When the Reading Audience is Captive

Smashwords givebackSW
Sale has been extended to May 31

There isn’t a corner of the world the Coronavirus hasn’t hit (well, maybe Antarctica) and now millions of people are stuck at home with nothing to do. Some are diehard readers, and others choose to binge watch stuff on Netflix or another online platform. For many people the social isolation is too much to bear. They can’t figure out how to productively pass the time. And then there are those of us who spend much of our year in social isolation, and this is just business as usual.

Smashwords has set out to ease the pain of isolation. They’re holding a sitewide Author Give Back program that lasts from March 20 to May 31. Authors can enroll some, or all, of their books, and those can either be listed as free, or you can set a discounted price. I’ve been a part of Smashwords for many years, and each time they have an event like Christmas in July or another promotion, I’ve always enrolled my books and short stories. Readers can find the sale books here. This is a good, free way to get your books promoted. But do you make money off giving away books? Yes, you do! Continue reading “When the Reading Audience is Captive”

When Your PR Guy Clucks

weirdo the rooster sells booksMost writers think gimmicks are stupid. Well, I’m here to dispel that rumor. Gimmicks, if used effectively and “discreetly,” can benefit book sales greatly. Sometimes it’s not WHAT your gimmick is, but WHO your gimmick is. Yes, who. And my who has two legs, feathers, and at times, an attitude.

Meet my PR guy: Continue reading “When Your PR Guy Clucks”

The Non-Linear Novel-Writing Approach

an author's busy brain courtesy of pixabay.comWriting is hard enough, and even harder when you’re really busy. How many times have you been doing something and a great scene pops into your head? It may have to deal with your current WIP (or sometimes even a sequel you haven’t thought about writing), or it may be a scene far toward the end of the book. Writers joke about the worst places inspiration can hit: the car, the shower, in a restaurant, out shopping, or the most common: in bed. If you’re like me, your characters are with you all the time — and sometimes it’s annoying. They sneak into your thoughts and create scenes that are amazing when you least expect it. Yeah, thanks, guys!

These fleeting scenes are the gold in your writing. They are raw, wild, and spontaneous. So what do you do about them? Continue reading “The Non-Linear Novel-Writing Approach”

When Author Events Don’t Work out as Planned

k. rowe booth at comic conOkay, this isn’t supposed to be a downer of a post. But, it’s something writers might have to face. It happened to me March 21-24 this year. Some of you may remember that every year for the last three years I’ve had a booth at our local comic con. This year was no exception. I share a booth with my artist friend and we have a lot of fun.

Last year was a dream come true. Our sales were huge! We each made more than enough to cover our portion of the booth fee for the next year (something of a benchmark we’ve come up with). And this year we were expecting the same. Except, that’s not what happened. Continue reading “When Author Events Don’t Work out as Planned”