Are you a writer hoping to be published? Think you might need a Literary Agent? This article warns of the potential pitfalls involving professional scammers who are out to get your money. It is required reading for anyone thinking of taking the leap to becoming a published author.
authors
Bookbird: an Amazing Resource for Writers
Great tips and links from Nicholas for authors and writers. .
I came across Bookbird when I was hired by Yves Lummer to work on the website’s content. Bookbird is rapidly becoming a top resource for authors looking for help with writing and self-publishing, with tons of excellent advice covering everything from name generators to calculating your KDP royalty.
So far, I have written 4 guides for him, with at least as many scheduled for December.
Yves has also published a large number of amazing guides that all Indies should check out, such as Amazon KDP: The Definitive Beginner Guide For Authors (2022), How to Price Your Book, and Amazon Book Categories: The Secret Visibility Booster.
Its main offering, though, is its Amazon KDP Book Interior Templates. Perfect for low-content books such as activity, coloring, and even no-content books (think journals, notebooks…
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Monster Tips For Fantasy Writers
I found these two charts online. They list some legendary and mythological creatures and monsters who might appear in one of your stories or books one day.
You will need to click on the images to enlarge them.
Don’t Sign!
A warning from Stevie, based on her own experience!
This is a scheduled post and I will answer any comments tomorrow.
Recently I read a blog from a self-published author who was thrilled to bits to gain a publishing deal. She had signed the rights to her book over to the publisher, and of course now looked forward to the royalties from many future sales.
However, I’ve been on a steep learning curve over the past 8 years regarding the integrity of small publishers. In order to satisfy my own curiosity I went on to Google and typed in ‘Writer Beware‘ and the name of the lady’s publisher. As I suspected, there were many complaints about this particular publisher regarding the amount of ‘set up fees’ needed and the lack of any royalties.
I’m sure most of us have been taken in by small publishers at one time or another at the beginning of our writing careers…
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Book Promotion Offer From Me
With so many people beavering away writing and publishing books during the long period of lockdown, I thought it was about time to offer another promotional opportunity on this blog.
If you follow my blog or follow me on Twitter, and have a book to promote, you can publicise it here, completely free of charge, with no strings. I don’t even want a free copy, how about that? It will be viewed by a potentially large audience, as well as being shared on Twitter. The post will not be taken down later, so will always be on this blog.
Send me the details, including a photo of the book cover, to petejohnson50@yahoo.com
Add full buying links, and a personal bio and photo if you want one to appear.
Either a synopsis or a blurb would help too of course.
You get full credit, and no editing of your promotional post. It will appear here as ‘Blogger’s Books: + your name’.
I have a great bunch of readers from all around the world, so if your book has been translated, or is in a foreign language, that doesn’t matter.
Bloggers love to read, and they like to buy books, or get free copies when available. They also review them, which is a great help to authors.
Each person sending me their book to promote will be featured separately, so no need to worry about being compared to anyone else. I don’t care what genre your book is in, but if it contains ‘Adult Content’, then please add that disclaimer. Only one book photo and one author photo per post please.
Off you go!
You Write Like
I spotted something doing the rounds on Twitter today, and thought it looked like fun for writers.
A free App analyses any section of the text you have written in a story, and tells you the closest connection to a famous writer with a similar style.
I chose this small section of my writing from Part Three of my new serial, ‘The Fear’
There had never been any celebration of birthdays or Christmas in the house. After all, my birthday was also the day of mother Paula’s death. And Christmas was just a reminder of how much she had loved that season. However, I was coming up to a significant birthday, according to a telephone conversation I overheard. Standing outside the door of father’s study one morning, waiting to accompany him to the workshop, I heard him talking to the family solicitor, Mr Dean.
Analysed very quickly, the App decided that I write like… Kurt Vonnegut.
If I write anything remotely similar to the author of ‘Slaughterhouse Five’, then that makes me very happy.
It may only be for entertainment purposes, but it does let you find out why they come to that conclusion, and tells you something about the author.
So if you are interested in discovering who you write like, try this link.
https://iwl.me/
Give me a break!
I am reblogging this for Susan as reuqested, so that you can all be aware of her ongoing promotion of other authors. A list of those already featured can be found using this link.
https://islandeditions.wordpress.com/authors-readers-international-list-of-authors/
Yesterday, I published the last promotion in the current round of postings for the Authors-Readers International series that I’ve been running on this blog since Dec. 1, 2019. During that time, I have promoted 50 Authors who have lived in, or been associated with, 26 different countries around the world!
Here’s the complete list of authors so far: Authors-Readers International
I have now amended this list to include information that I had for each Author on the countries in which they were born and/or had spent a significant time during their lives. So Readers will have a good selection indeed of a very INTERNATIONAL and diverse list of Authors! Although, I do admit that the majority of Authors in this first round of promotions come from or live in Canada, but then that’s where I come from, so it’s kind of a given that I would know more Canadian Authors…
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10 Ideas to Keep Your Author Blog Fresh
Are you blogging about your own books, or your passion for writing? If so, check out these great free tips on Nick’s blog!
This is a guest post by Ronita Mohan. Ronita is a content marketer at Venngage, the online infographic and design platform. She is an avid reader with an interest in mystery fiction, history, graphic novels, marketing, and diversity. Twitter: @Venngage
10 Ideas to Keep Your Author Blog Fresh
Image: Unsplash
Authors are idea-machines—or at least, they want to be. If they aren’t thinking of ideas for new books, they’re brainstorming ideas for their author blog.
A key aspect of modern life for authors is how much self-promotion they need to do. It is no longer enough to post the odd tweet when you publish a book—authors are now expected to be online all the time, actively participating in the community and giving their fans new content.
But while fans on social media thrive on personal updates on your book-writing journey, authors need to capitalize on content marketing methods by…
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Self-Publishing Basics
More essential advice for anyone thinking of publishing their own book. This is clearly explained, and offers free tips in the correct sequence.
Read carefully! 🙂
This is a guest post by Linda Cartwright. Linda is an educator and a writer on the verge of coming out as an independent author after years of freelancing and ghost-writing. Her darkest secret is that writing is only her second favorite thing to do… after reading. You can follow Linda on Twitter.
In preparation for her own book launch, Linda has been studying self-publishing basics. She’s sharing here what she’s discovered so far, from choosing the right publishing platform to creating a killer book cover.
Self-Publishing Basics
We shall come from a presumption that your book is great. You thought of a good story, you were tenacious enough to write it, this baby is ready to see the world. We are not talking about writing a book worth reading, we are talking about how to self-publish it in a way that people will want to read it.
Also, since…
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How to Develop Your Brand as a Book Author
Nicholas and Stewart bring you valuable advice about how to get your book noticed! Aspiring authors, and those already published, may find this extremely useful.
This is a guest post by Stewart Dunlop. Stewart is a full-time content marketer at Foundr and part-time reader, gamer & footballer. You can follow or tweet him @stewydunlop.
How to Develop Your Brand as a Book Author
Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay
From a literary point of view, we live in blessed times! Thanks to the development of modern communication devices and platforms, almost anyone can put their thoughts on paper (or the word editor of their choice) and release them to the world.
We now have access to printed books, e-books, audiobooks, and more. This allows the information to flow unhindered and creates a wonderful environment for those who love to read and learn.
But this level of progress has also led to a change in your role as the author. Back in the day, your job would’ve been over once you applied the last of the…
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