His first novel, The Texas Rodeo Murder, has been released by Eakin Press. It was been nominated for Spur Award and an Edgar Award (Mystery Writers of America). He is currently working on the second in the Texas Rodeo series and on two other novels as well.

Visit George at his website:  http://texasrodeo.go.to/

AUGUST MEETING RECAP

In August's meeting we learned all about the life and times of the Pirate from Cindy Vallar.  I'll just touch on a few points in the recaps.  I could sit down and write several pages on what she covered.

Including modern day pirates, there are Seven Ages of Piracy.

• Sea Raiders-1400 BC to 1500's.  Included the Vikings, which means "to go."  Only a small part of the Norse population were Vikings.
• Barbary Corsairs-1400 through 1800's.  Based off the Barbary Coast in the Mediterranean.
• Seadogs-1558 to 1603.  During the time of Queen Elizabeth
• Buccaneers-1635 to 1710.  Based in the Caribbean.
• The Golden Age-1690 to 1730.  There are the ones we see in all the movies.
• Privateers/Racketeers-1750 to 1850.  Not really pirates but more merchants who profited from pirate activity
• Modern Piracy-1850 to today.  Smaller crews, high-powered weapons. 

Three Requirements for Piracy

1. A place to prowl which yields great rewards.
2. The risk of detections is slight.
3. Offers safe havens.

AUTHORS SHARE THEIR BOOK MARKETING EXPERTISE WITH WEB VISITORS - FOR FREE

The book industry reports that 78% of the titles published come from small/self-publishers. With combined annual revenues of less than $50 million, these publishers have limited publicity budgets and their authors are expected to do their own promotion. Where can they turn and learn?

Now authors with books to promote may ask questions of nearly 150 author experts whose specialties run the gamut from romance to foot surgery.

Assembled from the thousands of subscribers to Book Promotion Newsletter, the experts include authors, editors, book reviewers, book coaches, ghostwriters, publicists and publishers.

This free service is hosted by Maureen McMahon at http://www.maureenmcmahon.com, author of romantic suspense novels, Return of the Gulls, Shadows In the Mists and others, and Francine Silverman, author of Book Marketing from A-Z (Infinity Publishing 2005), a compilation of the best marketing strategies of 325 authors. http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com

The "Ask the Experts" link is on the left side of Maureen's Moonspinners Writer's Page, http://www.maureenmcmahon.com. Once at the Expert Site, visitors may ask a book marketing question of any of the experts. Responses will be emailed back to the inquirer within 3-5 working days.

Lemon Drops Press is also hosting a bulletin board in which visitors may ask book marketing questions at http://lemondropspress.com/phpBB2. Both registered users and anonymous guests can post questions by clicking on "Marketing with Fran" in the community forum and then on "new topic" on the new page that opens. There are fields for a username, subject, and message, as well as a selection of fonts and emoticons (expressive faces). When finished, the user simply clicks the "submit" button and his or her question is posted. After Fran posts a reply on the forum, the person who asked the question as well as all other visitors to the Lemon Drops Press website will be able to view both the question and the response. "In this way," says host Lana Jordan, "the entire community benefits from the individual questions."

Submitted by Francine Silverman
Author of "Book Marketing from A-Z"
(Infinity Publishing 2005)
Editor of Book Promotion Newsletter,
a bi-weekly ezine for authors of all genres
http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com

On-Line Writers resources

Author's Network-for writers about writing based in Europe, but interesting- http://www.author-network.com/
Copyright Forms- http://www.loc.gov/copyright/forms/
Dallas Sceen Writers- http://www.dallasscreenwriters.com/
Denton Public Library - http://www.cityofdenton.com/pages/library.cfm
National Association of Women Writers - http://www.naww.org
National Writers Union - http://www.nwu.org/
New Writer's Market http://hge.members.atlantic.net/
Para Publishing Website - a good writing, publishing, and promotion source - http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/homepage.html&user=#user
Preditors and Editors-a resources to check out agents and publishers http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
Ralan's Webstravaganza-speculative fiction resource http://ralan.com/
Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators - http://www.scbwi.org/
Texas Coalition of Authors, Inc. - http://www.texasauthors.org/
Texas Writers League - http://www.writersleague.org/
The Market List-the online resource for genre fiction writers http://www.marketlist.com/
The Novelist's Workshop-essays and advice on how to publish your book- http://www.monash.com/writers.html
Writer's Exchange - http://www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing/
Writer's Market - http://www.writersmarket.com/index_ns.asp
Writers Net-source for information for writers, editors, agents, and publishers - http://www.writers.net
Writing-World.Com - http://www.writing-world.com 
The Zuzu's Petals Literary Resource Homepage-for both writers and poets- http://www.zuzu.com/

There are multitudes of writing resources available on the Internet. Go to any search engine and ask for writer's resources, writer's markets, writer's contests, writer's conferences, etc