Category: Tutorials

How-to articles for writers.

Amazon Author Central Refresher Course

Author Central LikefestMany authors are unaware of the excellent resource provided by Amazon.com: the Author Central page. If you can’t afford, don’t have, or don’t want a website – your Author Central page is a great substitute. You can send people there to read more about you, see and hopefully buy your books, watch videos, read tweets, blog posts, and more.

Amazon Author Central pages are free. Each time we vet a book, we check to make certain a book is linked to one. If it’s not, you’ll be advised to make that happen before we run your feature. After all, if people can’t see all your books in one place and/or get to know you a little better in their book purchasing process – that sort of defeats the purpose of running a feature, doesn’t it? That’s akin to running an advertisement and listing a disconnected phone number. Epic fail.

Getting your own Amazon Author Central page is fast and easy. We have a number of tutorials here on Indies Unlimited to help authors take advantage of all the features Author Central offers. And now, here they are – in one convenient place just for you. Continue reading “Amazon Author Central Refresher Course”

Reviewing 101 – Part 3

BookglassesIn the last installment of this series we took some baby steps, discussing how to write a short review that gave your opinion of a book and a reason or two why. Since then you’ve completed your homework assignment by writing and posting a short book review on Amazon, right? Don’t tell me your dog ate your homework. That might have worked when your homework was on paper, but it doesn’t in today’s electronic world. Continue reading “Reviewing 101 – Part 3”

How to Download and Install Fonts

fun with fontsNot long ago, an author asked me to take a look at her book cover while she was designing it. The old-style oil painting in the background was very nice – but I thought the title font was too modern. So, I searched for some rustic fonts online and gave her the links.

“Okay, now what?” she asked.

Hence, the reason for this tutorial. (By the way, she ended up going with a great font that fit the cover perfectly!)

There are lots of websites which offer free font downloads. As with anything you do online, check to make sure that before you open anything – you’ve ascertained it does not contain a virus, and check the licensing terms as far as usage goes. Some designers only allow free font downloads for personal use. Personal use is basically anything that does not generate financial income. Things like personal scrapbooking, family or non-profit websites, or anything printed to be used for non-profit organizations.

For a book cover, author website, advertising flyers, and/or swag – these items would fall under commercial usage. In these instances, if you really really want to use that font and it’s marked for personal use only, you would need to contact the artist directly to see what the terms would be.

So, with that out of the way, let’s locate a font to download. I’ve decided to try 1001fonts.com since Melissa Bowersock recommended them. What’s neat about this site is it actually gives you the opportunity to see what your book’s title (or whatever you need it for) will look like in the typeface before you download it. See screenshot below: Continue reading “How to Download and Install Fonts”

How to add a MailChimp email signup form to your blog

mailchimp-logoLet me say it right upfront: I hate emailed newsletters. Most businesses send them out far too frequently for my taste. I usually let them languish in my spam folder unless I’m in the market for something they’re selling. But with Facebook limiting the organic reach of posts (unless you pay them), a newsletter is one of the few free ways left for us to be certain that our fans get word of a new release.

So when David Gaughran recommended MailChimp, I gave a lusty sigh, bit the bullet, and signed up. MailChimp is free for mailing lists with fewer than 2,000 addresses. The free service also limits the number of newsletters you can send out per year, but the limit is something like 800. I’m only intending to annoy people when I have a new book out, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay. Continue reading “How to add a MailChimp email signup form to your blog”