I’ve Written a Book, What Do I Do Now?

Since my first novel was published in 2001, many people have asked me that question. Once, many years ago, an author read a news story about one of my books, talked the newspaper into giving him my street address, then came to my home and banged on my door until I answered...begging me to tell him how to get a publishing contract. That was creepy.

Today, of course, times have changed and you no longer need to rely on a publisher to get your book out there. But it is a big ocean full of decisions and it can be daunting and confusing. There are scammers out there filling first-time authors' heads full of fake dollar signs, and then stealing real dollars right out from under them.

And, there is the stigma that indie authors and/or self-published books are awful. This is not true, and the only way to overcome this blemish is to educate new authors in the RIGHT way to produce a quality book: one that's free of grammatical errors, typos, formatting errors, and poor presentation. Anyone who truly wants to be a writer wants that anyway.

At Indies Unlimited, my blog partner, Stephen Hise, and I work hard to get the information out there in a way that will be helpful to authors at all stages of their careers. We've just published a resource page for "newbie" authors in hopes of guiding them through the process to putting out a quality first book.

Please feel free share this resource with anyone asking you for advice on where to go or what to do. It'll be a lot easier on you, and they'll have one convenient place to find everything they need.

I’ve Written a Book, How Do I Publish It?

Authors - Feeling Alone? Don't Feel Bad.

Writers Are Not Normal to Normal People

I learned some hard lessons in 2013, but hopefully I learned them well. One of the things I realized is: people really don’t get what a writer’s life is like. I’ll expound on that in a moment. First, let me tell you what else I learned:

- Sometimes, the people you meet online will have your back when the people you’ve known all your life, or at least met in person, are the ones stabbing you there. Sometimes your true friends are really your virtual ones. I’m so very thankful for my online Indie Author family.

- Of course, that’s not to say you should trust everyone you meet online. And sometimes the people you think you can trust turn out not to have your best interests at heart. There will always be cliques, and I will always be on the outside of them. But that’s nothing new to a loner like me, really. Sometimes it is surprising (not to mention sad) to discover who’s in the clique, though.

We're not to the good part yet - please keep reading at http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2014/01/08/writers-are-not-normal-to-normal-people/

Generating a Discount Coupon on CreateSpace

Well, I guess this week is Createspace week! Yesterday we have a post by our Dick Waters showing us how easy it is to create your own print title with CreateSpace.

Authors know that selling a book directly through CreateSpace (CS) yields a much higher royalty than selling through Amazon.com. So then, how do you entice readers to purchase your book through CreateSpace? Offer them a discount coupon. Maybe that sounds crazy, BUT, usually the difference in royalties is large enough that you have at least a couple dollar’s worth of room to move, so a discount code could help sell print books and make you a better profit!

Now, keep in mind that some people are going to be reluctant to set up a new account just to buy a book. (I’m not certain, but they may be able to just use their Amazon log-in to access CS.) Also keep in mind that now that Amazon is discounting print books – so, depending on how deep they’ve marked down your book – whatever discount you offer on CS may not end up being worth it. (Not to mention that we don’t know whether purchasing a book directly through CreateSpace will show as a verified purchase when the reader reviews it.) Then, of course, Amazon also offers free Super Saver shipping. So why issue a coupon? Because this way, beta readers, advanced copy review readers, friends, and family, can all get themselves a print copy at reduced cost – and, it’s a nice gesture, even if they don’t take you up on it.

Want to know more? The rest of the article is here on Indies Unlimited.

My Birthday Wishlist

A few too many candles...

I may or may not have had a birthday a few weeks ago. I’ll never tell. But if I did have a birthday, I might be inclined to put a wishlist together. Since my life revolves around being a writer – you guessed it – my wishlist is pretty much writerly dominated. Here’s what I want – and what I shall stomp my feet in a fitting tantrum until I get – in no particular order.

Part rant, part satire, part me just being me... If you'd like to read more, you can check out the rest of the article at Indies Unlimited.

Claiming Your Book to Your Author Central Page Part 2

Last week, we showed you the shortcut method to claim a book to your Amazon.com Author Central page. If you missed that article, you can read it here. If you want to do it the more reliable way, we’ll show you that method today.

In order to claim a book to your Author Central page using this method, you must log in to your Author Central account. You can do that here: https://authorcentral.amazon.com/. Once you’re logged in, your home page will look like this:

Click on “to your bibliography” which I’ve highlighted in yellow above. That is where you will see...

Want to see more? You can, for free, over at Indies Unlimited here.

When Is a Book Not a Book?

When people ask me how many books I have written, that’s a tough question to answer. It may seem cut and dry to many, but I’ve not only created novels, non-fiction books, children’s books, and workbooks, but also calendars.

Is a calendar actually considered a book? A title? I don’t know. One would think the answer would vary depending on who I ask, but no – everyone says yes – the calendar counts.

So, why do I have such a hard time counting it?

To read the rest of this article and to cast your vote as to whether a calendar should be considered a book, click to Indies Unlimited here.

Tutorial: How to Embed a Link in WordPress (with a footnote for Blogger)

Some folks have asked me how to make words into a link on a WordPress blog – you know, so when you click on the words, you go to a web page? This may sound silly to some of you, but it’s not intuitive to everyone. So here is a step-by-step tutorial for those who want to be in the know. The logic is the same for MS Word and for Blogger (blogspot) blogs, although the little buttons are a little different. (I've included a screen capture for Blogger at the bottom of this article.)

I’m going to use our own Mr. Dick Waters’ recent post on Createspace as an example.

Dick wanted to refer to Lynne Cantwell’s post about Createspace in the body of his post. So, when he sent it in to me, he sent me his text along with the link to her article. I added the title of her article in between the reference and the link. Since it’s a title, I italicized it. It’s still highlighted in blue. See the screen below.

To see the screen below and read the rest of this article, please click through to Indies Unlimited here.