Reblogged · Writing

A Few NaNoWriMo Tips

I usually participate in NaNoWriMo in some form or another. I don't usually win, but it's still fun! This year I'm doing what I like to call NaNoWriMo-Lite, which means I'm going to be working on a project that's well underway. I need some oomph to finish this project, and I think the frenetic energy… Continue reading A Few NaNoWriMo Tips

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Publishing · Reblogged

Think You Couldn’t Possibly Lose Your Amazon Publishing Account? Think Again.

This is some scary stuff, but very important for indie authors to be aware of. While most of my sales come from Amazon, I chose not to enroll in KU, mainly because I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket!

The Active Voice

There’s this indie author I know a little bit from the Kboards.com forum. Her name is Pauline Creeden, and she’s an ordinary midlister, like so many of us. I remember PMing her some time ago and gushing about how particularly beautiful one of her book covers is — the one for Chronicles of Steele: Raven.collection Here, I’ll include an image. Gorgeous, eh?

Anyway, today I tuned in to Kboards and noticed that Pauline had started a thread. It contained what’s surely the worst news possible for an indie author: Amazon had closed her publishing account. All her ebooks had been taken off sale. Permanently. Here’s the email she got from Amazon:

We are reaching out to you because we have detected that borrows for your books are originating from systematically generated accounts. While we support the legitimate efforts of our publishers to promote their books, attempting to manipulate…

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Reblogged · Writing

Judging a Book by Its Name: 10 Common Trends in Fantasy Titles

Some interesting observations about trends in fantasy titles…

Thoughts on Fantasy

Title Trends and Fonts (Orbit 2009) Chart showing most frequent fantasy book titles and fonts in 2009, Orbit Books, http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/08/19/the-chart-of-fantasy-art-part-4-title-trends/

People often talk about how difficult cover designs are to get right, and the role they play in selling books. Titles – the things plastered all over those covers – are a less frequent topic of discussion.

Given how responsive we are to images and colours, covers probably are more important. Still, if you’re online, or talking to other book lovers, sometimes the title is the only thing you see or hear.

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