WPC-149 - Fantasy Writing Career with Michelle Madow

Michelle Madow is a USA Today bestselling author of fast paced fantasy novels that will leave you turning the pages wanting more! She grew up in Maryland and now lives in Florida. Some of her favorite things are: reading, traveling, pizza, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time with friends and family. Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.

CONNECT ONLINE:

Website(s): www.michellemadow.com

Twitter handle(s): @MichelleMadow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellemadow/

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Madow/e/B005GA8KA6/

THIS WEEK’S INDIE PUBLISHING NEWS:

Don’t Get Cocky — Romance author Faleena Hopkins has been the talk of the indie publishing industry of late, thanks to her decision to trademark the word “cocky” as it applies to romance-genre ebooks, books, audiobooks, and allegedly even metadata for all of the above. Hopkins began sending cease and desist notifications to authors using the word in their romance titles, threatening legal action if authors didn’t comply and make a change. Hopkins has trademarked not only the word “cocky,” but a stylized font treatment of the word using a font that is, apparently, not legally allowed for use in a trademark or copyright. The community is up-at-arms over the move, and it has sparked a very heated discussion regarding intellectual property laws as they apply to indie authors. My take: This is an abuse of IP law, and it should never have passed review. Someone in the US Patent and Trademark Office has fallen down on the job, or has been banned for access to a common English language dictionary. This is a story to watch for all its implications to the industry, for sure. — http://bit.ly/149-cocky

Books by women authors are cheaper than books by men? — That, according to CBS Money Watch, reporting on research that books written by women are priced 45 percent lower than books written by men. Researchers analyzed more than 2 million books published between 2002 and 2012 and determined the 45 percent number to apply to both traditional and indie-published books. That number shrinks to just 9 recent once genre and other mitigating factors are included. And the number specific to self-published titles is smaller still: “Self-published titles by women are priced at 4 percent less than for men, the researchers found,” as stated by the CBS article. So what’s driving that price differential? I argue that it’s genre: Women tend to write in genres where various factors have driven the price point lower. Whereas men tend to write in genres where a higher price point is acceptable. The way to look at this and verify it would be to break this down and study price points and ranges within specific genres, to see if the disparity holds up. — http://bit.ly/149-gender

Author takes on US Education — Ted Dintersmith, author of “What School Could Be,” appeared on CNBC to discuss his book and his take on how the education system in the United States is not only letting students down, but is actually making it more difficult for them to be competitive in the workplace. Dintermsith states that he believes college “definitely is not for everyone,” and points out that only one in five students leave college with a background and resources that can equip them for a successful career. I have to say, I agree 100%. As controversial as this statement may be, I believe college is a worthless endeavor for the majority of our population, and that most people if not all people would benefit far more by investing all of that time, money, and energy into starting a small business—even if that business utterly fails. What do you think? Check out the interview and leave me a comment. — bit.ly/149-school

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