Writing Advice

How to leave a book review on Amazon (anonymously or not)

November 30, 2017 by Jo Maeder 9 Comments

When a tech-savvy friend confessed that she loved my book yet had no idea how to leave a review on Amazon, I decided to write this for her and anyone else who may not know. Books depend on word-of-mouth and mouse. It’s part of my job description now to ask readers to leave book reviews the way […]

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Is Self-publishing Worth It?

June 25, 2016 by Jo Maeder Leave a Comment

I never dreamed in 2016 that I would see my little memoir’s audiobook up there next to blockbuster ones on Audible’s site. The hardcover version of When I Married My Mother (Da Capo Press) had been released in the spring of 2009, unintentionally timed six months after the devastating stock market crash. Everyone’s wallet was stapled […]

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Q&A: Patricia Park on RE JANE, nunchi, and the danger of rewrites

March 7, 2016 by Jo Maeder 2 Comments

I read Re Jane while I was in the midst of renovating a home while living over an hour away. I didn’t have much time for joy reading and my ability to concentrate was marginal. However, I couldn’t let go of this book. No matter how long it had been between picking it up, it […]

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Q&A: Candace Bushnell on KILLING MONICA, what Hollywood needs to do, privacy, reinvention, Mom, and more

December 14, 2015 by Jo Maeder Leave a Comment

It’s indeed a pleasure to welcome Candace Bushnell to my ongoing author Q&As. Ms. Bushnell, of Sex and the City, Lipstick Jungle and The Carrie Diaries fame, talked to me about her new novel Killing Monica (Grand Central Publishing, 2015). Killing Monica is classic Candace Bushnell and yet […]

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AUTHOR 2 AUTHOR: JO MAEDER’S Q&A WITH SUSAN CRANDALL

September 26, 2013 by Jo Maeder Leave a Comment

The new novel from Susan Crandall is a departure from her previous books and yet pure Susan: rich characters and dialog and a can’t-put down story. Thank you Nicki Leone, Authors Round the South “Author 2 Author” series, Wanda Jewell and SIBA. And, of course, Susan! Jo: The South, to me, is filled with fabulous, […]

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EARWORMS, THEIR CURE AND UNEXPECTED MESSAGES

July 9, 2013 by Jo Maeder 2 Comments

Gene Krackehl was someone I knew in passing at a Westchester, NY, gym that I patronized in the late 1990s. A few years ago, I received a friend request from him on Facebook. “Oh, the gym guy,” I thought. My attitude toward friend requests is this: if I would hand my business card to this […]

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On Writing – My Top 10 Tips

May 31, 2012 by Jo Maeder 1 Comment

I took the long, scenic route to getting published. Fifteen years, seven other books, and four literary agents preceded the publication of When I Married My Mother. Whatever success my writing brings me is the result of working with great editors and agents, taking criticism extremely well, and being crazy. I’m convinced that “writer” and […]

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QUICKIE Q&A: JUNE GARDENS ON HER BLOG BYE BYE, PIE!

May 16, 2012 by Jo Maeder 9 Comments

Oh, no. Bye Bye, Pie! is going buh-bye. In the past, I wasn’t much of a blog reader. I drifted in the internet tide, momentarily attaching myself to a social media site then floating wherever Google took me. One day my friend Kit Rodenbough told me about Bye Bye, Pie! “It’s written by a woman in Greensboro,” she […]

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SURPRISE!

February 22, 2012 by Jo Maeder Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever been invited to a surprise party you know the stress of having to get there by a certain time. If you’ve ever hosted a surprise party you’ve done plenty of nail-biting worrying if guests will arrive before the guest of honor and keep their mouths shut. Plus there’s the danger the ruse […]

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