Author: Lynne Cantwell

Lynne Cantwell grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. She worked as a broadcast journalist for many years; she has written for CNN, the late lamented Mutual/NBC Radio News, and a bunch of radio and TV news outlets you have probably never heard of, including a defunct wire service called Zapnews. But she began as a fantasy writer (in the second grade), and is back at it today. She currently lives near Washington, DC. Learn more about Lynne at her blog and at her Amazon author page.

How to Start a Blog for Beginners

how to start a blog-684748_960_720Back in the dawning of the eBook age, when I signed on with a small publisher for my first novel, one of the requirements of my contract was to start my own blog. I knew what blogging was, but I hadn’t seen any point to having one of my own – mainly because I didn’t think I had anything to say that other people would be interested in reading unless I’d made it up.

But since I was now contractually obligated to have a blog, I went to my internet service provider, which at the time was Earthlink, and used their tools to set one up. The name of my blog, which rolls trippingly off the tongue even now, was, “Allegedly, She Has Something to Say.” Continue reading “How to Start a Blog for Beginners”

#IndieHero: Chuck Wendig

indie heroes logo darkChuck Wendig has been having an awesome few years. His first Star Wars novel, Aftermath, debuted last year at number four on both the New York Times bestseller list and USA Today’s bestseller list. The second book in the trilogy is due out this year. LucasBooks approached him to write that series after they had read Under the Empyrean Sky, the first book in his dystopian YA series. He’s also in the midst of writing a series about a woman named Miriam Black, who needs only to touch someone to know how the person will die, and when, and how. He’s also a screenwriter and a comic book writer, and he has designed role-playing games.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. Continue reading “#IndieHero: Chuck Wendig”

What I Learned as a Book Cover Contest Judge

really bad book cover artAmong my favorite internet acronyms is AFLE. Translated loosely, the letters stand for another freaking learning experience. (Indies Unlimited is a safe-for-work site, okay?) I don’t know about you, but for me, that acronym perfectly sums up this whole indie author thing. No matter what your background, there’s going to be some component of this jack-of-all-trades business in which you’re going to need a crash course. Or professional help.

Art is one of those things for me. In school, I was an A or B student in everything but art. (Well, and physical education. But so far, nobody’s expected me to do pushups for my books, thank goodness.) So imagine my dismay when I realized I was going to have to design covers for my books. Luckily, I have a couple of friends who are much better in graphic arts than I am, as well as two daughters who know their way around Photoshop. I treasure their advice to this day. Continue reading “What I Learned as a Book Cover Contest Judge”

April is #IndieHeroes Month

indie heroes logo darkIt’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since we began our #PublishingFoul coverage. At this point in 2015, we were just about to kick off our series about vanity presses and scammers, how authors could avoid falling prey to one, and what to do if you already have. We’ve archived all of those posts, by the way; you can find them by clicking here.

Now here we are, with April 2016 just a day away. And this year we’re doing something different. Instead of pointing out publishing’s bad guys, we’re going to make stars of the good guys – our #IndieHeroes. Continue reading “April is #IndieHeroes Month”