Category: Tutorials

How-to articles for writers.

Navigating Google Play

googleplay booksGoogle Play is probably the most confusing book selling website I’ve ever encountered. Our RJ Crayton took some of the mystery out of it for us yesterday in this article. But there is so much to it that it’s impossible to cover it in one post.

The other day, I entered the information for eight books on Google Play. It seems like each time I go in, there’s something new and wondrous I discover needs to be done. This time, I noticed the “You need to add a sales territory” comment when I went to my dashboard. You will find your dashboard at https://play.google.com/books/publish/. Continue reading “Navigating Google Play”

How to Write Better Dialogue

file0001934509658Last week, Big Al treated us to his vast experience on what not to do with dialogue and dialogue tags. That got me all excited to talk about one of my favorite topics: how to write better dialogue. Here are just a few tips:

1. Get a stronger handle on how people talk to each other. This is your best tool in your dialogue toolbox. Dialogue isn’t an exact replica of human speech. We’d have to contend with a lot of verbal tics and repetition if it were. But spending some time listening will improve your ear. I like to do that by eavesdropping on conversations. Legally, of course. Listening will also help you learn to craft dialogue that will differentiate one character from another. Continue reading “How to Write Better Dialogue”

Advertising on Goodreads

goodreads logoGoodreads has been in the news quite a bit the past year, first for joining up with Amazon, and second for the well-publicized tension between authors and reviewers. All this discord has frightened some authors away from Goodreads. This is unfortunate, because Goodreads offers a variety of opportunities for authors.

One of those opportunities is their paid advertising option. You can access the paid advertising option midway down on your dashboard:

goodreads advertise your bookClicking will take you to their “Advertise With Us” page, where over on the right you’ll see a “Self-serve advertising” link: Continue reading “Advertising on Goodreads”

How to Use Pingbacks

PINGA Pingback is not merely the sound of elastic being twanged on Cathy Speight’s catapult as she aims her ammunition at Chris James. It is, in fact, a type of comment that’s created whenever you link to another WordPress.com post (provided the blog the post appears on has pingbacks enabled). The best way to think about pingbacks is as remote comments:

  • Person 1 posts something on his blog.
  • Person 2 posts on her own blog, linking to Person A’s post. This automatically sends a pingback to Person A when both have pingback enabled blogs.
  • Person 1’s blog receives the pingback, then automatically goes to Person 2’s post to confirm that the pingback did, in fact, originate there.

How can I activate Pingbacks?
You can find the settings for pingbacks on your WordPress site.  From your Dashboard, go to Settings > Discussion. At the top you’ll see the Default articles settings section, as shown below: Continue reading “How to Use Pingbacks”