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What does it take to become a great author?
If you’re interested in becoming a writer, you might be wondering what it takes to become an author. The answer to that question is fairly simple. All you need to do to become an author is to write something and publish it. These days, self-publishing options make that very simple. However, if your interest is to become a great author, then it becomes much more complex. In this article, I’ll do my best to convey my opinion on what it takes to become a great author. In order to write compelling novels, two essential ingredients are required. First, you must have a well-developed imagination. Second, you must possess the three…
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Taking A Break
There comes a time when we all need to take a break. You risk crashing and burning when you push too hard for too long. Race car drivers make pitstops. Even the Almighty took a day of rest. How do you know when it’s time to recharge, what steps might accomplish that, and how do you return to the race without losing your place? I will try to shed some light on those questions in this article. Welcome back, readers! I hope my insights help. Knowing when to take a break is the most difficult challenge. When we’re on a roll, we become obsessed. It’s hard to stop when the…
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How Do I Know When I’m on the Right Track?
Hi, readers. Welcome back! I love this question: How do you know when you’re on the right track with your novel? There is a massive misconception that any writing is good writing. This simply isn’t true. While any writing will enhance your ability to write, readers are only interested in reading good stories. So, when do you know that you are onto something good? In today’s article, I will try to shed some light on the matter. Let’s start with the misconception that all writing is good. Most things in your refrigerator are also good, but you wouldn’t want to make a ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard salad. Likewise, spaghetti sauce…
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How to Promote Your Book in the 21st Century
Book promotion is the single most crucial challenge, aside from writing ability, that an author will ever face. Just because you’ve written a great book doesn’t mean it will ever be read. In this article, I will look at how advertisements and promotions have changed over the years for aspiring authors. My goal is to provide you with insight into how to effectively share your work with the world. Times have changed, but the extent and velocity of change are not easy to recognize without context. Before we enter the 21st Century, let’s take a look back in time at a few indisputable facts: The first computer, ENIAC, was powered…
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How Do You Create Such Realistic Scenes?
Hey, readers. Welcome back! In this post, I want to provide you with the tools and insight that you will need to create realistic scenes in your novels. In the past, authors had to rely solely on their imaginations or experiences to create detailed scenes that would draw their readers into their stories, but that’s no longer the case. Let’s get started by answering a couple of related questions. Why is the setting so important? While it is the underlying story that matters, the way you describe your settings greatly impacts your readers’ experience. Yes, they are reading text in a book or on a screen, but you want them…
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Game Over! Clock Out!
Welcome back, readers! If you’re like me, then you’re obsessed with writing. While this is a good thing in general, it can be problematic in practice. At some point during each day, we all turn back into pumpkins! Pumpkins aren’t well-known for being great authors. This post is about knowing when to throw in the towel for the day. While I could quite literally write every waking minute of my life, I know that’s not smart, healthy, or productive. How many hours of writing you put in each day entirely depends on your situation. If you have a traditional job, then that plays an obvious role in the matter. If…
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Interview Me!!!
Hey, gang. Welcome back! Following up on my previous post about promoting your books, today’s article is intended to help you gain exposure. The more the world knows your name and what you are striving to achieve with your books, the greater your sales will be. One of the best ways to gain exposure is through interviews. Let’s start with the value of an interview. In a perfect world, an interview benefits three separate parties – the author, the interviewer, and the audience. From the author’s perspective, generating sales is the intent, but let’s look at each independently of the others before we get into that. The Author One of…
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Promoting My Book
Welcome back, readers! In today’s post, I want to share my thoughts on how you can best promote your book once it is published. Publishing a novel is an intrinsically rewarding achievement, but we all want more. We want our books to be read and we want to profit from our efforts. Now that our manuscript is complete, how do we make that happen? In this article, I will list ten steps that I believe are critical in promoting your new book. If you have additional thoughts or suggestions, please include them as a comment. Let’s get to it! Step 1: The Cover A book’s cover is the very first…
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Some Succeed While Others Fail
Hello, readers. In tonight’s post, I want to address a paradox – why do some succeed while others fail when their approaches, talent, and commitment are the same? Is it luck, fate, or destiny, or is there something we’re not seeing? Hang tight as we delve deeper. While I don’t purport to put myself on the same level as more accomplished authors, I often wonder how they became so successful after such meager beginnings, that, in reality, aren’t much different than my own. How on Earth does a debut novel become a bestseller? How does an author who has only written two books secure a movie deal? Those questions boggle…
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This Has Been Done Before!
Hello, readers. Today I want to critique a particularly annoying review that every author will eventually encounter. Regardless of content, genre, or originality, you will undoubtedly come across a review that claims that your book is derivative or that your story has already been told. Let me start this article by putting that assessment into perspective: Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again. In case you don’t recognize it, that is a quote by Andre Gide, a French author who passed away in 1951 after making one of the most profound statements of all time. To…
