Month: April 2013

Changing Your Book Cover

Guest post
by Shoshanna Evers

So let’s say you’ve written an amazing book. You’ve had it edited, proofed, formatted it perfectly (or paid someone to do so), and your blurb is stellar.

The book gets some 5 and 4 star reviews. Readers like it! It’s good! So why isn’t it selling?

Look closely. Assess your book cover. Does your cover honestly, without a doubt, sit on the virtual shelf with all those Big 6 covers and shine?

Maybe it does. Maybe your cover is perfect. But maybe, just maybe, the cover you made yourself—or that your friend who knows how to work Photoshop or whatever made for you—isn’t working.

Here are some suggestions for your book cover: Continue reading “Changing Your Book Cover”

Exploiting the Subcognitive Brain

In my last post, I discussed the concepts of unconscious or subcognitive influence on the decisions people make. The hard-wired brain appears to be involved in a much wider array of skills and decision-making than science had previously thought.

People can catch a ball without consciously doing the complex trigonometry required to calculate angle, arc, and rate of speed. When the person fails to make the catch, it is more likely a result of the conscious mind intruding on the process—i.e., fear of being hit by the ball. If we don’t get in our own way, our brains work all that out lightning-fast without any fancy book-learnin’. Continue reading “Exploiting the Subcognitive Brain”

Exercises for Authors

Yeah, that’s right. I’m an author. That means I’m cerebral. I work out with my brain, not my body, which means that my Nordic Track machine is used to hang laundry. It works quite nicely in that capacity.

Our Laurie Boris tried to get us to start some good habits like stretching and some strange, new-fangled ergonomic stuff. All that’s fine and dandy, but I can’t really see someone like me actually making the effort to do any of it. So, in the true spirit of entrepreneurial opportunism, I’ve developed an exercise program tailored specifically for authors (and anyone who spends extended hours at a computer). Because what good is a program you won’t actually use?

That’s right, I’ve taken activities in which you participate every day and turned them into exercises! How can you go wrong? Well, duh, you can’t. Continue reading “Exercises for Authors”

Get Your Vote On

Phone the kids and wake the neighbors. It’s the most exciting time of the week (as far as you know); time to vote for your choice in this week’s Flash Fiction Challenge.

We had a number of great entries. Kudos to all the entrants. Now IU readers to choose: Who will be this week’s Flash Fiction Star?

Check out this week’s entries here. Vote for your fave then use those share buttons at the bottom of the post to spread the word that the vote is on.

 

choose your fave in this week's challenge:

  • Ed Drury (57%, 26 Votes)
  • Jacqueline Hopkins (26%, 12 Votes)
  • Lita Burke (7%, 3 Votes)
  • TD McKinnon (7%, 3 Votes)
  • Michael Boggia (2%, 1 Votes)
  • Sherri Springle (2%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 46

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