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What’s Your Long-Term Plan?

Plant growing in cement with text: How Can We Avoid a Dead-End Career?

Back when we first started writing, we might have been writing for ourselves, but for many of us, we expanded our goals somewhere along the line to focus on what others think of our work or how we might sell our work. Are we ready with a plan that will support that next step and the steps after that?

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October 20, 2015

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Formatting for eBooks: Tips and Pitfalls — Guest: Angela Quarles

Graffiti scribbles on a wall with text: How Can We Avoid a Formatting Mess?

We’ve probably all heard stories about ebook formatting problems, but we can be at a loss for how to tell a good formatter from a bad one. What issues should we watch out for? What questions should we ask? Even if we traditionally publish, we might want to judge whether our publisher knows what they’re doing for ebook publishing.

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October 15, 2015

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6 Tips for Finding a Cover Artist

Paint tubes squeezed onto a palette with text: 6 Steps to Finding a Cover Artist

Back when I started thinking of self-publishing, one of the first things I researched was cover artists. In my usual over-thinking/over-analyzing way, I uber-researched the cover artist landscape to track down cover artists and design trends. And I figured some of what I learned might be helpful to others.

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October 6, 2015

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The Risks of Offering a Freebie

Sale tag with text: Should We Offer a Freebie?

A common suggestion for how to attract readers is “offer a freebie.” However, there are risks to that strategy that we should be aware of before we can make an informed decision.

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September 29, 2015

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Criticism & Reviews: How Do You Handle Feedback?

Statue of woman in pain with text: Can You Read Your Reviews?

For many writers, the point of writing is to connect with others through our words. Because of that desire, it’s hard to ignore feedback, and during editing, we don’t want to ignore suggestions. But what about after we publish? Should we read reviews of our published work?

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September 24, 2015

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Are You Able to Ask for Help?

Child helping a fallen child up with text: Can You Admit When You Need Help?

We often have too much to do and not enough time, so it’s normal to need help sometimes. Yet many of us struggle with asking for help. We might find it difficult to trust someone else, might not want to be a burden, or might feel like a failure for not being able to do it all. But we all will need help occasionally–like with guest posts. *smile*

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September 22, 2015

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Editing Mistakes: How Forgiving of a Reader Are You?

Wadded-up paper spilling from wastebasket with text: Do You Forgive Writing Mistakes

An interesting conversation grew out of Misti Wolanski’s guest post earlier this week. She mentioned that sometimes readers enjoy finding typos. Let’s take a closer look at what that means for readers and for us as authors? Should we leave typos in our work? What say you…

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September 10, 2015

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When Is a Good Editor Not Good for Your Story? — Guest: Misti Wolanski

Modern building beside old brick building with text: Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

Many writers write both fiction and non-fiction (even if the latter is just blog posts), but the two types of writing require different skills—from authors and from editors. The better we understand the differences, the better we can follow the right rules at the right time and the better we can judge whether an editor is skilled in the right areas to be a good editor for us.

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September 8, 2015

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What’s Your Author Self-Esteem?

Man staring at the ground with text: How to Improve Your Author Self-Esteem

I think it’s safe to say that we often doubt ourselves as authors. If we’re not careful, that self-doubt can affect our business decisions. Sometimes we even reject ourselves to prevent rejection from others.

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August 20, 2015

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Self-Publishing? Which Path Is Best for You?

Stick figure at a chalkboard with text: Fiction University Day! Know Your Goals

Even though I don’t want my blog to turn into “all self-publishing tips all the time,” I also want to share my indie publishing insights and advice. My friend Janice Hardy came up with the perfect solution: joining the Indie Author Series at Fiction University, where I’m writing a series digging into some of our options for indie publishing.

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August 6, 2015

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