Think

Opinion pieces offering commentary on various aspects of book culture, publishing and self-publishing.

Can Affiliate Programs Damage Your Reputation?

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We are all looking for ways to add more value to our lives and having money helps. Utilizing affiliate programs are one way of monetizing your online presence but it isn’t right for everyone and is a lot harder to get decent results than people realize.

Can Affiliate Programs Damage Your Reputation?

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Affiliate programs and referrals are an increasingly common way of monetizing your content. A company may ask you to recommend them on your podcast or website using a special link that identifies you. In return, you will receive a percentage of the sales that result from the referral.

It can be an easy and potentially lucrative source of income, but affiliate schemes can impact your personal brand when they turn sour.

When you endorse a product or service, you are staking your reputation on that endorsement. You have built up your readers’ trust, and you are telling your readers they can extend that trust to the company you’re endorsing. But if that company proves to be unreliable, the reader will lose confidence in your judgement, and it will be a long time—if ever—before that trust is restored.

So how can content creators be sure of who they’re tying their reputation to?

There is an element of risk in any endorsement, but carefully vetting affiliates can reduce that risk substantially. Below, you’ll find five basic techniques for appraising affiliate partners. These criteria can help you weed out the riskier propositions, and feel more confident that you’re partnering with a company that’s worthy of your endorsement.

Read the full post at Self Publishing Advice From The Alliance Of Independent Authors

The Vexing Conundrum of Amazon

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I usually root for the underdog and I believe that competition is good for the buyer. Even so, I have to admit I got sucked into Amazon. It’s isn’t their fault. They do what businesses do, try and be the best. None of the eBook competition put the effort in. When I ask clients about who sells the most books for them, it is Amazon.

The Vexing Conundrum of Amazon

 By Dario Ciriello
At some point or other, any indie author must wonder how they really feel about Amazon.

I freely confess I’ve been all over the board with my attitude towards this extraordinary organization.

Some few of us will remember that Amazon began as a bookstore, and just a bookstore: music, video, and software followed soon after. Twenty-four years after its founding, Amazon’s dominance of the book space is such that no indie author stands a chance of attaining any significant visibility, let alone success, without them.

Those of us who’ve “gone wide” with some of our titles, i.e., have chosen to make them available through several other online retailers, have probably noticed that somewhere between 70 percent and close to 100 percent of our sales come from Amazon. In fact, according to the 2017 authorearnings.com report, Amazon accounted for a whopping 83 percent of US ebook sales. With just 9 percent of market share, Apple iBooks is a very distant second place finisher.

Read the full article on Fiction University!

John Grisham’s 8 Do’s And Don’ts For Popular Fiction

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Apparently, there is a whole series of these, you can find them at the bottom of the article but this is my favorite. Especially number 8. I hate it when authors do number 8 and you have to draw a chart to figure out relationships.

John Grisham’s 8 Do’s And Don’ts For Popular Fiction

John Grisham is an American author who is best known for his legal thrillers. Before writing full time, John Grisham practised criminal law and served in the House of Representatives in Mississippi.

He has sold more than 250 million books, which have been translated into 29 languages. Many of his novels have been filmed including: The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Runaway Jury, and A Time to Kill.

Here is his advice for authors of popular fiction:

1.   Do — Write A Page Every Day

That’s about 200 words, or 1,000 words a week. Do that for two years and you’ll have a novel that’s long enough. Nothing will happen until you are producing at least one page per day.

Read the full post at Writer’s Write.

The Ultimate Guide to Book Trailers: How To Produce a Killer Book Promo Video

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Book trailers are a great way to get future readers interested in your story, especially if you do it the right way. With the algorithm changes on Facebook, you actually will get more results if you can use video to reach people.

The Ultimate Guide to Book Trailers: How To Produce a Killer Book Promo Video

By Julia Drake

Consider these stats: Video racks up over 22 billion daily views. It increases the organic reach of social media content by over 100%, compared to photos or text. It ranks toward the top of the first page in Google searches, is popular across demographics, and builds an instant emotional connection with your audience.

No wonder publishers and authors are increasingly leveraging video to tap into an exploding audience. But as much as a good book promo video makes that lasting first impression, a bad video is like a bad book cover—it cannot be unseen and can ruin a reader’s expectation of a book before they’ve even had a chance to crack into that first page. To help you avoid this pitfall, here are some key considerations and steps to successfully produce and distribute a book trailer that sells your work:

What’s the big deal with video?

Read the full post at Writer’s Digest

Writing: How to Collaborate Effectively with Other Indie Authors In Your Genre

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The introvert in me is both scared and fascinated about talking to other indie writers cause I am worried they will see me as such a fraud! But only other people who go through the same issues you go through can really understand and commiserate.

