Zackary Richards's Blog (75)

How To Get Your Book Published!

    Back when my company, Ari Publishing first opened and we were seeking authors, we were amazed when we received a considerable number of sample chapters containing clever ideas, engaging characters and interesting plot twists. Unfortunately, we had to reject them all.

You may ask, ‘If a book contains all those…

See that profound saying to the left? We’ve all heard the first part BUT, I came up with the rest which, I believe makes the adage a great deal more profound.

Now here’s the deal. Just how does one become known as the profound guy? Personally…

Let me say upfront that I am not a conspiracy theorist, a political radical, or as we said in the old days, ‘A pinko, commie, bomb thrower’. But lately, the first line from the Rolling Stones song ‘Gimme Shelter’ has been rattling around in my head,‘Oh, the storm is threatenin,’ my very life today.’ And I’ve been wondering why.

And I…

Before we get into the books you must NEVER read let’s look at some of the books you probably SHOULDN’T read.

Our number 1 book you probably shouldn’t read is a story of struggle, of determination and of finally attaining one’s…

I’m not looking to bum you out but you’ve must be following the news in some regard. It’s not anything one looks forward to anymore unless you’re one of the those ‘The End is Near’ types walking around in sack cloth and ashes.

• Just heard that the percentage of autistic children being born is far larger than originally believed.
• Companies…

There are over 50 million active blogs out there and if your reading this it’s likely you have a blog of your own. Most blogs die out over time due to lack of reader interest, although it’s rare for a popular blog site to die out because of the many ways it can benefit its author.

Many blogs feature causes, political, sexual. religious, human rights, animal rights etc. Some…

Why fight? Because you are your only friend. More importantly, you’re the only one you can trust completely. Not your spouse, not your children, not your friends, not the government and certainly not the company you work for.

Just you.

The only problem is, you might be unintentionally blocking yourself from having the…

Why is that? You wonder.

You spent every free moment working on it; often well into the wee hours of the morning, honing it, presenting it to your writers group for critique, paying a professional editor to make sure it’s the best damn book it can be.

And IT IS!

So why…

Well, I know that I am.

But it is to be expected. When you’re dashing, witty, urbane, suave, and sophisticated like me, you’re bound to chalk up a few jealous and vengeful adversaries along the way. And sometimes that’s a good thing. If you’re a person who has a lot of free time on his hands, having a few psychotic opponents secretly plotting against you can add some excitement…

One of the lines from Paul Simon’s hit song Kodachrome is “When I look back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all.

So true.

Having received my grammar school education at a Catholic school I can safely say I was well prepared for high school, primarily because they beat the living hell…

This may surprise you but it’s harder than you think!

For example: To become a New York State Trooper, the trainee must endure unrelenting verbal abuse, unfair training tactics, cruel head games, physical punishment, emotional and psychological pressures, sleep deprivation, separation from friends and family and just about anything they can think of…

Audio books are growing in popularity at a fantastic rate. It’s quickly replacing radio as the thing to do during your daily commute. I’ve created one. You can too. Here’s how!

First, although Audible.com is an Amazon company, the rules of the road are quite different than those for uploading to Kindle.

Frankly, any…

If you’re a writer who’s self published and can’t get more than a small group of people to read your novels, it’s probably driving you crazy, right?

You’re doing all the social media things. You’re on Facebook and Twitter and Linked-in. You’ve gone the KDP route with at least one of your books with Amazon Kindle. (Results: 2000 downloads, no sales,…

An old saying goes, ‘When the Student is ready the Master will appear.’ I know this to be true because I’ve had several masters appear over the years and I told them all to ‘Get Lost.’

Now, why did I do this? Well, the answer is I didn’t recognize them as masters at the time. Plus I was young, stupid and an egomaniac. Really didn’t believe that anyone had anything to…

I have, in previous posts, mentioned that many members of my family are in law-enforcement. Today’s story is about my beloved daughter Turtledove, who at 6’4’’ and 200 lbs. is the epitome of the Amazonian warrior. Graceful, feminine and a real hoot at parties, I sometimes forget that she is a member of a paramilitary government organization (one that I cannot name or even spell for that matter) and is on the front line to…

If, like me, you’re stuck in the house because of the Northeast snowstorm, you’re probably looking for something to read. And since you’re not going anywhere soon, you’ll want the book you start reading to be worth your time.

And so, I have listed samples of my books below with links to Amazon Kindle. After clicking the link, click on the book cover and read the sample.…

I’ll get right to the point. A lot of you are crazy.

Not you of course, beloved reader, but just about everyone else.

Perhaps you’ve noticed it. If not, here’s what I’m talking about. I have a fan page on facebook which I use to promote my books. I’m not pushy about it, I simply display my books and if you want to…

I’ve been at this for a few years now and it’s been a long, hard haul in regard to the learning curve. I have been fortunate to have met some very talented and experienced people along the way who have been more than generous with their time and talent.

In addition, I have learned a lot from strangers whose websites have instructed me in website design, logo design, book…