Help us help you

by K.S. Brooks and Stephen Hise

We indie authors need all the help we can get to spread the word about our writing. We don’t have an army of agents and publicists at our disposal. We don’t have a big publishing house pushing our books onto the front shelves of every remaining brick and mortar store in the world.

Still, we don’t have to bear the burden alone – we have each other. We use social media to build networks and connections. We learn from each other and we teach each other. We help each other.

I established Indies Unlimited for the express purpose of helping indie authors. We provide a number of different types of features that can showcase you and your writing (e.g., interviews, guest posts, sneak-peeks, video book trailers, etc.). We also get a ton of page views here, and that number is trending consistently upward. The exposure you get here can be very beneficial to you.

You want help and Indies Unlimited wants to help you. This should be easy. Some people make it difficult. Below are some things that will facilitate that process – and keep us from wanting to kill you. Continue reading “Help us help you”

Forget Promotion! Think like a Reader by Kathy Meis

Author Kathy Meis
Author Kathy Meis

Be honest, book promotion is a thorn in your side. You know you have to do it, but you’d much rather be writing your next book. It’s time consuming, often expensive, and can give you that uncomfortable “I’m selling” feeling. Promoting online reduces the time and expense somewhat, but still requires creation of an ongoing stream of content (blogs, interviews, reviews). You’re compelled to build snazzy websites and attract fans and followers through regular social media engagement. It’s exhausting.

Efficient, effective promotion is key. Creating this type of promotion, however, means taking off your author’s hat and thinking like a reader. The minute you do this, the burden of book promotion melts away and you start contemplating book discovery. Browsing, sampling, exploring – the kind of experience bookstores create so well. I’m a big believer in the power of blogs, but consider this: the primary content readers encounter at a bookstore is books. They can randomly sample any page and easily peruse a book’s cover art, summary, author bio, introduction, acknowledgements and endorsements. They’re all built into the book. Continue reading “Forget Promotion! Think like a Reader by Kathy Meis”

The Writers Place Poetry Contest

The Writers PlaceThe Writers Place new poetry contest is accepting submissions.   Early submissions must be electronically submitted not later than 1st of February. Final deadline for submissions is February 15th for an additional fee of $5.00 per script.

Standard Submission Fees: for up to 3 poems: $10.00; and multiple submissions (more than 3, not more than 6 poems or 10 pages): $15.00

First-Place winner will receive a $75 cash award and certificate of achievement. All winners shall be published in The Writers Place Poetry Review. Continue reading “The Writers Place Poetry Contest”

Meet the Author: Jasha M. Levi

Author Jasha M. Levi

[Note: I often bring a pocketful of snark to these interviews and sprinkle some around. I won’t be doing that in this interview because Jasha M. Levi is a man who has met and conquered greater challenges than most of us, and he is deserving of our full respect, admiration, and gratitude. ]

Author Jasha Levi says he wanted to be a novelist but as his background is journalism he feels he is better at non-fiction. Still, where there is a story to be written, there must be inspiration. Jasha says he used to find his in some hot political controversy, such as the rift between Yugoslavia and Stalin way back in 1948, or the Rajk pretend-trial in Hungary in 1950.

“My last two books are memoirs — The Last Exile was a kind of reportage about so many things that happened to me during the rise of Hitler in Europe, confinement as civilian internee of war in Italy 1941-43, a Jewish fugitive with false papers in Rome for nine months until the Allies liberated it, my career starting at age 24, as foreign editor, radio commentator and international correspondent until in 1956 I took asylum in the US in protest over Tito’s refusal to condemn the invasion of Hungary,” he says. Continue reading “Meet the Author: Jasha M. Levi”