on The Creative Penn:

I’m just back from the Independent Author Conference in Philadelphia.

Here are some of my thoughts from the trip in this solo show:

People don’t buy books, publishing wide is more than just retail, tips for being a better publisher, strategy is what you DON’T do, plus, learn what you need for your stage of the author journey.

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Hello to all the Story Empire readers. PH here today, getting ready for Thanksgiving! No, this isn’t a themed post. Instead, I’m here to help anyone out there who needs a start with Scrivener and just can’t figure out what to do with it.

I’ve seen several comments from other writers over the last few years which indicates they have Scrivener but just didn’t know where to begin. I understand the feeling. When I first started with Scrivener there was so much to learn and I needed to do other work that I didn’t have time to learn it. It wasn’t until I read several posts in which other authors described how they used Scrivener that I began to understand its power.

Why the confusion and reluctance in engaging with Scrivener?

It is fundamentally different from just using a text editor. It is a robust development software for an entire…

Hello, everyone! Today I thought I would mention some of the places in my Fantasy Angels Series, along with some of the supporting characters and other beings introduced in Son of the Serpent.

FLORAISON by Jeff Brown

Dracúl is the main character in Son of the Serpent and Lilith is the villain in the book. Interspersed chapters in Dracúl’s voice and chronicles in Lilith’s voice divide the book.

There are three realms of Heaven:

Heaven Most High– Where God resides.

Metá Heaven – Where God’s presence could be reached in His throne room. Only by His expressed permission could one cross the portal to this level of heaven. It is in the throne room God passed laws and judgments.

Floraison – The lowest realm of Heaven. A paradise where angels are born.

Different dimensions separate these realms and only God traveled between them as He pleased.

*Hell…

A friend has turned into a writer. Unbeknown to me, she’s been chipping away at a novel and her husband just sent this email.

Her novel is more or less finished!!! I may need to pick your brains about marketing! We also think we need to get it professionally proof-read. We tried doing it ourselves with Grammarly, but realise it’s way more complex than it seems …’

Ah bless. If you’re well seasoned in the author world, you’ll already be counting the many erroneous assumptions. Carts before horses. Running before walking.

But we all have to start somewhere. And even if you’re already wiser than my beginner friend here, you might know a writer who’s effervescing in a similar state of enthusiastic, ecstatic, multi-plinged euphoria. High on all those well-earned Es, they can’t possibly know what’s coming next.

So this post is a gentle reality check, a bit of tough love…

on The Book Designer:

One of the biggest lessons you can learn when you start to really look at marketing your books is about creating anticipation.

Think of the last big movie you were looking forward to.

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Try to paint emotion in thick when you have a dramatic scene.

Use more words than you think you need.

When Bonnie, the killer, is about to confront the random fisherman after the murder, YOU have the scene in your head. You’re seeing it in all its tension-filled glory.

But is the reader?

Did you put it on the page?

Then, dwell there.

on Just Publishing Advice:

Self-publishing is a great opportunity – if you have a head for business

Are you dreaming of becoming the next bestselling author?

For anyone who writes, it is natural to want your hard work to reap the rewards you believe it deserves.

Self-publishing today gives all authors the chance to publish for (almost) free and to have a book on sale on Amazon and many other online book retailers.

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on David Gaughran site:

There are successful self-publishers in every niche, but authors of children’s books face more challenges than most – both on the publishing and marketing side. 

When I heard that Karen Inglis was releasing How To Self-Publish and Market A Children’s Book I invited her along to talk about the particular problems that self-publishers of children’s books face, as well as strategies for overcoming them. 

Here’s Karen with more:

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