Indies Unlimited is one of the only (if not THE only) place where indie authors can promote themselves and their books for free. That’s really the heart and soul of IU; helping each other without trying to make money off our friends and colleagues. And the really good news is that there are lots of ways to take advantage of these opportunities. We’re going to break those down for you here. Continue reading “Free Author and Book Promotions on Indies Unlimited”
Category: Staff Articles
Writing advice and insights from the staff of Indies Unlimited.
Kickin’ It with Kindle Kids’ Book Creator
I never dreamed of writing a children’s book — didn’t think it was my style. Well, a little ducky changed that. Her name is Sevy, and she caused me a whole heap of trouble as a duckling. I’d posted her exploits on Facebook and everyone kept urging me to write a children’s book. Okay, I did. The print version had its headaches with formatting, bleed, and such, but it’s out there. The eBook, however: I could never get the formatting right for some reason, so I ignored it for a couple of years.
Enter the mighty Amazon and the Kindle Kids’ Book Creator. This is a free download that you can pluck from the KDP login page. There’s also a short (video) on the KDP website that’s pretty helpful.
Once you have it downloaded, open it up, kick the tires and take it for a test drive. There’re two simple prompts at the bottom: Open an existing book, or, Create a new kids’ book. Continue reading “Kickin’ It with Kindle Kids’ Book Creator”
Fuel-Efficient Productivity for Writers
There are tons of productivity systems to help us keep track of ourselves. Analog systems such as the store-bought day planners like Filofax, Franklin, and DayTimer are old favorites. Other analog options are the inexpensive build-your-own systems like Getting Things Done (GTD,) and the newer system called Bullet Journaling (popular, but it’s much too elaborate for me). Digital products are also available. Two of the more highly rated ones are Planner Plus and the Anytime Organizer. We can even find (or improvise) hybrid systems combining a little of both. Continue reading “Fuel-Efficient Productivity for Writers”
Size Matters: The Benefits of Writing Short Fiction
Six months ago, I wrote a post about what I would do if I was starting over as an indie publisher. One of the things I said I would do was to consider writing shorter. I’d like to expand on that.
First, I love to read short stories. I grew up reading O. Henry, Mark Twain, James Thurber. As an adult, each new Stephen King short story collection has been must reading. With the popularity of eReaders today, the lines are now blurred of what a novel, a novella, and a short story are in the minds of our readers. They all weigh the same on a Kindle. I markedly promote my shorter works as short stories to avoid a rash of “It was too short” reviews, but I notice that a number of reviewers just refer to them as “books.” Continue reading “Size Matters: The Benefits of Writing Short Fiction”