This week is all about Middle Grade: writing it, indie publishing it, and especially marketing it! As you may know, reaching those elusive middle grade readers is tough, doubly so when you’re indie published. Plus there are giveaways (see below)!  Here’s the schedule: MONDAY:  Warrior Faeries and Math Magick: How Susan Kaye Quinn is using a Virtual Author Visit video and Teacher’s… Read More

This week is all about Middle Grade: writing it, indie publishing it, and especially marketing it! As you may know, reaching those elusive middle grade readers is tough, doubly so when you’re indie published. Plus there are giveaways (see below)!  Here’s the schedule: MONDAY:  Warrior Faeries and Math Magick: How Susan Kaye Quinn is using a Virtual Author Visit video and Teacher’s… Read More

This week is all about Middle Grade: writing it, indie publishing it, and especially marketing it! As you may know, reaching those elusive middle grade readers is tough, doubly so when you’re indie published. Plus there are giveaways (see below)!  Here’s the schedule: MONDAY:  Warrior Faeries and Math Magick: How Susan Kaye Quinn is using a Virtual Author Visit video… Read More

I haven’t published a book for a whopping 2 months, so I figured it was time… plus it’s Valentine’s Day, and this story is a bit of a mash note to all my favorite Mindjack characters… a Mindjack Origins novella (#4) kindle, nook, kobo Add to your Goodreads TBR Keeper (Mindjack Origins #4) – a companion story to the Mindjack… Read More

See my original post on NetGalley for pricing and how to form an indie author co-op to take advantage of NetGalley opening it’s doors to indie authors. UPDATE 5.2015 – I have suspended my Netgalley coop (personal time-factor reasons). If you’re looking for a Netgalley coop to join, check with Anne Victory. After a year of being in NetGalley, I… Read More

Kindle, Nook ebook and print A Junior Library Guild Selection! Victoria Secord, a fourteen-year-old Alaskan dogsled racer, loses her way on a routine outing with her dogs. With food gone and temperatures dropping, her survival and that of her dogs and the mysterious boy she meets in the woods is entirely up to her.    I have the coolest friends…. Read More

I don’t do blog hops that often anymore, but this list has some of my favorite peeps on it!  Kelsey Ketch – Blogger friend since forever, she’s always doing cool stuff like this hop, and now she’s got an intriguing Egyptian-mythology YA novel out! Jennifer Lane – One of my original Omnific Sisters who also happens to be a psychologist… Read More

SATURDAY (EST) 10:00 – Welcome Video from Kayla Curry 10:30 – Finding Your Voice – Live Video from Gregory Petersen 11:00 – 10 Ways to Survive Indie Publishing – Pre-Recorded Video from Susan Kaye Quinn THAT’s ME! 🙂 11:30 – Break and conversations on social media. 12:00 – Traditional Publishing and Indie Publishing – Pre-Recorded Video from Alyssa Auch 12:30… Read More

Steampunk with Heart: The Heartbeat of Steampunk: Romancing the Machine with Jacqueline Garlick and MeiLin Miranda **see bottom of post for steampunk giveaways** **see Steampunk With Heart Page for Facebook Party schedule** It’s no accident steampunk has become so popular; here in the 21st century we’re facing an information revolution, just as the 19th century struggled through the industrial revolution. The rise in wearables, Internet-connected everything… Read More

Steampunk with Heart: Steampunk FAQ with Rie Sheridan Rose and Cindy Spencer Pape **see bottom of post for steampunk giveaways** **see Steampunk With Heart Page for Facebook Party schedule** What to ask (or not to ask) your friendly neighborhood steampunk author.  Here are some of the mostly commonly asked questions, how Cindy Spencer Pape and  Rie Sheridan Rose usually answer and what they’d sometimes like to… Read More

Steampunk with Heart: Things We Love About Steampunk – Multicultural, Adventure, and More with Jay Noel and SM Blooding **see bottom of post for steampunk giveaways** **see Steampunk With Heart Page for Facebook Party schedule** Today we have S.M. “Frankie” Blooding and Jay Noel on the blog. Jay is a sales warrior by day and a writing ninja by night who, as you’re… Read More

