Shinobi News: June 28, 2014

We’re just two weeks (and a couple of days) from the launch of the newest Shinobi Mystery, BLADE OF THE SAMURAI – I can’t wait! Blade takes place a little more than a year after Claws of the Cat, in June of 1565. When the shogun’s cousin turns up dead, Hiro and Father Mateo find themselves summoned to solve a murder within the walls of the shogun’s compound. With Lord Oda’s troops on the way, and one of Hiro’s fellow shinobi a primary suspect, master ninja Hiro will find himself forced to choose between his duty and personal loyalty. Kirkus Reviews says “Hiro and Father Mateo’s second adventure (Claws of the

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Get it in Writing: the Importance of Contracts

ALWAYS WORK WITH A CONTRACT As a general rule, U.S. law requires written agreements for publishing contracts and other assignments and long-term licenses of copyright. Two different laws require a writing: 1. The U.S. Copyright Act requires a writing for any transfer (complete or partial) of a copyright holder’s rights on an exclusive basis.  2. The “Statute of Frauds” (a commercial statute adopted in most states) requires a writing for any contract which cannot be completely performed within a year. Most importantly, good business sense requires a writing any time a writer grants any kind of permission for someone else

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Octogenarians on the Reef

One nice thing about reef aquariums is the chance to see an animal live a longer life than it might have lived in the wild. This is especially nice when the animals in question either can’t be or aren’t bred in captivity. At present, I have two such “octogenarians” on the reef: Thing 1 the banded pipefish and Red, the Fire Shrimp. Shrimp can be hard to keep alive for a totally different reason: many residents of the reef consider shrimp as tasty as humans do. Red’s size is all that keeps him from becoming a seahorse entree. Fortunately, he’s large enough that nobody considers him dinner (though

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Mini-Interview: A Book By Any Other Name…

Today’s mini-interview takes a look at a pair of interesting topics: how long it takes to get traditionally published, and what happens to the title of your debut book when you get there. It took me ten years (and five manuscripts) to get my first publishing contract. My debut mystery, Claws of the Cat, was originally titled Shinobi. When the series sold to Minotaur Books, my editor, Toni Kirkpatrick, told me she loved “Shinobi” for the series but that the novel needed a title that offered readers more than a foreign word. With a little help from my critique group, Shinobi became Claws of the Cat: A Shinobi Mystery. I asked a group

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Introducing: the Real Gato

I get a lot of questions about Gato, the kitten in my Shinobi Mystery series.  The top two are “What kind of cat is she?” and “What made you decide to give a ninja detective a rescued kitten?” I’ll defer on question two for a bit, but question one is easy to answer. Hiro’s kitten, Gato, is my favorite kind of cat: a tortoiseshell. It wasn’t a hard decision. You see, Gato isn’t just a cat I made up for the novels. She’s real (in every way that matters, anyhow). Six years ago, a friend of ours rescued a mother

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The Best Author Marketing…Isn’t.

No series on author marketing would be complete without a discussion of the most effective marketing tactic ever. Ironically, the best and most effective form of marketing an author can do … is not traditional “marketing” at all. The best, most effective, and most important form of author marketing is: BE A HAPPY, FRIENDLY PERSON WHO PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS.  At the end of the day, the goal of marketing is telling people about your books, and making them want to buy. There are many ways to let readers know that your books exist, but if you aren’t a pleasant

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Waiting For a Song: A Guest Post by Mariam Kobras

I won the big prize! I get to fly to LA and interview Jon Stone! It wasn’t easy, convincing my boss that it had to be me. I couldn’t storm into her office and tell her that I was dying to meet him, right? There had to be some more…professional reason. But here I am, fresh from a longish flight across the Atlantic and the American continent, with this one assignment, interview Jon Stone. Get the photographer to take  some nice pics of the wonder boy, ones that will make the women at home in Europe drool and faint. I

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The Postman Always Waves Twice

Sometimes, a person we barely know can make an enormous difference in our lives. For me, it’s the postman — but not for the reason most of you might imagine. *** I started working at home last June, when my law partner retired and I transitioned to splitting my schedule between practicing law and writing. At first, I didn’t like working from home. Twenty-year habits die hard, and I was used to getting up and “going to work” in an office building. Gaining traction in the new environment proved more difficult than I imagined. One of the brightest parts of

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