Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
Today starts the first day of the new Kindle Unlimited royalty program. As with so many things in life, there will be winners and losers. I gave my thoughts on the biggest KU losers last week and now I have the winners. Remember, this is just my prediction for the books that will fare the …
Continue reading “3 Book Categories that Should Benefit Under the New KU”
As we head into Week three of 2015, I’ve seen many writers talking about their yearly goals and most have included a publishing benchmark on the list. Some are looking to become the next big Indie success story and chasing that publishing dream may require more money than these writers initially expected. Believe it or …
Continue reading “6 Tips for Author Crowdfunding”
Much thanks to DL Hammons for setting up this blogfest. Once a year it’s nice to reflect and take stock. In accordance with the blogfest rules we give you a post that didn’t receive as much blog love as we thought it deserved. We hope you enjoy it. Every family has some honored …
Continue reading “DeJa Vu Blogfest 2014”
Love it or hate it, the new Amazon Kindle Unlimited just made it easier for avid readers to sample a huge number of books while paying a fraction of the total cover price. The new program will give subscribers access to over 600,000 titles, many of them Indies, but also some big name authors. …
Continue reading “Could Your Book Make the 10% Mark?”
If you haven’t already published a juvenile book with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) you don’t know they announced a big change on June 2. In a letter to all their children’s book publishers they wrote: “You can now set age and grade categorization refinements to help readers discover your books.” Okay maybe this doesn’t …
Continue reading “Use KDP Changes to Help Promote your Children’s Book”
For some reason my parents gave us gender ambiguous first names. My middle sister has a name that is almost exclusively in the male domain. Where as my eldest sister and I have names that lean toward the feminine side, as does my poor brother’s name. Although, he legally changed his name the moment he …
Continue reading “3 Reasons You Need a Pen Name”
Every family has some honored traditions at this time of year, and for many, pulling out dusty copies of a favorite holiday film numbers among them. In my house, we watch that movie snuggled up under blankets, with big bowls of popcorn and mugs of frothy hot chocolate. My kids will likely choose It’s a …
Continue reading “It IS a Wonderful Life!”
The decision to self publish can be tough. For some of us, it follows months of pursuing the traditional route, trying to stay buoyant through multiple rejections and dozens of rewrites, catering to the expressed or implied preferences of industry professionals and beta readers. A few authors eschew the big five and smaller independent presses …
Continue reading “The Decision to Self Publish: Defeat or Triumph?”
When my daughter Amber was seven years old, she wanted a kitten, and we decided to seek one out at the SPCA in Johannesburg. Any visit to a shelter is always heart wrenching because there are so many animals worthy of adoption, and their survival depends on their ability to connect with us. Most seem …
Continue reading “Marketing Our Books: What We Can Learn From Our Pets”