Launching your book into the world can be a nerve-wracking experience. From remembering who you wanted to hire, who you've contacted to share your release, and the timeline of when these little parts need to be done can make one feel as if they are going around in circles. This planner was designed by Mandi… Continue reading The Book Launch Planner
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Working with Editors
Working with editors is a hard leg on the journey of publishing. From finding recommendations, vetting their abilities, and paying for their services, it can be a complicated ride for a novice. If you’ve tried using Google, you’ve probably made your head spin from what type of editing is needed to the roller coaster of prices… Continue reading Working with Editors
Pirating Sites—The Rampant Rash of Writers
From small fries to world renown authors, pirating and plagiarism go hand in hand. Some "writers" take snippets and weave it into a story while others just straight up copy an entire book and claim they wrote it. Thousands of readers flock to pirating sites that remind us of Napster or LimeWire (for those too… Continue reading Pirating Sites—The Rampant Rash of Writers
Rapid Release
Rapid release is the idea of releasing books in a series in a short time frame. It comes with a host of myths, pros and cons. What's the purpose? This capitalizes on readers attention spans and market trends. Don't think this works? Look at Netflix. They drop all the episodes of a season at one… Continue reading Rapid Release
Vanity Publishers: A Quick Guide to Identify
Vanity publishers prey on the impatient, the lost, and the overwhelmed. They look for writers who don’t know what is standard, they use flowery words and “important" phrases to capture the “I can’t wait,” and they promise to do all the heavy lifting. It looks good. It looks promising. Until you peel back the plastic and discover… Continue reading Vanity Publishers: A Quick Guide to Identify
Instagram For Writers
Instagram is the fastest growing platform, and it has been for the last year or so. It's one of the reasons Facebook bought Instagram. https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-statistics/https://www.socialpilot.co/blog/instagram-over-other-social-media-platform The phone-contained app is popular with more than just the high school crowd, and the average user spends 30 minutes in the app. My first introduction to Instagram came from… Continue reading Instagram For Writers
Chapter Breaks & Scene Breaks
Knowing when to take a break is an important aspect in writing. Short stories do not have chapters, but they have scene breaks. Novellettes to novels have chapters and can have scene breaks. But what are these? As readers, we understand chapters. They act like stop signs, allowing us to breathe. As writers it's obvious… Continue reading Chapter Breaks & Scene Breaks
Trim Size
Physical books come in a variety of sizes. Some are tall. Some are short. Some fit in the back pocket, and others lounge in bags. But what size should your paperbacks be? Typical Sizes The typical books I format fall under these sizes: 4 x 6” (154 x 102mm)4 x 7” (178 x 102mm)4.25 x… Continue reading Trim Size
How Long and How Much Should XYZ Be?
Let me be frank. I never thought this would be a post. In the last week in Facebook groups, I have seen over two dozen posts in various wordings asking how little or how much people write in a day or how long chapters are supposed to be. How many words should you write a… Continue reading How Long and How Much Should XYZ Be?
PitMad
Pitmad is a Twitter event that writers with completed and polished, ready to read manuscripts participate in to find agents, and publishers who are actively looking for books. It is open to all genres every quarter, and there are some genre specific ones throughout the year. PitMad lays all the rules and regulations out on… Continue reading PitMad