I’ve referred to author platform a lot on this blog. Especially lately, with the industry in such a state of churn and evolution. But I’ve never properly defined what an author platform is. So today, let’s nail down exactly what I mean by “author platform”, and pull together all the reasons why you need to […]
What is an Author Platform and Why You Need The Best You Can Build Read More »
A short post today, as it’s St. Patrick’s Day, and everyone is focused upon green beer. As I’m allergic to alcohol, I focused upon the four leaf clover, instead. When commercial fiction was controlled by the traditional publishers, it was pretty much accepted that breaking into the business required a large slab of luck. You
Cultivate Luck For Yourself Read More »
I’ve been skirting around AI for weeks, referring to it indirectly and implying that it would become increasingly important that we indies deal with it in the near future. In my prediction post for 2023 (that wasn’t really a prediction) about the year ahead, I did grasp the nettle…a little, and very gently. And I
Yeah, I’m Gonna Go There. So should you. Read More »
This is Part 4 of an informal series about Pen Names. See Part 1 or Part 2 or Part 3 or Part 4. A PIFW reader reached out to me a couple of days ago, asking questions about pen names, branding and genres, and in particular, how they impact the Amazon algorithms. My response to him
Pen Names – 2022 Update. Read More »
Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Katherine Rusch call life derailing events “life rolls”. It’s a useful name for a whole host of troubles: Sickness, death of loved ones, disasters, accidents, divorces, getting fired… We’re writers of fiction; we can easily imagine what life rolls might look like. When you’re hit by a serious life roll,
How to Get Back to Writing when Life Has Completely Derailed You Read More »
If you only read this blog of mine, and not any of my author blogs or social media, then it might have seemed like everything was ticking along nicely here. In actual fact, for several weeks now I have been working through a personal health crisis, utterly unable to spare any attention to The Productive
Slowing…but not stopping. Read More »
Indie Authors Take Note: NOW is the time to prioritize your health! Don’t leave it until tomorrow, the way I did. I’ve been having a few health challenges lately. I’ve murmured in public once or twice over the last year about pinched nerves and back issues, in particular, my neck, which was giving me a
Indie Authors Take Note: NOW is the time to prioritize your health! Read More »
Okay, Already, I’ll Try Obsidian! Because I CAN Listen. A while ago, I wrote about my disappointing live trial of Notion, and how I happily returned to OneNote. Buried in the text as a throwaway line was the fact that I did try to use Obsidian, but found it counter-intuitive and too difficult to quickly
Okay, Already, I’ll Try Obsidian! Read More »
Actually, I lied. This hack is simple in concept. But it’s not simple to execute. But, man, is it worth the effort! This hack will energize your writing and let you float through the day, no slogging, no groaning, no fighting to keep yourself at the desk. My story Three years ago, my DH was
Ramp Up Your Creativity and Write Lots More With One Simple Hack Read More »
Following these suggestions will give you a “clean” MS Word file that compiles to ePub and Mobi without mysterious blank pages and extra lines in it, and with chapter headings properly formatted. If you use compilers such as Jutoh, Atticus or Vellum, the clean file will also reduce bad results when you import to those
How to Prep Your Microsoft Word files for flawless ebook conversions Read More »
