Resources

I hate words.

Nothing complicates your ideas more than words. However, most writers love words. Go figure.

I don’t necessarily mean that an article’s word count is problematic. How many words it takes you to express and support your points is circumstantial. Just don’t get carried away with words that hinder, rather than enhance, your thoughts.

For example, the passive voice is often considered taboo. But I just used it anyway. In the exemplary first sentence of this paragraph “is often considered taboo” is the passive voice.

In this case I used the word “considered” to emphasize that it’s not […]

This post welcomes Stefanie Flaxman to Self-Publishing Review – the Revision Fairy, which “combines the utility of an online proofreading service with the luxury of having your own personal copy editor.”  She’ll be writing posts on writing mechanics, something that has thus far been missing from the site.

Punctuation matters. Period.

Your profound representation of a snowflake resting upon a marigold and crimson fall leaf won’t matter if your sentence structure is not clear. The reader isn’t going to enjoy your brilliant allegory if she can’t follow what you’re saying.

Proper punctuation guides the reader through your story. Here […]

Some years ago I published a book that landed on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Book Review, which was quite a thrill for my wife and I, who were running our publishing company from a spare bedroom in our house.

Soon enough, the phone started to ring, and one call was from a distributor in New York.

“Hey, we’re all wondering down here, is this some guy publishing from his dining room? We have a bet.” There was plenty of snickering in the background.

“Well, you’d be wrong,” I said, “I’m in the bedroom. How can […]

Originally posted at Kreelan Warrior, the site of Michael R. Hicks, author of the science fiction series, In Her Name – “Fans of epic fantasy as well as science fiction lovers will find an enjoyable read here, particularly those who love to visit unique worlds with some seriously beautiful worldbuilding.”

For those who may be thinking about Lightning Source (LSI), I wanted to give you a quick rundown on what it takes to at least get your foot in the door and get an account.

The first thing you need to keep in mind is that Lightning Source […]

A great primer on how to check your Amazon sales rank by Shannon Yarbrough, author of Stealing Wishes, originally published at the LL Book Review.  Try not to get obsessed with checking your sales rank, but it’s certainly gratifying to see a book climb the ranks.

Today, like almost every day, I checked my Amazon.com sales rank and discovered it had bumped up quite a bit.  I’m now at 101,491.  Now as I’ve discussed in the past, this might very well mean I’ve sold just one copy over the weekend, or even up to 5 copies. And chances […]

Read Parts One and Two.

Marketing and promotion can be more of a problem to a writer than any other facet of self-publishing. For one thing, we writers are people who sit alone in rooms. A lot. We’re introverts, more or less. For some of us, it’s extremely difficult to meet strangers, and when we’re invited to a party we stand in a corner or go talk to people we already know. Second, effective marketing and promotion takes planning, and it’s not easy to come up with a plan when you have no experience or education in marketing.

So […]

Read Part One here.

Before a book goes into production, as the publishers call manufacturing the book, the designers have to do their work. Two types of design work can make your book as appealing as a book produced by a professional publisher: Interior design and cover design.

Interior Design: Most people think a book is just thrown on the printer, but several considerations go into making a book that people actually feel comfortable reading. The questions to ask about interior design are these:

• What size should the book be?
• How many lines of print should there be