Steampunk with Heart: Steampunk IS Romance with Susan Kaye Quinn and Scott E. Tarbet **see bottom of post for steampunk giveaways** **see Steampunk With Heart Page for Facebook Party schedule** Susan Kaye Quinn: As I was writing my steampunk romance (ThirdDaughter, The Dharian Affairs #1), it struck me that the term “Steampunk Romance” is just a bit redundant. Yes, some… Read More

What is Steampunk with Heart? 8 Authors, 5 Blog Posts, and an Abundance of Steampunk Giveaways **see bottom of post for steampunk giveaways** **see Steampunk With Heart Page for Facebook Party schedule** MONDAY: What is Steampunk with Heart? TUESDAY: Steampunk IS Romance (Susan K. Quinn, Scott Tarbet) WEDNESDAY: Things We Love About Steampunk – Multicultural, Adventure, and More (Jay Noel, SM Blooding) THURSDAY: Steampunk FAQ (Rie Sheridan Rose,… Read More

a novella by Adam Quinn (aka Dark Omen) Kindle,Nook website My son, Adam Quinn, is fifteen years old and has written two novels, a novella, and is currently working on his third novel. He seriously puts his mother to shame in the Early Potential Unlocked category. Today he’s taking his story to his Freshman English class, to share it with his friends… Read More

Steampunk with Heart  Blog Tour and Giveaways Coming February 3rd – 7th LIKE the Steampunk With Heart FB Page Six Steampunk Authors Susan Kaye Quinn (Third Daughter) Scott E. Tarbet (Midsummer Night’s Steampunk) Meilin Miranda (The Machine God) Cindy Spencer Pape (Ashes & Alchemy) Jay Noel (Dragonfly Warrior) SM Blooding (Knight of Wands) There will be… GIVEAWAYS FACEBOOK PARTIES A… Read More

This little story just keeps surprising me. Thanks to Janine Southard for nominating Delirium (DC#1) for the Hugo Award (novelette category).  I love her description: Delirium by Susan Kaye Quinn. (novelette) Insurance Adjusters decide when a person’s cost-benefit analysis has fallen too far. If you’re not likely to do anything productive for the world, but your healthcare is still expensive, they have their… Read More

Write more or write better? The answer, of course, is both. Which is why Tools for Writing Better (posting separately) is the conjoined twin of this blog post. “The most important thing you can do is a huge volume of work.” – Neil Gaiman For more convincing on that point, see this inspirational video by Neil Gaiman: Onward. Tool #1… Read More

I am not a Buddhist. But I have great affection for the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan people, and Buddhists everywhere who practice this gentle and wise religion. They manage to combine a dogged pursuit of lofty, even transcendent goals, with near otherworldly patience. And they do so with a scientific mindset of attending to what works and what does not,… Read More

My fellow Indelibles and I are doing a Box Set. It is HUGE. There’s also a giveaway at the end. It is also HUGE. Sit back, relax in your favorite reading chair and enjoy 15 Winter Reads from 15 bestselling YA authors. There is something to delight every reader in this box set – paranormal romance, futuristic sci-fi, historical, time… Read More

Need a last-minute Christmas gift for the kids on your list? Warrior faery princes can be very stubborn. Especially when they possess your body. includes four interior illustrations Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo GIVE A PRINT COPY or Gift an ebook on… Kindle or Nook or Add to Goodreads Warrior faery princes can be very stubborn. Especially when they possess your body. Fourteen-year-old Finn… Read More

Tomorrow, I’m going to announce that Faery Swap, my middle grade fantasy, is live in both ebook and print! (If you want the ebook now, CLICK HERE). Today, I’m going to talk a little about my decision to indie publish Faery Swap, and thoughts in general about  publishing indie middle grade books. Writing Faery Swap I actually wrote Faery Swap over two… Read More

“Third Daughter is vividly breathtaking. Quinn delivers royal intrigue, exotic locations, and sweeping romance. Not to be missed!” – Pavarti K. Tyler, author of Shadow on the Wall “Susan Kaye Quinn writes characters that leap off the page… Incredibly well written, the vivid setting was crisp in my mind… As the plot raced on, I was cursing real life for… Read More

