Indie Author Group

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Indie Author Group

Category: News and views

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?profit / Advice / help and tutorials / Industry / News and views / op-eds / self publishing

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A Tale of Self-Publishing – How authors slayed the dragon

Once upon a time, there was only traditional publishing and in traditional publishing there were gatekeepers. A gatekeeper’s job was to filter out the unedited, poorly written dreck that opened not with action, but backstory or prologues. Then their function changed from being mere gatekeepers to arbiters/purchasing agents and so the reading public was forced to read endless variations of Twilight with its moody, angst driven hero and wistful, victim heroine to 50 Shades of...

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Advice / Community / Featured / help and tutorials / Industry / News and views / self publishing / Self Publishing Step by Step

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StoryBundle – Writestuff 2016

We don’t often feature these products on the group blog, but this is one designed for indie authors, and it doesn’t have affiliate links AND you can donate 10% to charity, so we thought we’d see how it went. Storybundle and HumbleBundle feature products in ‘bundles’ at a significant amount of money off, and if you’re looking to study or intake information, this bundle is a great one for at least one or two perspectives...

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Industry / News and views

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Pronoun merges with MacMillan

Pronoun announced today that they were merging with MacMillan, in a move that is probably going to be quite surprising to many. There have been a lot of changes recently in the indie author community, so what is clear is that people are trying to forge the best of their platforms for various needs – it’s just a question of finding the ones that work best for you. Here’s what they said: That’s why we’re...

How to write a best-selling novel 1

Advice / help and tutorials / News and views / self publishing / Self Publishing Step by Step

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How to write a best-selling novel

First, read. Read a lot. (Stephen King, paraphrased – “if you don’t have time to read, you can’t write.”) Reading will teach you how to write, how to write well, and how to write compelling characters. Corollary – read the genre you’re writing in, that will teach you the ins and outs of that genre, and it may inspire a story. Second, are you a pantser or a plotter? If you’ve tried to write several books but...

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Advice / help and tutorials / News and views / Quick Guides / self publishing / Two Midlist Indies / writing / Writing tips and tricks

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Writing series/sequels

First, readers love series/sequels. However, the next book in any series should always be a standalone book, that is unless you really want to annoy your readers. And you should only write it because you have more to say, because you like the world in which you wrote it, or because you love the characters so much that you want to spend more time with them. Because if you did, your readers probably will, too. If...

To a writer, words should be sacred 0

Advice / help and tutorials / op-eds

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To a writer, words should be sacred

“If you don’t have the time to read you don’t have the time (or tools) to write, it’s as simple as that” – Stephen King “You can’t write well what you don’t read for pleasure. If it doesn’t entertain you, it’s not going to entertain anyone else” – Nora Roberts I was reading a blog the other day and I was appalled at the errors. The writer didn’t seem to know the difference between ‘steal’...

Don’t make me pull out my teeny tiny violin… 0

Advice / op-eds / self publishing / writing

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Don’t make me pull out my teeny tiny violin…

Lately, there have been a lot of writers crying the blues about their books – “I’m promoting like mad, but no one is downloading my book,” or  “I can’t get any reviews,” or “Someone gave me a bad one-star review.” Oh, gee, I say as I search for it on the interwebz, I’m so sorry. My books are selling, but 1. I promote judiciously and 2. I follow the standard maxim – Nothing sells Book One like...

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Advice / Featured / help and tutorials / News and views / social media

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***NEW*** Join us for some cool classes!

This year, the Indie Author Group is launching some classes to support writers.  We’re doing two trial ones in February, which you can read about below, and then if all goes well, we’ll run other classes as needed.  We’re charging under $10 for each class to ensure that people actually take part in the classes, and there will be resources and lessons, chats and a forum.  Everything runs on Moodle. The nitty gritty of the...

Author Marketing Live! – Part Two 3

Advice / Featured / help and tutorials / News and views / op-eds / Promotion / self publishing / Self Publishing Step by Step / social media / Uncategorized / Writing tips and tricks

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Author Marketing Live! – Part Two

Yes, it really did need two posts! There was a LOT of information! I was getting overwhelmed, so if I misrepresent things, forgive me! Hunter Boyle spoke about using e-mail to keep in contact with your fans and to build your fan base. He also advocated setting higher expectations, creating e-mail connections with the offer of a freebie. Create a compelling call to action – i.e. Sign up now to receive a free excerpt or...