Three Essential Arcs for Crafting Strong Characters and Shaping Your Story

A character death. A final goodbye. A heartfelt reunion. The end of a journey. It doesn’t necessarily matter the specific plot points that elicit the emotion nor is genre or artistic medium all that important. But scroll through recommendations on BookTok or consider the moments from a favorite series that have stuck with you the […]

Indie publishing powerhouses join forces

Draft2Digital is acquiring Smashwords later this year. Here’s what that means for their authors. The shocking news heard ’round the world Tuesday might just be the start of an indie publishing revolution—that is, if Mark Coker and Kris Austin have anything to say about it.  Early last week, the duo surprised authors and publishers alike […]

Make Some Noise: What—And How—Indie Authors Gain From A Growing Audiobook Industry

Sometimes the best books are the ones we don’t read.  That’s not necessarily referring to those books we leave languishing in our to-be-read piles though those deserve plenty of love and recognition as well. No, there’s just something nostalgic about having a story told to you rather than reading it yourself. Perhaps it’s the memories […]

Making a Name for Herself

How Elana Johnson—and Liz Isaacson, Jessie Newton, and Donna Jeffries—left traditional publishing to inspire indie success Nicole Schroeder Over the fourteen years she’s spent in the self-publishing industry, Elana Johnson has learned to use her strengths. The USA Today bestselling Romance and Women’s Fiction author and CEO of AEJ Creative Works, Inc., is good at […]

The Biggest Snowy Snafus You Might Be Making In Your Novel

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, Jack Frost has settled in once again. And just like many uninvited holiday visitors tend to do this time of year, he’s probably going to overstay his welcome. Thankfully, winter weather can be the perfect excuse to put the kettle on, cozy up by the fire, and immerse yourself […]

Does Amazon A+ Content Make The Grade?

Breaking Down The Newest Marketing Feature in Kindle Direct Publishing  Standing out in a crowd is rarely fun—unless you’re trying to sell books, that is. But it’s not always easy. After all, eBook sales are an ever-growing force to be reckoned with, up more than sixteen percent in 2020, according to the New York Times. […]

Hold your horses

How and why to put equine misconceptions out to pasture Few things transcend genres quite like horses. Historical novels incorporate them to set scenes or develop characters. They can be favorite modes of transportation on quests. Even their alien or hybrid cousins appear in Sci-Fi stories. Horses can be a driving force—both figuratively and literally—in […]

From the Ground Up: Dakota and Danielle Krout

Meet the couple behind Mountaindale Press, the indie publisher shaping the GameLit genre Dr. Danielle and Dakota Krout work side by side to run their independent publishing company—but only figuratively. With Danielle as the CEO and Dakota as the president and an author for Mountaindale Press, both work full time to run the company, primarily […]

Finding the editing software that’s right for you

When it comes to revision, Stephen King might’ve worded it best. Editing “is always a little like murdering children,” he wrote in his book On Writing, “but it must be done.” But finding where to start rewriting can be just as challenging as actually writing. It’s no wonder many authors use editing software to kick-start […]