You’ve probably read at least one novel that didn’t hang together. Maybe it had multiple storylines elbowing each other in the ribs while fighting for your attention. Maybe the story seemed to stop and start as the character indulged in apparently-random introspection on their way to nowhere. Maybe it felt like someone had jammed several…
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How to Plot a Story
So, what’s it about? Say you’re writing a book and that’s the first question everyone will probably ask you. You might be able to rattle that plot off the top of your head. But for most people there’s a bit of rambling. Plot can be hard to articulate, yet if you can turn this into…
How To Upload Your Book To KDP
Congratulations! You did it. You wrote and edited and proofed your book. You added appropriate front and back matter. Now, you’re ready to upload your book to KDP and press go to become a published author and a publisher. Here are a few things you need to know. First, make sure you are using your…
What is Genre Therapy?
Genre therapy: the art and science of finding the sweet intersection between what you were born to write, and what’s most likely to reach the widest possible audience. Genre therapy is a new way to think about creating your art. If you’re a commercial author, committed to making money from your writing without sacrificing the…
10 Blog Post Ideas That Will Grab MAJOR Attention
Attention is everything online. With enough attention, you can focus on other essentials of your blooming online business, such as authority, consistency and creating the pillar content that will give you plenty of free search engine optimized traffic. But first, you must start with attention. And it has to be the right type of attention,…
How to Write a Sex Scene
I’ve written more sex scenes than I can count. When we first started self-publishing, the erotica market was booming. That made it a low cost, low risk environment for us to test everything we knew about how to sell books online. Unlike the rest of fiction, erotica is more like nonfiction in that it’s keyword-based.…
34 Unexpected Places to Find Writing Inspiration (And Become a Better Writer)
Too many writers struggle. You probably do, too. Have you ever sat for hours, staring at your screen, hating yourself for procrastinating, but struggling to think of a single sentence to write? The blinking cursor mocking you from a blank screen might be the world’s worst place to search for writing inspiration. Your brain needs…
10 Grammar Rules You Can (and Should!) Ignore!
Some people are pedantic twits when it comes to the squishy rules of grammar. Truth is, grammar is a powerful tool that lends clear meaning to quality copy, but it’s also far more flexible than most people realize. And a lot of what people claim as hard, fast rules can be completely ignored. It is…
10 Quick Tips for Powerful Proofreading
Few writers would ever say proof-reading is fun. Although a good edit does little to invite party hats or balloons, it is essential to effective writing. Whether you are sitting down to write the great American novel or a landing page you hope will make all your dreams come true, a writer mustn’t only write, they must also…
What Defines You?
Readers crave meaning. And as it turns out, the most important things in stories aren’t made up at all. Fiction is truly people facing situations. Situations that, absent bells and whistles, any of us might face ourselves.
When disaster threatens, people do whatever they must to survive. There are always people who have less and wish for more … and might be willing to fight to get it.
People are people, who want the same things we want today: to be fed and sheltered, to be loved, to feel comfortable, to have security and power, and to have the freedom (and the wealth) to do as they wish. And stories let us explore every option and let us define who we truly are.