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
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
You know that feeling when you hear a song on the radio and even though you have never heard it before, you know straight away who is singing it? Perhaps you don’t even need to hear the voice—the music is so distinct, it could only be them. That same unique element exists in most professionals,… Continue reading Find Your Writing Voice – “Speak up, I can’t hear you!”
My God, I am so impatient. Maybe it’s the quest for perfection, never being satisfied. I often interrupt others, hoping they will hurry up and get to their point before I fall asleep. I walk too fast, often cursing the slow walking people in front of me as I make my way through a shopping… Continue reading Patience Will Make You a Better Writer
A high percentage of books the world reads are fictional. Stories created by the imagination with totally made up plots. Characters don’t even need to be human and the six headed animals or monsters can talk in any language of your choosing. There are no limits but the imagination. And the reader is happy with… Continue reading The Fiction of Non-Fiction
Having spent many long, sometimes frustrating, months writing that epic, what happens when it is finally done? You had it professionally edited and proofread—maybe—and now it is time to unleash it on unsuspecting readers. It feels good to have the thing behind you, and you can now put to bed all those characters that haunted… Continue reading How to Get Over Writing Depression
No longer is getting published dependent on a wish and a prayer. The traditional publishing houses and their gatekeepers don’t hold the only key anymore. Advancing technology has now made it possible for anyone with average computer skills to publish themselves.
Ah, what writers do! Or should I say, what writers shouldn’t do!As an editor and book reviewer, I cringe when I see a manuscript fraught with beginner’s mistakes. It is not only that the manuscript looks disorganized, if I am editing it, before doing anything, I need to hammer it into proper format, which can… Continue reading “Are You Neglecting Your Manuscript?” by Stefan Vucak
There are lots of things authors should not do when writing, like indiscriminate shifting point of view between characters, churn out your novel without a detailed outline, frequent usage of the same word, overusing slang…there are others. What I want to touch on here is the usage of adjectives.
Yeah, I can hear you groan already. Not another plug to have your work edited. You’re telling yourself, I’m a good writer and I don’t need anybody fixing my typos, thank you. Those blood-sucking worms out there are just out to get my money. That can be true, but it doesn’t remove the need to… Continue reading “You Always Need an Editor” ~ by Stefan Vucak
Is it the idea, the imagination of the thing? Is it the author’s style of writing, crisp and concise to intricate and elegant? Is it the polishing work that should happen once the writing is done, from editing, proofreading, cover design, formatting, etc.? Is it a combination of all of the above or some other… Continue reading What Makes a Book a GOOD Book?
Have run across a site, mentioned on a LinkedIn group discussion forum, and really want to get this public’s opinion. The site talks about one voice for self published authors and giving credibility to authors that self publish, comparable to those that traditionally publish. It’s set up on a volunteer basis and books are judged eligible… Continue reading indiePENdents Seal of Approval?
I remember being mystified about the point of twitter and wondering why anyone could be bothered to share 140 character observations. I am still bemused by some tweets I see – but others can be really thought provoking and every once in a while you see something touching, poignant or laugh-out-loud funny.
For years I had a story line in mind for my first book. ‘Re-write the legends’ I thought, ‘it will be easy!’ I was very wrong. I would constantly stumble, falter over what colour whose eyes were. To stop forgetting minor details I tried writing them in a file titled Notes, but before I knew… Continue reading “How A First Time Author Overcomes Writer’s Block” ~ by Susan Hatton
Some of us have taken our sweet old fashioned time about taking on new internet stuff and some of us have jumped right in there and are already really good at blogging. There appears to be no way around it. I gave in several months ago and after I figured out how to do it… Continue reading “About Blog Sites and The Benefits” – by Debra L Hartmann
This is how it goes. The plot thickens and the characters unravel, nights are spent over the computer pounding out the words, the final page is written at last, a spell check is done and with relief, the novel is sent to a publisher! Sounds familiar? It should be, judging by the works now being… Continue reading “Author Tools – Editing” – by Stefan Vucak
A really, really great thing has happened, mostly thanks to the ease and lack of risk involved in digital publishing: the genres are blending and blurring into whole new, never-before-seen categories within their rigid guidelines. Once upon a time, genres not only had strict conventions for storyline, subject matter, there were even acceptable… Continue reading “Balancing the Fine Line of Your Genre” – by Mercy Pilkington
Aside from being a new author which means that no one has heard of you and isn’t listening because they haven’t heard of you, yet, you have the added drawback of not really knowing how to sell on the internet. As an author you will have to advertise, not just your book, but yourself, your… Continue reading “Selling My Book – Where Do I Start?” by Debra L Hartmann
I get asked a lot– how did you do it? How did you cross that bridge from simply dabbling in your writing to actually becoming published? Today, I’d thought I’d give some thoughts on some of those important beginning steps that I took and maybe you should take if you are serious about pursuing publication. 1. Finished… Continue reading “Baby Steps” – by Jordyn Redwood
You could wait for a reader to buy your book and hope they take the time to tell the world on the sales page that they either loved it or hated it. I suspect you want to have some reviews done to help readers choose to buy your book in the meantime and this is… Continue reading “Book Reviews – How Do You Get Them?” – by Debra L Hartmann
Obviously you want to get it published and become a well-known best-selling author, right? It’s a difficult journey that you must now embark upon, especially if it is your first novel. Your first stop on the road to getting published is putting together a query letter and sending it out to agents/publishers. Your goal is… Continue reading “You’ve written a novel, congratulations! Now what? AKA – 8 Steps to Writing a Query Letter” – by Debra L Hartmann
I found another great site! There are so many social media marketing sites available for authors to market their books. Since this is the first I’ve heard of LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com/), I thought I’d share the news. LibraryThing is another place to catalogue your books online enabling you to market your books and engage a new… Continue reading “Recommended Site for Connecting with Readers” – by Lilith Darville
No matter what stage of the editing process you are at, reading your novel or short story aloud can help. You can either read it to yourself or find a willing victim or partner to listen to you read it. Ask them to read it to you (as long as you ask them to look… Continue reading “Revise Your Novel by Reading it Aloud” by Kevin Berry
~by Laura Graham 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… Continue reading “The Teething Problems of Becoming a Writer” by Laura Graham
WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH PAGE OF AHA! AS OF MARCH 11, 2013, THIS SITE IS OFFICIALLY LIVE AND WELCOMING ALL AUTHORS, CONTRIBUTORS AND PARTICIPANTS… We are so glad you stopped by and hope you enjoy your visit. Be sure to leave a comment so we know you were here and if you follow this… Continue reading WELCOME to AHA!
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