Month: May 2012

Amazon.com: Author Central Pages

Whether you think Amazon.com is too big for its own good, or not, doesn’t matter. As Indie authors, we’re all on it, and we all need it. One thing Amazon does do well is providing authors with tools to get the word out about their work(s). You’ve got to give them that.

But not all authors are taking advantage of the free tools offered by Amazon.com. Today, we’re going to start with Amazon Author Central pages – because this is the FIRST thing an author should do.

One way Amazon makes Author Central pages convenient is that you don’t need to set up a special author account. You can use your existing customer account log-in (if you’re already a customer). If you’re not, you can set up an account. This account is NOT linked to your Kindle Direct or Createspace accounts, if you have those. This is completely separate.

Before I show you how to claim and set up your author page, you’d probably like to know why you need one. #1 – they’re free. It’s like having your own multi-media website from which people can also buy your books. #2 – you can post your biography, video trailers and even rss feeds from your blog(s) and twitter there. #3 – you can post upcoming events, signings, appearances, etc. #4 – potential readers can post questions directly to you in the “discussions” forum. And lastly #5 – All your books will be linked to one page where people can see everything: how many books, how many reviews, and the cost. Here’s a screen shot of my Amazon.com Author Central page to give you an idea (click on it to enlarge): Continue reading “Amazon.com: Author Central Pages”

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

A local author had asked me to participate in an event sponsored by the Woodstock (New York) Library Forum called, “Four Funny Writers.”

Now, I have this love/hate relationship with public events. A natural introvert, my first instinct is to cringe, lock the doors, and hunker down in front of the television, eating junk food and watching episode after episode of The Big Bang Theory. Continue reading “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”

Show us your stuff!

Would you like to submit a guest post, sneak peek or book video trailer to appear on Indies Unlimited? Check out our Submissions guidelines and query us through the contact page. Or you can call our assistant Jenny at 867-5309. I don’t recommend that though. Evidently she’s been getting a lot of crank calls and it has made her a little edgy.

As far as guest posts go, we are particularly interested in well-written content for our features Story Time, Airing of Grievances, Rhyme or Reason, and Getting it Right. This is a chance for you to show off your writing chops to a vast new audience.

Story Time: The Woman Who Gave Juice To The Roofers

Author Elisavietta Ritchie

By Elisavietta Ritchie

She is large, fair and buxom and nobody asks her age. Some from a distance guess forty, biographers hint at more. But why she bothers to carry a thermos heavy with ice and juice from her attic apartment down four flights of stairs to the foot of ladders surrounded by splintered wood, cracked tiles, tarpaper torn into trapezoids, bent rusted nails, twisted-off gutters too full of holes to hold more than last year’s maple leaves —

Not even her building. The brick one across the alley. The roofs are on par, and since her windows are raised, they share their orchestrations of crowbars, hammers, buzz saws, planks clanging, while she spins back Aida, Traviata, Forza del Destino.

Now she waits while they lower a rope five flights down. Might they lift her like a wired angel up to their heights? Continue reading “Story Time: The Woman Who Gave Juice To The Roofers”