Laurel A. Rockefeller Books

As Matilda prayed King Henry quietly slipped into the chapel, “You are still in mourning, Matilda.” Matilda turned to him and bowed her head respectfully, “Mein König!” “You are not empress and this is not Germany.” “Ja, mein König.” “Stop calling me that and speak English, Matilda,” growled King Henry sternly. “Pourquoi?” “Parce que je suis le roi d’Angleterre et vous êtes ma fille!” “Oui, sa est ta fille, Henri,” confirmed Queen Adeliza as she strode out from behind one of

The German edition of Boudicca was beautifully translated by Christina Loew. Thanks to frequent communication and Ms. Loew’s professionalism, the translation process was smooth and easy — exactly what most authors are looking for when joining Babelcube. If you subscribe to this blog you know that in 2016 I took my books deeper into the global market.  After an exasperating fore into the Chinese market via Fiberead, I had high hopes for Babelcube, a platform for translation th

Since 2014 Boudicca, Britain’s Queen of the Iceni has informed and inspired you in digital, paperback, and audio editions.  First in English, then in Chinese, and this spring in Italian, Spanish, Welsh, and Welsh-English editions with French and German language editions releasing on or about Labour Day weekend. Just for fun here are three brand new videos (all of them created in May 2016) celebrating this new global approach to biographical history.  Can you name what languag

Source: In Her Own Tongue: “Buddug” Brings Boudicca’s Story To Wales | NFReads.com #writing #Welsh #Cymraeg #History #Buddug #language #translation #Boudicca

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received as an author was to publish as many books in as many places as possible and to sell on as many websites as possible.  The writing profession is a numbers game.  To win it (meaning making a living as a writer) you need to be where the customers are and sell what they want to read.  You cannot achieve it with a single kindle book sold exclusively on Amazon.  It won’t happen — or perhaps it could but your chances of winning the lo

Good-bye A672E92 Quintus is chronologically the first book in the Peers of Beinan Series. However it was actually written FOURTH of the six books. I love a great book series.  From the JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Avalon Series, I find it satisfying to stay within the same world, getting to know characters, places, and events intimately.  It’s one reason why serialized fiction is so popular and entertaining. Like both my aforementioned literary m

Indeed, critical reviews help authors by offering substance, feedback, and credibility.  No author with more than five or six reviews has a perfect five star average; someone will always find something imperfect about your work.  This is how it should be.  Your work should receive a mix of reviews. With one exception:  the one star review. If you like a book before you buy it, odds are good you will still like something about the book after you read it.  Yes, there are plenty

Today’s book marketing post comes from Richard Ridley of Createspace. ————————————– If I had to describe the key to succeeding in indie publishing in one word, that word would be “active.” For a profession that involves a great deal of sedentary activities, those who rest on their laurels find it very difficult to sell books on a consistent basis. You have to keep moving in order to grow your author brand. Here are the three crucial areas where you should concentrate most of

Here are the top four mistakes I see independent authors making that are absolutely certain to drive away potential readers. #1 Mentioning you checked spelling and grammar in your book description or on social media. I am genuinely shocked at the number of times “authors” tout this as a reason to buy their book.  It takes MINUTES to run spell check in a word processing program.  You do not get a gold star or a pat on the head for doing this.  Adults are expected to do this.  

Keywords: marketing, self-publishing, blogging It is three in the morning eastern standard time.  Really truly I thought I would be back in bed like a civilized lass by now.  But I am taking out a few minutes in the middle of the early morning because I am utterly baffled on something when it comes to my sister and fellow authors:  why can so few of you follow kindergarten level instructions? If you follow this blog you know that on Thursdays I run a character profile column

Gone forever: the large print edition of Ghosts of the Past goes out of print in favour of a larger text regular paperback edition. Ever since I first published the original edition of The Great Succession Crisis, there has always been a large print edition for my books.  It is something I believe in as a low vision author, an accessible resource making reading easier. Sadly, large print remains the dark child of the publishing industry.  Retailer websites bury large print ed

Here is another gem from Book Marketing Tools.  I do not agree with everything in this blog post, especially this idea that you can and should try to do all/most of this EVERYDAY.  I find focus is very important to my writing and my productivity; do things ONE at a time or you will burn out trying to be everything at once. Here is that post in full: 5 New Years Resolutions for Authors Happy New Year! A new year causes us to look back at the previous year and see all that we h

Okay, you have your new year’s resolution all set!  Now you are ready to go make a splash professionally.  Before you look at site statistics and let yourself feel overwhelmed, please take a look at what Kristen Lamb has to say about the odds of your success and how much control you really have over it. I do not agree with everything in this article, but it is certainly worth thinking about. What Are the REAL Odds of Being a Successful Author? didn’t even consider becoming a

This article reposted from BookDaily.com explores the subject of point of view in writing. —————————- Boudicca: Britain’s Queen of the Iceni takes a Celtic-British point of view. In writing lingo we refer to point-of-view (POV) as the character through whom we tell the story. We get into the head of a particular character and see the story through her eyes. Sometimes we have one POV through the whole story. Other times we have multiple POVs. Recently while reading a book, I b

Another very useful blog post from Stage 32.  Today’s is called Why Networking Is a Dirty Word. ——————————————— Today’s blog marks the return of one of my favorite people on the planet, Julie Gray. The author of Just Effing Entertain Me: A Screenwriter’s Atlas, Julie Gray is a script consultant and writer living in Tel Aviv, Israel. A Huffington Post and Script Magazine contributor, Julie is a favorite speaker at the London Screenwriter’s Festival and has taught story at Warn

I received this fantastic piece of advice from Marla Madison on BookDaily.com and just had to share it with you: What Authors Can Learn From American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, And The Voice Does the best singer win American Idol or the Voice? Is the most accomplished dancer the winner of the Mirror Ball Trophy on Dancing With the stars? Anyone who is a regular viewer of talent reality shows knows this uncontestable fact: the most talented doesn’t always win. In fact, the

What Readers Wish Authors Knew. Some excellent advice to authors! #writing #tricks #readers #magicschool #independentauthors #novels #advice #vampire #reviews #tips #editors #petpeeves

The following is re-blogged from http://writersrelief.com/blog/2014/05/write-characters-people-care-about/ Princess Anyu from Laurel A. Rockefeller’s Peers of Beinan series “In a previous article, we explored five ways to make your characters more three-dimensional. Once your characters are believable as living, breathing individuals, the next step is to make readers care about them. When readers are invested in the characters’ struggles and personal stories, they are much mo

Helpful Online Writing Resources. Interesting and informative. #research #resources #writing #writingprocess

It’s Thursday.  You know what that means:  time to flash back to the past and see where we’ve been.  For the next three Thursdays, we will look at the evolution of cover art in The Peers of Beinan Series, visually exploring how the book covers have changed since the series launch in August, 2012. Cover art for The Great Succession Crisis, 1st edition paperback as published in September, 2012. Thanks to constructive criticism from reviewers, this cover art changed for the revi