Writing a blurb Have you ever written a blurb for a book? Here’s how. Grab the reader’s attention The idea is to be engaging to the reader. Hence blurbs are short promotional pieces. They used to just be on the backs of books, but now they can be the copy you read on an Amazon […]
The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More Best Lengths for social posts can seem elusive. What’s right? The fine folks at Buffer and, in particular, Kevan Lee, have done it again and have everything you always wanted to know about social post lengths but were afraid to ask. In my travels online, I […]
Why you can’t charge for fanfiction I enjoy fanfiction as much as, perhaps, the next person. But you still can never, ever charge for it. I implore you: don’t even try. But aren’t there exceptions? Yes, there are some. But first, let’s talk about why fan fiction is problematic. Issues with fanfiction For writers like […]
Longest Night Watch 2 The Longest Night Watch 2 is the second indie author anthology dedicated to fighting Alzheimer’s. All of the writers are independent authors. And we all hate Alzheimer’s. In the United States, 5.4 million Americans have the disease. That number will rise in the next few decades as the population continues to age. […]
Working with covers Covers! Let’s say you aren’t working with a cover artist. Or maybe you are doing the covers work, and you have purchased the work and been given full rights to it, to do with it as you please. Or maybe your work is not selling, and you are looking to make your […]
Creative Commons and Whether You Can Use Certain Images What is Creative Commons? Their story is best told by them: Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. But this is not copyright! Instead, the concept exists to work with copyright, in order to […]
SEO, design and content are the keys to any successful website. I can make content. Can I do right by the other two?
Employer Access to Employee Passwords Employee Passwords have become a new battleground. Because this issue has begun to crop up, and it will only continue to do so. So does your employer have a right to your social media passwords? So before you reflexively say no, the truth is, unless the is expressly forbids it, […]
The Cyber Legacy What’s your cyber legacy? Introductions So you find a new site. You look around. And you think – this looks like a place I might like. Therefore, you take the plunge and you register. And it doesn’t really matter if it’s Twitter, or Facebook or Able2know. If it’s big enough, it scrolls and […]
Demystifying Twitter What can Twitter do for you, the independent writer? What’s the big deal about 140 characters? Twitter is essentially a microblogging service. You broadcast your thoughts to the ether. Some of those thoughts, to be sure, are more interesting than others. Many of us know someone who tweets about everything in their lives. […]