Many dream of getting their novel published, somewhere, someday. I can never forget the huge excitement I felt in November 2010 when my debut novel, “It Can’t Be You” was launched. It was a dream come true. As you probably know, getting a novel published is much more difficult than it may seem to many. I learnt the hard way about the querying process, the need to write a crisp synopsis, how a back cover copy can make a huge difference to you book sales and how the book cover has a major role in the reader’s purchase decision. You will find posts on these topics in my writing blog, “Writing To Be Read.”
Author: Prem Rao
Author, Blogger, Book Reviewer, Coach, and Podcaster
“Little Man From The East: Marching Through Tumultuous Decades” is , in my view, a “must read” for anyone interested in 20 th century Indian history. It also happens to be the story of a soldier engineer commissioned into one of the oldest Regiments in the Indian Army, the famous Madras Engineer Group. This outfit, more commonly called The Madras Sappers, and more fondly as ‘The Thambis’ was raised in 1780. Major General M K Paul (retd), the author, served with distinction in the Indian Army for nearly 37 years before retiring in 1991.
Continue reading ““Little Man From The East” : Maj. Gen. M.K.Paul (Retd)”
The time to query is here. This is a crucial process in getting your book published. While you can query publishers directly I, like a million others, prefer to query a literary agent in the hope that he/she would agree to represent my book. It’s wise to query a targeted list of literary agents instead of shooting off queries by the score to all and sundry. Continue reading “Time To Query”
Thanks to my long-standing interest in historical fiction I connected with the author, MK Tod. I follow Mary’s tweets @MKTodAuthor and she pointed me to a very interesting survey she has been conducting which seeks to find out what makes historical fiction buffs love this genre. You will find a lot of information on this in her blog A Writer of History. Continue reading “Survey on Historical Fiction”
“Gee, it’s far easier to write 70,000 or even 90,000 words than it is to write a winning synopsis.” You must have heard this a million times. You have written your book and the next thing you need is to have ready a synopsis because that is what everyone, from your agent to a potential publisher will ask for. Continue reading “More on Writing A Synopsis”
I value Divakar Kaza’s opinion a lot as regards books as he is both a voracious and discerning reader. I had sent him a copy of the manuscript of my third thriller, ‘Let The Dead Stay Dead” for his comments. He was the first to see my earlier two thrillers, “It Can’t Be You” and “Lucky For Some, 13.”
Continue reading “A Beta Reader On “Let The Dead Stay Dead””
There is huge excitement in the air for many of us writers as November fast approaches. I have successfully completed NaNoWriMo for four consecutive years, from 2009 to 2012 and am very keen to make it 5 in 5 by successfully completing a NaNo novel in November 2013 too. This involves writing 50,000 words of a novel during the calendar month of November. The novel can be in any literary genre. Continue reading “Alternate History”
Being an avid fan of both historical fiction and John F. Kennedy, I immediately reached out for Leon Berger’s “The Kennedy Imperative.” I find that this is the first of The Kennedy Trilogy and was published in September 2013 by Premier Digital Publishing. The other two are scheduled to be published later this year.
As some of you perhaps know, I have a writing blog called “Writing To Be Read.” In this blog, I post about writing, authors and books. For your convenience, I have linked the RSS feed from my writing blog to this site, so that it is easier for you to see the books I have reviewed. Your feedback on this feature and the reviews, of course, will be much appreciated.
“Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK” by Gerald Posner is by far the most comprehensive book I have read about that event that shocked the world way back in November 1963. First published in 1993 and now re-published in 2013 as an ebook, nearly 50 years after that fateful day in Dallas, Tx, Posner explains painstakingly why all the many conspiracy theories are just that, theories without substance. Continue reading ““Case Closed” : Gerald Posner”
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 