I recently attended a “sit-up-and-take-notice” workshop about how to produce, distribute and sell your work in the evolving e-world given by Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords. His opener jolted my writer self like a sip of vanilla latte on a cold, groggy morning. “There’s never been a better time to be an author.” Okaaaay, I thought, as though he had just told […]
Publishing and Marketing
Mark Coker/Negative Virality/This Book Sucks!
I attended an E-book publishing workshop given by Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords. In it, he spoke of Negative Virality. According to the online Oxford Dictionary, virality means the tendency of an image, video, or piece of information to be circulated rapidly and widely from one Internet user to another; the quality or […]
Publish Your Short Story at Story Star
Have you ever dreamed of publishing one of your short stories and seeing how it compares to others out there? If so, here’s your chance. At Story Star, you can share your short stories with the world. No, you won’t get paid for them, but you may find the exposure encouraging and fun. Or, if you’re a […]
Margaret Duarte’s Video Book Trailer
Here’s a YouTube book trailer explaining what the four books in my “Enter the Between” series are all about. And what I’m all about. YouTube Book Trailer I’ve taken my brand statement and put it to music. Here it is in words: My Brand Statement “Everyone has the capacity for spiritual and emotional freedom. Through […]
Writers Need Vibrant, Creative Partnerships
I’m sure you’ve heard before that an author platform is mandatory to your publishing career. You’ve also heard that in building a platform you need to blog, social network, and use video sites. In other words, you have to do your own marketing and promotion. “Publishers want to know how many people you know,” says Jennifer Hill Robenalt, a 20-year communications […]
Upmarket Fiction, Straddling Genre Lines
It’s important for fiction writers to be able to categorize their work, if for no other reason than to help agents, publishers, marketers, and retailers match it to what readers want. One of the first fiction category breakdowns is easy, since it’s determined by word count: Flash fiction, for instance, is usually 1500 words or less; short stories under 7,500; […]
