Jami Gold's Blog: Jami Gold, Paranormal Author, page 39

Self-Publishing Resources: For Fun and Profit

In the writing and self-publishing world, writers encounter a lot of services that cost money. Some of them are solid resources that are worth it if they work for our processes (such as One Stop for Writers with the Emotion Thesaurus and other thesauruses, story mapping tool, random generators, etc.). Others…? Not so much.

We could easily spend much of our publishing income on services. We could even end up in the hole, without profit to speak of. That’s why it’s always nice to discover free...

Diversity Issues: The Importance of “Own Voices”

There’s much I could say about the importance of diverse stories and characters in fiction. However, while depictions of all types of characters are valuable for expanding choices for readers, the stories that should be most encouraged are those from authors who can provide an authentic perspective.

That means it’s especially important to raise up the voices of those with first-hand experience, known as “own voices.” The point of “own voices” is to listen to those who know.

Although I write...

When Readers Don’t Believe Our Writing

There are many reasons we need beta readers, critique partners, or other sources of feedback. One of the biggest reasons is to help us fill in the blanks for things we can’t see.

For example, we often fail to get everything from our head onto the page. Or even if we think we’ve captured all the aspects of our story, subjectivity means every reader will interpret those aspects differently. A character’s gesture intended as sweet could be seen as controlling, etc.

Feedback is essential for und...

Release News! How Do You Celebrate?

Yesterday marked the release of my fifth book, Stone-Cold Heart. Guess how I celebrated?

Um… I didn’t.

Some might guess that my lack of joy was due to the fact that a book release is old hat to me by now. (It’s not. I still find it cool. *smile*) Or that I’m waiting until the print version is available. (I’m not, but CreateSpace has been difficult in processing the cover art this time around for some reason, so the print version will come in a week or so.)

Instead, my distraction was partly...

What Advice Do You Ignore?

There’s no shortage of writing advice out there for us to learn. We can find tips about drafting, editing, publishing, querying, branding, etc.—anything we can think of.

Some of that advice is questionable, a few tidbits are outright harmful, but most of it is decent-to-good. Yet even if advice is good, we still might want to ignore it. No joke. *smile*

Even the best advice won’t always apply to us or help us become better writers or published authors. Let’s talk about the different kinds of...

Self Publishing? Use Your Goals to Develop a Master Plan

It’s time once again for my monthly guest post over at Janice Hardy’s Fiction University. If you haven’t been following along, my series about Indie Publishing Paths at Fiction University has highlighted some of the choices we have to make as self-published authors and also given us a few guidelines.

We first discussed how we need to know our goals because that will help us make the best decisions for us. Depending on how we measure success, our priorities will vary, and we might make differ...

The Silver Lining of Bad Reviews

I’m still struggling through recovery after my latest (and maybe last? *fingers crossed*) surgery last week. (It doesn’t help that due to my recent C.diff. infection, I can’t even take ibuprofen for the pain or swelling and am stuck with only ice packs. Ow.)

So I’m rerunning (and adding an addendum to) a post from a few years ago about how bad reviews can be good news. Now that I’m published, I know even more just how true this post is… *smile*

Rejection in some form or other is part of life...

Slow Progress Is Better Than No Progress

Due to my health issues over the past 14 months, I’ve missed a lot of self-imposed deadlines. My next novel, Stone-Cold Heart, is releasing a full year after I originally planned.

I’ve mentioned before that I have a long history as a perfectionist. I’ve always had high expectations for myself and tended to beat myself up when I didn’t meet them. Not good.

Luckily, the older I’ve gotten, the better I am at recognizing the big picture, which often means adopting a healthier attitude. That adju...

4 Common Copy Editing Issues to Watch For — Guest: Julie Glover

I’ve mentioned before that I write very “clean,” and that helps me when it comes time to getting my stories professionally edited. Julie Glover, my copy editor, gives me a “clean” discount, which saves me money. (Always a good thing. *smile*)

Part of why I write clean is because I’m a slow writer and detail-oriented. Neither of those are traits others can necessarily emulate—or would want to—but there are other ways we can strengthen our skills if we’d like to write cleaner.

The second answe...

Re-Envisioning: How to Fix Big Problems with Small Changes

Ever feel like your life is one step forward and two steps back? While our characters run into obstacles all the time and our revision efforts can cause a domino effect of other required changes, unfortunately, that phenomena can be a real-life occurrence as well.

I was finally making progress on my physical therapy for the nerve/tendon issues in my feet and ankles, and then a few days ago, I tore the tendon in the arch of my foot. *sigh* Now, I’m back to limping and starting over. Again.

So...