Robert W. Bly, author of “How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit”

 

What inspired this book?

My desire to teach nonfiction writers how to make a good living instead of a mediocre one.

How can a writer stand out in the crowd?

There are a number of ways; the surest is to write in a narrow niche market and dominate it.

Any sites you'd recommend to get freelance writing jobs or gigs?

No -- AVOID all online job sites. They treat writing as a price-based commodity.

What's a very abundant writing market that many might not know about?

Hobbies -- people will pay a lot for info on their hobbies

What's the most interesting writing gig you've done?

My book The "I Hate Kathie Lee Gifford" Book -- landed me on Hard copy

5 Questions with Joanne Baker, author of "50 Universe Ideas You Really Need to Know"

 

Which idea was the most interesting to write about?

The chapter on pulsars was fun to write about, because Jocelyn Bell's story of thinking she had discovered alien life as a graduate student is so compelling. Any student can imagine the mix of excitement and dread she must have felt at finding the pulsing radio signal from deep space, wondering whether she had made an embarrassing mistake or was party to some great breakthrough. The whole history of radio astronomy is fascinating too, coming out of post-war physics research.

What's a big misconception about the universe you clear up in this book?

People often ask what's outside the universe - but the universe includes everything. While it's not simple to clear this up - given there are plenty of wild theories of parallel universes and the like that are mind bending even to physicists - I hope I have given a flavour of the ways in which people have thought about the concept of the universe through history. Our horizon has expanded the more we have learned about the universe - it's vast scale was quite unimaginable even a century ago.

How did this book come about?

I wrote a similar book about physics. My background is in astronomy, and the chapters on astronomy in that book were bulging at the seams, so I thought it would be worthwhile to expand on those ideas in a separate book. Astronomy is such a rich subject, with a long history, that it needed a whole book to highlight its scope.

What is the future of the universe?

In short - we don't know. But there are several ingredients that would dictate it. If the universe is dominated by matter, then gravity will one day pull everything together and it may end in a 'big crunch' . Dark energy is a competing force, which would eventually pull everything in the universe apart - stars and planets and galaxies would all be stripped down to a bleak mist of subatomic particles. Or if both these forces - gravity and dark energy - are balanced, then the universe could gently keep expanding for ever. Astronomers are rushing to find out more about the dark energy term especially, as that was only discovered a decade or so ago so we don't know much about its effect.

What aspect of this book will people find most interesting?

Cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, is fascinating to many people. But I hope that readers will also think about our solar system, and how much we are learning from space missions. The variety of landscapes and the possibility of crude foms of life on moons of Jupiter and Saturn are exciting and are inspiring missions in coming decades, to peer beneath the ice on Europa for example. Planets around other stars are also being discovered at a rapid rate, so astrobiology and exoplanets are areas to watch.

5 Questions with Tui Gordon, author of Revolutionary Women

 

How did this book come about?

The seed of the idea was just an observation that the image of Che
Guevara is the symbol of "the revolutionary" in western pop culture.
One day I came across a Che Guevara which had been adapted to look
like a woman's face and it brought up the question "Who are our women
revolutionaries?" This book begins to answer that question!

Which woman really struck a chord with you?

All of them, for a plethora of reasons! The first one I researched was
Louise Michel and I was just really struck by how unafraid she was,
how ardent she was about change and how active and optimistic she was
even though she was intimately aware of how hopelessly misdirected the
society she lived in was.

Which women in today's society would you put in a book like this
decades from now?

Some of the women in the book are contemporaries of ours, Vandana
Shiva, Angela Davis, Malalai Joya etc. The book has 30 women who live
or have lived within the last 150 years, but of course there are
hundreds more possible candidates, who knows what amazing women will
be leading the revolutions of the future.

Which woman in the book is someone a lot of people have overlooked in the past?

All of the women have left their mark, perhaps a woman like Haydee
Santamaria of Cuba, who, although her influence was huge and her work
was vital, never cast herself as the figurehead of the revolution. Her
writings becoming more available has made it harder to overlook how
important her philosophy was and how passionate her struggle was.

What's next for you?

I'm in the early stages of a graphic novel, watch this space
www.cherrybombcomics.co.nz

5 Questions with Lori Dennis, author of Green Interior Design

 

What is the book all about?

The design, decoration and maintenance of environmentally and socially responsible, healthy interiors and gardens.

What inspired this book?

I speak about green design throughout the country and was always being asked, "isn't there a book where I can get this information?" I decided to write it.

Which green interior design item impresses you most?

Vintage or antiques furnishings. I like items that come with their own story and history.

Has the market for green interior design increased quite a bit over the past few years? Now prices that prices are closer to conventional products, who wouldn't chose an eco friendly item that is also good for your health? The market is exploding and becoming standard.

Which image in the book is your favorite?

