Author: Rosanne Dingli

SIX things all indie authors should know

Indie authors understand that being out there on one’s own means having to tackle all aspects of book writing, publishing, and promotion. It might seem daunting, it is certainly hard work, and a steep learning curve, but help is available.

Six!

Few participants in other industries help each other in the same way that authors pitch in for others like them. The huge helpings of camaraderie and assistance, advice and support, must be seen and felt to be believed.

It’s possible to learn enough in a year to be able to write a book and present it to one’s readers in a form that satisfies industry standards, simply because so much help is available.

Here are some points that one needs to know: Continue reading “SIX things all indie authors should know”

A voice crying in the wilderness

Pic from picturesforcolouring.com

Starting with a biblical quote attracts attention, and is suitable for a subject about what some people like to term ‘biblical proportions’. What does the term mean, exactly? Well, if you love the numbers game, the Bible is a book you might like. It’s hardly filled with empirical or scientific statistics, since they did not have the United Nations bean counting team in those days, to really crunch the numbers, but it can be entertaining. Like the ten plagues, the seven deadly sins, and did you know the number seven appears 42 times in the books of Daniel and Revelation?

If you really like numbers, a “creative” look at the world’s population is possible through a number of lenses. One is here, posted with a recommendation to read, and a warning: your GSOH is necessary, even when you peruse the colourful graphs. Continue reading “A voice crying in the wilderness”

What I did today

Sometimes, work is plain fun.

The Perth foothills

Exhausting, demanding … but you get a blast. That’s what happened to me today. I was facilitator at a workshop organized by the KSP Foundation at their Writers’ Centre in the hills, at the edge of the Perth metropolitan area. Because this blog is read by an international audience, it’s necessary to describe some stuff in more detail than I otherwise would. So let me describe how the Perth foothills – visible for quite a few miles away, and which surround the coastal plain where the city stands – rise from the plateau, and seem green-grey and hazy from a distance. Continue reading “What I did today”

The Longevity of an eBook

Courtesy: printerinkcartridgesblog

New authors often wonder how long they might have to wait before they see reasonable sales of their fiction. Whether they have published story collections, individual novellas or shorts, or full-length novels, the desire to understand the life history, or life cycle, of a book of fiction resides in many authors. The newest comers to this crazy industry understand book longevity in a different way from those who have been writing or publishing for some time.

The reason is obvious. In addition, those who view the book industry from the angle of a reader see it in a vastly different light from authors or publishers. It’s as different as seeing a theatre from behind the footlights, on a stage lit up for a performance, as it is seeing the theatre as a cleaner, when everyone’s gone and the house lights are up. If you have never been on a stage, you can compare the difference to the one of a rally driver looking at the track through a muddy windshield, and the guy who walks the same track after the race, picking up demolition derby souvenirs. The view is nothing like that of the person doing the work that makes the whole show possible. Continue reading “The Longevity of an eBook”