Celebrating Independent Authors
All right. This is not an essay from an expert telling everybody about better writing technique. This is a writer complaining about all the dratted self-styled experts who have nothing better to do than find arbitrary ways to complain about our work.
Case in Point.
I write, “Her eyes dropped to the floor.” And my smart-*ss editor comments, “I hope she picked them up afterwards.” Continue reading “Cast Your Eyes Over This and Other Writing Flubs?”
Okay people, I’m going to rant. I have had it with all these articles lately – some from people who are in no way qualified to be writing them – TELLING authors how EXPENSIVE it is to self-publish. Well, that’s a crock of …
If there is one way to get me riled up, this is it. Scare tactics. Holier than thou BS. Seriously, people. JUST. STOP. Stop trying to frighten new authors. Stop writing articles with ONLY worst-case scenarios. Stop claiming that authors have to go to conferences or get interior “book design” or that they have to pay for every service under the sun. One of the best things about being an indie is that we can learn how to do most everything ourselves – FOR FREE. If you have the ability or desire to pay for everything, good for you. That doesn’t mean that’s how it HAS to be done. In fact, most indies I know do everything themselves. FOR FREE. Continue reading “@#*&$it – Self-Publishing Does NOT Have to Cost You Anything”
Here at Indies Unlimited, we are always striving to bring our readers more resources to help them on their writing, publishing, and marketing journeys. Our goal is to help authors do everything themselves (except for editing!) so they can put out professional books at as low a cost as possible. Today we hand the floor over to Caleb Clayton of Caleb’s Formatting Service who took the time to produce an excellent Book Formatting Resource page for us. The resource page will be located in our drop-down menu – but today you can read it below. – The Admin.
Yes, you can format your eBook and paperback in Word. Not too long ago, I wrote a post for Indies Unlimited offering tips – Tips for Formatting Your Book Correctly in Microsoft Word – and Melinda Clayton (yes we’re related) has also given some handy formatting tips in this article – Drop Caps, Indents, and Other Formatting Tricks in Word.
And it’s still true. You can absolutely format your eBook or paperback in Word, but there are some steps that need to be followed. Continue reading “Our New Book Formatting Resource Page”
From the Smashwords Blog:
It’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere. This can mean just one thing:
It’s time for the ninth annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale!
Enrollment is now open for our annual indie ebook extravaganza. The sale kicks off July 1 and ends at 11:59pm Pacific on July 31.
The sale represents a massive collaborative marketing event for Smashwords authors and publishers. Each author and publisher – simply by promoting their own books – helps expose those same readers to the thousands of other participating books.
For one month only, readers can discover tens of thousands of special deals 25%-off, 50%-off, 75%-off and 100%-off (FREE!). So whether readers are looking for a great beach read or something to keep them cozy on a cold winter’s night in front the fireplace, they’ll find it here.
When the sale goes live, the catalogue will appear linked on the Smashwords home page. All participating books will have their participation noted on their individual book pages.
Go to https://www.smashwords.com/dashboard/sitewidePromos to enroll your books.