I love the work that The Charis Project does: using entrepreneurial solutions to care for orphaned and abandoned children in Thailand. This hits on ALL my close-to-the-heart loves: kids, community, education, innovative out-of-the-box thinking. And (no surprise) the people running it are just flat-awesome-can-I-be-your-friend-types as well. Aaron and Carrien Blue are always thinking up some innovative and creative way to… Read More

First, you may have noticed that the blog has endured some sprucing up! The sidebar is streamlined, the My Books page is substantially more compact (and hopefully informative), and the My WiP page is updated with information about Singularity (my new series). I hope you’ll check out the new digs!  All of this is in preparation for launching TWO books… Read More

Using Choices and Crises to Show True Character by Becca Puglisi (see below to win a PDF copy of The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes. ) When I think about some of my favorite protagonists, I can usually identify a trait that defines each one: Will Hunting: Intelligence Sam Gamgee: Loyalty James T. Kirk: Boldness However…if these characters… Read More

Children are surprisingly capable of self-reflection, given the opportunity. I spent a good fraction of last night’s dinner discussing creativity with my three boys (Mighty Mite, 10yo, Worm Burner, 12yo, and Dark Omen 15yo). Their thoughts and insights give me hope for the future, but first, a little background… Thinking Big Thoughts Yesterday was a day to think big thoughts…. Read More

From writer friend and fellow Indelible, RaShelle Workman: The Cindy Chronicles is finished. This story has everything. Action. Romance. Science Fiction. Magic. Dragons. Fantasy. Kissing. True love. And a happily ever after. To celebrate, Cindy *snicker* is throwing a party!!! The Cindy Chronicles is a fractured fairy tale that was created from the Blood and Snow world. Cindy is Snow… Read More

From writer-friend and fellow Indelible, Karen Amanda Hooper: DANGEROUS DEPTHS, book 2 of The Sea Monster Memoirs by Karen Amanda Hooper, has washed ashore.  The sequel to TANGLED TIDES is now available, and the underwater cast of merfolk, selkies, sirens, gorgons, and even water sprites are in for some very turbulent waters. Check out the book info then enter to win… Read More

From writer-friend and fellow Indelible, Lee (Elle) Strauss: Super excited to launch my first Women’s fiction/New Adult  Contemporary Romance EAST OF EDEN!! Regret is a formidable foe. Eden Kelley is the primary caregiver for her mother who’s in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and she’s only twenty-four. Not what she planned to do when she left her husband for… Read More

Don’t forget to enter my book giveaway from Story Masters (see my post about the conference here)! Then see below for a new release from my writer-friend and fellow Indelible, Ali Cross. Open Internationally!* *wherever Book Depository ships for free, may incur local tariffs for international shipping a Rafflecopter giveaway Today is a special day for the Desi Diaries! The… Read More

“Sometimes the story tells you what it’s about.” -Christopher Volger I attended a transformative writing workshop called Story Masters last week, given by Christopher Vogler, Donald Maass, and James Scott Bell. If you were following my Facebook posts, you would think I was on some kind of intense, mystical retreat for four days.  You would not be wrong. These master… Read More

I’m traveling to Minnesota with writer-friend Liz Masterson Searle to take the Story Master’s 4-day workshop with James Scott Bell, Donald Maass, and Christopher Volger! It should be intense and awesome. I plan to NaNo through it. I intend to blog through it. I’m not expecting much sleep. I’m bringing Toothless along as our mascot: Wish me luck!

