My February Forbes book publishing articles

If you're interested in books and/or the business of books and/or my writing, I hope you're follow me at Forbes online, where I'm writing seven articles per month about everything from book deals to book covers to author innovations and more. As you'll see, I've covered everything from drawable book covers to the enduring popularity of books by veterans to how to open an independent bookstore. To follow me, just make a free account at Forbes.com and then click the link above and click the "Follow" button and answer how often you want to receive emails about my new articles. I started in November and have learned so much about publishing as well as Wordpress, and which bookish subjects people want to read about and which they don't.



I write both more in-depth pieces about subjects like what authors can do when their publisher closes to breaking news, such as the Nora Roberts/Tomi Adeyemi book title story. I have a lot of great topics I'm covering in the next few months, especially more service-oriented pieces that I hope are helpful to aspiring authors, like the literary agent cookbook Q&A below. February was exciting because one of my articles got double the traffic of my previous high traffic piece, and continues to do well and may even hit 100,000 views soon. I get paid a flat fee based on how many articles I write per month, with the possibility of a pageview bonus, so of course I pay attention to my pageviews, but I also pay attention to who's linking to these articles. One of my upcoming pieces profiles a website that I found out about because they linked to me. So check it out, and if you're a publisher, editor or literary agent and have timely book publishing news or details about a growing trend in publishing, feel free to email me about it. I can't guarantee I'll cover it, but I'm always on the lookout for new topics my readers will appreciate.

Here are my Forbes online February 2019 articles in reverse chronological order:

"Katie Couric Memoir 'Unexpected' To Detail Her Struggles With Bulimia And Insecurity"

"Michelle Obama To Discuss Bestselling Memoir 'Becoming' On YouTube 'BookTube' Special In March 2019"

"How To Get Your Cookbook Published, According To A Literary Agent Who Specializes In Them"

"11-Year-Old Boy Lands Book Deal About Crocheting After His Creations Go Viral"

"Comic Book About Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Inspired By Her Quoting Alan Moore, Coming Out In May"

"What To Expect From 2020 Book 'White Feminism' By Former Jezebel Editor Koa Beck"

"Kim Kardashian West To Write Foreword To Memoir By Alice Marie Johnson, Convict Who West Helped Free"

New Forbes.com on what happens to authors when their publisher closes

For Forbes.com I interviewed four authors who've been through publisher closings, Kellye Garrett, Mollie Cox Bryan, Bonnie Vanak and Alexa J. Day (or a publisher not taking new submissions or publishing new titles, in the case of Midnight Ink). If you've been through this or know someone who has, I hope it's helpful. As always, if it's useful, please share it, and bookmark my Forbes.com profile for multiple articles per month. A few in the works are about how to get book deals and there's lots more coming in December and the new year. If you're an editor, publisher, publicist or literary agent with suggestions on book publishing trends or news, especially anything pegged to holidays, current events, celebrities, etc., please get in touch by emailing rachelkb at gmail dot com with "Forbes.com" in the subject line.

15 erotica authors share their fiction inspiration

Over on the Best Women's Erotica of the Year Tumblr, I've had the pleasure of interviewing 15 (so far) of the contributors to BWE of the Year, Volume 2, about their erotica history, writing process, inspiration for their stories, favorite lines and future plans. I wanted to share those interviews and some fabulous quotes with you as I listen to the rain while waiting to take Amtrak to Baltimore for the next stop on the book tour. And more interviews are scheduled through March so keep reading our Tumblr and following us @BWEoftheyear on Twitter.

I'll conclude by giving you easy ways to read or listen to the book, and I encourage you to also ask for it at your local library (yes, it may be nerve-wracking to ask for a sexy book, but they're librarians, they've heard all sorts of requests and if they are at all good at their job, they won't judge you, but will be happy to help their users) or bookstore.

I'm starting with the authors you'll hear at our book events and including the cities where you can hear them (Abigail Ekue can't make our Baltimore reading due to weather, but you can catch her in New York and Jersey City).

Jordan Monroe, "Performance" (Baltimore)



Abigail Ekue, "Cigarro Tarde" (New York, Jersey City)



Stella Watts Kelley, "Teacher Appreciation" (New York, Jersey City)



Vierra Lai, "A Hint of Lime" (New York, Jersey City)



Annabeth Leong, "On Some Maps, But Not on Others" (New York, Jersey City)



Melina Greenport, "The House on Orchard"



Jocelyn Bringas, "Taste"



Kristy Harding, "Another Way to Start a Fire"



Kate Sebastian, "On the Calendar"



Corrine A. Silver, "Her Best"



Dorianne, "Like Lights in the Northern Sky"



Garnell Wallace, "Beautiful Broken Things"



Winter Blair, "At the End of the World"



Kay Jaybee, "Brick Dust"



Josie Jordan, "Volcano Nights"



And of course, please read or listen to Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 2 for these authors' stories in all their full glory:

Amazon (print)

Kindle (ebook)

Bn.com (print)

Nook (ebook)

Powells

Books-a-Million

IndieBound (find your local independent bookstore)

Audible audiobook

Google Play

iBooks

Amazon UK (print)

Amazon UK (Kindle)

Amazon Canada (print)

Amazon Canada (Kindle)

Why used bookstores aren't killing authors' careers

For the new year, I've wanted to try all sorts of new things: routines, behaviors, ways of thinking. The latter seems like it will be the most challenging to crack. I can't really blame myself for not sticking to routines when I spent the first week of the year packing to move and the second week moving and unpacking. But I'm trying. I now devote Fridays to bookkeeping, inputting everything I spent on my business the week prior. I've done my best to get out and jog/walk a few times a week (now to figure out the key card to my gym!).

One of the ways I want to change my bad thinking habits is to expect more good things, of the world and myself, and part of that means rather than lamenting and berating and obsessing over what I haven't done (but meant to), I celebrate the things I have, while also, of course, keeping myself accountable and on track to catch up with what needs to be done.

I'm on a plane right now to L.A., for my two writing workshops tomorrow. During my bus ride into New York, and again when I got on the plane, I made copious to do lists, basically rehashes of all the other to do lists I made earlier this week of articles I need to write, emails I need to send, various tasks I need to accomplish. I write them down to remind myself, but what often winds up happening is that I look at them and cringe and start to hate myself. So I'm working on better systems; I don't have the answer yet, though if I come up with anything useful, I'll share it.

Which brings me to this week's writing. I have a new piece hopefully going up next week for a site I haven't written for before, but one that did go up today that I was happy I got to write is about why used bookstores aren't taking money away from writers or at all akin to piracy, as was suggested by writer Kristen Lamb. I offered up my thoughts on used bookstores and quoted various writers I know, none of whom was dead set against used bookstores, and some were even very pro-used bookstores. Tiffany Reisz told me, "I’d no more apologize for buying a used book than I would for buying a used car."



Are my trying to form better thought patterns and my new article connected? Yes. My work world moves so fast that sometimes, even though I share most of my pieces on my various social media channels, I forget to take even a few seconds and savor the feeling of a new byline, a new piece that I worked hard on, whether it took an hour or twenty hours. I want to try to take that time more often, as a way of stepping back and also pushing myself forward. My old way clearly wasn't/isn't working, because all it does is leave me feeling overwhelmed and, often, hopeless, thinking my glass isn't just half empty, but dry as a well and never to be watered again, when the rational side of me knows that's not true.

So here's to spending a few days in the state where I used to live, writing new words, and savoring the ones that are harder to come by, but just as, if not more, meaningful than the ones that roll easily off my fingers.