Tag: indie authors

Writing As a Waking Dream

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I very much identified with this post as the way I write–and how feel about interruptions! A very interesting take from Adam at Write Thoughts.

Writing as a Waking Dream #AuthorToolboxBlogHop

 / ADAM

How many here have struggled to “return to their story”? You sit at your table, pen in hand or fingers on the keyboard, but you’re not “ready” to write yet. You don’t “feel” the characters, or their world.

So you review what you’ve written; you do some random low pressure writing exercise, or maybe you just start “babbling” into your medium, and slowly, you feel yourself “returning to that world”. You can “feel” the characters, and “see” their world. Then something snaps you back. Someone has opened the door, walked into the room, and asked you a question, and just like that you’re “awake”. And part of you realizes there’s no quick route back to that “other place”…

Continue reading: https://writet.blog/2018/06/19/writing-as-a-waking-dream-authortoolboxbloghop/

 

World Building: Creating a Mountain Setting

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World building is a lot of fun for me as a writer. It is also important to readers, since a well or poorly written world can make or break a book. I found this post especially interesting, maybe because Ancient Voices takes place entirely in a mountain village. Mine is more an alpine setting, but there are many different types of ranges and associated cultures. Take a look at this article posted on the Mythcreants blog–it’s a good one!

Creating a Mountain Setting

by  and 
Of all the possibilities for building worlds, the same few types appear over and over again: desert worlds, grasslands, globe-encompassing seas. Despite being passed over, mountainous biomes, whether old and eroded like the Blue Ridge range or “new” and towering like the Himalayas, have a lot to offer. So what makes a makes a mountainous region unique for worldbuilding? What kind of people live there and what kind of environments do they inhabit?
Click to read the rest on the Mythcreants blog

Great News for Indie Authors!

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It’s always good to get encouraging news when you’re an indie author, and I found a whole lot of encouragement in this article so I thought I’d pass it on. Not all that long ago there was a huge stigma associated with self-publishing, but not so much any more. Hard work and perseverance does pay off! Special thanks goes to all you readers out there who are helping to change the trends. It wouldn’t be happening without your support.

Traditional publishers’ ebook sales drop as indie authors and Amazon take off – By Frank Catalano (published in GeekWire)

 

Ebook sales are dying. Ebooks are insanely popular. If the short definition of cognitive dissonance is holding two contradictory ideas to be true, ebooks are about as dissonant as digital content gets.

Yet ebooks may also represent a chapter in the still-being-written story of how keeping track of what’s happening with content hasn’t always kept pace with the technology that’s transformed it.

Let’s start with the bad news. Two new sets of numbers covering 2017 show ebook sales are on the decline, both in terms of unit and dollar sales.

The first, released in April by market research firm NPD’s PubTrack Digital, saw the unit sales of ebooks fall 10 percent in 2017 compared to 2016. In absolute numbers, that meant the roughly 450 publishers represented saw ebook sales drop from 180 million units to 162 million over a year’s time.

The second, just released by the American Association of Publishers, reported a decline in overall revenue for ebooks, a year-to-year decrease of 4.7 percent in 2017. AAP tracks sales data from more than 1,200 publishers.

This ebook decline occurred in an overall publisher revenue environment that AAP said was essentially flat in 2017. So some other kinds of book formats that AAP watches, like hardback books, went up as ebooks went down. For its part, NPD says when combining print and ebook unit sales, ebooks’ percentage of the total dropped from 21 percent in 2016 to 19 percent in 2017.

It turns out this downward ebook trend isn’t new. It may actually be an improvement, of sorts. “The pace of ebook decline appears to be cooling,” AAP’s Marisa Bluestone said, noting 2017’s drop was, “significantly less than the double-digit declines experienced in 2015 and 2016.”

Among the categories showing a decline in both NPD’s and AAP’s figures were kids’ ebooks. Children’s ebooks had the most dramatic decline in unit sales, and children’s/young adult ebooks have suffered double-digital revenue drops every since year 2015.

And yet, NPD reports, even though it’s also declining, adult fiction remains the most popular ebook category, with 44 percent of all adult fiction sales in digital form.

On the surface it would seem like all of this is going to come as a surprise to boosters who thought ebooks would replace traditional paper book publishing completely.

But there are three key words to keep in mind: “traditional book publishing.” And that’s the good ebook news. Because the very same technology that allowed traditional publishers to create and sell ebooks also allowed authors to do the same — directly to readers.

NPD and AAP don’t measure those indie sales. Centralized reporting of direct-from-author sales is tougher to come by, but by all anecdotal measures the independent market has taken off, notably in the also-still-large category of adult fiction.

