How do you feel about supporting other authors? There are a lot of us fiction writers around, and we all have stories to tell. Will all of us be successful? In part, that depends on our definition of success. If that definition relies solely on book sales, developing a huge fan base, and making enough money to live the "good life," we might not succeed. 

Amanda Blackwood at her recent book signing at Barnes & Noble, Westminster, CO When I first started this journey I had no idea where it would take me. I knew I had to tell my story of surviving human trafficking but I had no idea how it would turn out. I started telling pieces of my story many years ago on a blog of my own. Eventually some of the more involved, lengthy stories were taken down from the blog and turned into small books. That was the start of everything for me. I’d always wanted to write a book but never saw it as being a possibility. The very idea of writing an entire book seemed so daunting and overwhelming. When I took down a couple of continuation blogs and put them into a single document, I discovered that not only had I already accomplished one of my bucket list items, but that I had something I was proud of. At first I did try to seek out traditional publishing. I had an acquaintance with connections in the publishing industry and I almost got a foot in ...

The title for this post that first came to mind when I decided on a topic was "Writer Beware." Then after thinking about it for a bit, I realized that awareness of simple mistakes we all make at one time or another was more apt.  Ever since a writer friend posted a comment on Twitter that maybe characters in our stories don’t need to nod all the time I’ve become super-sensitive to that movement. In a book I’m currently reading there’s a lot of nodding going on, and I have to wonder if I would’ve noticed that before the Twitter posting. In reply to his tweet I commented that when we have a character nod, we don't have to say “nodded his or her head,” pointing out that there really isn’t another part of the body that one would nod. Of course, if we write sci-fi and have an alien species without a head, that character might nod an elbow or a knee, but for those of us who people our books with humans, we do know what part of the body is used for nodding. Many of the other ...

  Elle Carter Neal interviewed by Angela Sedran of Heads Over Heels, talking about how business coaches, public speakers, or small business owners can learn to write and publish a book on their topics of expertise - even if they don't consider themselves "writers". Elle shares tips for pulling together content quickly and (relatively) painlessly, and discusses the three main considerations to take into account when deciding between traditional- and self-publishing. Learn more at Fully Booked Author , and subscribe to the FBA Vault for access to a new free guidebook, checklist, or video tip each week.

I’ve kind of been in the mud the last few months, maybe longer, but reading the latest posts by my brilliant blog-mates told me that I wasn’t alone. It’s been a difficult time for so many. Wars, gun violence, the murder of children, homelessness, and political discord have filled the news and social media. We’d have to have a hard heart not to let it bother us. Most of us would say we are lucky to be in the situations we’re in and be grateful for that, but we grieve for those who aren’t.  For me, the respite has been visiting my grandkids, who are free from all the angst of the world’s problems, as children usually are. It’s a change of pace watching Booba on TV instead of news, though we’re careful not to let our anxieties rub off on the children. Kids growing up in today’s environment of conflict and hate-mongering must absorb some of it no matter how careful the adults try to keep their young minds on youthful projects. I grew up in a different time. Simpler, with a more unit...

Here on the Blood-Red Pencil blog we've looked at marketing from a lot of different angles. There are professionals whom we can hire to help us promote our books, and that's probably the easiest way if we have the budget for that. Or, if we're published with a major publishing house, and they simply adore our books, they'll often have a marketing plan for it. For the rest of us who are published by smaller houses, or totally self-published, the challenges are greater, and we have to find creative ways to market without becoming a pain in someone's inbox. We also have to balance writing time with marketing time. Something that's not always easy to do. This is where AI can be a game-changer for authors  who don't want to spend all their precious writing time doing marketing and promotion. Having been in this publishing game for more years than I'd like to publicly admit, I've seen trends in promoting wax and wane. When my first books were published by ...

We've touched on huge worldwide changes, especially over the last two years. We've bemoaned the discouragement we've felt as writers. Instead of rolling with the horrific punches that have been thrown our way, we sometimes roll up in a ball and let those changes kick us to the curb and maybe down into the storm sewer. Giving up the ghost, as the saying goes, seems easier than rising up to fight the obstacles we never expected to face in our lifetime. Forgive the clichés. They were used intentionally to make a point. They're called clichés because they're old, tired, trite, overused, etc. Sometimes, we feel like that — at least I do. I've lived during WW2, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam Conflict, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and these few don't even begin to paint the real picture. Google lists 285 armed conflicts since I was a 7-year-old. That's a lot in just 76 years. Even though I may be the oldest one here, it's fair to assume we all have been ...

