Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 109

Making a Living Writing -- What I Learned at the Writer's Conference

Not many people will make a living writing books. The key is to find things that you are good at and combine them. Some things you can do in addition to writing books are editing, writing short fiction, writing magazine articles, ghostwriting, etc.


Writing Short Fiction and Magazine Articles:

1. Make money. In the time it takes from when you start to write a book to seeing it in print, it can take an average of six years. While this time passes, writing short fiction and articles can pad y...

If you Like Self-Publishing, Does that Make You "Anti-Commercial Publishing?" and other stats to give you hope

I'm posting again right after this because I promised something from the writer's conference, and this is not it. But I came across a comment (not on my blog; this is elsewhere) and I have to get this out of my system so I can focus.

The comment was on someone else's blog and it went something like this: "All those predictions that self-publishing will do better this year is from the anti-commercial publishing crowd."

Don't you just love the way this is worded? We are not pro-self-publishing;...

Buy My Book! Buy My Book! When You are Just a Royalty Check....

This post is written from my perspective as a reader.

You've seen it before. The "so and so wants to be your friend. Will you be their friend too?" message in your inbox. This person is an author. The first inclinaiton of course is to say yes. After all, it's hard not friend someone who asked to be your friend. But just what kind of friend are you getting? Is this person genuinely interested in you or do they view you as a royalty check?

You know that you're only wanted for a royalty chec...

Develop a Relationship with Your Readers

I think this is one of the most beneficial things an author can do, and it's not just because you want them to buy your book or more of your books. It's amazing how much a reader can offer. I mean, on one hand, we (as authors) are offering them something to read, but I've learned that they have offered me much more than I've ever given them.

Anyway, I guess every author feels like their readers are the best ones on the planet. :-) At least, I feel like I have the best group of people who r...

Kindle: A Waste of Time or Worth It?

The biggest argument I've come across when I decided to put my books on Kindle was that people would take it in its electronic form and rampant piracy would occur. While I concur that putting my books into electronic formats does open the door to making piracy easier than if I only did paperbacks, I have come across a surprise: my sales have been steadily increasing. And my books that are on Kindle way exceed paperback sales. Now, I set my books at $0.99. Why? Well, for me, I just want to mak...

Reasons to Self-Publish, One Reason Not To, and Tips for Marketing to Increase Sales (last part based on the writer's conference)

The question on whether or not to self-publish depends on your goal as a writer.

Here are some good reasons why you might want to self-publish:

1. Your manuscript will not fit into the industry. My romances don't fit either the Christian market or the secular market. I did my research for the stories I want to write, and there isn't a fit. I have Christian themes in my work but I also write sex between the husband and wife. The secular market doesn't want the Christian themes and the Chri...

More Thoughts on Bad Reviews

Ironically, just as someone told me not to fear criticism (someone who hasn't read my stuff at all and really doesn't know me), I saw a google alert pertaining to some ranking I got on Shelfari or Good Reads. I started a "Google Alert" to see if it really works. So far, I'm not getting much out of it except my own posts. I will explain it in another post.

Anyway, in a google alert, I saw my name so I did a quick check. The good news is that I actually wasn't shocked or dismayed when I saw ...

How Your Personality Affects Your Writing

This is an experiment I did in making a video blog. I did the audio about four times before I gave up and let the final one take. This is why at the end, you hear one of my kids crying because he and his brothers got into a fight. I didn't feel like doing a fifth take. :-)

An Unexpected Benefit to Self-Publishing: Add More Whenever You Want

Wow. I never expected the emails I got. They were all supportive and encouraged me to remember that there is still joy left to be had in life. :-) So thank you. And I have decided that everyone is right about not giving up on things I do enjoy. Okay. So I'll keep posting, but I am going to aim to keep a better balance between writing and posting and my family.

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This morning, I got an email from one of my readers...

I'm Taking a Break From My Posting and This is Why

*I will read books that I said I would and review them.

I'm going to cut back on a lot of my online time. I will keep my website up and email, but I don't think I'm going to be doing much else for awhile.

To be honest, I'm not optimistic about how things are going in this country and the world. Among my research, I've discovered some scary things. I didn't want to believe it at first, but the more research I did to disprove what I found, the more I realized that what I have believed all along...