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How I Approached Writing My First Novel Like a TV Script
A Lullaby in the Desert: One Woman’s Fight for Freedom
Imagine being born without rights. From bicycle bans and compulsory clothing to mandatory beliefs, what’s worse than being born in a society where your gender alone is a crime? Millions of women are held captive, whether behind bars or behind barriers, for what they believe, what they wear, and what they say. They are suffering at this very moment. Some, like Susan, decided they wouldn’t take being held in the grip of a society’s invisible […]
Journey of a Twelve-Year-Old Author
A majority of existing novels implicate important messages, whether they are directly or vicariously stated. My recently published book, The Black Sisterhood Files, is a murder mystery that bears a veiled, yet sincere, moral: even the most villainous of creatures have love situated at the core of their hearts. The piece below is my humble attempt at sharing what inspired me to write the novel and my path to getting it published at the age of twelve. I don’t claim this to be a recipe for success for everyone, nor do I think that perception of affluence is uniform; […]
8 Easy Tips for Fiction Writing
1) It is Important to Show, Not Tell
First off it is important to show, not tell. Showing is based around description and that really helps a reader become engaged in a story and understand the situation the character is in. Telling is more of an expository summary of something, which as I’m sure you’ll agree isn’t quite as exciting!
Knowing your audience and creating characters that they not only engage with but also empathize with is very important. I try to create characters that kids can look up to as role models that deal with situations and issues that […]
Awesome Time-Saving Tools for Authors
As self-publishers, we have a lot to do every day to make sure our business is running smoothly. Every minute you save is useful–but remember, during tough times like these, it’s always a good idea to come to the desk refreshed and with a positive mental attitude.
So in this article, we’ll look at five tools you can use to save time in your self-publishing business.
RescueTime
If you want to save time, you need to know how much time you’re wasting. This is where RescueTime comes in. RescueTime keeps track of the websites you’re using and how often […]
How To Get Honest Book Reviews in 2020
Use a reader mailing list service. There are only two main services you can rely upon that result in Amazon Verified Customer Reviews (proof the reader actually bought the book) and sales within Amazon’s Review Guidelines. Both services have huge mailing lists of readers who buy, read, and review books. […]
How to Optimize Your Book’s Sales Page on Amazon
Your Amazon product page is your book’s final sales page. It is the page that will ultimately dictate which browsers become readers. That means, you need to make it as inviting as possible–you want to optimize your page and draw in more sales and ‘one-click buys.’ After all, authors are always looking to level up their book marketing strategy.
Luckily, Amazon does a lot of the technical work for you. If you were to create a sales page on your website, you’d have to do all the positioning and testing to see what works. When you sell on Amazon, […]
Why Authors Should Stop Blogging Now
And here’s why that’s poor advice:
If you set up a blog on your own website, and only ever post there, you risk only reaching people you’ve already reached! It doesn’t matter how engaging, fascinating, controversial, or informative your articles are. It’s irrelevant whether you blog about your writing process, share tips for other authors, take the reader behind the scenes, or offer bonus […]