Thanks, Angela!
2 2026-08-15 14:32:47
Re: Mission: Yemen - Bronze Medal Winner (6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Congrats, Randall!
3 2026-08-07 13:38:46
Re: Publication announcement (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Dirk B wrote:
I'll have to give a try too.
Tempus fugit, my friend.
4 2026-08-07 10:55:51
Re: Publication announcement (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Dirk B wrote:
When Isaac Asimov was asked what he would do if he knew he only had 1 year left to live, his answer was: Write faster! :-)
I hope to have more than a year left, but you never know. So I am trying to write faster. 
5 2026-08-06 23:08:26
Re: Publication announcement (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Thanks, Bobbie. I’d have to destroy actuarial tables to accomplish that!
6 2026-08-06 14:29:01
Re: Publication announcement (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Thank you, Randy and Bill! This one took longer than the usual due to some issues at the publisher's end, but at last (despite not having a cover yet!) we have a release date.
7 2026-08-06 10:44:32
Re: Publication announcement (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Thomas Galen wrote:
That's great! Congratulations! Wish i'd been on this site earlier so I could watch the whole thing unfold.
Thanks, Thomas, and welcome. I’ve been here since my first book. I think you’ll like it.
Jack
8 2026-08-06 10:37:56
Re: Publication announcement (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
George FLC wrote:
Congratulations. Any advice on how to finish a book????
George FLC
Thanks, George. Every time I start a book, I don’t know how it will end, so I’m with you there!
Jack
9 2026-08-05 21:38:42
Re: Publication announcement (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Dirk B wrote:
Congratulations, Jack. I enjoyed that book.
And I'm glad to see someone is getting their stories finished. :-)
How many books have you now published?
Thanks, Dirk! This will be number sixteen.
10 2026-08-05 21:37:25
Re: Publication announcement (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
vern wrote:
CONGRATULATIONS! Hope you make the best sellers' list. Take care. Vern
Much appreciated, Vern!
11 2026-08-05 17:16:54
Topic: Publication announcement (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
My publisher has informed me that “Russians and Gangsters,” workshopped here as “Revival,” will be released on October 20. Thanks to all who reviewed it and helped make it a better product. I’ll keep it on site (at least the part not lost due to the computer crash!) for anyone who’d like to read it for free.
Jack
12 2026-08-04 20:56:03
Re: Spammer has joined - Please delete them (90 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
She seems to be the same person signing on with a different name each time.
13 2026-06-03 23:50:31
Re: Cover help (2 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Thanks, Dirk. I’ll go with the default cover for now while I work on it.
14 2026-06-03 18:37:05
Topic: Cover help (2 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I’ve done this many times before, but for some reason I can’t upload an image from my files for the cover of my new book. Anybody have advice?
15 2026-04-10 13:56:08
Re: Here's how truly bad AI can be... (4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Sounds like Gemini needs to go to YOU for answers. But seriously, if you’ve caught this AI making errors, though they’re well written and sound good at first, how can you trust it with anything?
16 2026-03-17 18:56:46
Re: How to Choose Professional Audiobook Services? (6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I’ve had two experiences with audiobooks, both through the same publisher. In the first, my publisher requested voice auditions - all candidates read the same passage in the book - narrowed the responses to three, then asked for my input in making the decision. Then the publisher got it made. In the second, an audiobook company offered my publisher a fee for the rights, which she accepted, and I got a piece of it. This company then made the audiobook. So, if you’re doing this on your own, you have choices: from doing it all yourself with the help of a company that does that kind of thing (can’t help you there) to selling the rights to a firm who will get it done. You’ll still be named as the author of the book, the book’s content won’t change, and the title and cover art will be the same as the ebook or paperback version.
17 2026-02-26 14:45:51
Re: Revival (4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Thanks Vern, Dirk, and Randall! I’m in the second phase of editing for it now - line editing followed content editing, and the last hoop will be fact-checking. After that will be the cover creation. Hoping for a launch date this spring.
18 2026-02-24 22:02:56
Topic: Revival (4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
The novel I posted here (still available on site until release) named “Revival” will be published under the title, “Russians
and Gangsters.” It took a while between yours truly and the publisher to arrive at the title, but we finally agreed!
