Setting Up Presence

When should you set up your FB page, Twitter account, Instagram, website, mailing list? This question is asked enough that I felt it warranted its own blog post. The simple answer is as soon as you decide writing isn't just a hobby, when you know you will share stuff with the world, and before you…

Say it Ain’t So by Dennis Doty

I see a lot of questionable or false information offered in various writing groups. So, the purpose of this post is to dispel some of the myths and offer advice which will advance your career as a writer. An extremely popular myth is that you MUST have an agent to get a contract with a…

Paid Promos

Results will vary depending on genre, time of the year, if you're marketing a standalone vs series or full price, discounted, or freebie. I've covered some of my favorite resources for finding paid promos like this post by Kindlepreneur about sites to use to promote your free Amazon books. https://kindlepreneur.com/list-sites-promote-free-amazon-books/ The options listed there are…

Look Inside Feature

Most sites feature a "look inside" option. This is similar to browsing in a physical store except it is limited to 10% of the entire book. You've snagged a potential reader with the title/cover. They read the blurb, they've looked at reviews, and they just haven't made that decision to click away or click buy.…

Can A Writer Write Well Without Reading

This topic comes up in writing groups often enough that it puzzles me. I'm sure there are questions that spring to mind, but I want to focus on the pros of how reading helps you be a better writer. Exposes us to Different Writing Styles Creating an author's voice/writing style is something that natural evolves,…

Traditional Publishing & Hiring an Editor

This question gets asked a lot in writing groups— I plan on going traditional. Do I really need to hire an editor? This is a grey area. There is no "yes or no" response to it. So here are somethings to consider: Traditional publishing is a numbers game. An average agent/publisher (A/Ps) receive over a…

Why You Shouldn’t Use Free Sites for Cover Photos

It's tempting to use sites like Pixabay and others, but it isn't always the best for commercial products (ie your book covers/ads). Licenses "Creative Commons" doesn't necessarily mean "commercially." These conditions might mean you can't alter the images, you have to provide a link and attribute the "creator," or that the image isn't usable in…

Finding Agents and Publishers

While I'm mainly indie/self published oriented, I do have pieces that are traditionally published, and I work with dozens of publishers as their typesetter/interior formatter. Are you sure you're ready for querying agents and publishers? bit.ly/WwDOrders. Step 1—Materials Before you begin to query agents/publishers (A/Ps) you need to have somethings written and edited. Query Letter/Cover…

Facebook Groups For Writers

As writers, we aim to keep the reader engaged and suspend their belief when able. To do this, we need to understand what would really happen and the assumptions that surround certain ideas. Here are some useful groups to help you hammer out those details. These next three groups have one rule in common—only professionals…

1st POV meets Detail

Novice writes think they need to word vomit every detail of a characters surroundings, and this becomes more obvious in 1st POV. If you try to have the MC walk in a room and give every little detail, the reader's eyes are going to glaze over and they are going to begin to skim read,…