Interested in some great summer reading? WiDo Publishing has a few advance review copies of print books soon to be or just barely published. These are also available as ebook ARCs if you prefer. Let ...
Nathan Bransford has posted twice this week about the ongoing battle between traditional vs. self-publishing, to get across this message: Its not a battle, people! Its simply a business/career decisi...
You better be careful what you click, or your Blogger profile will go away and instead become your Google + profile. I ran into this all the time on the A to Z Challenge. Id click on a bloggers name,...
Today Im celebrating therelease of Jessica Bells new poetry collection, Fabric ... Wait! Please dont close the tab atthe the mention of poetry! Trust me, just read a little note from the author ...
A dear friend Ive never met but have come to love through social media is leaving her blog for personal reasons. Shes not alone in this. Others have made similar announcements. Writers often start bl...
I really loved being a part of the Hosting Team for the A to Z Challenge. It was an honor to be included, and it taught me a lot about the power of teamwork in action.I had planned to visit all the b...
Its tough to break the 30-day habit of posting about the Making and Selling of Books. Its a great topic, and I always have plenty to say.Ill get personal. The novel Ive been working on is now done an...
Write what you want but realize that if you write a book that has a very limited demographic-- a zoology textbook, for example-- that youre not going to get many Kindle sales. In fact, publishers det...
Think about some of the hot topics or genres of yesterday-- vampires, witches and wizards and boy wonders, orphan children going from one unfortunate adventure to another-- and then tell me what they...
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If you want to be famous then run for office and be a politicianIf you want to be rich then become a plastic surgeon.If you want to have people know your name then be a teacher.If you want to make a ...
If you want to make a book, like if you want your book to get picked up by a publisher who will invest money into editing, design, printing and marketing and all that, then you need to have an appeal...
Launching a book is comparable to launching a ship out on the open sea. Who knows what will happen out there on the great big blue ocean?With every book launch, the undercurrents are there, positive ...
I dont know how to do typesetting but I appreciate those who do. It takes a certain kind of highly detail-oriented perfectionist to be a good typesetter.Typesetting is key in making a print book. It ...
I ran a submissions contest a year or so ago on my blog for WiDo and one of the entries was from Amy Saia. It didnt win, but the submissions editor loved the first chapter!At some point, Amy was aske...
I love to get reviews posted on Goodreads and Amazon on my books, because then I know people actually read them. Im always eager to know what people actually thought about them.The first bad review I...
Sometimes in the rush to get a book to publication, quality can be compromised. Its especially tempting when self- publishing an ebook because downloading the file and clicking that button are just t...
I have really enjoyed posting this month on the theme The Making and Selling of Books, because I am so passionate about the topic.I like writing and publishing books. My own, of course, but it is als...
There are no original ideas. Its all been done before in one form or another. Dont let that stop you! What everyone wants is original writing. Theres still plenty of need for that. Its hard to explai...
Some places are so fantastic at supporting their local authors. Others just seem to slam doors in your face. Im not sure why this is. Why should the culture of one area be welcoming and rewarding to ...
The M word. That thing we authors must do if we want to sell any of our books.My original plan for selling thousands of copies of Farm Girl was to get Costco to buy a whole bunch from WiDo, and I wou...
What about the publishing contract? Most of whats online seems slanted toward the writers benefit, to help them navigate the legal ramifications of the publishing contract. It can be downright scary ...
A group of us at WiDo had this great idea for a book. Im going to share it with you since the book never happened and never will, because of reasons yet to be revealed.Anyway, the idea was to have th...
I have conflicted emotions about my maiden name, Jones. Boys at school sometimes called me "Jonesy" and I hated that.I think I have a boring author name. Karen Jones Gowen. Theres no ring to ...
If youre reading this, youre on the Internet. Probably have a blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook page and whatever tools you have chosen to utilize. Its not so much about selling as it is about buil...
My husband and I have a large family. We planned it that way. And gave not a thought to overpopulating the world, which back in the seventies was a big concern. Is it still? Dont know and dont care. ...
I cant imagine any writer bemoaning the fact of ebooks, self-publishing, KDP Select, editing services for hire, cover design services for hire, all the small publishers looking for good books to publ...
My first book, Farm Girl, was also the first book for WiDo Publishing. The book had been put together beforehand, with my son Billy as the editor and my son Don doing layout and design. My plan was t...
One of the requirements for making a good book-- or making a book good-- is editing. A good publisher uses not just one editor, not just a proofread or a copy edit, but serious craptastic editing-- f...
When Michelle O Neill first contacted me about whether or not her memoir would be suitable for Celerytree.com, I immediately resolved to buy myself a copy as one of my Celery Tree membership-required...
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