Category: Guest Posts

Smashwords Pre-order AND Amazon KDP Select at the Same Time

Guest post
by Thorsten Nesch

Contrary to all other information currently available, publishing your eBook for Kindle on Amazon in the KDP Select program and offering it for pre-order over Smashwords parallel IS possible!

A short while ago Smashwords started its pre-order system. Since I’ve published my novels recently at Amazon choosing the 90 day select program, Smashwords caught my attention at a time I was looking for the next platform anyway.

How great is that? I could upload my novels already in Smashwords – since I had the time to do it now – and when Amazon’s 90 days are over, it would be automatically published and widely available. In addition, people could pre-order it before. Perfect. Continue reading “Smashwords Pre-order AND Amazon KDP Select at the Same Time”

An Introduction to BookRix

Guest post
by L. Avery Brown

I’m new to IU and have enjoyed reading essays on topics that deal directly with issues IA folks like myself deal with on a daily basis. I also love ‘Freebie Fridays’. It’s an awesome, no strings attached way for IAs to get some much needed exposure.

So a few Fridays ago I decided to put one of my freebies on IU hoping I could get a few more eyes to look at it and maybe even get some feedback. So, I sent my information in and waited for a reply letting me know my freebie link would be available for IU members. Unfortunately, I got a message back from Stephen saying IU wouldn’t be able to post my freebie because the ‘home’ site (BookRix.com – BR) for my book wasn’t one with which they were familiar. Continue reading “An Introduction to BookRix”

Writing Recipe #2

Guest post
by Ellen Plotkin Mulholland

I have two problems that make it difficult keeping up with this world.

First: I don’t have a lot of time. Wait; let me place that in context. Life is busy, and I don’t have the hours I once had to sit lazily on the porch and read the Sunday paper all afternoon.

Second: My attention span is not what it used to be. Blame it on our over-indulged world of fast food, 140-character summative quips, or the impatient and impulsive adolescent wiring that just won’t go away.

As a consumer and reader, I can deal with it. I read the headlines, listen to TV news summaries while I cook dinner, fold laundry, check my email and answer my daughter’s homework questions. I somehow manage to keep up with the world outside my home while navigating the numerous details inside.

As a writer, I daily and desperately seek to find balance in my world. Time to live. Time to write. There must be some middle ground, an oasis nearby in this desert of over-scheduled lives. Continue reading “Writing Recipe #2”

All in the Family

Guest post
by Wendy Siefken

Our journey started back in 2009 when my son was still in high school. He was having trouble with school work in the form of being dyslexic and issues with cross modalities. Basically on top of all this, he hated school work. We tried for a long time to find a way to find something he was passionate about to help encourage him to do his homework and participate in school. We had an IEP or an Individual Education Plan in place that would help with the learning issues.

The one thing we found that Charlie did like to do was read books. He first discovered Christopher Paolini’s book Eragon and even though it was slow going the first time he read it, he liked it. He wanted to know more about the author and discovered that he was also a kid in school who had written a book and published it. Charlie was always coming up with story ideas for his journals at school. He would write the stories instead of the topic given.

The principal, at his wits end, finally gave him a challenge. The challenge was to write and publish a book. It had to include subjects such as language, math, history and geography. If we finished the book and it had these subjects he would get a pass/fail grade. He wouldn’t get an A or a B; he would just either pass the class or fail. Continue reading “All in the Family”