One of my favorite things about editing and publishing the LOW DOWN DIRTY VOTE series is the astonishing range of voices the stories present. During submission season, I honestly feel like I’m the richest person in the world because of all the wonderful stories that I get to read before anyone else! That said, every story is edited. Volume 3, whose theme was “The Color of My Vote” attracted a few first-time writers, which presented an interesting challenge: to edit the stories without killing what was unique about the stories—without quashing their voice. No crime seems as bad to me as killing a writer’s voice. Low Down Dirty Vote For example, one story came in full of extremely long paragraphs and used a lot of flowery language, uncommon in crime fiction. But the author writes in a tradition different from my own. His voice is deeply woven into the traditions of a different country and life experience from my own. And his unedited story had moved me deeply, sparked my imagination. So ...

I have been a Kindle Vella author for over four months now and am still loving it! One of the best things is the intensely supportive Kindle Vella author community on Facebook and other social media venues. When Benjamin X. Wretland, a fellow member of Colorado Writers and Publishers, announced he was putting together a blog hop, I couldn't resist joining in.  Here's your opportunity to meet a few other members of this new Amazon platform and read the first three chapters of their books for free on your smartphone! Genre: Action & Adventure / Teen & Young Adult  Click to Read Alexandros Iraklidis, a timid farm boy on the Greek island of Anafi, yearns for adventure and a new life away from his family farm and the routine in which he feels trapped. At the prompting of his friend and the gift of a stranger, the boy flees to discover a new life in Crete. When a storm at sea robs him of the chance, Alexandros finds himself stranded on a neighboring island with no way to re...

  Episode 02 - Scorpion-Readers and the Writers Being Stung Transcript and links: A scorpion asked a busy beaver for a ride across the river. The beaver complied, and that time it was fine. Other scorpions heard about the deal and arrived for a lift across the river. The beaver began spending more time giving lifts to scorpions than he did building his dam… so he asked the scorpions to each carry a small twig to help with the dam building. And for a while that was fine. One day one scorpion took offense at the request and halfway across the river he dropped his twig and stung the beaver. “Why did you do that?” cried the beaver with his last few breaths. “You’ve killed me for no reason. The other scorpions now have no one to help them across the river. And what about you? You’re going to drown.” “Don’t care,” said the scorpion. “I’ll just float here until another beaver comes along.” [Music] Author, how shall I harm thee? Let me count the ways. Piracy, copyright theft, and p...

My idea of an ideal Mother's Day is settling into my "reading chair" with a cuppa coffee, something to nibble (chocolate?), and a BIG stack of books that I've yet to read! For those who might feel likewise, or have young'uns to read to, we offer up some lists of books that have a Mother's Day theme. From Pixabay Let's start with books for the grownups... The Cozy Mystery List has a Mother’s Day Mystery Book List https://cozy-mystery.com/mothers-day-mystery-book-list.html Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare chimes in with Mother's Day Crime Fiction and Mysteries   The Washington Post provides For Mother’s Day: 11 books for moms who — more than ever — need an escape From Good Housekeeping we get 26 Gripping Books for Moms Who Love to Read Goodreads always comes through. There's 305 books (a mix of toddler to adult) on this Mother's Day Books list Goodreads also has a shelf of Mothers in Literature   And how about a list of books featured on the...

Let me crow about my successes with Kindle Vella so far this year! First, Amazon just gave me a bonus that was FOUR TIMES more than the previous month. Wow. To say I was delighted is an understatement.  Second, I now have one completed middle grade reader published. Princess Willy Be is still #26 in Top Children's Stories. Read Here I will complete a 28-chapter romance novella this week. It's the prequel to the Morristown Murder Mystery series that will publish next, and I plan to repackage it as a regular eBook to give as a free promotion when the mystery title releases. Read Here I have also started revising and publishing, episode (chapter) by episode, my 2017 NaNoWriMo novel, which is mostly just being tweaked by chapter to make shorter, more readable episodes.  Read Here I am once again a published author. Yay, me! And, apparently, I write in very short paragraphs now. 😁 At this point in my life, it all seems like a miracle. So... money + publication = a Kindle Vella ...

A friend on Twitter recently commented about how excited she was about her first sale of a short story, and that reminded me of the thrill I had at my first major sale. I'd been writing for a couple of newspapers already, but when Lady's Circle published "A String of Pearls" and sent me a check for a whopping $125, I felt like I'd finally made it to the big time. One of my newspaper gigs at that time was penning a weekly humor column, and of course, I had to write about the experience. The following is just a bit of that nonsense ..er, week's offering.  When I sold my first short story to a major magazine my family joined me in the excitement, and we were all happily playing Howard Hughes around here for a while. My husband started planning his retirement. The kids started picking out houses in the country. And I had visions of never having to look at another price tag again before buying a pair of jeans.  Meanwhile I had not even cashed the check yet. I was a...