ISBNs For eBooks Many authors choose not to buy ISBNs for ebooks, although under certain circumstances— especially with distributors—you still need them. Depending on which distributor you use, you might have to pay a small amount for that unique identifying number. I know that Smashwords and Draft2Digital offer them free. Bookbaby and eBookpartnership and a few others charge a small amount—Bookbaby charges $19, […]
How Important Is Character Development? Since books have been written, and especially since “bestsellers” have been on the minds of publishers, almost everyone has tried figuring out what makes a good book. Some people swear it’s plot—that a well-developed mystery with a few good twists will keep readers turning pages. Others swear that character development […]
It’s Easy to Proofread On An iPad If you’ve ever wondered how to edit books on an iPad, you should read this post. If you use Scrivener, this will definitely make your life easier. (This might also work with some of the other ebook reading software. I don’t own a Kindle or Nook, so I […]
Even If It’s Fiction—Should Writers Lie? I read a review on one of my books the other day, and the person found it unbelievable that 6-year-old kids were drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and using foul language. Mind you, these scenes took place 30+ years ago, and in an ethnic neighborhood in the city. But this wasn’t the […]
How Does Author Visibility Affect Book Sales? Before we get into visibility, let’s talk about invisibility and how great it is. Animals have been using invisibility in one form or another for a long time: moths, butterflies, snakes, caterpillars, chameleons, octopuses, lots of fish, and many others. (For a picture of an unbelievable stick caterpillar, check out […]
Murder Takes Patience—Launch of New Mystery Book Before I get started today, I want to apologize to all of the readers who might have pre-ordered from Nook, Apple or Kobo. I made a huge mistake and uploaded the wrong file. The result is that the book you received—if it was delivered before 9/3—has mistakes in it. […]
Building a Library Presence With Smashwords and Overdrive There has been a lot of talk about Smashwords’ deal with Overdrive. Some people claim that indie authors have been relegated to an “indie ghetto” and that librarians won’t even be able to find an indie author’s books if they wanted to. Let’s examine that for a […]
Launch of A Bullet From Dominic I’m thrilled to announce the long-awaited launch of my new mystery book— A Bullet From Dominic, the sequel to A Bullet For Carlos, in the Blood Flows South series. A Bullet From Dominic features Detective Connie Gianelli and Tip Denton, with a special appearance by Hector “Ribs” Delgado, who you will recognize from Necessary […]
CreateSpace VS Ingram Spark Print Book Distribution I’ve seen a lot of comparisons between CreateSpace (CS) and Ingram (either Lightning Source or Spark). In almost every instance I walk away thinking that it wasn’t a fair comparison. And almost every discussion I’ve seen tends to be the same. The one common ground is that many […]
Building From Scratch to Develop Characters I was talking to an author last week about the writing process and she told me about a great character she had developed. I asked what role the character played in her book. She said, “I’m not using him in this book. I’m saving him for the next one. […]
