Category Archives: Self Publishing

Cover for My First Book!

I’m releasing my first book, How To Come Alive: A Guidebook To Living the Life of Your Dreams in October and I wanted to share the cover with you.  It was made by the talented Sarah Cerulean (my sister).  The book is coming along nicely and will be available in e-book and paperback formats.  ItContinue reading “Cover for My First Book!”

Is ‘Release Day’ an Outdated Term for Self-Published Books?

I am planning the release of my first book at the end of the month and I have a problem — I don’t have a burning desire to email everyone I’ve ever met, Tweet 24-7 about my “GREAT DEAL! ON AMAZON! CHEEP!”, or prime my fans to buy it on day one or else, I’llContinue reading “Is ‘Release Day’ an Outdated Term for Self-Published Books?”

How Often Should You Publish a Book?

Or perhaps the real question is, how often should you self publish a book?  If you’re like me, you use to think of book releases as these nebulous, once-in-a-blue-moon happenings (when the stars aligned and the book publishers were feeling frisky).  But now, if you’re a self published author, you are only constrained by how fastContinue reading “How Often Should You Publish a Book?”

Follow Me and I’ll Follow You: Social Media and Self Promotion

Great post from Rob White.  The idea of seeing people as ‘dollar signs with arms and legs’ is exactly what I don’t like about online promotion. But I think there is a better, classier way to connect with readers and I think Rob’s showing us the way —   Follow Me and I’ll Follow You:Continue reading “Follow Me and I’ll Follow You: Social Media and Self Promotion”

How Long Should We Wait to Start Living Our Dreams?

I told my friend Nancy, the poet, that when I had four novels finished, I thought I could become a ‘professional novelist’.  She asked, ‘Shouldn’t you be able to do that with one book?’  Therein lies an interesting question — How Long Should We Wait to Start Living Our Dreams? Now, for the dream ofContinue reading “How Long Should We Wait to Start Living Our Dreams?”

AMAZON DESCRIPTIONS FOR YOUR NOVEL (PART THREE OF THREE)

Now we come to the tricky part — actually writing a good description.  I say ‘good’ because I think some writers do themselves harm by either spending months on it, or giving up and calling a half-done description ‘good enough’.  I picked five Amazon listings sort of at random, ones that I thought were quiteContinue reading “AMAZON DESCRIPTIONS FOR YOUR NOVEL (PART THREE OF THREE)”

AMAZON DESCRIPTIONS FOR YOUR NOVEL (PART TWO OF THREE)

Descriptions are IMPOSSIBLE! Now that isn’t a very positive outlook to have, but any author who’s tried to cram a 150,000 word novel that took five years and a thousand day dreams to produce down into a 250 word query letter or an Amazon description has probably had that thought at least once.  Now, beforeContinue reading “AMAZON DESCRIPTIONS FOR YOUR NOVEL (PART TWO OF THREE)”

Amazon Descriptions for Your Novel (Part one of Three)

What is this a picture of? Now, you might say trees, which is correct.  You might say a meadow, which is not quite correct.  You might even say water (though I can’t image why) which is also, oddly, correct.  Lastly, you could say “A carpet of red and green plants on top of the water at MerchantsContinue reading “Amazon Descriptions for Your Novel (Part one of Three)”

Lazy or Filled with the Integrity of the Gods? Hmm . . .

So I like some parts of this ‘writer’ business.  And some parts I LOVE (CAPITALIZED, in bold, and underlined forever).  And some parts, like creating an online presence, I just don’t know how I feel about.  Correction: I do.  I felt the bile rising in my throat just writing that sentence. Don’t get me wrongContinue reading “Lazy or Filled with the Integrity of the Gods? Hmm . . .”