Barry Milazzo was a managing director in New York City for one of the most powerful commercial real estate firms in the U.S., with a happy family and millions in assets—but his world was shattered when his eight-month-old son, Bryson, suffered a catastrophic brain injury from a routine vaccination. After an unwanted divorce and the […]
Lit Happens
The LEGO Animation Book: A Guide to Making LEGO Movies
San Francisco, CA — In the latest LEGO book from No Starch Press, readers learn everything they need to turn their LEGO creations into impressive animated movies. “The LEGO Animation Book” (No Starch Press, $19.95, 4C, 216 pp., October 14, 2016) is a comprehensive guide to creating stop-motion animation with LEGO. Expert brickfilmers David Pagano […]
Villains: You Have to Love Them (at least a little) to Make Them Engrossing
We thriller writers are consumed with creating the perfect villain, but as we all know it is easier said than done. As former romance novelist and current literary agent Donald Maass states in The Fire in Fiction, villains, antagonists, bad guys, femme fatales, or whatever one wants to call them “are frequently cardboard. Most are […]
Salinger’s evolution to literary greatness revealed in scholastic anthology of his early writings—“Three Early Stories”
Memphis, Tenn. – Before The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger was a young, ambitious writer attempting to find an audience for his stories. “Three Early Stories” is a fascinating collection of stories that were eventually published in the literary journals Story and the University of Kansas Review. The Devault-Graves Agency, an independent publisher based […]
Buckley vs. Vidal transcripts document fiery debates during the 1968 presidential conventions
Memphis, Tenn. – The ongoing friction found in the U.S. political system has caused long-standing debates on many stages, but it wasn’t until the legendary presidential debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. that they became a part of mainstream television in the heated way society has come to expect. In a year […]
Long-time Managing Director Marissa DeCuir is Named President and Partner at JKS Communications
Long-time managing director Marissa DeCuir has been promoted to president and partner at JKS Communications, a book marketing and author publicity firm, effective immediately. DeCuir started with the firm eight years ago as a book publicist and has steadily risen through the ranks. During her tenure, she has been a key factor in building the […]
5 Steps to Amazon Search Engine Optimization
How do people search for books? Maybe you used to go to your local Borders (remember them?) and spend hours looking through the shelves hoping they had the next book in your favorite author’s series. And if they didn’t? Well, they would order it and three days later you’d come back to the bookstore and […]
Gifts for book lovers, including new subscription service for kids, Lillypost
With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s never too early to start picking out gifts! Here are some great gift ideas that bookworms everywhere are sure to love!! 20 Thoughtful Gifts For The Bookworm In Your Life 24 Insanely Clever Gifts For Book Lovers The Best Non-Book Gifts For Bookworms 20 Affordable Gifts for Readers 33 […]
Cover Story: Heart of Stone
Today, I’m discussing the cover of my latest Ellie Stone mystery, Heart of Stone (Seventh Street Books, June 16, 2016). Readers judge books by their covers. They may not choose the book after skimming it, but they certainly pick it up in the first place because of the cover. Covers attract attention in a variety of ways. […]
It’s Time for Ebooks to Get Innovative and Interactive
I saw something recently that blew my mind: Piotr Kowalczyk pulled together a list of “35 Most Interesting Animated Book Covers,” which left me saying not only, “Wow, these 35 covers really are the most interesting animated book covers I’ve ever seen,” but also, “ANIMATED BOOK COVERS ARE A THING? How have I not heard […]
