Celebrating Independent Authors
For those of us who have more than one published book in our resume, looking forward is only natural. The second book leads us toward the third, the fourth, the fifth. But the first? Old news, maybe even ancient history. Why revisit that first effort when so many new stories are beckoning?
There are actually a couple of good reasons. Continue reading “One Author’s View on Revising Your Backlist”
Many of us have seen instances where authors take their fictional characters beyond the books that spawned them: interviews with a character, blog postings by them, Facebook pages, Q&A sessions with readers. Recently, however, I came across something that was new to me. Tim Jackson, author of Mangrove Underground, has created a newspaper blog for Blacktip Island, the location where his book is set. Tim describes the site like this:
South of Imagination and east of Flor de Caña lies Blacktip Island, the setting for Tim W. Jackson’s forthcoming second novel, Blacktip Island, and for his many short stories. The Blacktip Times is a weekly record of news and events in the island’s small community of dreamers, reprobates and ne’er-do-wells.
Seeing this as a rather unique spin-off of a book, I decided to interview Tim and find out the behind-the-scenes story. Continue reading “Creating a Fictional Newspaper Blog”
There are a lot of differences between us indies and those who are traditionally-published, not the least of which is the fact that we have to do (or at least arrange for someone else to do) everything involved in publishing and promoting our books. Traditionally-published authors have some or most of that all done for them, although the loss of creative control and the quality of those tasks might take some of the joy out of being cared for. Some indies might bemoan the fact that they have to wear ten hats and take care of all the aggravating details when they’d rather be locked in a room writing. Our RJ Crayton wrote about the miseries of self-publishing not long ago. Clearly, it’s not for everyone. For me, however, it’s the perfect blend. Continue reading “The Joy of Being an Indie Author: Using the Brain to Best Advantage”
I’m not blind to the fact that many more books are released as eBooks than print books these days, some authors choosing never to publish paperbacks at all. However, I also know there are lots of people out there who still love books, who still enjoy the heft and weight of a tome in their hands, who still appreciate the tactile sense of sliding their fingers between paper pages and gently leafing the top one over as they read the last word on the page before them. I produce paperbacks for 99% of my books, the only exception being the collection of first chapters of my novels, a perma-free sampler which would be at cross purposes as a more expensive print version. Because I don’t see print books going away any time soon, I thought a primer on basic formatting might prove useful. Continue reading “Formatting for Paperbacks Primer”