Tag: getting started

So You Wanna Write a Book but You Dunno How to Start?

HeWhere do I start writing this bookre at Indies Unlimited, we get this question all the time:

“I want to write a novel based on …(something I love)… but I have no clue how to write one. How do get this idea off the ground?”

There is only one answer: start. Far too many people have a story inside them, but they spend years hemming and hawing about it and never get it done. So you aren’t Margaret Atwood. So what? I know. It looks like a huge, unassailable task, and you have no idea what to do first. Read on. Continue reading “So You Wanna Write a Book but You Dunno How to Start?”

Indie Author 101: How to Get Started with KDP, Smashwords, and CreateSpace

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Don’t be afraid – we’re here to help!

To be an indie author, you have to publish a book. Right? But how do you sign up for that?

This will seem pretty basic to a lot of folks, but those who have never done it may be worried about the process. You know what? It’s really easy. Here’s what you do.

A note before we begin: All of the sites request some of the same information, so you will need to have it handy. They will ask for your name, your address, your email address, the password(s) you want to use, and some very basic financial information: your Social Security number for US residents, and the routing number and account number for the bank where you want them to deposit your royalties. And okay, another note – each will have different requirements for book covers, so make sure to read those on the respective sites.

With that said, here we go. Continue reading “Indie Author 101: How to Get Started with KDP, Smashwords, and CreateSpace”

How to Start a Blog for Beginners

how to start a blog-684748_960_720Back in the dawning of the eBook age, when I signed on with a small publisher for my first novel, one of the requirements of my contract was to start my own blog. I knew what blogging was, but I hadn’t seen any point to having one of my own – mainly because I didn’t think I had anything to say that other people would be interested in reading unless I’d made it up.

But since I was now contractually obligated to have a blog, I went to my internet service provider, which at the time was Earthlink, and used their tools to set one up. The name of my blog, which rolls trippingly off the tongue even now, was, “Allegedly, She Has Something to Say.” Continue reading “How to Start a Blog for Beginners”

I Don’t Have Anything Yet: Marketing for Unpublished Authors

You’re not yet published. You don’t have a website, or a blog, or an Amazon.com Author Central page. You work. You go to school. You’re broke. You have no idea if or when you’ll ever get that book finished. But you’re trying. Theoretically, you’re stuck.

No, really, you’re not. Continue reading “I Don’t Have Anything Yet: Marketing for Unpublished Authors”