 Most people who click on this article won’t finish reading it. So says Nick Carr. The New York Times will remind you that you’ll probably forget it in a few minutes. This idea’s so prevalent, even the Onion has started taking jabs.
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There’s some truth to it. Posts like this and search trends point to what we’re after. Many people want the ability to focus more and feel like they’re losing the ability to focus on a particular task for long periods of time. We feel like we’re losing that ability. Getting Things Done and all the other books out there tend to give you some rituals to cope with the problem — but only if you could stick to them. Most of us, just a few weeks after reading that book, sit next to filing cabinets (virtual or otherwise) and go about our merry way. Read more at lifehacker.com |
“The Ultimate Editing Checklist” – A Free Chapter From Our Best Selling eBook! |
 If we had a nickel for every time we’ve been asked “I’ve written a story, what do I do now?” we’d have, well, a heck of a lot of nickels.
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That’s why we wrote the eBook titled, of course, I’ve Written a Story. What Do I Do Now? in which we give step-by-step instructions about the best way to polish your manuscript to perfection and send it off to publishers. Needless to say, a lot of folks were waiting for just such an eBook and it’s become our #1 best seller. |
For those of you who haven’t seen the eBook yet, we wanted to give you a free taste. Right now, you can download the eBook’s first chapter — the ever-so-appropriately named “The Ultimate Editing Checklist”. It will take you through every age level of children’s book and ask you specific questions about your manuscript. This isn’t theoretical wishy-washy stuff — it’s right to the point and really, really powerful. |
Middle Grade Author Donna Gephart on Reaching Young Readers |
 Laura chats with award-winning author Donna Gephart about writing humorous middle grade fiction, tapping into the concerns of that age group, and reaching her market. Visit www.donnagephart.com to see the trailer for her newest novel, How to Survive Middle School.
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Writing Novels for Teens: Marks of a Strong Protagonist |
| When consumers shop for books on Amazon.com and other online bookstores, many of them read the book reviews before they make a purchase. Even if they came to the site to buy a particular book, they may read the reviews to verify that they are making a good selection. |
The Secret to Getting Great Book Reviews on Amazon |
Positive reviews are a great selling point for all types of books, but they are especially important for nonfiction books, where consumers often compare several books on the same topic. Amazon actually encourages this, by displaying other similar books on your book’s sales page.
So, what’s the secret to getting great book reviews on Amazon (besides writing a great book)? ASK people to post reviews and make it EASY for them by providing a link to your book page on Amazon.com.
Amazon is by far the largest online bookseller. Anyone who has an Amazon user name and password and has purchased any product on Amazon.com can review your book there, even if they purchased your book elsewhere or got a free review copy.
Here are several easy ways to invite people to post reviews for you: Read more at www.publetariat.com |
How to self-publish an e-book |
A while back I wrote a column entitled “Self-Publishing: 25 things you need to know,” which was mostly about how to create and sell your own paper book. Since then a lot of folks have asked me to do something similar for e-books, so I have.
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I begin with one caveat: The whole e-book market is rapidly evolving and a lot of self-publishing companies are offering e-book deals bundled into their print book publishing packages, which makes them harder to break out and evaluate. It’s all quite complicated, and in an effort to sort through the confusion, I’ve decided to offer a few basic tips and present what I think are some of the best options out there for creating an e-book quickly and easily. As things change–and they will–I’ll do my best to keep this column up to date.
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