Authors Electric

The author's eyewear collection. Congratulations on your membership in the exclusive worldwide club of those who are blessed to wear glasses.  Worldwide, the club's membership has over four billion people.  In the UK alone, 77% of women and 68% of men wear specs. In t he US those percentages are 50% and 42%. The club has a long history. Far longer than many might think. Some credit Salvino D'Armate with the invention of eyewear in 1317. Others find references to eyewear as far back as 1000 BC. The evolution continued for hundreds more years for reasons of function, not fashion: Ben Franklin's bifocals...monocles...pince-nez. But all iterations of 'glasses' expressed their own bifocal vision: those who wore them were weak physically and bookish. ( A recent study by the College of Optometrists confirms that today 33% of adults think those in glasses look more professional and 43% think they look smarter.) And no survey was needed to tell that a boy growing up in t...

Sorry I missed my January 2nd slot. Christmas and The New Year swamped me and I can only blame it on a senior moment, of which I have many as the years go by. So a belated Happy New Year to one and all. Let's hope it's healthy and successful for everyone. The main thing on my mind at the time of writing is the ongoing discussion on many Facebook writer groups about the use of social networking, mainly Twitter, to promote our work. You may already have had people cover this subject so I'm not going to bore you with too many details, however I'd like some thoughts, please. Personally I have no objections whatsoever to seeing authors promoting their work. And why shouldn't they? They spend years slaving over their story, getting it just right, editing, choosing a cover design and then publishing via KDP and Smashwords. They are proud and want to tell the world. It's their baby, their blood, sweat and tears. Why the heck shouldn't they announce the long awai...