A bit of PODishness about today’s Brunch. Dig in.

Hitch Yourself to a Book

The Grumpy Old Bookman, whose blog I read faithfully five days a week and have yet to see the grumpy side of him, had an item last week about a website called Bookhitch. In a time when much of the promotion of a book falls on the author (and with PODers, all of it falls on your shoulders), Bookhitch is yet another tool to increase the public’s awareness of what is out there to read. Authors can do a basic listing of their books for free. If you want to go the extra marketing mile, it will cost you a bit. The site has some interesting publishing industry information on it as well.

Writer Beware

Another blog I read often is A. C. Crispin and Victoria Strauss’ Writer Beware. Are these two women saints or what? There should be some sort of special award given to them. This is a must read blog for every writer on the hunt for an agent.

So, I was catching up on some back posts there and ran across this one on iUniverse and B&N. Overall, it’s a nice little critique of iUniverse and some of its offerings. Well worth the read, especially if you’re considering iUniverse.

Radio For Writers

Here’s an interesting site I just found out about: Writers FM. This is Internet radio and Podcasts for and about writers. Broadcast 24/7, you’ll find great author interviews and more. The site requires Windows Media Player, which shouldn’t be a big deal.

Praise Be The Pod

This by way of POD-DY Mouth, a must read blog if you have any inclination or curiosity about POD.

If you’re seriously considering Publish-On-Demand then POD People by Jeremy Robinson is a MUST have book. Robinson, whose self-published novel The Didymus Contingency has been something of a POD success story, has just published what could well be the POD bible. Marketing, blurbs, reviews, evaluation and cover tips, this has everything you need to know to make your POD book a bestseller, provided it’s readable, of course, which all too many POD books simply aren’t.

Even those who have perservered the insanity of the Traditional Publishing route may find this book informative. As the bean counters at the major publishing house continue to choke the life out of every penny, more and more of the burden of marketing and promotion falls on the poor author.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night Redux

Well, they’ve run old Bulwer-Lytton up the flagpole again. I’m all for the immortality being a writer might bring but man, in his case, what a way to be remembered. I’d prefer fading into obscurity to being remembered as the author of the book with the worst opening line. Anyway, this years winners have been announced. You can check it out here at the Bulwer-Lytton website.

I have to say I wasn’t all that impressed with the winning entry. Indeed, I liked the second place entry much better. But then, I’m an old Dirty Harry fan and a writer and that second entry was a beautiful interweaving of the two worlds.

A Call For Submissions

My Merry Old England friend Mike Coombes, besides being the first class web designer behind Kissing The Frog, just made this announcement over on backspace.

Hey, it’s all finally come together. We’ve spent a year putting this together, making sure the wheels don’t fall off. Kaolin Fire, ex NFG web guru, Sue Miller, ex NFG Poetry editor and me, the guy who used to make the coffee, are back in business. Electronic submissions, print and e-versions, paying semi-pro rates.

Let’s see what you’ve got!

So what are you waiting for? Go write a story. Submit it to GUD (greatest uncommon denominator). I plan to. And, if your story is a really great story, tell him EJ sent you. If it’s not so great, well, you’re on your own, buddy.

And Speaking Of …

Submissions, POD People author Jeremy Robinson has his own small press and is looking for submissions. Go check it out at Breakneck Books.

And Continuing to Speak Of …

Small presses, I mentioned Steel Moon earlier this week in connection with my short story Quiet. As a supporter of small presses and ezines, Steel Moon is worth a second mention here at Brunch.