Issue #34 – February 2024

If you’re like me, by February, the newness of the year has worn off and with it a smidge of your enthusiasm. It’s not that I’m not still excited about the goals I set back in December or the action items I devised in order to achieve them. It’s simply that we’ve now entered what […]

Writing a book’s blurb is one of the first steps in book marketing and one authors love to lament. You have to boil your entire book down into a few punchy lines that will entice the reader without giving away the story and somehow leave them with a desperate need to know more.  The amazing […]

Melissa Addey, ALLi Campaigns Manager What is “writing to market”? The phrase is tossed around a lot in author circles, and especially in independent publishing. The concept involves creating content specifically tailored to what’s currently in demand for readers, maximizing the chances of commercial success by writing what readers are actively seeking. You research popular […]

Cybersecurity Tips to Avoid Scams Targeting Your Author Business Scams became much more prevalent with the widespread use of the internet, and as perpetrators grow more sophisticated and continue to update their tactics, it’s no longer just the technologically un-savvy who are falling victim. Cybersecurity professionals categorize many of these scams with the term “phishing,” […]

https://podcast.scrivenerapp.com/Guided by journalist Kirk McElhearn, Write Now with Scrivener is a podcast dedicated to interviewing writers of every flavor about their processes and techniques, and exploring how they use Scrivener to aid those processes. The first half of each show is dedicated to the writer’s approach and process. The second half shows how Scrivener is […]

Raise your hand if you’re one of those authors who has acted out a scene when they’re writing it to make sure it would work. Keep it raised if you’ve ever mimed a facial expression at your computer screen to help yourself describe it, typed a questionable search into Google while researching for your work-in-progress, […]

Many years ago, I developed a desire to read more classics, so I thought about trying Jane Austen’s works. I had never read her books, but I’d seen a movie or two and enjoyed the stories. The only book available from the library without a month’s waitlist was Persuasion. After I read the book, I […]

Content creation for social media can be fun and engaging, but it can also be time consuming and tedious. Batching content creation—focusing on one step in the creation process for several projects at once rather than finishing one project before moving to the next—reduces task switching and saves you time and brain power as you […]

As the Writing Wives, Malorie and Jill Cooper Make Marketing Success Accessible to Indie Authors When asked about the advice they would offer indie authors heading into a new year, Malorie and Jill Cooper start their answers at the same time. “You go first, Mal,” Jill tells her wife with a laugh. “I figure we’re […]

For Three Authors and Their Partners, a Writing Career Offers a Chance to Show They Care In the solitary world of indie authorship, where the journey of crafting words into stories is often a lone endeavor, the role of a supportive partner becomes immeasurably valuable. Beyond the quiet hours spent typing away at keyboards and […]

K-lytics Helps Authors Understand the Industry with Data-Driven Insights The average indie author has probably heard about K-lytics founder Alex Newton’s monthly Amazon Kindle data deep dive. In each report, he curates aggregate data, both historical and current, and provides analytical insights into the state of things on Amazon’s Kindle store.  For those with an […]

Do Authors’ Ideal Pricing Strategies Vary by the Genre They Write? Most pricing strategists tell indie authors to write in a genre that sells well and price competitively. But for new authors and those switching genres, choosing how to price your book may not feel that simple. Factors like publishing goals, format, email list size, […]

Tax season is rapidly approaching for those of us in the US, and whether you’re full-time or just starting to see sales, if you made money from your books last year, it has the potential to be complicated. Although we’re not qualified to give direct financial advice regarding paying taxes as an indie author, IAM […]

My biggest obstacle in my career is profitability. I have a full series of eight books, with great read-through. I do everything I’m supposed to do to advertise them: Facebook Ads, freebies, group promos, daily posts on social media. But I’m still not earning much. How do I make money in this business? Seeking More […]

Is the grind getting you down? The hustle of being an author? It’s understandable. In our business, there’s always so much to do. When you feel yourself sinking in too deeply, reach for the convenient vine hanging over the quicksand. What vine? It’s the one you put there yourself. It’s what got you excited about […]

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