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Writing Starters

A new book from Touchwood Press, Writing Starters: Appetizers for Your Brain gives you 52 prompts to inspire your writing. Organized into four 13-Starter volumes, the Writing Starters series probes your Memories, Experiences, Opinions, and Self-Perceptions to help generate new ideas for your novel, memoir, biography, or poetry. Examples: Memories: Write a thank you letter to your favorite…

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Where do I start?

Where do I start?

‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll Start with the end in mind is the second habit of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Take time to imagine your finished book—in your hands, handing “thanks for your support” copies to relatives and friends, on the book shelf of someone you’ve just met, in your…

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Adding illustrations

Can I start by uploading a text-only version of an eBook—to KDP, most likely—and later update the book to include the illustrations? This would let me get the story “out there” more quickly. I should only need one more revision pass to get the text ready. Yes, you can do this, but do you really want to? One great thing about eBooks is you can upload and publish new versions anytime, with some…

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writing books is a growth market

writing books is a growth market

How can you tell when a market is growing? Obviously, you can tell by the acceleration rate in the growth of total sales. Identify all the competitors; calculate their combined sales; do it again at one or more different points in time; and there you have it! But another way is to look for the numbers of pundits, experts, and gurus talking about the market. And the rate of growth in their numbers.

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Introducing Col. Mitch Ross...

Introducing Col. Mitch Ross…

With the publication of Abella’s Diplomatby T.R. Kissel, we meet U.S. Air Force Colonel Mitch Ross and the beautiful, beguiling Abella in their first adventure together. Mitch is cooling his jets as U.S. military attaché in the American embassy in Algiers. He meets Abella when she nurses him back to heath after a vicious terrorist knife attack. The pot begins to heat up and eventually boils, and…

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Publishing OPB's (other people's books)

Publishing OPB’s (other people’s books)

I have been in and out of book publishing since the mid-1970s. Four years ago, I taught my first Publish-It-Yourself ™ workshop to help first-time authors, mostly, make their ideas tangible. By far the best part of this was hearing about and then helping to convert my students’ creative longings into print and digital books.

A memoir recounting the 40-year, loving marriage of a recent widower;…

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Jeff Evans: Everest 2018 These interviews say it all about Jeff Evans' latest Everest expedition. Get the rest of the story, about Jeff and his journey to adventure and service in Mountain Vision: Lessons Beyond the Summit.

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Written any good books lately?

Written any good books lately?

More and more people who haven’t trained for writing but have always thought they’d like to write a book are doing just that and publishing it themselves, getting help from experienced editors, artists, and publishers. Is this you? (more…)

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Feel Good Again About the Future of the Planet

Feel Good Again About the Future of the Planet

Join Jason, Alison, and young Sarah in the first volume of their thrilling science-fiction page-turner series as they use their evolved intelligence to create solutions for hunger and sickness. Their discoveries are a threat to corporate businesses that want to bring them down. Let the adventures begin!

LaCost: The Evolution of…

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The number one reason people buy a book is because they have a connection to the author.

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Jeff Evans today is climbing mountains of a different sort…. Read Jeff's thrilling memoir, MountainVision: Lessons Beyond the Summit

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We help independent authors and organizations publish books, providing editorial, production management, marketing, or advisory services to fit their goals. Take our course. Self-publish your novel. Expand your marketing asset base. Let your creativity flourish! Contact us.

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An Author Asks...

An Author Asks…

Can I start by uploading a text-only version of an e-book (KDP, most likely) and later update the e-book to include the illustrations? This would let me get the story “out there” more quickly since the cover is almost done and I should only need one more revision pass on the text, but I wonder if that would be a strange thing to do.

Yes. One great thing about e-books is you can upload and publish…

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Self-publishing reads

How much time is enough to stay current with publishing trends, subject matter experts, pundits, and events? An hour a day? An hour a week? If I had to pick, I’d follow these sites routinely:

Digital Book World

The Creative Penn

The Book Designer

The Independent Book Publishers Association

Jane Friedman

Media Shift

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Myths and Truths About Book Editing

Myths and Truths About Book Editing

Of all the parts of self-publishing that authors should get help with, editing will be your first priority. You don’t have to pay a professional editor, but you do need your book looked at by someone who can be dispassionate and knows their way around a style guide such as the Chicago Manual of Style or the AP Stylebook. This well-written article explores the common myths and the key truths…

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a life with books

a life with books

Is it the story, or the characters, or the setting, or the dialogue? What about a book stays with us, shapes us, inspires us to action, or growth, or happiness, or serenity?

My ninety-four-year-old friend is moving into a smaller, perhaps her ultimate home and is struggling with the prospect of releasing her most precious books. Over the phone recently, she told me, “Shirley (her 60-ish daughter)…

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The 5 Do’s and Don’ts of Digital Publishing | Joomag Blog Lists like this (at least the good ones) are really helpful for internalizing the key principles about some new technology or process or behavior.