Traditional publishing is a goal for many aspiring authors and in this post I give you the best tips on how to write a book and get it published.
Interested in self-publishing a book? This is the experience of Amanda, who used the Amazon KDP Publishing option to self-publish a children's book.
Hey Maverick! I thought I want to do something a little bit different! I want to share some kindle-tastic kindle publishing tips with you! Everday I receive emails and messages asking me how I build my website, publish books, run my Instagram, Pinterest etc Truthfully, I’m not that confident that everything I do actually…
Looking to promote a book on TikTok? There are endless ways for authors to do this. Here's a list of 19 ideas to get you started.
The writing unit is over and you're about to start a new genre. But, wait! Celebrate all of that hard work with a writing celebration!
If you're looking for a starting point for creating a character, you will enjoy this character interview worksheet.
Learn just what is hybrid publishing and why you should choose it, and uncover a llist of questions to ask the publisher before signing a deal.
How to write chapter outlines or chapter summaries for your memoir book proposal, including examples of how long they should be.
If you do this one thing, you will see a dramatic increase in your visibility on Instagram.
Looking to take your book marketing and writing game to the next level? AI is the way to go! Check out our blog post, "AI for Authors: How ChatGPT and Other Tools Can Transform Your Writing & Book Marketing" to learn about using AI for market research, writing, revising, editing, and even marketing and book sales. We promise you'll come away feeling encouraged and inspired to try AI to help with authorship.
Looking for Writing Celebrations for your Writer's Workshop? You will find 4 tips to celebrate your young authors all year long. From share time, writing portfolios, young author crowns and certificates, writing goals and brag tags along with using a microphone, your students will look forward to writing workshop with these engaging culminating activities for any writing unit!
One of the things that scared me most about self-publishing was that I had no idea what to do. I knew I couldn’t just upload it to Amazon and call it good. After researching, I found that a lot of unnecessary time, money, and energy sometimes goes into self-publishing. This list is for anyone who wants to self-publish right but simple. 1. Editing I cannot stress enough just how important a good editor is. Of all the things you absolutely cannot do yourself, of all the things that are worth spending money on, and editor is it. You can find editors for lower prices on sites like Upwork, Reedsy, or just by searching for a freelance editor. Freelancers are a great option because the money you pay them goes directly to them, and you aren’t paying the company they work for. 2. Book Cover I’ve said before that you can totally do your own book cover as lit my as you have software experience, a good idea, some time, and a lot of confidence. I’ve made all of my book covers with no regrets, especially since I’ve been asked by other authors who my cover designer is *score!* But if you aren’t confident enough to design your own cover, you can also find freelance designers on Upwork, Reedsy, or get a premade cover here. They have some pretty great covers if you look enough. And the prices are fairly low. I’m even considering making some covers to sell on the site for spare cash. 3. Formatting This is something not a lot of people think about in the beginning. I sure didn’t. But, you can’t just take your regular old word doc and upload it to Amazon. You have to make sure the page size is right, he margins work, so chapter headings, it’s very tedious. You can definitely do this yourself, but if you don’t have the time or energy, you can find a freelancer for this too. There are also several companies that do this for a larger fee. But, from what I’ve seen it’s not outrageous. 4. Distributor When people think of self-publishing, Amazon is often the first thought coming to mind. That, or vanity publishers. But, Amazon isn’t the only distributor. You can also use Ingram Spark or Smashwords to distribute your books. Ingram Spark has upfront fees, but none that aren’t worth it. 5. Promotion Plan One of my biggest failures in self, publishing was not having a plan for promotion. And not just that, I didn’t have a budget for it either. A promotion plan can be as simple as plans for tweets, Instagram uploads, and Facebook posts, or as complicated as a full publicist and book tour. It all depends on your budget and how much time you’re willing to put in. Either way, having some sort of plan is important. 6. Author Platform It took a long time before I knew what this even was, and my platform is still incredibly poor. But, I’m working on it. I suggest getting started right away making pages for your writing career on social media. Make friends not foes. Join blogs and forums. Become active. Talk to people about your books, and not just to family. I hope this has been simple enough to get you started on your self-publishing journey. My biggest suggestion for other blogs to read is The Creative Penn. Joanna knows more about publishing than half the publishing houses combined! Good luck! Xoxo, Ellie,
Don’t know how to choose a pen name? Want some famous author pen names? Need tips for how to copyright your pen name? Learn more here.
A solid grasp on plot and structure will help you add suspense to your stories, and grip your readers until the end.
Are you an author making these mistakes on Instagram? I'll show you what you might be doing wrong and how to fix it!
Have an idea for picture book that's ready for publishing? Here's the complete breakdown for how to publish a picture book when you're ready!
A step-by-step guide to creating an author brand that is visually beautiful and communicates who you are as a storyteller through your author platform.
Isn’t this ironic? In my last video I talked about how much I hated formatting and in today’s video I’m showing you how to format your novel. With that said, if you decide to format your novel yourself, you’ll discover that this may be one of the most painful parts of the self-publishing process. I’m …
A literary agent shares a 7 step process she uses with clients to help them write a book that sells so they can make a living from their writing!