Take it away, Fellow Indelible, LM Preston… Yep! Yep! Yep! There’s a revealing going on. If you have an insatiable appetite for PIRATES and romance with MYSTERY thrown in, than you are in for a great ride with the BANDITS series. Book 2 in the series WASTELANDS by LM Preston comes out Spring 2014 (May). However, she couldn’t wait to… Read More

Don’t forget to enter the Killer Serials Giveaway until November 7th! I’m a NaNo Rebel this year! National Novel Writing Month has very few rules, and I’m managing to break one of them – i.e. don’t start drafting until November 1st. Well… we’re at November 1st, and I’ve already got 14k in the bag for my new YA SF novel… Read More

Just in time for Halloween, some Killer Serials you can sink your teeth into! (enter giveaway below) I love writing serials – they’re fast-paced, exciting, and deliver a lot of story punch in a few number of words. I’ve joined forces with four other serial writers to give away a bunch of our serial work – they don’t all have… Read More

COVER REVEAL ECHOES IN THE GLASS By Cheri Lasota Releasing December 2013 Publisher: Ever-Sea Press Young Adult Contemporary Romance Finnian bears the scar of an unspeakable crime. McKenna hides the pain of a terrible betrayal. When all their secrets are laid bare, will the truth rip them apart or forever silence the echoes of the past? Seventeen-year-old Finnian Bell has… Read More

I’m on Blog Talk Radio today! 2:00 pm EDT/ 1:00 pm Chicago Time LISTEN IN TO BLOG TALK RADIO Also… I’m giving away FIVE audiobooks of Open Minds (Mindjack #1)! ENTER HERE

Fab friends and authors Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman have released TWO new books (The Positive Trait Thesaurus and the Negative Trait Thesaurus), and in celebration of their launch, they’re helping connect writers so we can help one another in an AMAZING RACE. (I just love these ladies.) There are TWO PARTS…. Part The First: Daily Prizes Each day this… Read More

I’ve just released my Indie Author Survival Guide, which I hope will be helpful to all indie authors, even those who write for tweens! Make sure to enter the t-shirt giveaway below! THANK YOU to everyone who has supported the Guide while I was blogging it! See below to WIN an “I Survived Indie Publishing” t-shirt! Kindle, Nook, Goodreads TBR This… Read More

They fell in love in Dragonfly, Undertow revealed the secret that could pull them apart, but In Watercolor, it’s the love story readers have been waiting for~ On Amazon Early reviewers are saying: “I’ve been waiting for each book like it’s my own personal version of crack. A truly FANTASTIC series about growing up, with some small town soap opera drama… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 9.2 Debut Author vs. Career Author My first novel was published in 2010 (with a small press), but I feel like my career really started when I first indie published in 2011. Both of those feel like an eon ago. I’m still learning lessons about how to… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) What? We’re Doing It Again? You’ve published a book. Maybe even sold a few. You’ve marketed and networked and survived the social media quicksand. Now go do it again. It may seem impossibly overwhelming to hear those words. How can you keep up this pace? How will you… Read More

