Greetings

From The

Amazing Authors Showcase

June 1, 2000

SUMMER IS HERE! Unfortunately, that means it’s back to work for most of you after the Memorial Day holiday, but work never stopped at the Showcase. We have been continually looking for ways to improve the website and the materials made available to you in the ezine. This month, we have added a couple of terrific new staff writers, a host of new links to outstanding writer sites around the web, and a new look for some of the pages.

It takes a lot of effort to keep up with a rapidly changing arena like the Internet, so if you find something you’d like us to see or possibly use, send a link and we’ll check it out. If you have writing news of your own, send that in, too. We like to hear how and what our authors are doing, but there are simply too many of you now for us to contact the way we did in the past.

We have some other great news for everyone this month. There were in excess of 12,000 hits on the Amazing Authors Showcase in May, of which almost 9,000 were on the author pages alone. That’s a lot of exposure for everyone, no question about it. But this is only the beginning phase of what the Showcase is capable of generating. Hang on to your hats in the coming months, folks, because you ain’t seen nuttin’ yet!

With new web rings, links to hundreds of writing sites on the web, and featured authors like Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark bringing in tons of hits each month, our ezine and Showcase will continue to gain even more respect and exposure with the writing and publishing community. This has already been a memorable year for some of our authors, and undoubtedly will be for others who have joined us.

Always remember as you peruse this ezine that just about everything you’re reading can be freely distributed to your online buddies. If you want to use something out of the ezine, please properly credit it to us or the original author.

FEATURED AUTHOR: Mary Higgins Clark

For those of you not familiar with Ms. Clark’s works, please take a moment to click on one of the links above and read excerpts from her latest release. Her writing style and content speak for themselves.

Ms. Clark was born and raised in New York and is of Irish descent. She sold her first short story to Extension Magazine in 1956 for $100, after six years and forty rejection slips. Her first book was a biographical novel about the life of George Washington called ASPIRE TO THE HEAVENS. Mary went on to write a suspense novel, WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?, which became a bestseller and marked a turning point in her life and career. She now lives in Saddle River, NJ, where her amazing writing career continues with success after success in her chosen genre.

NEW CONTRIBUTING WRITER: Fran Baker “Oracle of Delphi” columnist

Fran Baker is the author of eight commercially successful novels that have been translated into more than twenty languages. In 1998, she established Delphi Books and published Once A Warrior to rave reviews. In 1999, Delphi Books published a hardcover version of the best-selling Rocket eBook Footprints In The Butter - An Ingrid Beaumont Mystery Co-Starring Hitchcock the Dog by Denise Dietz. Again, the reviews were overwhelmingly positive.

Ms. Baker is a member of Novelists, Inc., The Authors Studio, SPAN, and The Authors Guild. This broad spectrum of industry knowledge and connections is an invaluable source from which her Oracle of Delphi articles are drawn. We heartily welcome Fran to our growing staff of professional writers, editors and publishers here at the Showcase.

OTHER NEW AMAZING AUTHORS THIS MONTH:

Please drop by these authors’ pages and leave a note in their guest books to welcome them aboard or send them email and let them know you read their stories.

K. Marie O'Brien (kobrien@deltaenv.com)

Ms. O'Brien is an artist/illustrator and writer from St. Paul, MN. She is a full member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and has published children's stories in the U.S. and Australia. She has illustrated a children's book scheduled for release in the fall of 2000.

Mary (last name not published)

Mary is a 16 year old sophomore in high school, and the newest addition to our Teen Writers list. She loves reading novels, and has recently begun to write them. She is currently working on her first novel, Thoughts, and is very excited to have the opportunity to share an excerpt with readers here at the Showcase.

Halima A. Thompson

Ms. Thompson is from Canada and has been writing short stories and poems since she was big enough to grip a pencil. Upon her graduation from college this June, she will be deciding whether or not to pursue postgraduate studies in Health Sciences. She plans to hone her writing style and work on getting more exposure for her material. Her short story, These Days of Bloodied Screaming is presented here at the Showcase for your reading pleasure.

ACCOLADES TO THE SHOWCASE

From: Bill Reipe

Pepper, again, I'm indebted to you and Jon for the absolutely first rate job on my new page. The design and layout are very attractive and eye-catching. It was a stroke of pure genius to have that little plane flying by!

I'm pursuing all the avenues you mentioned to bring visitors to the site, including press releases and posting on every bulletin board I can think of. Hopefully, this should pay off with a flood of hits in the next week or so. Thanks again for all your hard work on behalf of my story.

From: Mark Weston

Dear Pepper...what can I say? For the first time in my life I'm speechless...I am so impressed and indebted to you for the web page....Thanks ever so much again...regards Mark

From: Ann Jones-Rodriguez

I've had a lot of very nice feedback from folks who have read my pages including encouragement to keep writing. The AAS self-promo/FAQ page is great and I'm going to reread through it and apply as many of the techniques as possible to up my page hits...Info in the AAS newsletters is invaluable, and very much appreciate it. It is exciting to know that the story I wrote is of interest to others...I love the idea of the author's "quilt" and will be working on one today to send to you.

From: Daphne Matthews

Pepper, I have been wanting to tell you that I LOVE "Santa Was a Trucker". I was a single mom long enough to completely understand that story. I feel like it would touch the hearts of every single Mom who had to try to figure out how to give their child the family, security, and love that's needed while realizing how important it is that you also must provide for that child. It’s a great story and I hope single moms, past, present, and future, take their opportunity to read this story. It shows the light at the end of the tunnel.

