Category: fiction

Test your book with experts after you’ve finished the first draft

Your book has been written, you have given it a no-nonsense proofing, and it’s just about ready to go to your paid (final) proofreader so it will be properly and correctly written before you submit it for printing. Letting others read your book at this stage is controversial, but probably wise if it’s your first [...]

Saturday November 23rd, 2013 in 1 Shopping Cart, articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, newsletter writing, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, product development, proofreading, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

What you must do to properly finish your book’s first draft…

In most of the past dozen or so posts in this blog we have been talking about writing and publishing your own book quickly and properly. And we’re near the gathering, formatting, and end-road prepping of your tome before it is given a last-step review and is submitted to print. It’s like a new home [...]

Sunday November 17th, 2013 in 1 Shopping Cart, articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, Gordon Burgett, introductions, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, newsletter writing, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, travel writing, writing | Comments Off

Do you need or want artwork or illustrations in your book?

Artwork is a general term that includes the whole range of illustrations, like photos, line drawing, images, graphs, charts, diagrams—those things you add to make the text more interesting, less dull, or more clearly understood. Or to add beauty or visual clarification to the pages. There’s an issue with some forms of open publishing and [...]

Wednesday November 6th, 2013 in articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, Nook, open publishing, product development, publishing, Smashwords, travel writing, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

7 solutions for submission snarls for ebooks and CreateSpace

For the past couple of years I’ve been trying to eliminate all the expenses one encounters when compiling and publishing an “open” book. Those are the books that CreateSpace, Nook, Kindle, Smashwords, and Scribd will accept from you, prepare, and market. Their part is free ($25 or so for CreateSpace). As I’ve found free-arounds I [...]

Monday October 28th, 2013 in 1 Shopping Cart, articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, Nook, open publishing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

Copyright? Using others’ words or artwork in your book.

To avoid the whole issue just read or hear what others say and retell it in your words. That would be the text of your book. But there can be wee pitffalls. If you are quoting them directly, you must tell the reader who they are, and usually the context of the statement. Others often [...]

Tuesday October 22nd, 2013 in article selling, article writing, articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, newsletter writing, niche marketing, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, writing | Comments Off

When should I quit editing and send my book to press?

That’s the question that a consulting client, now many months later, just asked. You might have the same question, and while my reply isn’t much of a surprise, here it is, after 46 published books. (Alas, my earliest books I almost tinkered to death!) “That’s a tough question. There will always be new news that [...]

Thursday October 17th, 2013 in articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, writing | Comments Off

Find the buyers before you write your book!

Here are some questions you might ask about fine-tuning your book to strengthen its distinctiveness and increase its buying demand. (Better than writing a book with no perceived–or real–buyers!) * In addition to the five or so books you already read about your topic, what else has already been in print about it in, say, [...]

Tuesday October 8th, 2013 in articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche marketing, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, publishing, self-publishing, Smashwords, travel writing, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

Eight ways you can correct book errors in print!

We’ve just published a book (The Art of School Boarding) that probably reached the printer (McNaughton-Gunn) yesterday. I’ll double check tomorrow to be sure the text we sent and the artwork (from Pakistan) are there. It used to be that once a book reached the paper or hard back printer (here, to Saline, Michigan, from [...]

Monday September 23rd, 2013 in ancillary publishing, articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, newsletter writing, niche publishing, Nook, open publishing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

Does your book need much or more research?

Sometimes books don’t need much research. If your book is about a little girl spending a day at the circus with her grandparents, a quick refresher on what one sees or does at a circus is probably enough, maybe with a little girl in tow. Later you can go back and mull around to fill [...]

Tuesday September 3rd, 2013 in article writing, articles, Blurb, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, newsletter writing, niche marketing, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, publishing, self-publishing, Smashwords, travel writing, writing | 2 Comments »

Where do you find more information for your book?

Here are some solid starters: * Start with a keyword list. Think, if you need the four (or six or ten) words that best describe your topic, what would they be? Create two columns on a piece of paper. Put those keywords in the first column. * Head to Google (or more specific search engines) [...]

Friday August 30th, 2013 in article selling, article writing, articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, newsletter writing, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, travel writing, writing | 2 Comments »