 by Dina Santorelli

Throughout my 15-year freelance writing career, most of my head shots have been amateurish looking self-portraits in which beach towels and assorted other things had to be Photoshopped out in order to at least give the appearance that I’m a professional. The photos weren’t horrible, but they definitely could have been better. However, on a writer’s budget, I just couldn’t justify making the financial investment. Other than for use on Twitter or Facebook or WordPress, there really wasn’t any call for me to present myself as a journalist through a photo. We’re not real estate agents, after all; usually, a byline is sufficient.

That all changed when I became a fiction writer. My head shot would go into my debut novel, would be linked to it forever. Thoughts of an image slightly out of focus, of awkward poses and overlooked beach towel bits went dancing through my head. Egads! Yes, it was time to get a professional shot.

So, yesterday, after doing a no-rain dance, I trekked into Manhattan, careful not to frizz or sweat myself up, and had a professional head shot taken by the wonderful Mark Bennington:

Should you invest in a professional head shot? That decision is certainly up to you and your wallet. For me, it was important for Baby Grand to feature a professional and smart looking photo, a photo I would be proud of, just as I’m proud of my book itself. For me, the head shot is reflective of the care and effort I have put into my book, no different from the book cover or the title or the writing.

Will your book sell fewer copies if you don’t have a professional head shot? Who knows. Probably not? Maybe yes? All I know is I want every aspect of this book to be consistent in its presentation, and the author’s head shot — beach towel-free — is part of that.

Posted in Publishing Process | Tagged , , | 6 Comments »

Meet John Walker

April 24, 2012 by Dina Santorelli

I agree with today’s featured debut author, John Walker, who says writing a book is “a bit like riding a wild Mustang bareback.” Quite the adventure, indeed.

Name: John Walker

Name of book: Shadow Dancing (the first in the Charles and Amanda series)

Book genre: Romance, Invention and Crime

Date published: October 2011

Publisher: Amazon Kindle

What is your day job? Invention, engineering and, of course, writing

What is your book about? In Shadow Dancing, Italian Mafiosi unearth a priceless bronze statue, some 3,000 years old, in the Saharan sands. Smuggled back into Italy, it is sold to a wealthy industrialist. Our heroes get it back.

Why did you want to write this book? To say something positive about our brilliant inventors and engineers, drawing on some of my own experiences and some that might have been. And to explore in some depth the love between people.

What would you say is the most challenging part of writing a book? As they say, when you have written it, you are no more than a third of the way through.

Did you conduct any kind of research in order to write this book (visit certain locales, etc.)? I hardly needed to, since I know England, Italy, Greece and Egypt.

What motivates you to write? Wanting to make a difference.

Did you experience writer’s block? Never, although I spend a lot of time planning the next stage before going to sleep and upon waking up.  It never works out as planned, of course.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Amazon, Debut Author Q&A, eBooks | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Writing Tip #80

April 22, 2012 by Dina Santorelli

Hire a professional copy editor. Some people are surprised when I tell them that I had the manuscript for Baby Grand professionally copy edited.

“But aren’t you an editor?” they ask.

“Yep,” I say. “And as an editor I know the importance of a good copy edit.”

Copy editing, or line editing, is going through a proof or manuscript, line by line, in order to find errors (grammatical, continuity, etc.). Baby Grand just went through copy editing and, as it turns out, was relatively clean (as it should be, since I am, indeed, an editor), but the copy editor did catch quite a few formatting and grammatical (e.g., en dash vs. em dash) issues and asked astute questions with regard to plot and characterization. As I clicked through the manuscript, I kept thinking how happy I was to have had this critical eye go through the copy one last time.

Keep in mind that copy editing is a professional service. It’s not really something you can ask your friends to do for you. On the other hand, anyone can be a “beta reader,” who is also someone who reads your manuscript for errors, but that person will probably not be as meticulous or familiar with style guides as a professional. Both have their place and can be very helpful in making your manuscript the very best it can be.

Professional copy editing or proofreading rates vary per project, and copy editors may charge you by the hour or by the page. For a 300-page manuscript, you may pay something like $600 to $1,000, but, again, pricing depends on the person or company you use and the services needed. It’s probably a good idea to ask around, too, and see if any of your writer-friends can recommend a copy editor whom they found to be affordable, yet thorough. After seeing the kinds of things my copy editor found that escaped my eyes, my advice is not to skimp on the copy-editing. It’s worth every penny.

Posted in Revision Process, Writing Tips | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments »

Advance Praise for ‘Baby Grand’

April 20, 2012 by Dina Santorelli

Here’s a sampling of some of the advance praise for Baby Grand. Thank you to all of you who took the time to read my debut novel. I am grateful for your kindness and humbled by your kind words.

  • “A perfect thriller from Dina Santorelli—heart-stomping, emotion-packed and utterly surprising. Readers will be gripped by the tightly woven story and richly layered characters. A terrific read!”
    —Ellen Meister, author of The Other Life
  • “What an enjoyable read! It pulled me in at the beginning and didn’t let go until the last page. Very difficult to put down! I’m already looking forward to the author’s next book.
    —Joseph Mugnai, publisher, Family magazine
  • “A superb debut for Dina Santorelli. A well-crafted novel that’s also a page-turner. Baby Grand’s a winner; you won’t want to put it down.”
    —Julia Markus, critically acclaimed biographer and winner of the Houghton Mifflin Literary Award for her novel Uncle
  • “Dina Santorelli has the gift of a natural storyteller, and Baby Grand sweeps along at a frantic pace, plunging the reader into a tale with wonderfully real characters you care about. It’s very human, very exciting, and absolutely engrossing.”
    —Chris Nickson, author of the Richard Nottingham series of historical mysteries

Posted in Publishing Process | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Cover Reveal: BABY GRAND by Dina Santorelli

April 19, 2012 by Dina Santorelli

Today, I am THRILLED to reveal the cover for my debut novel, Baby Grand, which will be published as an eBook on Amazon next month. What do you think?


Posted in Amazon, eBooks, Publishing Process | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments »

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