Tag: author advice

Breaking the Rules (part 1) – by Lin Robinson

Author Lin Robinson

I’ll admit it’s contradictory. This is the first of a series of blog posts on the internet telling you the best way to keep your artistic integrity and sanity as a writer is to ignore all the lame advice you get from internet blogs. I can live with the irony if you can.

The woods are full of the advice I’m talking about. And not just the online neck of the woods either: all those books and seminars and webinars and conferences and retreats and coaches/advisors/mentors/gurus. All full of this stuff you just better not do. Much of it can be discounted because they are just rumors, passed on third or fourth hand by people trying to puff up their blogs and pretend they know diddly about writing. Which a glance at their profiles generally shows they don’t. Continue reading “Breaking the Rules (part 1) – by Lin Robinson”

Department of Justice v. How we make a living

I’m shifting gears a bit today. This has been bugging me for awhile. You see, I’m a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon. Who am I? Nobody really—but that’s the point. Less than a year ago, nobody knew who I was, who Van Stone is or had never heard of The Card. Actually, to be honest, I had not heard of The Card yet either, because I hadn’t come up with the title yet.

How can that happen, you ask? Simple. The world of eBooks has allowed thousands of writers publish their material and either sink or swim in the big world of bookselling. Believe it or not—that may all be about to change. Continue reading “Department of Justice v. How we make a living”

Getting it Right: Narrow Escapes (part 2 of 3)

Author Carolyn Steele

by Carolyn Steele

You want to put your readers through the wringer. Your character might die, might pull through, we’re all waiting to know. Will they make a rapid recovery? Remain permanently disabled? Return from a near-death experience to write books about life?

Episode 2: Narrow Escapes (if you missed it, part 1 can be found here.) Continue reading “Getting it Right: Narrow Escapes (part 2 of 3)”

Ed’s Casual Friday: Things to know about facebook

When I first digitally self-published a book one year ago last month, my entire “online presence” consisted of an email account I checked maybe twice a week. Now, of course, there are blogs, boards, and any number of social media venues where I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on a daily basis. And basically, they are all pretty weird.

There is a unique etiquette to virtual places like facebook which in some cases are quite different than any sort of “real world” interaction. Sometimes, it’s not. I took me quite a while to get used to a lot of it, but now after a year or so I have come to some conclusions. What follows is thus some of Ed’s Handy Things to Know about Facebook. Some of these will likely apply only to writers, some is good to know for everybody, and some of it might be worth keeping in mind if you ever happen to find yourself outside of your home, interacting with “real” people. Enjoy. 😉 Continue reading “Ed’s Casual Friday: Things to know about facebook”