Celebrating Independent Authors
Guest post
by Ethan Jones
As I’m promoting my spy thrillers I’m sinking deeper and deeper into the self-publishing’s Catch-22: I need to become famous before anyone will give me their attention. But how do I become famous if I cannot get any attention? And how do I get any attention if I am not already famous? Continue reading “Self-publishing’s Catch-22”
A guest post
by Alana Woods
I won’t keep you long but this is a lesson every yet-to-publish author really should read.
It’s a lesson in doing your homework before committing yourself publishing-wise.
My first published book AUTOMATON went to print in 2001. I used my own name—Alana Woods—because I‘ve never seen the point of using a pseudonym. I want everyone, and I mean everyone, to know that it was ME, yes ME, who wrote it. Continue reading “The One (But Not Only) Alana Woods”
A guest post
by Dick Waters
My way or the highway! You’ve most likely heard that expression, but hopefully you will see that my way is the highway. Have you ever learned from someone else’s mistake? I have, and I’ve also learned from my own. I’m writing this to help at least one person not make the same mistake I did publishing my first novel.
As I write this I think of Route 66; a great road for a scenic drive, but not the one to take to get where you’re going in an expeditious manner. Super highways were built to provide a more direct route. Publishing is experiencing the same scenario – ‘traditional publishing’ versus ‘independent publishing,’ or self publishing. Continue reading “My Way Or the Highway!”
In the distant past when typewriters still roamed the earth, people would ask me: “How long should a book be?”
Being the contrary soul that I am, I would answer: “How long is a piece of string?”
Annoying as it was (and it led to people searching out bits of string long enough to strangle me), there was a truth there. A book, any book, needed to be just the right length to complete your intended narrative in the exact amount of detail appropriate.
Observant readers will notice that last paragraph is in the past tense. Personally I would still say a book needs to be just the right length to complete the narrative, but I’m just a writer, so what do I know? Continue reading “How Long is a Piece of String?”