A banner flutters over the entrance to a large courtyard. It has been lovingly made by hand. The slightly askew letters read “Happy Retirement!” Picnic tables have been scattered with snacks of all sorts. The variety is staggering, ranging from huge vats of beans and rice and mashed potatoes to bubbling steam trays of stew,…
Hey folks! It’s April Fools’ Day! Time for my annual “Non-Canon Mess-around.” But before we get to that, I’d just like to let folks know that The Coin of Kenvard (Book of Deacon 6) has just been delivered to Patrons, and can be pre-ordered now! Enjoy the story!
Now that you’ve got your finished and (reasonably) error-free manuscript, it’s time to get it ready for release. That means formatting. Realistically, you can feed modern ebook distributors a pretty janky file and still get something you can sell. Don’t. This is where the rubber meets the road for your book. You don’t want your…
Step 10: The Cover Because people—for reasons that still elude me—consider me to be something of an authority in the world of indie authordom, I am frequently asked what the best bang for your buck in the book world is. Technically, the answer is “writing another book.” But if you’re looking to invest some money…
We’re in the home stretch now! Your editor has just sent back the polished manuscript. It would be nice to say “you’re done” and move on to the next step. Unfortunately, unless you’re a far better author than I am or you have a rigidly authoritarian editor, chances are you’ve got some stuff to look…
Ah, the editor. When I talk about going to the editor, I’m specifically talking about copyediting or line editing. Many editors handle what’s called “Substantive” or “Developmental” editing. These are the folks who help you develop and improve a story. Basically they do what the beta readers did in the prior chapters, and maybe even…
So now you’ve completed a book, and people have read it. If you are phenomenally lucky, even your harshest critics will think you’ve done a wonderful job and you’ll be good to go. If you are normal, people will have observations/problems which may need to be addressed. And that means you’ll need to do a…
While some people are better at editing than others, people who can get a flawless edit without any help are about as common as unicorns. It’s been said many times, but when you read something you’ve written, especially shortly after writing it, you’re more likely to read what you meant to write than what’s actually…
It’s been a while since my last post, but that’s because several short stories and at least one whole book have wedged themselves into my calendar, and as a result, the specific book I was basing this series on was shuffled around more than I typically allow. That said, it’s time to get back to…