I love the suzanni fabric on this old bench and the snowy mountains in the distance.

 

5 Questions with Teun Voeten, author of Tunnel People

 

What is the book all about, for those who don't know?

The book is an in depth portrait of a group of underground homeless people that were living in a rail road tunnel under Manhattan. I describe how they became homeless, their daily lives, their dreams and hopes for the future. I tried to be as honestly as possible without sensationalizing or romanticizing the issues.

What was the most interesting part about putting the book together?

Being original an anthropologist, I actually lived, worked and slept for 5 months with the tunnel people. I helped them collect empty cans, we cooked over open fires, we had a lot of parties and of course, extremely interesting conversations.

What did you learn from the tunnel people?

However dire your circumstances, however poor and downtrodden you are, the most important is not to see yourself as a victim. Make the best of what you have and keep up your dignity. A lot of tunnel people succeeded in doing so. Very admiring.

Which personality you cover in the book was most intriguing?

Bernard, who was nickname "Lord of the Tunnel. Not only was he very intelligent, but also outrageously funny and totally politically incorrect about his fellow homeless tunnel dwellers. Also, he was a great cook.


What's next for you?

I am working on a photo book on the drug violence in Mexico. A very difficult subject, but I think the current disintegration of Mexico, the total impunity and all pervasive corruption are very alarming developments that can have repercussions on a global scale.

For more information visit TunnelPeople.net

Q&A with Sanjiv Chopra, author of Doctor Chopra Says

 

What is the book all about, for those who don't know?

The book is about topics I and my co-author Dr. Alan Lotvin get asked about all the time by friends and even strangers we meet all the time.

Where do you get people talking to you the most about these subjects?

At cocktail parties, dinners, at airports when they find out we are Physicians.

What's the biggest lesson your learned from writing the book?

We knew lot of facts but it was great to solidify them and connect with some of the folks who had made the original and seminal discoveries and to talk to experts who shed light and knew all the Nuances.


What's next for you?

My next book has been completed and was just sent to the publisher. It's called The Ten Tenets of Leadership.

5 Questions with Marc Muchnick, author of No More Regrets

 

1.     How'd the book come about?
No More Regrets! came about as a result of a conversation with one of my best friends from college just six months before his untimely death.  Gary, who had Stage 4 cancer and was going through a brutal regimen of chemotherapy at the time, out of the blue asked me, “What’s your biggest regret?” The question sparked an intense conversation about how life is short and sometimes you don’t realize that until it’s too late.  Essentially, our regrets go with us to the grave.  Gary asked me to promise him that going forward I would live my life with no more regrets, and part of my commitment to doing that was to write this book so I could share Gary’s message with others.

2.     What's the main message of it?
The main premise of No More Regrets! is that while most of us have regrets, there is no time like the present to start living life without any more of them.  Regrets are the things we do that we wish we hadn’t done and the things we fail to do that we wish we had done, both of which result in unhappiness, disappointment, or remorse.  Thus, to avoid having regrets in the future, we need to ask ourselves two very important questions as a routine part of our decision-making process:
·      Will I have regrets if I do it (or don’t do it)?
·      Will I avoid having regrets if I do it (or don’t do it)?
I provide 30 practical ways in this book for banishing regret from our lives altogether.

3.    Why do people live with regret?
Most people live with regret because they can’t find a way to forgive themselves. Essentially they become prisoners to their regret, which takes a lot of energy and can be both stressful and depressing.  If we want to free ourselves from the chains of regret, we must move on from the past because we can’t change what’s already happened.  Instead we need to focus on what we have the power to change today as well as in the future.

4.     What's the biggest regret people have on their deathbed, and how can it be avoided?
My research shows that there are some common themes to regret:
·      We get stuck in ruts.
·      We take some things or people in our lives for granted.
·      We sacrifice our authenticity.
·      We stop growing, learning, and evolving.
·      We become overly self-absorbed, insensitive, and judgmental.
As people get older, especially as they near the end of life, our regrets tend to be more about the things we haven’t done but wish we had done.  Some examples include spending more time with family, taking more vacations, following a lifelong dream or passion, and being more authentic.  One thing is for sure, you don’t hear too many people in their final days of life say that they wished they could have worked harder or missed fewer days at work.

5.     Do you have any regrets?
Of course, but I’m trying not to have any more of them!  The year I missed my missed my kids’ first day of school is one of my biggest regrets. Every year prior to that it was a family tradition for my wife and I to make the kids a big breakfast and take pictures of them in their “first day” clothes. It was one of those times where work just got in the way – perhaps it couldn’t be helped but I sure felt disappointed. Not only had I let my kids down, but I had let myself down. Since then I’ve tried to plan ahead so that I can avoid repeating this scenario. I realize I can’t be there for everything in my kids’ lives, but I don’t want to sell my soul to my job either.