If You Must Play Tag
As I help our 13-year-old granddaughter with a book she is writing, I find myself harking back to my teaching days and have been explaining dialog tag “forms.” In my…
What Kinda Book Is It?
Members of the Cast is set in 1959 and follows a 17-year-old girl’s year in a new high school. Margo suffers all the angst of a high school student, and yet…
Don’t Hurry
When writing a book, there are no shortcuts. One time an author, speaking at a writer’s conference, told this story: Minnie McGillacutty, and author of a lengthy series, remarked that…
Two Kinds of Computer Users
For almost 30 years, I designed, programmed, marketed, and supported the Pretty Good Grading Program, a computer grade book for elementary teachers. The manual for PGGP says this: There are…
Self-Publishing- After 22 Days
I want to give an honest report of what one might expect when self-publishing on Amazon Books. I call Members of the Cast successful but certainly not rocketing toward the…
Better Dialog
Killing Tags Tags are the little identifiers, telling the reader who is talking. One of the cardinal rules in writing is “show, don’t tell.” Tags like, “said Kate,” tell us…
“Look Inside”
The "Look Inside" feature of Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a powerful marketing tool if your book has a powerful opening. I don't know how many books I have purchased…
Getting Noticed
I'm not sure I am the best person to be talking about getting noticed. Getting the news out about a new book is not overly easy. This is called "platform."…
Kindle Unlimited
Kindle Unlimited is Amazon Kindle's brand of a lending library. For $9.99 a month, a reader can join the Kindle Unlimited program. Any book sold on Amazon with the little…
Kindle Select?
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) has Kindle Select as a marketing ploy. The idea is that you give KDP exclusive Kindle rights to distribution for 90 days. In return, you get…
Pre-Orders, Yes or No?
Now that your book formatting is ready, Kindle Direct Publishing has more questions. Pre-Order lets you start stirring up excitement about your book. However, I have read that pre-orders do…
PDFs for KDP Print Books (A fly in the ointment.)
I used Draft2Digital (D2D) to create a pdf for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Because pdf files are "print-ready," Amazon can be sure your paper book looks the way you intended.…
Checking Your eBook For Amazon
Amazon sells Kindle devices and books to fill them. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is the right arm of eBooks. Just as DOCX is the file type for Word, MOBI is…
Self-Publishing: Those Pesky ISBNs
For print books, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and Draft2Digital (D2D) will supply a free International Standard Book Number (ISBN) with the click of a button. The companies are not trying…
Self-Publishing 101 #3
Preparation for Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is different for eBooks and print books. KDP allows you to upload in several formats, but I found ePub to format well. Draft2Digital…