Writing in a pandemic
Well, my (writing) world went to shit. I can't write in cafés anymore. I could. They're open, but I don't want to. Plus, I'm not ready to edit yet. I'm still drafting my next story. My dictation schedule took a hammering because after I stopped watching non-stop news...
Amazon’s 30, 60, & 90 day cliff, and the power of 1 sale
Look at the Amazon Rank Graphic. Is your book lurking at the bottom of the Amazon Charts? Or are you worrying about Amazon's 30, 60, & 90 day 'cliff' drop? Fear not. My chart graphic shows what happens when a book is left without promotion until it hits the floor...
How to write a character first powerful plot
We've all heard that plot driven stories may be fun to write, but readers stick around for the characters. But how exactly do we squeeze all that boring character heavy stuff into our action packed storyline?? If you're like me, character may be your weakness. You...
The Difference Between An Idea, A Concept, And A Premise
An idea is to travel to Florida. A concept is to travel by car and stop at all the national parks along the way. A premise is to take your estranged father with you and mend fences while on the road. This is taken directly from the pages of Larry Brooks', Story...
The Christmas Book Buying Public for Self Published Authors
This Post is just a reminder for Christmas next year at how powerful the Nov/Dec month is. For me, sales didn't really register for the first few days of Dec, but that's probably a delay in Amazon's reporting. This tells me that I need to get everything done and...
Amazon Ads in Germany, Italy, France, & Spain
One small leap for man. One giant leap for mankind! I jumped in with both eyes closed and completed my first German AMS Ad! If it wasn't for Google Translate*, I wouldn't have gotten through the signup process. Luckily, it connected through my UK login and accepted my...
Customer Psychology and Key Dates for Fiction Book Publishing
Thinking of Publishing in July? November? Maybe Easter? Think again. Don't make decisions based on 'hunches'. Make them based on data. And if you haven't published yet and need some evidence, use mine. Above is a chart of my AMS ad spend (orange line) and my...
Shocka! eBooks Sales Are Down! And Why This Is Very Wrong
Audiobook sales are up and eBook sales are down according to The Times. Full article here but due to The Times paywall barrier you can read more about this on the Independent article. But more importantly, is this true? Yes and no. tl;dr: We don't really know because...
The Best Free Book on Writing Craft by Philip K Dick
If you ever write, or see writing where, arms reach, shoulders shrug, eyes follow, hands roam, lips pucker, or eyebrows bunch, Philip K Dick has the perfect solution for you. This short and sweet text is the perfect lesson to discover short-comings in your writing, or...
Fixing Fiction: What to do if your story has too many protagonists
Your story has multiple protagonists and you’re in trouble. You can’t figure out how to juggle these characters to make the story work. What do you do? Luckily, you don’t have as big a problem as you think. *phew* Read on... To decide who is your protagonist, you pick...
Formula Fiction: Essential Writing Techniques Traditional Publishers Don’t Want You to Know About
Formula Fiction: It’s the thing traditional publishers don’t want you to know about, but you must…
Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling Dissected for Novelists
Pixar's rules of writing are a great read for all storytellers, however, some of the rules aren't so clear on what they mean, or are always considered from a film making perspective. Because of this, I've decided to give them my own spin and interpret them for myself,...
Narrative Style and Author Branding in the 3rd Person
People (and by people I mean no-one) often ask why I'm writing in the 3rd person (my weakest pov) when I know I can write better in the 1st. The long boring answer is: narrative style can be part of the author brand which spans multiple books. 1st pov can't....
An Idiots Guide to Advertising with Amazon Ads for Indie Authors
So you want to try Amazon Adverts and don't know where to start. Or you do know where to start, but are so confused you need yet another blog post explaining it to get some objective clarity. You've come to (another) right place. I'm going to walk you through how to...
Mid90s Film In True Skateboarding Shocka!
Written and directed by Jonah Hill, Mid90s follows Stevie, a thirteen-year-old in 90s-era LA who spends his summer navigating between his troubled home life and a group of new friends that he meets at a Motor Avenue skate shop.
Livestream Fiction Writing on Youtube
I have a special announcement to make! After listening to someones podcast about a writer live streaming their writing on Twitch, I have joined the club! Albeit, not on Twitch, and not live. I'll explain: I'm on Youtube here and I upload the video after I'm done....
When exactly can one call themselves an Author?
Yesterday I had a strange email arrive which I couldn't quite believe. I thought it was a mistake, I dreaded the message behind the Subject line and reluctantly clicked on it. Before I tell you what was in that email, let me step back and tell you why this email was...
Book 3 Pool Staker is almost ready!
I'm at the editing stage and almost ready to release the new book: Pool Staker.
Smarter Writers Use Semi-colons and Colons
I have heard in writing circles that writers who use the semi-colon are just demonstrating that they've been to college/Uni. And that writers should either pause (comma), not pause (no comma), or stop completely (full stop). This is not true at all. A semi-colon is an...
Badass Book Cover Designs
I have known about GoOnWrite book covers for a long time, but couldn't recollect the name until I searched (hard) for it this morning. These covers are sooo good! I want them. In fact I love them so much, I don't want to tell anyone about the site! I want it to be my...
Progress on Book 3 looks like this…
I'm grafting away. Actually, I shouldn't be writing this, but hey. Distractions! I'm not put off by my 3k a chapter targets, because this is just draft 1. I'll be whizzing through it again as soon as I've finished and sprinkling description, better dialogue, and all...
Why the StoryGrid Podcast makes for painful listening
Tim Grahl is being mentored to write his novel with expert editor Shawn Coyne - and it makes for painful listening. Regular listeners of the show have been following Tim writing his novel, submitting it to Shawn, getting feedback, and going back to the drawing board....
Blatant Self Promotion
CredibleInk is on instagram! Yes. Blatant, unashamed, self promotion alert. Go here: instagram.com/credibleinkmark and follow me! Why should you follow? Because you'll get to find out more about me, my writing woes, and you'll see how to do Instagram for writers!...
8 big problems all novelist’s face and how to overcome them
Writing a novel is hard. Tapping keys is the easy part, the struggle comes from all the battles with fear, uncertainty, and doubt, over a number of aspects of story telling. I've pulled together a list of issues I (and other writers) constantly run into. I would argue...
Watch Fiction Being Written Below!
(Yes, being an author is as exciting as it appears in the movies!)
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