Erica Galvin

 Witness these famous masters of fiction who were all obliged to take the route of shelling out hard cash to have their debut novels printed. Alexandre Dumas D.H. Lawrence Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Rice Burroughs George Bernard Shaw Gertrude Stein James Joyce John Grisham Mark Twain Mary Baker Eddy Rudyard Kipling Stephen Crane Upton Sinclair Virginia Woolf Walt Whitman William Blake Zane Grey John Grisham, incidentally, sold copies of his first novel A Time to Kill out of the boot of a car, which at the outset was his sole 'vehicle' for distribution. And it is getting tougher all the time, even for established authors. It can be doubly frustrating when you've written something that you are desperate to see in print; something you want other people to read. There is always recourse to the expensive vanity publishing houses, but I wouldn't take that route to come what may. Would you? Imagine my surprise then when I stumbled across the perfect solution for publishing creative...

Article writing, submissions, publications, and blogs are getting popular because with modern communication technology comes the popularity of information-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques in getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers.  Submission tools abound that authors and marketers can use to make the process of submitting their articles more easily. Though this is invaluable in getting the contents more exposure, it's only half of the process. Here are three common mistakes many authors make before submitting their contents to article directories: 1. Confusing the reason to promote the articles with the reason to write them.  In article writing, there are three key benefits in using them for promotion; branding, lead generation, and promotion, which are all part of your optimization strategy. But there is only one reason why you write an article, and that is to inform your audience. Your article must be foc...

I was browsing online the other day and discovered the news about a first-time novelist who had recently published a book telling the story of an African tribe suffering the loss of land and identity. Her story is based on her true-life experiences and research. She's even donating a portion of the book's profits to a charity that helps the displaced people. Her whole story sounded intriguing. However, when I looked for her website--I couldn't find it. What a shame, I thought. While her book is featured on Amazon.com and other online bookseller sites and there's a couple of press releases announcing her book signings, there is no obvious web presence for this wonderful book and its author. My immediate thought was that she was leaving book awareness and sales on the table. Maybe she feels she doesn't need a web site because she has the charity and her publisher assisting with publicity, or because there is some expressed interest in movie rights. Even so, I feel th...

Who Are the Muses? The Muses are the personifications of literary arts, music, visual arts, and science.   The Muses inspire creation. Many people believe that the inspiration they need to write literature, a poem, or create an artistic expression is beyond their control, and that creative impulses only come from the Muse they call upon.                         The Nine Muses in Greek mythology have been an inspiration to artists since antiquity. Each Muse was assigned expertise in a particular domain of the arts The Muses' Attributes Calliope  is the superior Muse. She inspired Homer as he wrote  The Iliad  and  The Odyssey . She accompanied kings and princes to help them impose justice and serenity. Calliope is the protector of poetic works, the rhetoric arts, music, and writing. Calliope is usually depicted with laurels in one hand and two Homeric poems in the other. Clio  is the protector of hi...

If you are having difficulty knowing what to charge, then check out your competition and find out what theyíre doing. Find out if they post prices or fees on their website or if they have "packages"  deals.  Do they have payment options? While you are researching, keep in mind just because your competition is charging one way it is not necessarily how you should be charging. One of my clients is a business and life coach.  Most coaches charge for a set number of scheduled phone meetings, which seems to be a standard for "the coaching industry," but that doesnít mean itís the best way. I encourage my clients to charge fees that match who their clients are and what they are trying to accomplish. Itís very refreshing to do what works for you and not necessarily follow the "industry standard."  If you donít feel comfortable with the way your industry charges, by all means, change it.  Just because the industryís doing it doesnít mean that itís right. ...