Summer is here: Let’s pick out a book

Summer is here: Let’s pick out a book

Summer is here: Let’s pick out a book

It’s the first day of summer and you know what that means. DISCLAIMER: READING! It’s the summer reading season. So wanna know my opinion on some things? Well, you are about to get it, so if you don’t want to hear my tirade about books and reading, then please be forewarned. I get emails from Amazon pretty regularly, and oftentimes they tout a book I have recently browsed for or read. They target market me that way. You too? What? You didn’t know you were being marketed to? Well, think about it. How did they know what books to suggest?

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Madness : The Whiteboard, Part Twelve

Madness : The Whiteboard, Part Twelve

The Whiteboard part eleven can be found HERE Welcome friends and fans! I am about to dump part twelve down here, but first, I found several typos in part eleven. I fixed them (what I saw) and wondered why you guys didn’t blast me about them. Don’t ever fear telling me I made mistakes. I sometimes write this blog very early in the morning and yes, my brain is not awake yet. So, let me know when you find issues. Okay, so here ya go…and yes, there is an END to this — MADNESS! The Whiteboard, part 12 © by

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In the Shadows cover design and blurb creation

In the Shadows cover design and blurb creation

What goes on in this story that makes someone want to read it – and other “shadows” that authors think about as they design cover art and write blurbs. Ever experience a time in your writing life when you stare at the screen absently and mutter to yourself, “What now?”  And this is not some mental block that keeps you from writing. Oh no. It’s more like the inescapable time when you have to consider what will work for your cover art, and what won’t, and you are stricken with a lack of ideas for blurbs. My hubby, who is a

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Cheap things to help sell your book

Cheap things to help sell your book

Cheap things to help sell your book or better known as cheap actions to take to get your book noticed. Yeah, so everyone is an author these days because everyone can self publish their work so easily with what Amazon offers. What used to be a constant stream of conversation in writing circles “how to get my work published” has now turned over to a “how to sell more books”. And with good reason, too. There are a lot of books out there, folks. According to Quora from a year ago, this is the breakdown : Amazon currently lists 32.8

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Looking for a good book cover

Looking for a good book cover

The weekend flew by for me– did it do that for you, too? Wow. I am finding that the more I work toward a book release the faster the days go by. I spent all of yesterday putting together a mockup of a cover for the caper mystery. It looked pretty darn sweet, but in the end, I didn’t keep it. Why not? It wasn’t perfect. I know that sounds a little huh-worthy, but let me explain. If you listen to any of the big podcasts, The Creative Penn, The Sell More Books Show etc. you will hear it said

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