What is a Beta Reader? A beta reader is a person who represents part of your target market and reads your nearly completed manuscript with the expectation that their input will help you develop plot, theme, character, pace, grammar, and spelling. They help flesh out issues you couldn’t have caught during your self-editing rounds because… Continue reading Beta Reading Cuts Editing Costs
Social media offers the perfect way to communicate directly with customers. It is possible for your content to quickly go viral, reaching a huge audience in no time. You can, however, go viral for the wrong reasons, potentially alienating those who would have bought from you. Many social media mistakes are not so catastrophic, though,… Continue reading 6 Social Media Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
What are the hallmarks of an amateur novelist? This is a question I get all the time and, of course, there are many answers: poor pacing, flat dialogue, a lack of believable character development. All of these things are a death kiss for any fiction writer. However, even if all of these elements are in… Continue reading Why Theme MUST be the Foundation of Your Novel by Martin Cavannagh
by L Dalton White So, my first novel was self-published—almost self-everything—and nothing happened. The second time around, I got a new editor, professional book cover and formatting. Nothing happened. The little I knew from an online course on book marketing wasn’t helping. Do it yourself wasn’t getting it done. I wanted something to happen. Spoiler… Continue reading Publishing with a Side of Self-Sabotage
Social Networking sites can be scary places. When the world is connected, anything can happen, and it can happen quickly too.
That’s why I’m here to talk to you today. These days, anyone can fall victim to a social networking faux pas, and from hacks and leaks to rules and regulations, there’s always something that could go wrong and damage your reputation.
When it became easy to publish, people published crap. Buckets and boatloads of it. A gate was opened, which was previously closed to just anyone dreaming of becoming a published author. Whether because of budget or ignorance, people published within days of finishing writing and screamed from the rooftops, “Look at me, I’m published!” The… Continue reading Self-Publishing 101: First Impressions
Does your website look a little tired and clunky? It doesn’t dazzle you anymore? Staring at my website one day, I know that feeling. After some procrastination—there are always other things to do—I finally decided something needed to be done. Had I known what I faced, perhaps I should have procrastinated some more. A good… Continue reading “Building Your Website” by Stefan Vucak
Think about how much time you spend on Twitter and what you are hoping to accomplish by using Twitter. One of the most important things that can happen for you is when someone else retweets for you, right? And for you, as you work to increase your network, you are looking for things to retweet… Continue reading Pin a Tweet?
Raymond Esposito kindly gave AHA permission to use his fantastic graph that illustrates the trends and statistics from a Smashwords survey from last year. Enjoy!
So, you are a newbie author and you’re awaiting the release of your book in the next three or four months (heaven forbid, if it’s a longer wait!) After you have wrung your hands and vented to your significant other about why publishers can’t seem to get their act together, you come to a major… Continue reading “Keep Calm and Promote!” by Adite Banerjie
What is marketing indie style? When you began the very personal journey that resulted in a manuscript you then felt compelled to share with the world, you probably didn’t anticipate how difficult it would be to let people know your book is available for sale. Marketing concepts and methods are relative to the consumer’s demands, not… Continue reading Marketing Indie Style
A Self-Publishers Guide to Metadata In the most basic context, metadata means “data about data.” What about when we talk about self publishing—what is metadata? When was the last time you went to the library, pulled out one of the card catalog drawers and rifled through the 3×5 cards printed with the information of each, individual book… Continue reading Getting Your Book Noticed by Ethan Risso
Tips for Running a Crowd Funding Campaign Initially when I first embarked on a Kickstarter project campaign for my first book, The Undead Sorceress, I assumed that it would be a simple task. After all, the media has covered stories about people getting thousands of dollars from crowds, so how hard can collecting free money… Continue reading Tips for Running a Crowd Funding Campaign by J F Garrard
The first challenge of becoming a writer for me was the whole idea of becoming a writer. That was for clever people, I used to think. Where to begin? With a pen and paper – all right, here goes. Then came the second challenge, what was I going to write about? And the third, where… Continue reading “The Teething Problems of Becoming a Writer” by Laura Graham
Rochelle Weber – CLICK HERE for an interview and book review and links to learn more about Rochelle “Off the top of my head, please encourage new authors to check Preditors & Editors before they sign with anyone for anything. They keep a list of publishers, editorial services and agents and while some may slip… Continue reading Quick Advice and Quotable Quotes From a Variety of Authors
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