Category: Tutorials

How-to articles for writers.

How to Write a Blog Article

writing a blog articleWriting a good blog article is a fairly simple thing. If properly constructed, a well-written post will invite traffic from search engines and promote commentary. It may seem strange that people who can write a novel of 100,000 words can struggle so much over a mere 750 word post. In truth, it is no more surprising than discovering a decent sprinter might beat a champion marathon runner in a 100 yard dash. Writing a good blog article requires a different skill-set than writing a good novel. All that is required for success is an understanding of how to apply those skills within the framework of article writing.

Let’s cover some of the basic considerations in crafting an effective blog article: form, focus, and strategy.

Continue reading “How to Write a Blog Article”

Kindle Countdown Confusion

Oh my. Talk about counter-intuitive. Kindle Countdown made my brain hurt.

The instructions could be laid out a LOT better for people embarking on it for the first time. Martin Crosbie touched on this in his recent post about mistakes.

If you’re just running a Countdown promotion and not doing any kind of advertising with it, then none of this might be a big deal to you. But, if you’re trying to make the most of your Countdown promo, then that’s an entirely different story. Think about it – if you pay for an ad which runs online – that’s international. If people click on your book and it’s not “on sale” in the country they’re in…well, you and I both know how annoying that kind of thing can be. So, if you want your book to be on sale everywhere, it can get a little tricky (again, as Martin mentioned in his article).

It was my (incorrect) understanding that you had a choice between running a U.S. Countdown promotion or a UK promotion. Wrong. You can run both at the same time, but you have to know HOW. Continue reading “Kindle Countdown Confusion”

A Grindable, Clickable eBook Table of Contents

There’s been a lot of confusion and debate over how to create a table of contents in an eBook that will survive KDP and Smashwords conversions. Some say you have to do it all manually, and some say you can use MS Word automation. Lynne Cantwell wrote a post about the manual method, and Dick Waters just recently wrote about a more sophisticated style.

Personally, I go with a completely manual method, because I run all my eBooks through MobiPocket Creator and convert them to a prc before I upload to KDP – and that will for certain strip out any coding MS Word has graciously conjured up. The lovely Laura Clark (author LB Clark) showed me how to do this way back in 2011 when I self-published my first collection of short works with fellow author Newton Love. (The prc method was one of the ways KDP recommended for conversion back in 2011 – but you don’t have to do it this way. It’s just my method of choice because it’s what I’m used to.)

You can use this table of contents method on an existing document or a new document, that’s not a gating factor. I usually do it in an “assembly line” fashion, as that’s faster, but I’m going to do it one “chapter” at a time so the sequence is clear. Continue reading “A Grindable, Clickable eBook Table of Contents”

Building a Multi-Layer Table of Contents in MS Word

I needed to put a Table of Contents (TOC) into an existing Word document for my latest book, which is a collection of flash fiction (2013 Flash Fiction Anthology). My plan was to publish on Amazon in eBook format containing a TOC with hyperlinks to each story prompt and actual story.

However, I had a problem building the TOC. Then I used ‘help’ feature in Word without any success. Finally, I referred to some articles on the subject and still wasn’t successful. I finally worked through it, and thought others might be able to benefit from a post on my approach.

I’m sure those familiar with building a TOC will get a chuckle out of this post, but my approach does work. Continue reading “Building a Multi-Layer Table of Contents in MS Word”