A Guilty Ghost: Surprised Amazon, and Barnes and Noble  Indigo Eady and gang are back with a feather and a Chance setting off another twisting-turning investigation to bring a cold case, and loved ones, closure at last. They All Fall Down Amazon, and Barnes and Noble Free of their duties as Cleanser and Harvestor, Abby and Basil try to move on with their lives. But some secrets remain. And what… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 8.4 Author Brand in the Digital Age So, it’s 12:37am and I’m awake.  Not on purpose, actually, but never one to waste a good bout of insomnia, I’ve trolled a few writer’s boards, googled my book, caught up on the news, and… decided to write a blog… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 8.3 All About Serials… Since publishing the first season of Debt Collector, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about serials: writing, pricing, is it hard (yes), is it easy (no), etc. Hopefully this chapter will answer a lot of those questions and help you decide if serials… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 8.2 Ebooks as Cauldrons of Innovation My original title for this chapter was: The Incredible Lightness of Being Indie (I’m telling you just because I like it. But the new title is more descriptive. Ah, marketing wins again.) Let’s talk for a moment about the freedom that the ebook revolution… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) You Are Free, Act Like It “Hey now, you’re an All Star, get your game on, go play, Hey now, you’re a Rock Star, get the show on, get paid, And all that glitters is gold Only shooting stars break the mold.” -All Star, Smash Mouth Sometimes I think… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 7.7 Please Say No to Bad Contracts Ideas Are Powerful Things Often what we think is possible limits what actually is possible. A shift in viewpoint can change everything. My thinking about what is possible in publishing started to shift as I watched Hugh Howey’s rise as an indie… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 7.6 Exploiting Your Rights Most indie authors, especially when they first start out, are flummoxed by the idea of selling rights beyond the print and ebook versions of their works. After all, that is something agents and publishers usually handle. Guess what? You are the publisher now…. Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 7.5 True, Not True: Debunking Some Indie Publishing Myths Facts change on the ground in the publishing industry faster than most people can track, especially in the last couple years. Being part of the Indelibles helps me keep on top of things – the collective knowledge of… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 7.4 Four Ways to Think Long Term in Indie Publishing [Ed. Note: For those reading straight through, this chapter is a bit repetitive of things already covered. For those hopping in now, this is a quick summary of strategies for thinking long-term. For everyone, it’s a good… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 7.3 Why Is My Book Not Selling? The best piece of indie wisdom I have about book sales came from the Kindle Boards, where an author posed the question, “Are you selling more today than you were a year ago? Then you’re headed in the right direction.” This was… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 7.2 Hierarchy vs. Territory: Mastering Your Writing Domain There are many nuggets of inspiration in War of Art by Steven Pressfield (I highly recommend it), but I’m going to highlight the section where Pressfield describes dealing with writerly competition in Territory vs. Hierarchy (I’m paraphrasing):  We (as humans and writers)… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Are We There Yet? There’s a very human need to know how we measure up (see Hierarchy vs. Territory: Finding Your Writing Domain). I’ve worked in a range of fields and companies, but no where is the need to know you’ve “made it” as strong as in the… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 6.7 Four Keys to Finding Time For Your Creative Work I fight a war every day. My adversaries are distraction, fatigue, and the demands of ordinary life. These adversaries include things I love (my husband and children) and things I loathe (laundry and shopping) as well as… Read More

Jamie’s debut novel is an adorable, fun, science-y YA book.  So of course I loved it. So much that I blurbed it: “Smart and funny with a side of geeky awesomeness, Ultraviolet Catastrophe charmed me from the first page. It’s the kind of YA SF I love: fun, believable characters who take center stage, while still allowing the reader to play… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 6.6 Give Yourself A Creative Retreat Once I actively looked for ways to boost my creativity (see Training Your Intuition), I found lots of opportunities, but few that really fit my needs. Often conferences are aimed at beginning writers. Retreats with just me and my writer buddies… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 6.5 Training Your Intuition Intuition is often either knocked as superstitious (by Logic Brain types) or embraced as a mystical power (by Creative Brain types). (p.s. my brain is half of each; they fight a lot.) I’m beginning to think intuition is our own personal superpower. While… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 6.4 Making the Donuts Ya’ll may be to young to remember, but there’s a commercial for Dunkin’ Donuts where a guy gets up, every morning, in a daze to lumber off to the bakery and “make the donuts.” He’s in a half-awake stupor, but dang it, he’s… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 6.3 Abundance vs. Scarcity “You need to build your herd of turtles.” Truth #1: It easier to sell 10 copies each of 10 books than 100 copies of a single book. Truth #2: The book world is now one of abundance, not scarcity. Neither of those ideas… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 6.2 Yellow-Spotted Sales-Checking Fever You Have Sales! I’m not sure which is worse: refreshing constantly to see if your sales ranking has changed (or worse, author ranking) or refreshing the actual number of sales. It’s pure adrenaline when the number’s shooting up (because of an ad) and… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Watch Out For Quicksand In the headlong rush into indie publishing, it’s easy to forget we’re writers first. I hear people say, I don’t want to do all that publishing stuff. I just want to write. To which I say, Please do!  First off, nearly every part of… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 5.6 How to Make A Book Trailer Well, you could get lucky and pitch the concept to a brilliant director, have her like it so much she’s willing to get all her friends to work at cost, have a social network that allows you to land a… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 5.5 Formatting: The iTunes Apple’s iBookstore/iTunes sells books. Lots of books. It’s not a huge retailer like Amazon, or Barnes n Noble, but it’s one of the Big Four retailers, and it has a large international presence. Being on Apple can potentially net you substantial sales, especially… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 5.4 Formatting: The Hard Way Why Format The Hard Way It’s really not that hard, but knowing some basic HTML skills (or learning them) will keep you from tearing out your hair. Formatting at this level means that 1) you control the formatting at a basic level,… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 5.3 Formatting: The Easy Ways Definitions: Word: the format your MS is in when you write it Mobi: Kindle format Epub: Barnes and Noble format, Kobo format, Apple format (Smashwords and Draft2Digital will now accept epub as well) How to get your manuscript from Word to Mobi and Epub is the essence… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 5.2 Hiring Your Team (Editors, Cover Artists) While you can go DIY on everything for your indie publishing business, I don’t recommend it, especially once you start to make money and can afford to reinvest in your growing business. While you may be tempted to skimp in… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) What Did You Forget To Pack? We talked a lot about fear earlier (see Taking the Road Less Traveled), but I distinctly remember having a fear in the very beginning that I would forget some intensely important detail in publishing my first indie book, and it would be… Read More

