Why Teaching Research Writing Is More Important Than Ever

As Harlan Ellison said: “You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. Everything else is just hot air and farts in the wind.”

7 Out-of-the-box Tips to Increase Book Sales

You probably landed on this page because you are an independent novelist and are tired of seeing the low monthly sales from Amazon.  You wrote a book (or four) and have hit a promotional slump.  You may also be hard up for cash as your writing life is mostly a hobby that you would like

My Abysmal Facebook Promotion Ad

Last week I posted that I was going to try out a Facebook ad to drive traffic to my Amazon page where my book was listed at a Kindle countdown price of .99 cents. I’ll have to admit…I had high hopes. Well, I quit the ad yesterday. I’d spent a little over $100 after about

The Terminarch Plot Is On Sale for .99 Cents!

Today begins the week long .99 cent promotion of “The Terminarch Plot”.  It is the first installment of “The Five Rims” series of books set hundreds of years in our future, a time when the human race has dwindled to less than 50 souls after their tyrannical empire fell at the hands of four races

How I’m Using Facebook Advertising

Well, The Terminarch Plot has been available for 6 weeks and my sales are pretty dismal.  I’m undaunted, however.  Recently I was paid for an editing job and that gave me some capital to throw at the problem. Rather than throw money around willy-nilly (which would be irresponsible) I decided to spend some time doing research

New Podcast Up: SoonerCon 24 Podcast Panel!

This is a very special podcast episode.  Ryan and I were invited to be panelists this year at Oklahoma’s premiere local science-fiction/fantasy convention, SoonerCon 24.  We were also asked to be on a panel (among other panels) discussing podcasting and how one can get involved in the podcast medium. We had a great time discussing

5 Best Bits of Advice About Marketing Your Book

While the draft of my newest book The Terminarch Plot is in the hands of beta readers, I thought I would focus today’s blog post on some advice I would give an indie novelist who is considering marketing their book. I’m sure you’ve gone to Twitter and seen those shameless folks tweeting away about their books,

4 Reasons Why Facebook Is Not Useful for Authors

Let’s face it. Authors, especially independent authors, need to promote themselves. However, there are ways to promote and ways not to promote.  Social media is a way to promote yourself as a writer, but it can also be a double-edged sword.  Of course, Delilah S. Dawson wrote a fantastic article about the misuse of social

10 Ways Indie Authors Can Increase Reader Engagement

I’ve been writing this blog since December of 2011.  I started the blog as a way to reach readers with the books I was peddling, but more than that it has become a sounding board for all things writing.  I love providing writing tips in a concise manner, helping indie writers like myself succeed in

Writing Requires Discipline

I have taught writing for years and years and I’ve been a writer for twice that long.  I’m writing this blog post today for the writers out there who are thinking of “hanging it up”. If you have tried your hand at this writing gig and you don’t like it, then just do something else.