Writing: How to Collaborate Effectively with Other Indie Authors In Your Genre

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Coffee optional

As part of our series of posts about different ways that indie authors can collaborate to increase their self-publishing success, US ALLi Author Member Kevin M Penelerick, who writes zombie fiction under the pen name Grivante, shares with us today a series of impressive joint projects across his genre, which could also be emulated by writers in other categories.

Shortly after releasing my first book in the fall of 2015 I had my first exposure to other indie authors. It was at the Living Dead Horror Con in Portland, Oregon and they taught me two important things:

  • There was a lot I didn’t know about when it came to selling books
  • Other authors did not have to be seen as competitors.

Starting Out

I spent most of 2016 struggling to sell that first book and learning from others. I joined author groups online and started watching to see what others were doing to be successful.

One of the key things I saw that was driving results was authors working together.

There were groups for all the main genres and many sub-genres. I had success working with other horror authors and even the broader sci-fi genre, but there wasn’t one for my particular niche, zombies.

Reaching Out

Read the full post on Self Publishing Advice From The Alliance Of Independent Authors

The cat cake that turns into a movie

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The time that this must have taken and the artistry. I would never be able to take a bite! I would never get any work done but instead would spend my day watching my cake.

When Worlds Collide

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When worlds collide you get great stories as explained in this beautifully written post by .

When Worlds Collide

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Have you ever felt out of place? I’m sure. We all have. Meeting the new in-laws. An interfaith church service. Asking the price of a necklace at Tiffany’s. The ER. CIA headquarters in Langley. Strange environments where people are different.

One summer day commuting to work on my bike, I stopped at Sander’s Bakery on Lee Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of South Williamsburg. A bakery is a bakery, right? Well, no. Sander’s is in the heart of Brooklyn’s vast Chasidishe, ultra-orthodox Jewish community. The shop was filled with men in long sideburns wearing black coats, Tzizit vests and beaver hats. Women wore wigs, calf length skirts and sturdy shoes. All spoke Yiddish. The shelves were brimming with challah, strudel, rugelach, kippelech, sufganiyot, Napoleon cake and cookies.

In my jeans, black tee and bike helmet, I stood out. Customers avoided my eyes. I am goyim. A non-Jew. An outsider, suspicious, not unwelcome but not welcome either. Cyclists have been attacked in South Williamsburg. To some, I would be less than human. Some, I knew, might believe that I literally lack a soul.

Read the full post on Writer UnBoxed.

Scheduling and Time Management by Alyson McLayne

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Who doesn’t need help managing their time. Anyone who can live and thrive while wrangling five year-old twin boys deserves a medal, never mind a listen too. So with that I invite you to read this time management post by Alyson McLayne.

Scheduling and Time Management by Alyson McLayne

Ever wonder how you’re going to get everything done? Let Alyson McLayne show you how she seizes the day!

My secret? Coffee!

With January just ended, I realize I haven’t set any goals for the year. And truthfully, as busy as I am, I can’t help but wonder What’s the point? I already have goals for this year in the form of deadlines: 3 books to complete, 12 newsletters to craft, 25+ blogs to write, and the world to wow on social media—not to mention conferences to attend and edits coming out of my ears.

Maybe, like me, you’ve reached the point where you no longer sit down and write a list of New Year’s Resolutions—only to fail come December 31st. Instead, perhaps you choose an inspiring word that becomes your mantra, or theme, for the year. One year I chose the word “success”, and last year a friend of mine chose the word “courage”. This year she has a catchphrase: “Seize the moment”.

These are all good ideas. I can only imagine that if we courageously seized the moment whenever we could during 2018 it would lead to great success!

But I feel like those kinds of words and the sentiment behind them are too ephemeral for me this year. I need something with more grit, more heft, to get me through the challenges I face. Like many of you, in addition to writing, I’m also busy on the home front—I have twin five-year-olds, a puppy, aging and sick parents, and a husband who works long hours.

Read the full post at Romance University!

Unbelievably Strange Planets in Space

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Here is some inspiration for all the science fiction writers out there! Or people who just like cool science like me!

 

 

Becoming a “Real” Writer

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This isn’t about getting a contract or a million Amazon followers, but how to express your “real” self through your writing. Finding your unique voice and staying true to it. I really enjoyed reading it and I hope you do too.

Becoming a “Real” Writer

By Kathryn Craft

I love to go hear other authors speak. What a kick that Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout sounds like my favorite quirky aunt, or that bestselling author Margot Livesey’s lush prose begins with characters who, like mine, nod and shrug their way through her first drafts.

I’ve walked away from dozens of such interactions thinking, “She was just so real.”

Now, isn’t that a funny thing to say about someone who makes things up for a living?

Or perhaps writing engaging fiction is one of the most emotionally truthful pursuits in which we will ever engage. A novelist can spend years crafting a story that will illustrate an emotional truth. Why? Because the point she is making is vital to her worldview. That’s pretty darned personal—it’s laid bare.

