Many of our you are seasoned warriors in the promoting your book arena. However, many authors are just beginning the long journey and we hope to help you on that road. Through our blog and our Facebook Group page, we can guide you to the most effective and rewarding opportunities. So, to all of you that are “Old Pros”, please continue to share and help guide us. To all of you who are less experienced, I hope we can provide you with some good advice. Bloggers are your friend! A very busy blogger and great supporter of the indieBRAG authors, shared some thoughts on working together to get the most out of “free” promotions. “ ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’ is a common phrase – equally there’s no such thing as free marketing. You must repay the generosity of bloggers who invite you onto their blogs via guest posts or various on-line projects by being obliged to respond and spread the word when given this opportunity for free promotion. Your bill is not financial but making the effort to give noticeable appreciation where and as much as you can.” Blogger Be Generous- Having a community of authors…
Fact to Fiction: Khamsin, the Devil Wind of the Nile
Khamsin, the Devil Wind of the Nile - A Novel of Ancient Egypt Every movie lately seems to have “The Making of ...” clips. Well, here is a little insight into “The Making of Book 1 of the Legends of the Winged Scarab” series. With my historical saga, reaching back to 3080 BC, the question was how much research a writer should do on his or her chosen era. My answer: A lot. Next, how much “real history” should be incorporated into a novel. I’d say, 10%. Remember, it’s fiction. Readers want to be entertained rather than get a lengthy history lesson. When I started my research into Ancient Egypt (and I mean, really ancient), the biggest confusion was over city names. It would have been easy to use Memphis, for instance. But that name – like most of the commonly used ancient names – came from the Greek historian Herodotus who described many of the wonders he found in Egypt during his visit around 490 BC. My story takes place in 3080 BC, during the 2nd Dynasty (Old Kingdom). Therefore, I resorted to use the ancient Egyptian names (wherever I could find them). Memphis became Ineb-Hedj, the City…
Join us for “Novel Conversations” with Helen Hollick
Novel Conversations starting Tuesday 4th September then every Friday in conjunction with Indie B.R.A. G 4th September Anna Belfrage and her character Matthew Graham 7th September Julia Brannan and her character Sir Anthony Peters 14th September Sharon Dwyer and her character Katelin 21st September Barbara Anne Mojica and her character George Washington 28th September Inge H. Borg and her character Ebu al-Saqqara 5th October Clare Flynn and her character Hector Channing 12th October Annie Whitehead and her character Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia 19th October J L Oakley and her character Jeannie Naughton 26th October Lorraine Devon Wilke and her character Dan MacDowell 2nd November Stephanie Churchill and her character Kassia 9th November Wendy Percival and her character Maddy Henderson 16th November Susan Appleyard and her character Ludwig, King of Bavaria 23rd November Charlene Newcomb and her character Sir Stephen l'Aigle 30th November Florence Osmund and her character Marie Marchetti 7th December Helen Hollick and her character Captain Jesamiah Acorne 14th December Alison Morton and her character Conradus Mitelus ...Christmas Break... Novel Conversations will resume on the 4th January
Australia, Apple Pie & The Only Blue Door
Foodie Lit Definition: a genre of novels and memoirs filled with stories and recipes The Only Blue Door by Joan Fallon Joan Fallon’s historical novel, The Only Blue Door, was so intense and riveting that I found it hard to put down, except when anger course through me. The British Children’s Resettlement Program during WWII sent thousands of children away from the bombings in London for their own safety. Many were well cared for and happy. Yet a surprisingly large number of children, without parents’ permission or even knowledge, were told their parents were dead, and sent away to orphanages in Australia that were little more than deplorable workhouses that kept children in unhealthy, unsafe conditions and forced sexual, physical and emotional abuse on many in their legal custody. I wanted to cry out, “But you're supposed to be the good guys!” But they weren’t, they weren’t. The novel concerns itself with the fictional East End London Smith family with 3 children, Maggie, Billy and Grace, who were sent away to Australian Catholic orphanages after a devastating German bombing. They were mislabeled orphans and instead of the care promised them, they were placed in cruel and abusive institutions. Much of the novel, without giving…
A Swashbuckling Journey!
