Learn about the pressure – maybe it’s more polite to say intense conversation – among The Society of Authors, The Authors’ Guild, and Amazon senior executives?
Calling all Amazon Authors
Category: Better Writing
Learn tips for honing the writing craft.
Make the most of writing time.
Pack punch into writing with power words.
Be smarter than a 5th grader – grammar-wise.
How to become a ‘keeper shelf’ author
Part I I don’t give negative book reviews. I will add someone to my own personal list of ‘not to buy again’, but reading is subjective. Unsolicited opinions are better kept behind sealed lips. Authors don’t always hit my Black List after one poor read – it depends. A newbie author’s first release is given more leeway. A successful author switching genres gets a pass. But let’s face it – time is precious. Readers value their quiet moments to escape into a story. Authors must be diligent and dedicated to serving up their readers the tastiest story treats. Recently, I read – and painfully finished a book – by an extremely well-known author. The character … Read more
Word Fun
Prospective vs. Perspective Being a Texas girl, I’ve learned that most of my species – folks from Texas – talk like we have a mouth full of marbles. Consonances are slurred; ending letters are dropped; and short words are dragged out to infinity and beyond. But Texans are NOT alone in this enunciation battle. As I’ve traveled extensively through Southern states, I’ve crossed many a verbal sword with store clerks, waitresses, hotel receptionists, even roadside assist. Add masks to the talking mixture, and the language minefield explodes with confusion. HOWEVER, not all word snafus are a result of poor pronunciation. At times, it’s a simple matter of playing the game: what’s the right word? A … Read more
7 Steps to Editing Like a PROfessional!
Editing is part of every writer’s job. Finding the time, and more importantly, making that time count is how the PROfessionals edit. Read on for the 7 editing tricks to enhance your writing. 1) Find your editing groove. For some this is EARLY when eyes are the sharpest and focus is the clearest. For others their peak time might be mid-to-late afternoon. Caffeine kicks in, morning rush dies down and – again, this is about focus – the brain settles into a rhythm. I caution against late night editing. Eyes are slower from all the image bombardment of the day. Eagle eyes are needed for effective editing. If, however, evening is the ONLY quiet time … Read more
Chasing Destiny Almond Flour Pancakes
Chasing Destiny – characters that cook! Characters absorb parts of the author’s personality . . . and often the writer grows through the character. In each ‘Donovan Legacy’ book, one of the characters (could be a secondary character) loves to cook. Why do my characters cook? Kitchen: the heart of the home. That phrase is more than a saying on a tea-towel or wooden plaque. Most — I didn’t say all — have some fond memories from the kitchen. If it involves food, it could be the smell of grandmother’s special cookies or holiday candies and treats. If the memory doesn’t involve food, it could be the early morning scent of coffee. It might be … Read more
Am I a Creature of Habit?
Grocery shopping – who can relate? It’s not like we can ignore the need to purchase food products. Whether we shop in big box chains or the corner greengrocer, the majority of us will grocery shop. But shoppers, like planets aligning around the sun, tend to gravitate to their normal shops. I visited one of the local grocery stores this weekend – not an unusual occurrence for my weekends – but it wasn’t my ‘normal’ shop. In the states, grocery chains are huge; one store seemingly much like the next. EXCEPT . . . Chains may share a common name, stock basically the same groceries, even offer like discounts, but serious grocery shoppers (I’d be … Read more
How to Make the MOST of your Writing Weekends: WORDfest 2019
WORDFEST.org Saturday, March 23, 2019 — a day spent with writers, bloggers, authors, playwrights, educational specialists — in essence, a day to grow and learn as a writer. Like most conferences, there were seminars designed to encourage growth of basic skills to the next level, those for writers who’ve been around the proverbial publishing block, ones to maximizing online presence and even specialty sessions for groups wanting to grow their membership. Visual demographics leaned heavily toward the female gender, but there was a great blend of young and old. “Writing isn’t for the faint of heart. Writing is for the tenacious . For those who can stand the solitude. For those who are willing to … Read more
HARM’S WAY AVAILABLE ON KINDLEUNLIMITED – tips for TheImageApothecary.com & Canva.com
HARM’S WAY NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED! As I push for completion on the second book in THE DONOVAN LEGACY, CHASING DESTINY, I have moved HARM’S WAY to Kindle Unlimited. I’ve spent the past several days on THEIMAGEAPOTHECARY.COM downloading multiple images for book release ad-building. Special thanks to FLIP-FLOP SISTER, and fellow author, Mary Karlik for the author & marketing friendly insight into THEIMAGEAPOTCHECARY. I downloaded the images into my local PAINT folder and then moved them into Canva.com for actual manipulation. I’ve designed several ‘work’ graphics and brochures on CANVA.com so I had a basic understanding of the graphic design site. Again, user-friendly, and there is a FREE version so you can check it … Read more
How to entice Readers . . . 5 Writing Tips to Building Book Teasers!
Writing . . . writing . . . and writing. The book is nearing its end. What’s next for the author? Before you go crazy considering ALL the things to do for a book launch, focus on something closer to your current writing mind-set. Every writing day is about producing new words. But it is also about editing what’s on page. You polish scene consistency, authentic characters, snappy dialogue, and just enough narrative to set any scene. So, while completely enmeshed in the writing and rewriting, here is the perfect opportunity to search out book teasers for the upcoming book launch. Remember, writing as a PROfessional requires authors to hone their craft, daily. Teasers — … Read more
Book Club Pro – an author promotional and marketing option!
I’ll start with the obvious. This is a blog about BookClubPro, a promotional and author marketing environment for the Twitter feed. I discovered this opportunity on Twitter via Stacie Sultrie, a Paranormal Romance Author. Registering for Book Club Pro took about 30 minutes out of my schedule. The registration sheet is comprised of basic questions, book links, author bio, book blurb, and if you have them in your wheelhouse, COMPRESSED TWEETS that Book Club Pro can use to promote your book. As I did not have all this information gathered, there was a bit of maneuvering between my Amazon site and my word document that contained my compressed tweets, but the entire process was painless. … Read more