From: Debbie McKinney

Pepper...The ideas for promoting one's site in the Ezine are great. As you can see by my signature I have added the link there. Have been on the net a lot today looking for places to add the link. It is amazing how many you can find. Thanks so much for the ideas. I also got a cool post in the Alphabet Soup area Of the Amazing Instant Novelist where I host for one of my poems called "Be Patient With Me Lord..." Thanks for all your help.

From: robbyw@newnorth.net

Pepper...Enjoyed the story "A Wild Texas Wind". I am a married mother of two boys. Graduated with a degree in journalism and wish to enter the work world again as a writer. Like you, I find that life's experiences make great fodder for the craft. Good luck!

From: Ray E. Spencer

Pepper...Thank you for all the changes, and adding even more great graphics--your talent is endless. The links to the "Bookstore" and "iUniverse" are marvelous. Also, congratulations on becoming a member of "Phenomenal Women of the Web." The recognition is well-deserved.

From: Fran Baker

The page looks terrific! Gosh, I've been waiting three months for (someone) to do my personal Web page, and you did this in something like 48 hours!

From: Bill Reipe

Hi Jon...Congratulations on the remarkable degree of restraint you exercised in your editorial on that "award winning" piece of garbage (Amazon/PEN winners). Personally, I'd probably have resorted to scatological terms to describe it, but that would serve only to reduce me to the same level of incompetence and poor taste as the author and judges. If that piece exemplifies the state of contemporary American literature we may as well quit teaching children to read. They'd be better served watching MTV.

Thanks for taking up the cudgels for high standards of literary excellence and decency. I'm sure that the majority of writers will be in your corner on this one.

(Editorial comment: Amazon and PEN announced that their winning entry had been disqualified because it was previously published and therefore not eligible for the $10,000 prize. Another finalist has been awarded the prize instead. Sadly, I’m not sure it’s much of an improvement.)

BUSINESS NEWS

“Time Warner Trade Publishing announced on Tuesday, May 23rd, that their new entity, iPublish.com, a dedicated Internet publishing division, will be launched in the first quarter of 2001. According to Maureen Mahon Egen, President, Time Warner Trade Publishing, the house will convert a number of its existing properties into digital format in the months leading up to iPublish.com's launch.

It will also be offering original content e-books by well-known authors for distribution through its network of partners. In addition, this new division will publish existing print content from Time Warner Books in digital format, and will also be inviting new manuscripts for possible electronic publication. Details at their website http://www.ipublish.com.”

_______________

“I'm looking for six to eight people interested in writing one book review (or conducting one author interview) every three months for The Southerner (www.southerner.net), an on-line publication out of the University of Tennessee.

The Southerner plans to pay reviewers at some point. For now, they are offering vouchers toward future payment. Payment should eventually be in the neighborhood of $50 per article.

You are free to write about whatever, assuming the book's subject matter or the author have some relation to the South (and by South, I mean the area that starts in Virginia, heads west to Missouri, south to Texas, and back east to Florida).” Contact: David (DavidRMark@aol.com)

_______________

BRAIN, CHILD: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers

Co-Editors: Stephanie Wilkinson, Jennifer Niesslein.

P. O. Box 1161, Harrisonburg, VA 22801; (540) 574-2379

BRAIN, CHILD is a magazine celebrating the diversity of mothers and their styles that "treats motherhood as a subject worthy of literature." FREQ: Quarterly. CIRC: 10,000. NEEDS: Please see guidelines on the web site for more detailed information. Personal Essays (1,000-5,000 wds): The signature pieces of the magazine. Essays that share specificity and insight, contain illustrative anecdotes, a personal voice, and a down-to-earth tone. Poignancy is fine, sentimentality isn't. Humor is a plus.

Six major essay categories include: The Domestic Life; Identity; Memory/Family; Love Life; The World at Large; Crisis. Feature (1,500-3,000 wds): At least one per issue, a piece that relies more heavily on reporting than introspection. Please query with clips and a one-page story outline. Nutshell (200-800 wds): News section. Please query with clips and a pitch. Debate (700 wds): "friendly fire" -- Please query with clips, an issue and your

take on it. Fiction (1,500-5,000 wds): literary stories, strong character development. "We're looking for fiction that speaks to readers as mothers and individuals." Book Reviews (200-800 wds): Reviews of new and not-so-new books of fiction, nonfiction, memoir, autobiography. Best to query first with clips. Parody (800 wds): Parodies that target people, institutions or media who don't take mothers seriously. "The more important aspect is that

it makes us laugh."

RTS: FNASR; also First Internet Rights, Rights to a Brain, Child Anthology (March Press), should one ever happen. PAY: "Varies, depending on a number of considerations, but in general, our fees are modest." RT: Usually about one month. "If it's been more than a month and a half, please contact us with the date you submitted your manuscript." SAMPLE COPIES: $5.00.

COMMENTS: "Our mission is to explore the personal transformative nature of motherhood, so stand-out submissions are ones that focus more on the mother than on the child(ren)."

SUBMISSION: Send double-spaced manuscript with a cover letter and SASE, or e-mail mss to: editor@brainchildmag.com with "submission" as the subject heading. Writers should e-mail mss in the body of the e-mail -- no attachments. For Features, News Items, Debate Essays, and Book Reviews, please query first. No simultaneous submissions.

URL: http://www.brainchildmag.com

GL: http://www.brainchildmag.com/guidelines.html

E-mail: editor@brainchildmag.com

THE BOTTOM LINES:

If any of you have news of yours or someone else’s writing exploits or achievements you think might be of interest to the Amazing Authors readership, please send the information to be included with the next ezine to AmazingAuthors@aol.com. That issue should be on site sometime around the first of July. Until then, we wish you great success in your writing and creative efforts.

The Staff of the Amazing Authors Showcase

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