Category: Staff Articles

Writing advice and insights from the staff of Indies Unlimited.

5 Ways Not to Submit Your Book’s MS for a Review

BORED - writers send too much info with their book review requestsA lot of writers waste a lot of my time and theirs, querying for a review with stuff I don’t want and never look at. What I want is not industry standard, so some people may disagree. Discussion is what Indies Unlimited is all about. I’d be interested to know, for example, how many reviewers read the promo material before they review a book.

When I read for a review, I mimic the experience the reader will go through, so I can tell the reader what it’s like to read the book. So I’m trying my best to act like a reader when I set myself up to do a review. I think this is the case for a lot of reviewers. Keeping that in mind: Continue reading “5 Ways Not to Submit Your Book’s MS for a Review”

Writers, Artists, Creators: Feeling Like a Fraud?

struggling author girl-1064659_960_720About a month ago I attended a lecture by the world-famous architect, Dr. Siamak Hariri. A much shorter version of his speech is available here as a Ted Talk.

He spoke about the creative process, the moments of inspiration that seemed to come when least expected and when most needed. He said that all arts, all creative actions and products, follow a similar path and can be found in most professions, even those not normally thought of as artistic or creative.

One statement in particular resonated so deeply with me it has remained in the back of my mind ever since. “All artists feel like frauds.” Continue reading “Writers, Artists, Creators: Feeling Like a Fraud?”

Big Book Data for the Little Author Guy

data for author research on google nviewer ball-457334_960_720Coming up with blanks while trying to decide what to write about this month, I went back to a list of post ideas I’d started what feels like forever ago in internet terms. I found some notes about a New York Times article The Passive Voice had excerpted that talked about Google’s Ngram Viewer. This is cool stuff. Better late than never, right?

I’m going to briefly touch on two different areas in this post. What the Ngram Viewer does, and how it might be useful to an author. Continue reading “Big Book Data for the Little Author Guy”

Tutorial: How to Open a Zazzle Store

gifts from authors christmas-2975398_960_720Here we are, in the thick of the holiday shopping season, and we indie authors are faced with a dilemma: What do we suggest for fans of our work who have already bought all of our books?

One option is to design stuff with images from our books, and either give them away or sell them. Zazzle is one place where you can do that. I’ve made a few things on Zazzle previously – buttons and bookmarks for giveaways, mainly – but this year I wanted to try my hand at some other merchandise. So I opened a store. It’s pretty easy, and you can do it with just one product. Continue reading “Tutorial: How to Open a Zazzle Store”