I made a discovery this weekend. Those kind you’d call “light bulb” or “aha” moments. I noticed I was experiencing that old “my life is nothing but work” attitude. I asked my why and discovered it was because I had allowed other commitments keep me from working on my own story. So on Saturday, I…
Late last year I completed the draft of a novel—the first novel I’ve managed to finish! Fiction is my passion, but it seems at this point in my writing career I write mostly nonfiction. Not sure why that is. I’ve started as many novels as I have published nonfiction books. Those novels sit partially written,…
The holidays are upon us. Before we know it, 2020 will make its entrance. Every time I say 2020, it makes me think of the song “In the year 2525.” Yeah, I know, you’re probably clueless. Those older than 50 might remember it. It was a #1 hit in 1969. I was the ripe old age…
Formatting an eBook isn’t hard. What you have to remember is the conversion process involved. An eBook is read on a device such as a Kindle Fire, a Nook, an iPad, and more. Many of the devices have proprietary coding—Kindle is one, and it comes with a .mobi extension to the file. Here is an…
Last week in part 1 of “How to Format a Book” I covered trim size, margins, and fonts and their sizes. This week, we’ll look at page headings, chapter beginning elements, and page count. Whether you’re doing the layout or you’ve hired a designer, the elements discussed last week are essentials you must determine before…
How to format a book seems to give indie writers more difficulty than writing the book itself. In my world as an editor and book designer, the word format means several things. When a writer contacts me asking for book formatting, I always have to clarify exactly what they want. I covered formatting the text…
What are pantsers? Writers who write by the seat of their pants—no outline. They just sit down and start to write. Or so, that’s what I’ve been told. Surely they have some kind of story idea, but maybe not. Pantsers, if you’re reading this post, I’d like to pick your brain. Ten years ago I…
Here is part 2 of Savannah Cordova’s guest post on content calendars. Be sure to read last week’s post, “What Is a Content Calendar? A Beginner’s Guide” if you missed it. Savannah is a writer and content marketer with Reedsy, a platform that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers….