Month: July 2015

Kindle Unlimited Hump Day – Free July eBooks

Kindle Unlimited Hump Day 1Do you have a Kindle Unlimited membership? Well, if you’re do, you can get all these books for FREE. Not sure what Kindle Unlimited is? Our Lynne Cantwell tells you right here. So…

Readers: look in the comment section below. If you see a book that interests you, click over and reserve your copy. How easy is that? (If you don’t see the book covers, adjust your browser’s adblock settings.)

Authors: if you have a book available through the Amazon.com Kindle Unlimited Program, post it FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW. Authors who do not follow instructions will have their comments deleted.

We will convert your link to a clickable book cover. Do not attempt to insert an image in comments on your own. Just put the following information in the comment section:

1. Book title
2. Author name
3. A one sentence blurb (tweetable in length – longer descriptions will be deleted)
4. The Amazon link to download the book
5. The normal price so readers can see what they’re saving!

Then let your friends and fans know your book is being featured here today. Use the share buttons below, or copy the link in the address bar above and share the news on your favorite social media platforms. The more, the merrier, right?

So let’s give it a try, shall we? Please make sure to follow the RULES above. Now, go ahead and tell the world about your free read. IU is a safe-for-work site. PLEASE do not post links to erotica, religious, or political titles.

[Note: if the book cover images below do not display properly, please check your AdBlock settings.]

What Makes a Great Character?

character from pixabayWith all the reading I do, I’m very aware of how I feel about different characters in different books. There are times when I’ll go weeks — months, even — and not read a book that knocks me out. I begin to wonder if I’m getting jaded, but then, suddenly, a book comes along that I simply love and the characters are more like dear friends than two-dimensional sketches. These characters really grab me: make me laugh, make me cry, make me bite my nails with worry over their challenges. But they’re rare. Rarer than they should be. So it got me to thinking, what makes a really, really great character? Here’s my list, in no particular order. Continue reading “What Makes a Great Character?”

Clearing up the “Hybrid” in Publishing

HYBRID PUBLISHINGSo you’re a beginning writer, and you loved writing the book, but now you’re faced with the dreaded publishing process. Becoming an independent author sounds just too complex, but you don’t really know how to attract an agent or a traditional publisher either.

And then someone sends you a ritzy free book called How to Use Hybrid Publishing. (I got one last week.) And you think, “Great. Best of both worlds. Where do I sign up, and (you aren’t stupid) how much does it cost?”

Well, beware, because you don’t know what you don’t know, and that leaves you wide open for the people who are selling services you don’t want and don’t need, and most importantly, won’t sell your books.

This article gives the first steps in figuring out what the beginning author might do to gain enough knowledge to deal with this situation. Continue reading “Clearing up the “Hybrid” in Publishing”

Do You Go All the Way (for your readers)?

CinnamonKicks by Nuttycake Photography used with permission
CinnamonKicks by Nuttycake Photography used with permission

I go all the way. When I’m writing, I live it, breathe it, and feel it. It’s the only way I know how.

I’m in the latter stages of completing a new novel. This will be the first novel I’ve released since 2012. In the last three years I’ve written and published – a collection of short stories, a romance novella, and my self-publishing guidebook, but I haven’t put out any new, novel-length work. For me, climbing into the writing cave and coming out the other side is an emotional experience. It’s like nothing I’ve ever done. Each time, after I’ve made it back to dry land, I feel as though something inside me changed during the process. Either I’m becoming a little more off balance with each book I write or I’m learning something about myself. I’m still not sure which it is. Continue reading “Do You Go All the Way (for your readers)?”