by Kate M. Colby
Whether you’re a beginning writer or a seasoned veteran, writing can be scary. Fiction authors put out original imaginings that often hold deeper truths (or are falsely judged to reveal something about the writer). Nonfiction authors declare themselves an authority on a topic, who readers depend upon for knowledge or assistance.
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by Julianne Q. Johnson
Right. I must say, that is perhaps the worst blurb I’ve ever written in my life. I’ve done it in paragraphs and highlighted a common blurb faux pas in each one, so let’s take them in order.
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This is a guest post by Stewart Dunlop. Stewart is a full-time content marketer at Foundr and part-time reader, gamer & footballer. You can follow or tweet him @stewydunlop.
Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay
From a literary point of view, we live in blessed times! Thanks to the development of modern communication devices and platforms, almost anyone can put their thoughts on paper (or the word editor of their choice) and release them to the world.
We now have access to printed books, e-books, audiobooks, and more. This allows the information to flow unhindered and creates a wonderful environment for those who love to read and learn.
But this level of progress has also led to a change in your role as the author. Back in the day, your job would’ve been over once you applied the last of the…
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A rude an skeptical person consults a psychic after losing his wife. *Read the short story and watch the short film at the end. #ShortFilm #ShortStory #ThePsychic
Never before in my life did I consider visiting a psychic or a palm reader. Even though I’ve seen that place in the corner over a hundred times. I never had a reason to go. I wasn’t even curious, not even if I got a free consultation.
I knew I was a rational person. Believing in ghosts or the afterlife was not my thing. But after the real-life nightmare that occurred to me and my family I began to consider paying her a visit. I’ve seen that lady many times parking her fancy car in the driveway. She never wore long flowery dresses like old hippies used to wear. She didn’t look like a gypsy either. She often had a smile on…
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In early 19th century rural New England, there was little doubt about how to deal with vampires: you dug up the corpse, took head and limbs, and rearranged them on top of the ribs in the design of a skull and crossbones. That would stop the mischevious spirit from haunting the living.
Image: Smithsonian.com
Such was the fate that befell John Barber. And yet, as The Washington Post explains, John was no vampire. He was probably a hard-working farmer. Missing his top front teeth, he was no neck biter. He had a broken collar bone that had not healed right and an arthritic knee that may have made him limp, and he had died an awful death, probably from tuberculosis, which was so bad it had scarred his ribs.
Two hundred years later, he was destined to become the country’s only supposed “vampire” whose bones have been studied…
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by Doug Lewars
Consider a scene in which a CEO is meeting with some senior executives. Of interest to the story are a couple of individuals – say John and Frank. There are, however, say eight people in the meeting. Presumably we need to know something about the CEO but there are five who are minor characters. One way of handling the dialog is to use generalities
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Struggling for blog ideas? Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom // CC0 1.0
Blogging consistently for days and years takes its toll. The mind struggles to generate ideas strong enough to keep the blog fresh. Over time, even a well-intentioned blogger who makes a fair effort to achieve success will fall prey to this strain.
Call it laziness, call it writer’s block, call it the demise of the artist or whatever you want really. The outcome is the same… A blog in severe decline.
There’s nothing more drabby than an unloved blog. If an audience ever arrives at such a display of neglect, which they probably won’t, they’ll immediately get the impression that the individual behind the blog will be equally inattentive to their needs.
If the blog is well maintained and full of original, fresh, and inspiring content, then you will benefit from increased traffic, revenue, and sales, if that is…
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by Ryan Lanz
Writers use dialogue tags constantly. In fact, we use them so often that readers all but gloss over them. They should be invisible. However, there are ways to misuse them and make them stand out.
In an effort to avoid that, let’s take a closer look at dialogue tags. Toward the end of “Tag travesties” is something I sorely wish someone had told me before I started writing.
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The KENP rate for pages read in Kindle Unlimited in July, 2019 was $0.00439.
It’s a small drop (roughly 5%) compared to June’s rate of $0.00464.
However, Amazon actually paid out more royalties overall in July than in June.
That’s because the KDP Select Global Fund rose from $24.9 million to a record $25.6 million.
Perhaps Amazon Prime Day had a small impact. If, for example, Amazon sold many Kindle ereaders, there may be new customers using their free month of Kindle Unlimited.
Whatever the reason, the per-page rate does tend to vary a bit, although it has been relatively stable for much of 2019.
Write Happy, Be Happy
Author of the Improve Your Math Fluency series of math workbooks and self-publishing guides
Hello SErs, Harmony here 🙂 A while ago, I tried using universal links to take interested folks to my books’ sales pages … the links didn’t work. So, I gave it up as a bad job.
Recently, an author on Twitter told me off for not using universal links. Duly chastised, I took another look. It seems that this capability has progressed a lot since the bad old days, lol. And still, it worried me to try it. Before I did anything, I made sure to research the heck out of it.
Eventually, I came up with Booklinker.net (https://www.booklinker.net/).
Here’s a screenshot:
It couldn’t be simpler to use. I created a free account and now have a universal link for each of my books. The final URL looks something like this: mybook.to/FALLOUT.
They do offer a paid plan with lots of author resources, but I’ve found that the…
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