When two prolific award winning authors get together for some fun, watch out! Anna Belfrage (author of the Graham Saga Books) talks to Helen Hollick (author of the Sea Witch pirate stories)- Anna shares Helen's great adventure- Pirates? Why write about pirates? I guess the simple answer is: because when I wrote the first of my pirate-based Voyages, Sea Witch, no one else, as far as I could discover, had done so. Read on. I adored the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl, (not the others in the Disney franchise: they ranged from OK-ish to terrible). I was enchanted by it, and not entirely because of Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow, (although that helped!) The movie was fun. None of it was meant to be taken seriously and nearly every scene had a laugh attached to it. Laughter is good for us, therefore darn good adventures, be they pirates, Star Wars sci-fi, Game of Thrones fantasy or whatever-floats-your-boat are good as well, be they movies or novels. They are also escapism from the daily grind, something we all need and enjoy. The problem with really enjoying something is that you are then left wanting more. For me I wanted to read…
Enjoying Comforting Chicken Noodle Soup “In the Comfort of Shadows”
In the Comfort of Shadows Laurel Bragstad’s novel, In the Comfort of Shadows, opens with a dream—or is it a memory? Main character Ann Olsen wasn’t sure, but she was sure that “adoption” was a bad word and not to be mentioned at home, unless she wanted to get everyone mad at her. Her daddy told her, “It’s a bad word, Annie. Aunt Inga shouldn’t say it, and I never want to hear you say it again.” In her search for her biological parents, Ann does more than pronounce the word. She risks throwing away a childhood based on lies to find the truth. “I wanted to know the rest of the story, that’s all. I just never dreamed it would end like this.” The author digs into her own recollections. At a similar age to her character’s separation from her biological mother, Laurel’s mother dies and as an adult, Laurel searches her own and older relatives’ memories to find more about her. Laurel told me, “As a child I used to make up stories in my head about who my mother was as a person, and I even daydreamed about what my life would have been like had…
Misadventures in self-publishing
SL Dwyer Author of award winning Dirt and The Fantasmagorical Forest trilogy You’ve completed your book. Written the final word. Take a deep breath, do a jig and pop the cork on some bubbly. Give yourself a big pat on the back. You have just accomplished what so many have said they wished they could do. Congratulations. Great, next you distribute your manuscript to every family member who enjoys reading, along with friends and members of your writing group. You’ve made the suggested revisions and investigated every source available to upload and publish your eBook. Your finger hesitates and finally pushes the “upload” button and your book becomes one of thousands waiting for readers. You’ve done it all, right? Wrong. If you have not done the last two steps your book will languish on the pages of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all the other sites where it sits for sale. You scratch your head and wonder what the problem may be. Most likely it is one of those last two steps. Below, I’ll list those steps and add some information that may help. Of course you story and how it is written is the number one factor…
Launching your new book!
Florence Osmund When it comes to marketing your book, one thing is fairly certain—people won’t buy it if they don't know it exists. A successful book launch will make people aware of your book so they will buy it and even help you promote it. You can do many things to launch your new book so that it gets into the hands of as many readers as possible. I’ve created the checklist that follows to guide you through the process, but I don’t recommend that you attempt to do everything. Pick out the ones that make sense for your book and ones you’re comfortable doing. Without promotion, something terrible happens...nothing! P. T. Barnum What You Can Do Long Before Your Book Is Released □ Create your elevator speech. □ Develop an author website. □ Start a blog. □ Establish yourself in discussion groups on social media sites. □ Start building an e-mail subscriber list comprised of people who are interested in your work. □ Create your profile on Amazon’s Author Central page and Goodreads. □ Create a list of book promotion and book listing sites. □ Have business cards made. □ Draft promotional handout materials (post cards, book marks, posters, etc). □ Determine your target market…
CAN GREAT WRITING BE TAUGHT?
The simple answer is no. Does that mean writing courses are a waste of time? Or that getting an MA or a PhD in creative writing is a fool’s errand? Of course not. Classes can teach good writers to become better, but classes will not turn a good writer into a Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway. Great writing requires a certain native ability, which is rare. However, that does not mean aspiring indie authors should give up. While truly great writers are few, there is ample room in the world for really good writing, the pursuit of which should be the goal of every self-published author. How then does a new writer judge the value of a writing course? Well, to begin with they need to understand what their objective is. If it is to become fluent with the basics of style, syntax and word usage and, thereby, feel more comfortable integrating these into a clear and cohesive story, then do it. Or, if it is to enjoy the sense of camaraderie of classmates and gain the constructive criticism of a good teacher, then proceed. But if it is to short circuit the hard…
A great recipe from Susan & author Catana Tully!
Split at the Root Tully, Catana. Split at the Root Catana Tully, in her memoir, Split At the Root, takes her readers on an intense journey into identity, motherhood and what labels mean. At times despondent, at time joyful, the author pulls herself apart until she finds her core. Who we are is intrinsically connected to our family, our community, our race, gender and religion—among many the many categories we create to define identity. Catana Tully wonders aloud why we need to check off the boxes about who and what we are. She checks other. She told me, “The thing is, when you have a nationality that identifies you culturally, it is a shock to have to define what you are according to other people’s perception. It feels demeaning and disrespectful. One day we’ll all be ‘Other’ but that’s a long, long time away from now.” Yet Catana is driven to find the essential questions about her mother, family and culture. Where does she feel comfortable and at home? It has taken many years and now, in her 70’s, she feels comfortable asking these questions. Catana’s story is unusual, in some ways magical and in other ways heartbreaking. Not sure if…
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Most Discussed Posts
- The Importance of Good cover Design!
- Fact to Fiction - The Eternal and the Holy
- "The Child, the best immigrant"
- The Journey to Holy Parrot
- What inspires an award-winning tale?
- Fire in the Cascades!
- From Ruins to a Shining City!
- Your First Chance!
- The Blurb- Buy or not to Buy
- On the road with Apple Turnovers!
- Grab a Meat Pie and travel back in time!
- A closer Look
- Egyptian Jews- a Culinary Community
- What do you know about self-publishing?
- The Plague!
- Trucking Together!
- A conundrum!
- Memories of the Deli-
- Time Travel
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