Click to read the rest of this “good ebook news” on GeekWire

 

Seven Ways to Market Your Self-Published Novel…

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Congratulations! You’ve published your first novel (or maybe your second or your third) and now you’re ready to market it.

This can be a daunting moment. I think all of us secretly hope that our novel will be miraculously discovered and recognised as the masterpiece it truly is … but we know that isn’t going to happen without some sort of marketing.

The good news – especially if the very idea of marketing makes you shudder – is that there’s no single “right” way to let the world know about your book.  There are lots of different techniques you might try, depending on the type of book you’ve written, and the type of author you are.

I’m focusing on self-published novelists in this post. Many of these suggestions will work just fine for traditionally published authors too, but as a self-publisher, you have full control over things like the price of your book – and carte blanche to market in any way you see fit.

I’ve also kept this list short: seven ideas rather than the 50+ you might find on some sites.  I’ve come across some huge lists of marketing ideas for novelists … but often I end up feeling that most of the ideas aren’t necessarily all that workable or impactful.

While there are an almost unlimited number of things you could do to promote your novel, in this post, I’m going to focus on seven very common ones:

Read the rest of the post: http://www.aliventures.com/seven-ways-market-novel/

Shared thanks to Chris the Story Readin’g Ape’s Blog: Seven Ways to Market Your Self-Published Novel…

Show & Tell (Part 1) by Adam at Write Thoughts

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“Show, don’t tell” is common phrase that attempts to oversimplify a complex topic. “Show” and “Tell” are both essential for good writing. They represent complimentary techniques for writing prose. It is true that telling is often easier, and as a result it’s frequently over used, but both have their place in writing.

Telling in a Nutshell

If writing is the art of using words to convey meaning, then telling is the technique of blatantly stating the meaning directly. “He was mean.” “She was nice.” “It was hot outside.” Few words have been used and the meaning is clear, but the significance of the meaning is left vague. Audiences know what the character thinks and feels, but almost nothing about the object of those thoughts and feelings. No concrete information has been revealed.

Telling is also very passive experience for the audience. Audiences don’t have to think to understand the meaning of the text. They simply absorb it.

Showing in a Nutshell

Showing, in contrast, is an indirect approach. Showing implies meaning through details. “Rain pelted the windows.” “He cradled the dog in his arms.” “She hummed softly as she worked.” By themselves, these phrases could mean many things. Perhaps he likes dogs, or perhaps he is a nice person. Perhaps she is a diligent worker, or perhaps music is an important aspect of her life.

As audiences learn more, the range of possible meanings narrows, until audiences are able to reach a conclusion. However, showing is not limited to a single meaning, and often carries multiple implications. It’s possible for the protagonist to like dogs and be a nice person.

Continue reading…Show & Tell (1/3)

640+ Killer Ways to Promote Your Book… by Belinda Griffin

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Christmas is almost here, and then…the new year! Can you believe it? What happened to 2017 anyway? If you’re an indie author, you’re probably already thinking ahead to your publishing and marketing goals for the next year. Belinda Griffin of Smart Authors Lab has put together a list of the best resources to help you achieve those goals.

Looking for book marketing ideas?

When planning this post I really wanted to put together an epic list of book marketing and promotion ideas for indie authors and their self-published books, but there are already so many excellent tips out there.

I thought, what would be more useful for you, another list of book marketing tips that repeat what others have already said, or an ultimate guide that directs you to some of the most helpful content the internet already has to offer?

I decided to go with the second option, and I’m sure you’ll agree there are some truly valuable book marketing ideas out there when you know where to look. I’ve done the searching so you don’t have to and these are all fantastic book promotion tips from experts who really know their stuff.

Continue Reading:  640+ Killer Ways to Promote Your Book…

Black Friday Sale! Indie Christian Books

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Looking for great gifts for family and friends this Black Friday?

Get discounts on both print and e-books from this huge Christian book sale that starts TODAY and ends November 30th. Choose from a wide range of genres and authors. Package deals offer even deeper discounts.

The Wind Rider Chronicles is included in this sale for prices too low for me to offer through Amazon or other retailers. Buy a print copy of both Journey to Aviad and Ancient Voices, and Into the Shadow Wood comes free! My e-books are on sale too. Check it out–there is no charge for shipping!

Journey to Aviad – Print $9.99
Ancient Voices – Print $9.99     /     e-Book $1.99
Into the Shadow Wood – e-book $0.99
Package Deal – Print $20.00 (all 3 books)