I had the pleasure of listening to Tommy Hancock, Editor-in-Chief of Pro Se Productions, speak about the revitalization of Pulp Fiction at a conference (where I presented last month) – he calls it New Pulp, and it’s everything you think of pulp fiction and more. What started as a way to use leftover “pulpy” paper to create cheap stories evolved into… Read More

Teacher and Librarian Friends! I’m so excited to be part of a giveaway just for you! It’s sponsored by my indie middle grade group, The Emblazoners. They’re putting out a catalog of great middle grade books, with all kinds of information to help you decide if they’re right for your students and patrons. To celebrate, we’re giving away gift cards… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 4.10 Five Tips for Building Buzz I just released a new book! (Woot! Hurray! *runs around flailing* Um… hello? *crickets*) Everyone would like the world to stop in its rotation on their book release day, because, well… the world stops for us when our baby is launched into the… Read More

Mon ami, French author Julien Morgan, has penned a story that has a Starship Commander by the name of Susan Quinn… in French! It’s out and available – if you read French, pick it up and let me know if I save the day. “The Stars Also Stare” On Amazon (in French) Half a century after an alien signal is received at… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 4.9 Make a Marketing Plan I’m big on making plans (see Writer’s Mission Statement and Five Year Plan).  All plans are meant to change, but marketing plans more than most. Making a Marketing Plan can help organize your thinking, but then choosing the particular marketing activities that are going to… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 4.8 Get Thee A Mailing List If you publish books, you should have a mailing list. Period.  Really. It’s that simple.  Why Do I Need One? Social media outlets come and go, and access to all those followers can change in a heartbeat if the social media… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 4.7 Book Discovery in the Digital Age “Word of mouth at the speed of electrons.” This is how I think of book discovery in the digital age.  People tend to think selling their book means hyper marketing methods: tweeting your book a hundred times a day, spamming… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 4.6 Reviews and How to Get Them Two reviews of Open Minds (Mindjack #1) “This is a brilliant young adult novel unlike any I’ve read. It is a great sci-fi page-turner and I can’t wait to read the rest.” “I really didn’t like this book. It was… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 4.5 Pricing Your Ebook One of the agonizing great things about self-publishing is that you get to set your own price. And not just once – you can change your price as much as you like (whether this is a good thing to do, is another matter)…. Read More

Cool month-long event highlighting indie authors! #awesome I’m honored to be a part of this month-long celebration of indie authors! Today, Kelly Fox is hosting me on her blog “Kindle and Me” with all kinds of fun stuff: an interview, a playlist for Mindjack, and one of the bonus scenes I wrote a long time ago (and which was way… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 4.3 Blurbs That Grab You I have great respect for my readers’ time. They have busy lives, and if I want them to spend hours and hours reading my novel, I need to show them, up front, that it will be worth their time. A great (professionally… Read More

People, I have lots of stuff to share today. So, I put it all together for your quick-perusal-needs! First, Open Minds and Closed Hearts are in a YA Story Bundle. How this works: you pay what you want, you get all the books (including Open Minds, not pictured). It’s kinda wild and woolly, the idea being that you’re introducing your… Read More

