http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/billstephens/ Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of- but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards. Robert Heinlein en-us 2009-07-03T19:22:10+00:00 Publishers Marketplace Bill Stephens hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00:00+00:00 http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/images/PM_rssimg.gif http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/billstephens/index.html#20090623125511 Since I never heard the axiom, “ Spontaneity is the Soul of Joy” before I uttered it, I will take credit for it. It has been my mantra for most of my adult life, or so I thought. Spontaneity in children is taken for granted, and often adults suffer its results. Then something happens. With maturity, spontaneity fades into consideration. Into concern. To caution. Thence to calculation, carefulness, and finally withers into stagnation and vegetation. There are real restraints on spontaneity ... Bill Stephens 2009-06-23T16:55:11+00:00 http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/billstephens/index.html#20090502105911 A recent report on the Internet placed the Global Financial Loss during the past year at over $50 Trillion dollars. My question is who lost it and where did it go? All of the earth’s undeveloped real estate is still in place. All of the developed real estate is still here. Earth’s manufacturing facilities, capability, and inventory have not disappeared. The agriculture industry/production potential has not decreased. The global educational system still functions. The entire infrastructure ... Bill Stephens 2009-05-02T14:59:11+00:00 http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/billstephens/index.html#20090428170827 The hypocrisy of the current politicizing of "torture" is just stultifying to any rational person. If we had in custody an enemy-of-the-state with the information to forestall the eminent explosion of dirty bombs already in place in every major city in the US, and said bombs would murder millions of citizens and render all these cities uninhabitable for decades, the plain truth? Anyone of us would personally do whatever it took, including making mince meat, bit by bit, out of this ... Bill Stephens 2009-04-28T21:08:27+00:00 http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/billstephens/index.html#20080723124712 In the article “Using the Amazon Sales Rank” we discussed how to use Amazon’s search engine and the Amazon Sales Rank (ASR) to compile a bibliography of books for use in the “Competing Books” segment of your nonfiction proposal or for a “Comparative Book Survey” to accompany your fiction manuscript submission. Reporting actual copies sold of the selected books provides maximum impact for your submissions. Even though “copies sold” data is difficult to find, you can calculate a useable ... Bill Stephens 2008-07-23T16:47:12+00:00 http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/billstephens/index.html#20080721120236 Amazon’s Sales Rank (ASR) is a powerful tool when searching for competitive books for your nonfiction book proposal or for a survey to accompany a fiction manuscript submission. Amazon has a very comprehensive search engine for finding similar books, but the ASR puts legs under your selections by allowing you to calculate actual sales by copy to show the competing book’s commercial success. Refer to my last article “What You Need to Know About the Amazon Sales Rank” to get a better ... Bill Stephens 2008-07-21T16:02:36+00:00 http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/billstephens/index.html#20080717115701 The Amazon Sales Rank (ASR) is a powerful tool. It determines the commercial viability of any book you might wish to use in the “Competition” segment of your nonfiction book proposal, or for a "Comparative Book Survey" to accompany a fiction manuscript submission. Not only can the ASR indicate how a book ranks in sales to other books, but it can be used to approximate actual copies sold. [Most of the information in this article concerning the ASR was researched using Rampant TechPress and ... Bill Stephens 2008-07-17T15:57:01+00:00 http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/billstephens/index.html#20080518214641 OK, here’s the problem. You are an unpublished author, and an editor has requested a complete manuscript of your novel. They read the manuscript, and they “just love it,” BUT they’re not sure of the market for the book. There is something a little quirky in the book that the editor likes because of its originality, but will it sell? So they take a pass rather than assume the risk on your work. Why not head this problem off by including two additional items with the manuscript: a ... Bill Stephens 2008-05-19T01:46:41+00:00