After working with a $2.99 book and the two 99 cent books, I’ve noticed some obvious differences.  Others not so obvious when I started.  Now, this isn’t to say one is better than the other because that’s for the author to decide.  That and I’ve had that conversation so many times this year.

Pros and Cons of 99 Centers

• PRO-  For a first time author with no reputation, this can be appealing to some readers.  There is the idea that all indie authors are unpolished, so this pricing can be enticing.
• CON-  If you start at 99 cents, it’s difficult to go higher.  People might wait for you to get frustrated and drop the price back down.
• PRO-  Several advertising sites require that you have a 99 cent pricing.  This opens up more doors even if it’s for a sale.
• CON-  You need to sell a lot to get higher…

Omnipresent -definition: present everywhere at the same time

When we create a narrative, our first priority is to decide on which point of view we want to use, the narrative perspective or mode. First person, second or third. Each has it’s own guidelines and enables us to manipulate the reader into the mindset of the character or characters  we wish them to sympathize with. As the author we are the omnipresent voice, the one who directs the action and reveals the plot.

Nathan Bransford wrote about the comparison between the third person omniscient versus third person limited here: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2012/11/third-person-omniscient-vs-third-person.html

Another good link, which assists with choosing your narrative style is here: http://www.thewriteturn.com/whats-your-point-of-view-how-to-choose-the-right-narrative-perspective-for-your-fiction/

No matter which mode you use, you decide on the direction of the tale and what to reveal and what to hide throughout the story.

Which mode do you use?

Have you tried all narrative modes?

I had…

Blogs and bloggers come in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of different interests, but good bloggers share some characteristics in common, and that’s what this post is about.

I happen to be an independent author with a history of dissecting literature in grad school, so I blog about fiction: what makes good fiction, and what things we authors should avoid (for the most part).

That’s just me, though. People blog and read blogs about all kinds of things: some of my favorite blogs are faith-focused or philosophy-based, or comment on current events, because let’s face it, none of us has only one facet.

Now, marketing your blog is a separate subject. To have success marketing, though, you first need a solid product to put out there. Here are 4 quick tips to make your blog the best it can be content-wise:

1. DON’T BLOG TOO OFTEN FOR YOUR…

I have come to the conclusion that there are two main philosophies of “self-publishing”.

All broad characterizations are perforce oversimplifications, and this one will be more so than most, so be advised that many–probably most–of self-published authors won’t fit exactly into either category.

However.

Granting the inexactitude of what I am about to say, I believe that there are two basically incompatible ways to define the relationship between self-published authors and traditional publishing.

The first group defines “self-publishing” as “an author acting as her or his own publisher”.  That is to say that authors are emulating the model of traditional publishers.  These authors tend, to be honest, among the most successful financially. They tend to write in clearly defined genres, with traditionally designed covers, and often judge their work against the standard produced by traditional publishers.

Self-publishing, for these authors, is generally a choice made on the basis of time…

Introduction:

Two years ago, I wrote a blog piece about the importance of using categories, keywords, and tags (which no longer exist) to make your books visible in the Kindle Store. A year later I wrote an update that expanded on this and discussed how having your book in the right categories could make free and discount promotions more effective. The basic argument I made hasn’t changed––that an author needs to understand how categories work in order to use them to improve the chance their books will be found by readers who are browsing in the Kindle store.

If you aren’t convinced of the importance of categories in improving discoverability—you might want to go back and skim through those two posts or just google “discoverability and categories” to see the multiple posts on this topic. However, for most of you, it isn’t the importance of categories but how to get…

I don’t remember learning how to read. I remember learning to sound out new words, but I don’t remember ever not knowing how to read some words. My father used to swear I read the little cloth baby books they gave me when I was tiny.

Books have always been an important part of my life—Little Golden Books, Dr. Seuss, Pippi Longstocking, the Trixie Belden mysteries I devoured like candy, stand-alone favorites like Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which I reread every year as a teenager and which I still reread every now and then. I’ve read countless books over the years. Some have been mere acquaintances and many have been long-time friends.

Books take us to places we couldn’t otherwise go. They teach us things we didn’t know. They help us expand our understanding of the world and the people who live in it…