I’m one of the contributing authors for Indiestructible, a collection of inspiring stories about being an indie author, from people in the trenches who know – and all proceeds go to charity. Check out the deets below! Available at Amazon US and UK 100% of proceeds go to BUILDON.org, a movement which breaks the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations… Read More

The earthquake wasn’t his fault. Not this time. Justus Aubre is a wilder. A mage unbound to the Imperium, and therefore a dangerous wild card in their eyes. The Imperium wants him, wants his power, but Justus has hidden for many years and now has some semblance of a normal life. All that’s about to change when Sable Rounds walks… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 4.2 Creating Covers That Sell Creating covers for my books makes me crazy. cra·zy   [krey-zee] AKA CRAYCRAY, BONKERS, WHACKED 1. mentally deranged 2. totally unsound 3. passionately excited 4. very enamored or infatuated 5. intensely anxious Yes, all of those. As an indie author, I love the… Read More

Tween the Weekends is a monthly feature hosted by the Emblazoners. This is an opportunity for everybody to promote tween literature. I’m giving a workshop this weekend on writing for middle grade and young adult. (Which would seem to presume I know something on the subject. I’m not entirely sure this is true.) One thing I do know, however, is what kids like to read…. Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) My, That’s a Beautiful Backpack I’m going to assume you’ve written a wonderful book. Because without that, seriously people, there’s no marketing magic in the world that will make people love your book. And loving your book is a key ingredient to selling your book because word-of-mouth is… Read More

Things I love about the indie author world: 1) the innovation and 2) the cooperative environment, where everyone is giving each other a hand up, rather than competing against each other. This is true for the wider author community, but it’s doubly true for indie authors, who have the freedom to take cooperation to a whole different level. Which is… Read More

From Elle… The Perception Trilogy is my first real series, meaning the story begins in book one and doesn’t complete until the end of book three. (My Clockwise series is unconventional that way, which is why I point this out.) What a ride! It’s a bittersweet to be closing in on the end. I’ve spent so much time getting to… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 3.12 Seven Questions to Ask Before Self-Publishing If you’re considering going indie, ask yourself these questions to see if you’re ready to take the leap (and if this path is right for this particular book): 1) Is your craft ready? Have you written more than one or… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 3.11 Making the Leap Almost every day I hear of another writer taking the leap into indie publishing or seriously considering it.This guide is all about helping you prepare for that leap, and not only survive but thrive in your new author career. I could tell you… Read More

In Dragonfly, they were friends who shared a growing attraction… In Undertow, her heart was broken and he was waiting to pick up the pieces… In Watercolor, Anna & Julian say Yes. But the past and its secrets are creeping closer… Book #3 in the Dragonfly series: Watercolor, coming Oct. 3!  Need to catch up? Get Dragonfly for only #99CENTS, Aug. 21-25!… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) I’m preserving the original flavor of these two chapters (Taking the Road Less Traveled, The Secret Ingredient: Confidence) written just before my leap into indie publishing. Partly because they show what I was thinking before I knew self-publishing was going to give me monthly paychecks that would replace a job in engineering… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 3.9 Taking the Road Less Traveled* *Apologies to Robert Frost I’m preserving the original flavor of these two chapters (Taking the Road Less Traveled, The Secret Ingredient: Confidence) written just before my leap into indie publishing. Partly because they show what I was thinking before I knew self-publishing was going to… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 3.8 Have Faith In Your Work Sometimes a theme beats on my head.  I notice things. I’m sure most writers are this way: we pick up on signals in the world. A blog post here, a tweet there. A friend’s complaint. A news item. Suddenly it shows… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 3.7 Emotional Judo: Lack of Support for Your Writing Many creative workers (writers, artists, musicians) are blessed with people who enthusiastically support them in their creative life. Some have spouses, parents, and other well-meaning people who either give tepid non-support to their writing (or other art) –… Read More

   (This is an excerpt from my Indie Author Survival Guide, available on Kindle and Nook.) Ch 3.6 Four (Nasty) Lies We Tell Ourselves About Writing There are positive lies we tell ourselves to make life easier (we think): I don’t need a critique partner; I can only write when I’m inspired; I don’t need to learn the Rules, I’ll just break them. But… Read More