19 2026-02-09 18:14:53
Re: Spammer has joined - Please delete them (90 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
She’s gone. Thanks.
20 2026-02-09 17:53:18
Re: Spammer has joined - Please delete them (90 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Another spammer - Leslie Crudup.
21 2026-01-15 16:52:02
Re: My book isn’t that long. (4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Marilyn Johnson wrote:
jack the knife wrote:I have to get to Walmart for more legal pads!
Haha! So chapters 1-28 are free. Any after that come with a Walmart receipt. Got it! Legal pads sit on desktops and beg to be filled.
I think, write in cursive, therefore I am. I think, enter the words into the laptop, therefore I will be. (My apologies to Descartes.)
22 2026-01-15 10:43:41
Re: My book isn’t that long. (4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Marilyn Johnson wrote:
jack the knife wrote:For those that thought of reviewing my novel, The Sanction Paradox, but felt intimidated by the chapter numbers in the 90s, let me explain that three chapters were added later to the manuscript, and rather than go back to insert them in their proper places in the site version, I numbered them in the 90s to avoid confusion with the chronological order of the other chapters. Clear as mud? Anyway, that’s the situation. My book will run less than thirty chapters total. Thanks for your understanding.
Jack
Less than 30 chapters? Come on, Jack… we were ready to settle in for 101! Don’t leave us hanging—get back to it!
I have to get to Walmart for more legal pads!
23 2026-01-14 16:14:51
Topic: My book isn’t that long. (4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
For those that thought of reviewing my novel, The Sanction Paradox, but felt intimidated by the chapter numbers in the 90s, let me explain that three chapters were added later to the manuscript, and rather than go back to insert them in their proper places in the site version, I numbered them in the 90s to avoid confusion with the chronological order of the other chapters. Clear as mud? Anyway, that’s the situation. My book will run less than thirty chapters total. Thanks for your understanding.
Jack
24 2026-01-05 12:09:09
Re: “Ghostwriters in the Sky” (11 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Marilyn Johnson wrote:
jack the knife wrote:So is this person you were a ghostwriter for a celebrity? Ghostwriters for them usually get some credit as in, “My Mission Impossible Life” by Tom Cruise (with Marilyn Johnson). Is the supposed author a real person? Do you get royalties or a one-time fee? I’m intrigued.
Hey, Jack... no, they're not celebrities, just publishing companies. They each have their niche, and kids growing up and the problems they go through is this particular publisher's thing. The good news is just today they sent me a message asking if I would write another one for them.
They pay an up-front fee, which I figure is more than I'd make if I published it myself. This particular publisher is in Romania. I'm getting lots of requests from publishers out of this country. I'm currently working on one from a publisher in Greece... a Western Historical Romance (I hate romance novels, but the pay is good). These folks have over 500 titles out and that's all they publish... they pay writers, then they publish the books with names other than the writers' names.
I just finished one today for a publisher in Spain. It's titled "How Not to Kill My Kids," a collection of funny stories about mothers and how their kids drive them to the brink of distraction at times. All the writing comes from me... no outline from this guy, just 110 pages is all he wanted.
At the same time I'm working on a memoir for a publisher in the country of Georgia. She did give me an outline to work from, but most of them don't.
Well, congratulations, MJ, for making a name for yourself with these companies. Naive me, I didn’t know such publishers existed.
Happy trails!
Jack
25 2026-01-02 18:07:14
Re: “Ghostwriters in the Sky” (11 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Marilyn Johnson wrote:
Some of you already know I'm doing some ghostwriting gigs for some publishers. Though my name doesn't go on the book, I get updated by the publishers when the book is released. In August I wrote a book from scratch about the problems teenage girls encounter growing up. This morning I got a notice that the book was on Amazon and was already in the top new seller list. I am proud of ME!! Yay! Though the author is listed as Rachel Claire, I am still excited about the way it has been reviewed since its publication date of December 20th!
So is this person you were a ghostwriter for a celebrity? Ghostwriters for them usually get some credit as in, “My Mission Impossible Life” by Tom Cruise (with Marilyn Johnson). Is the supposed author a real person? Do you get royalties or a one-time fee? I’m intrigued.