Inside: You can publish a children's book. You can do it this year! Let's get started with three different paths forward. Shortly after publishing Belinda Baloney Changes Her Mind I started getting messages that were worded much more eloquently but essentially boiled down to this: But, like, how? It's a great question! And a question
Free Novel Writing Worksheets (PDFs) The cornerstone of the Novel Factory software for writers is to handle useful information that authors might be collating in order to help them write their novel. This could be relating to plot, characters, locations and more. As well a offering a place to keep all that data, the Novel…
Check out this list of some tried and true Instagram ideas for authors, as well as tips on how to create content that will build genuine connections.
Scrivener does more than help writers outline and draft; it's great for editing too. Here are 6 tips for how to use Scrivener to edit a better story.
This is a wonderful packet if you plan on or have an Author Celebration or a Publishing Party with your little learners! Included is all you need to have a wonderful and stress-free set-up of your celebration. Included you'll find: ~Invitations for families and for another guest, as well as even reminder notes to send home ~Welcome Poster ~Reminder Poster for door or bulletin board ~Author's Chair Poster ~Student Stories Class Book Cover if you'd like to put them together into a booklet to show families or publish as a student gift ~I'm an Author Brag Tags ~High-Five Awards ~Awesome Author Crowns ~Awesome Author Certificates ~Publishing Pages (Dedication, All About Author, Multiple Writing Pages) ~Self-Reflection Printable ~Writing Compliment Pages Please see the preview for a look at this cute unit that will be a time saver for you!
Inside: You can publish a children's book. You can do it this year! Let's get started with three different paths forward. Shortly after publishing Belinda Baloney Changes Her Mind I started getting messages that were worded much more eloquently but essentially boiled down to this: But, like, how? It's a great question! And a question
Creative Writer Worksheet – Writing Study Guide (PDF) This week marks the end of our year of creative writer worksheets. From a multitude of possible topics I had to choose one last worksheet, and here it is! I hope this worksheet will serve as a reminder to keep studying and improving yourself as a writer. There’s always more to…
Learn the five primary types of character arc. This two-part series starts with a beat-by-beat view of the heroic arcs: Positive-Change Arc and Flat Arc.
An exploration of Seven-Point Story Structure and plot weaving.
37 book marketing tips. Learn how to market your book with these proven promotion ideas for authors. Increase your book sales during and after the launch.
As tedious as grammar may be to those of us who just want to write, it is well worth the time to refresh the basics and avoid common grammar mistakes.
This step-by-step guide on how to self-publish a book will take you from beginning to end on the self-publishing route and how to succeed.
Before you submit your children's book to publishers learn how to format your children's manuscript first! Here is the easy guide to help you look like an expert.
Are you interested in writing an ebook? Here's how I made $2,000 in one week by self-publishing an ebook.
So, where exactly is your plot taking you? What happens next? What is this story about? It’s time to think about plot. Plotting Worksheet
One of my top goals this year is to convince my kids that they are writers. Writing is not just something your teacher makes you do. It is a way to express yourself. I feel like one of the best ways to get through to my kids is to give them authentic purposes for their writing. As we neared the end of writing personal narratives, we decided to have a Publishing Party. We invited the principal, the class across the hall, and few other guests! The kids were pumped and worked extra hard to polish up their final pieces. On the day of the party, I typed up a list of our favorite authors (In Cara Carroll fonts of course). After I cut out the names, I glued them to a big piece of butcher paper. The paper would serve two purposes. One- I could hang it behind the kids as kind of a backdrop. Two (and much more importantly) the kids would see THEIR names by some of the greatest authors out there. They grinned from ear to ear. They got my message loud and clear (they also tried really hard to get their names right by their personal favorites). One by one the kids read their personal narratives to their audience. After we read we celebrated a little more with a little snack, but don't worry- we were back to the grind the next day. I can't WAIT to celebrate our informative writing next time! This week I took a little break from our reading series to do a Patricia Polacco author study. If you follow me on FB or Instagram, you know I am borderline obsessed with Polacco. NO ONE tells a story better than she does. Yesterday we read Thundercake and so of course we had to make some! I had already decided that I was going to have the kids write a summary of Thundercake since we are working SO hard on that skill, but as I was making a mad dash through the grocery story to find everything I needed- an idea struck me! Isn't that how it always works! I decided that I would much prefer to have my students make personal connections to the book and write about their own fears. We decided instead of making "Thunder"cake, we were making "Fear"cake. So first we brainstormed our fears. I *may* have had to hide a snicker over seagulls. After we brainstormed our fears, I had them do a little bit of prewriting. I have found that when my kids fill out an extensive graphic organizer before they write a final draft, that their final draft is almost the "summarized" version. So I decided I was going to give the kids one pink post-it and three blue post-its. The pink post-it was for their fear and the blue post-its were for the three ingredients that they would add to their fear cake to help them get rid of their fears. We talked about "cooking lingo" and I was blown away by the voice they added to their writing. This little cutie said her cake needed a "dash of bravery, a sprinkle of protection, and a cup of happiness" I was THRILLED with their pieces because they were able to give a one to two sentence summary of Thundercake, a personal connection, and a bit of creative writing when making up their cake recipes! Perfection! And of COURSE I let them bake! Smiles, friends- tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!
My first Q4 Amazon Self Publishing. It was just over a year ago that I properly started self publishing low content books on KDP! Here are my results - then vs today!
