self-publishing

What Are You Looking for in an Agent?

May 17, 2012 Writing Stuff
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*Shh*  Be very, very quiet.  We’re hunting agents.  (Sorry, with that picture, I couldn’t resist the Bugs Bunny reference. *smile*) Many—if not most—writers want to find an agent at some point in their writing career.  Even in this age of self-publishing, writers still want agents to help them with foreign rights, career advice, access to tricky [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, contracts, editing, genre, Jami Gold, paranormal author, self-publishing, social media, traditional publishing

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Are Ebooks Ever Done?

May 10, 2012 Random Musings
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In the world of traditional publishing, if errors make it through the editing process for a book, authors (and their readers) are stuck.  A lucky few authors are able to get egregious mistakes like wrong character names or missing paragraphs fixed in later print runs, but most of time, errors remain in the text forever. [...]

Tagged as: ebooks, Jami Gold, paranormal author, perfectionism, professionalism, self-publishing, traditional publishing

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Tips for Writing Back Cover Copy — Guest: Roz Morris

April 26, 2012 Writing Stuff
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I’m excited to share today’s guest post by author Roz Morris.  After ghostwriting many bestselling books, Roz recently self-published My Memories of a Future Life, her first novel under her own name. Roz’s decision to self-publish came about partly because this novel doesn’t fit into normal genre boxes.  However, even as a self-published author, she still [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, feedback, genre, guest blogs, Jami Gold, paranormal author, pitching, queries, Roz Morris, self-publishing, traditional publishing

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Who Cares about Quality Writing Anymore?

March 13, 2012 Writing Stuff
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No, that’s not a rhetorical or trick question.  Recent events in the publishing industry have left me asking that as a serious point of confusion and discouragement. I know this is an ongoing complaint about the state of literature.  Over a century ago, people complained about penny dreadfuls and dime novels, and then moved on to complaints [...]

Tagged as: branding, editing, genre, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, literary, paranormal author, perfectionism, professionalism, self-publishing, traditional publishing

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Do You Call Yourself a Writer or an Author?

January 24, 2012 Writing Stuff
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Recently, the Awesome-Dipped-in-Glitter (TM) Kristen Lamb pointed out that “aspiring is for pansies.”  We are not aspiring writers. Aspiring: to have a plan, desire, or hope for something. Writer: a person who writes. If we put those together, that means an aspiring writer is a person who plans, desires, or hopes to write, but doesn’t actually [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, authors, blogging, branding, Jami Gold, Kristen Lamb, paranormal author, professionalism, risk, self-doubt, self-publishing, website

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Are All Cheap Ebooks Crap?

December 20, 2011 Random Musings
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In my last post, I asked how much people would be willing to pay for ebooks.  Most comments agreed with my thoughts: Ebooks should be less expensive than paper books because of DRM, ownership, quality, and physicality issues.  What surprised me, however, was the number of people turned off by $0.99 ebooks. The comment section [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, authors, branding, ebooks, ereader, feedback, Jami Gold, Kindle, paranormal author, self-publishing, social media, story openings

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How Much Are You Willing to Pay for an Ebook?

December 15, 2011 Random Musings
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Readers come in all types.  Some buy hardcovers, others wait for paperback, some only borrow from libraries, and still others buy the super-deluxe collector’s edition of their favorites. I’ve always thought of myself as a paperback reader who would spring for the hardcover for “keeper” books, but the ebook revolution is making me take a [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, ebooks, Jami Gold, Kindle, paranormal author, professionalism, self-publishing, traditional publishing

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What Is the Internet Missing?

December 13, 2011 Writing Stuff
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That seems like an odd question, doesn’t it?  After all, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out Google knew what I had for lunch on Wednesday five weeks ago. In fact, computers and the internet have captured so much information that we sometimes don’t want to memorize facts, figuring we’ll Google it when we need it [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, contracts, editing, Jami Gold, organized, paranormal author, self-publishing, traditional publishing, Twitter

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Publishing Debates: Should We Take Sides?

October 27, 2011 Writing Stuff
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Some days it feels like the publishing business has endless debates and choices where people want us to take sides.  Plotter vs. pantser, plot-driven vs. character-driven, traditional publishing vs. self-publishing.  Ugh. I don’t like taking sides because one answer doesn’t apply to every situation, much less every person.  With my whatever-works-for-you attitude, I try to tweet [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, contracts, Jami Gold, paranormal author, plotter vs. pantser, self-publishing, traditional publishing, Twitter

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The Insanity Behind the Pressure to Have “Numbers”

October 20, 2011 Writing Stuff
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Confession:  I broke one of the unwritten rules of the Writer Code. I ranted.  In public.  On an agent’s blog. And yet I’m still here to tell to the tale.  In fact, the agent responded to my comment and then—in a show of fantastic grace—emailed me to make sure I didn’t take offense.  We ended [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, authors, blogging, Jami Gold, Jami is insane, Jami's rants, Kristen Lamb, paranormal author, risk, self-publishing, social media, traditional publishing, Twitter

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