Fear of such exposure is why reaching for emotional honesty can be a significant source of writer’s block. Accomplished writers grow in authenticity the same way we all must: one step at a time.

Read the full post at Writers In The Storm!

The Words That Changed Your Life: Discovering What Made You a Writer

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I have always loved stories, making them up or reading them. My beginnings as an author started in first grade with Enormous the Frog.  I can’t imaging not be creative this way. How about you? What made you want to write?

The Words That Changed Your Life: Discovering What Made You a Writer

by K.M. Weiland

For me, it’s almost become a cliché answer: “I write because stories have always been my language. I write because my very first memory is telling myself a story.”

“Why do you write?” and “What made you a writer?” are two questions I’m ubiquitously asked in interviews. I can respond to those questions in my sleep. I don’t even think about their answers anymore.

And that, as I’m now realizing, is a shame.

As artists, our early influences were more than just the first domino in our journeys. They were more than “just” formative. They were the experiences that shaped us into the people and writers we have become. Sometimes these influences are conscious: some writers can recall a specific book or movie that made them say, “I want to be a writer.” But even in these situations, the subconscious impact is often far deeper and more telling.

Read the full post on Helping Writers Become Authors!

How well do you know typography?

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Typography, fonts, serifs oh my! How well do you know different pop culture fonts? There is a cheat video linked below to see how you did.

Here is the link to the one with the answers –  https://youtu.be/SGdnN8W30ho

Top 10 Words That Will Kill Your Writing DEAD

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Oh-oh I am guilty of a few of these. However, In my defense I only use “however” in business writing. Now I am going to be extra careful none of these are used in my literary writing. It is a great post because by getting rid of these words you actually make your writing more active.

Top 10 Words That Will Kill Your Writing DEAD

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So I read screenplays for a living, plus I spend a huuuuuuge part of my life reading FOR FUN (wtaf!), so I’ve discovered there are certain words that crop up again and again and again which threaten to TORPEDO writers’ narrative efforts.

I call these ‘crutch words’ (quiet at the back). Crutch words are those we may rely on in EARLY DRAFTS, which we need to seek out with a torpedo of our own and DESTROY in the edit process. Whether you’re a screenwriter or novelist (trad or self published), look out for these suckers …

1) ‘Suddenly’

The actual word ‘sudden’ means ‘quick and without warning’, so it’s especially ironic that including the word LITERALLY SLOWS THE ACTION DOWN. WTAF is the point?? Compare:

Read the full post on Bang 2 Write!

Going Dutch! Or Something.

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I love finding concepts from different cultures that I can relate to.  Because I married into a German family, I was introduced to the word Schadenfreude some time ago. You know, the ability to enjoy someone else’s misfortune or humiliation.  Apparently enjoying different culture concepts is a thing now.  So here are a few that I know of.

One of my pictures of forest-bathing with the family. Nothing like the Sequoia Nation Park to keep you humble.

Niksen – Dutch. The ability to enjoy doing nothing. Which is actually very good for you to do as it gives your brain a much-needed break. So walk slowly and smell the flowers!

Shinrin-yoku – Japanese. Literally translated as “forest-bathing” it is the very healthy concept of spending time in nature to nurture yourself.

Hygge – Danish. A state of coziness. Often associated with wintertime, you really can appreciate and achieve a state of coziness at any time.

Jugaad –  Hindi. The art of converting misfortune into success or being able to make do with what you have or frugal innovation.

Lagom – Swedish. Having just the right amount or a balanced life.

Wabi-sabi – Japanese. Embracing imperfection, simplicity, and the transient nature of life.

I know I left out “Swedish death cleaning” but I learned about it from my German mother-in-law first.

What about you? Do you have any cool wisdom or concept share?

 

Well, Shit!

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This isn’t the first report that shows the benefits of swearing, it is just the one that has monkeys. I love monkeys. But swearing can help ease pain and even make you seem more honest. So that is why I have such a potty mouth! I am just trying to honestly deal with my pain! Fuck raising eyebrows.

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Swearing Is Good For You—And Chimps Do It, Too

Cursing masks pain and builds relationships at work. But if you’re a woman, letting a profanity fly can still raise eyebrows.

By Simon Worrall

I shocked the monkey.

Swearing is usually regarded as simply lazy language or an abusive lapse in civility. But as Emma Byrne shows in her book, Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language, new research reveals that profanity has many positive virtues, from promoting trust and teamwork in the office to increasing our tolerance to pain.

When National Geographic caught up with Byrne at her home in London, she explained why humans aren’t the only primates that can curse and why, though women are swearing more today than before, it is still regarded by many as “unfeminine.”

Read the full post on National Geographic

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P.S. What is your favorite cuss word?