Author Essentials: Your Online Presence

For a new author, an online presence is essential. You must be active in social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc), maintain a blog, market your published book, and still find time for writing. Face it—being an author is hard work. We all get busy with life and forget to blog, fail to Tweet, and slack off … Continue reading Author Essentials: Your Online Presence

What Can Your Publisher Do For You?

Hello, it's me again. Harping on small publishers. Yes, I know I've covered much of this territory before, but after talking to a new round of unhappy authors, I thought I'd better talk about publishing again. Over the past couple of days, I've been working on formatting The Seance. I've formatted a book before, but … Continue reading What Can Your Publisher Do For You?

Book Launch: Success or Epic Fail

As most authors will tell you, writing your book is just a small part of becoming a successful author. Whether you choose a traditional publisher or self-publishing, there's lots of work ahead for you. Editing, choosing cover art, more editing... it's a long process regardless of what publishing options you choose. But even after all … Continue reading Book Launch: Success or Epic Fail

Setting the Mood

When we think about the phrase "setting the mood," we generally think about romance, but mood isn't just for romance novels. It's the author's job to set the mood in any novel they write. In a horror novel, the reader expects a creepy, frightening setting. In romance, the author needs to set a mood conducive … Continue reading Setting the Mood

Are You a Bad Influence?

I've been doing lots of reading lately. I'll read almost anything. I'm not picky about genres. I read self-published, traditionally published, and books published by small presses. If you write it, I'll read it. When I first began writing, I had a hard time reading for pleasure. My writer's eye kept scanning the pages as … Continue reading Are You a Bad Influence?