Indie Writer Resources

Happy One Year Anniversary, Beautiful Demons!!

I’m a little late with this happy birthday celebration, but as of October 29th, it’s been exactly one year since I first published BEAUTIFUL DEMONS!!! The decision to become an Indie author and self-publish my books in ebook format was a huge decision for me. Like most writers, I had always wanted the validation of seeing my book in a physical bookstore and having an agent or editor tell me they loved and believed in my work. It took a lot of time and hair-pulling to finally move beyond that false idea of validation and realize that my future was…

Amazon’s Big News!

If any of you have been on the fence about whether to buy an ereader or a new tablet, now is the best time ever to jump into the ebook revolution. Amazon announced a while back that they were going to do a press conference this morning and everyone was anticipating their unveiling of a new tablet, but Amazon actually announced 3 new offerings today. An ad-supported Kindle at only $79. What?! Yes, I’m serious about this. For less than eighty bucks, you can have a Kindle. And don’t worry, the ads aren’t scrolling while you read your books or…

August Sales Numbers

Wow, so they weren’t kidding about a summer slump. My sales definitely slowed down in the month of August, and it was scary! Overall, I had a good monthly total simply because I now have four books out instead of 3. On the other hand, each book’s individual sales were the lowest they’ve been since February, which is disappointing. That’s one of the hardest parts about self-publishing. It’s a lot of ups and downs and you never truly know what to expect from month to month. The only true way to guarantee growth is to keep writing books. August Sales…

The Word Count Issue

In the traditional publishing world, word count for young adult novels is all over the place. The Twilight Saga books are each over 100,000 words. Books like Kate Brian’s Private series are more around the 65,000-75,000 word count. Most websites and agents place a typical YA manuscript between 45,000-80,000 words. Here is what Agent Colleen Lindsay says about YA: YA fiction = For mainstream YA, anywhere from about 45k to 80k; paranormal YA or YA fantasy can occasionally run as high as 120k but editors would prefer to see them stay below 100k. The second or third in a particularly…

My Write-a-palooza Rewards!

I had a fun shopping day today at the Sanrio store in the Crabtree Valley Mall here in Raleigh! I spent almost exactly $84, lol, so there will be no HK collectipaks for me, but that’s okay. I’m super excited about what I bought!! Here’s a pic of my swag: I bought one of the new Hello Kitty canvas tote bags. It’s big enough to put my netbook in and some folders and pens, but it also fits over my shoulder, which is nice. I also got that cute HK t-shirt, three buttons (that I’ll probably put on my shoulder…

WRITE-A-PALOOZA

I am now officially embarking on a me only write-a-palooza. I’m way behind on my rough draft work for DEMONS FOREVER. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been thinking about it ALL the time, but the thinking has only translated so far into about 11,000 words. My self-imposed deadline now to finish the rough draft is September 5th, which is only 13 days away. I’ve got to get crackin! So over lunch today, my husband suggested a fun challenge for me. Since he is, after all, my muse, he likes to find ways to encourage and motivate me. And since he knows…