Author: RJ Crayton

RJ Crayton is a former journalist turned novelist. By day, she writes thrillers with a touch of romance. By night, she practices the art of ninja mom. To learn more about her or her books, visit her website or her Author Central page.

From Bigfoot Erotica to Racist Rantings: When Author Life Affects the Rest of Your Life

Just recently, a big story that ran in national publications (People, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone) saw Virginia congressional candidate Denver Riggleman accused of authoring Bigfoot erotica. (He was outed by his opponent, aptly named CockBurn). While the details aren’t super important, the story brings to the forefront what can happen when your author life slams into your real life. While the two generally happily coexist, sometimes they bleed into each other in bad ways. Since we’re living in an age of social media, it’s a good time to examine the ways in which your writing life can impact the rest of your life.

It Can Get You Fired Continue reading “From Bigfoot Erotica to Racist Rantings: When Author Life Affects the Rest of Your Life”

A Survey of Your Newsletter Readers Provides Info, a Sense of Community

google formsAuthor newsletters have been a topic of conversation here before. These newsletters let you communicate with readers, telling them about upcoming books, sales or appearances, and a variety of other fun topics you choose. However, your newsletter doesn’t have to be a one-way street. You can use it to ask readers questions that help you learn more about them, help them feel useful, and help you hone your author business.

So, what types of things should you ask your readers and how? There are generally two categories of questions to ask your readers: ones that help you get to know them better and opinion questions that help make readers feel more part of the process (and also help your author business). Continue reading “A Survey of Your Newsletter Readers Provides Info, a Sense of Community”

So, You Want to Write a Series?

Series_option1_laptop-3242862__340 (002)You’re an author and you’ve decided you want to write a series. Well, this is the post for you.

A series can be great for authors because it can draw in readers and keep them. If they like your first book and its characters, they’re likely to forge ahead and buy more books in the series. This is why there are so many series out there. Today, I’m going to talk mainly serial series. So, to get started, let’s get definitions out of the way. A serial series is one that has an overarching story arc throughout the series. Think Harry Potter or the Hunger Games. The books are meant to be read in order, and build on one another. A non-serial series will use the same world or the same character, but can be entered through any book in the series. Think of Sue Grafton’s alphabet mystery series or Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels. These are more like the “continuing adventures of” types of series, and each book can stand alone. While it’s nice to know the backstory of the character, you don’t have to know it to really enjoy any book in the series. Continue reading “So, You Want to Write a Series?”

GDPR Compliance Update

Earlier this week, I wrote an article called Authors with Newsletters Must Get Subscribers to Opt-in Again Per EU Regulations. Since then, new information has come to light that may impact authors.

Please note that while many companies are reconfirming their lists, this may not be necessary. A podcast mentioned in the comments of the above-listed article, which can also be found here, featured a UK-based attorney who recommends not reconfirming your list. The attorney suggests asking for reconfirmation suggests you do not already have permission, and if you don’t have permission to contact them, you should not be emailing them to begin with. Please note that many newsletter companies are offering templates to revalidate subscribers, so they are expecting at least some subscribers to require additional validation. Use your own best judgment on what to do. We here at Indies Unlimited are not attorneys and do not offer legal advice. If you need legal advice, speak with a lawyer. We have free and low-cost legal services listed on our Legal Resource Page here.

We will keep you posted if further information arises.