An Inside Look at Indies Unlimited

Author K.S. Brooks
IU Admin & Award-Winning Author K.S. Brooks

As a newbie here at IU, I’ve developed a list of questions over the past few weeks. I had a virtual sit-down with the woman in charge to quench my curiosity about dealings with authors, feedback about their books, and how it feels to be constantly paying it forward. The answers surprised and disappointed me a little. I convinced Ms. Brooks to publish my findings as an interview, because I thought others might have the same questions, and might have drawn the same assumptions I had.

Kyle: IU gets hundreds of emails from authors. I know I only coordinate a small number of them, so that means you are doing the rest, which must take up a monumental amount of time. Why do you do this when you could be spending your time writing? Continue reading “An Inside Look at Indies Unlimited”

Seven Ideas for Better Author Interviews

interviewI’ll blog, speak, or be interviewed by almost anyone almost anywhere. Most articles that I’ve written or interviews I’ve participated in have led to other opportunities. It’s an honor to have someone donate part of their valuable online real estate to me or my books. I don’t look at their Alexa ranking or check out how many followers or friends they have I just try to do it. And, I always try to be engaging. Sometimes I suppose it works and sometimes it does not.

Now, I’m about to say something very controversial. Get ready – Most interviews that I’ve read recently where a self-published author is asked questions are boring – incredibly boring. Although the person being interviewed may be a wonderful writer that talent does not always shine through in the answers they’re giving. Sometimes, as a reader, it’s quite difficult to get past the first couple of questions. This is unacceptable because, as most of you know, the questions are sent to the author in advance. So, unless you’re under an incredibly tight time frame you usually have time to ponder your answers and display your creativity and writing prowess by giving the reader something entertaining to read. Admittedly, I haven’t always been able to accomplish this but I do try.

I’ve put together some guidelines that may help you when trying to engage your readers. Remember, the people who are reading your guest blog or answers to questions or listening to you speak at an event are going to be able to help you in several different ways. They could purchase your book. Or, they could talk about your book to someone else. Or, and this is the biggie, they could offer to promote you through other means. Please accept these suggestions from someone who has made most of these mistakes. Continue reading “Seven Ideas for Better Author Interviews”

Meet Karen Schechner from Kirkus Reviews

SchechnerKirkusPhotoIf you’ve been kicking at this indie thing for a while, you might be familiar with Kirkus Indie, an arm of Kirkus Reviews that offers a paid review service for indie authors. The prices can be steep, which has been a point of contention in the indie community. I had the opportunity to meet Karen Schechner, senior indie editor at Kirkus Reviews, at a self-publishing conference in New York. After an interesting and rather aerobic discussion with Karen and another author in an elevator after lunch break, I invited her to come by IU and give her side of the issue.

Continue reading “Meet Karen Schechner from Kirkus Reviews”

Meet the Author: Dianne Greenlay

Born and raised on the Canadian prairies, Dianne Greenlay is the author of QUINTSPINNER – A PIRATE’S QUEST and DEADLY MISFORTUNE, Books One and Two in a fast-paced adventure series, set in the 1700’s, in the pirate-infested waters of the West Indies. While DEADLY MISFORTUNE is a brand new release, QUINTSPINNER has gone on to win multiple awards in Best YA (Writer’s Digest), Best Commercial Novel (Eric Hoffer), Best Historical (ReaderViewes) and Book of the Year ( Foreword Reviews) categories, and it has gathered nearly a half million reads on Wattpad in less than 6 months. Straying into the genre of humor/comedy, Dianne is also the author of THE CAMPING GUY, which is available as both a one act comedy (live theater script) and a short story. Continue reading “Meet the Author: Dianne Greenlay”