Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 112

Does Your Title Do Your Book Justice?

Does Your Title Do Your Book Justice?

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5 Reasons to Have a Website

Thought this article might be of interest. :-)

5 Important Reasons to Have a Writer's Website

An Author's Perspective: What to Write or Not Write

A reader's input is important to an author. But you see, readers are going to have differing opinions, and the author can't please every reader. It's impossible. So what the author finally has to do is ask him/herself, "How do I want the story to play out?" And that is ultimately the thing that has to be done.

It's not that the author is saying, "Screw you. I'm doing it my way, regardless of what you think." Believe me, authors (for the most part) do not write a story in a way that they hope w...

NaNo Has Officially Begun

This is a chance to have a lot of fun. I know some people look at National Novel Writing Month's goal of 50,000 words to be intimidating, but it really isn't. The chance is to challenge yourself to see how much you are capable of writing in a month. The purpose is not to write your best work either. The idea is just to get your story down on paper. Remember, you can't revise a blank page.

I found this article through The Creative Penn on How to Write a Novel in 30 Days . I thought in the spiri...

My Experience and Why I Self-Publish

The question may come up as to what my background is in writing and publishing. The verbally abusive comment I had to delete indicated that I don't know what I'm talking about in the realm of writing, publishing or dealing with publishers. True, I don't know everything. But I do know some things. I want to clarify a few points here. I chose to self-publish. This wasn't something I had to do. I had an editor from The Wild Rose Press who was interested in one of my manuscripts. The Wild Rose...

New Policy on Who Can Comment

Due to another abusive comment, I have now narrowed down who can comment on my blog. I have now authorized people who are following me to be able to comment. So that means if you are not on my "follower" list, you can't post a comment. I hate that it has to come to this, but the person has left me with no other choice. I want this to be a pleasant environment. People who self-publish need support, not criticism. This is not a forum for attacks on self-published authors or to debate whether or...

Clarifying a Point I Made Earlier, Self-Published Authors' Quality of Work, and No Abuse Allowed on My Blog

Apparently, someone misunderstood what I meant in an earlier post when I said that publishers aren't concerned so much with how well a writer writes as they are in the the ability the author has to tell a good story. So let me clarify the point. When a writer joins a critique group, the group gives the author a list of rules on how to write. Such rules include things like this: don't use adverbs, don't use passive voice, don't use "to be" or "to have" verbs, etc. Okay. So that is what I'...

Another Reason I Self-Publish = Don't Have To Spent Much Time Marketing

As much as I enjoy learning about marketing, the truth is I don't want to do much of it. I want to keep things on a relaxed level where I am enjoying myself. I want my readers to be friends, and I don't want to seek them out. I just put my stuff out there and if they contact me, I learn about them and try to develop a relationship with them. I don't want to spend my time seeking out ways to reach new potential readers. To me, that is much too stressful and my personality isn't made for i...

Rule of Thumb When Seeking Traditional Publication: Author Pays Nothing

I just learned that a traditional publisher, Thomas Nelson, is offering authors that they turn down an option to self-publish through its WestBow Press line. This WestBow Press line is going to do this directly with AuthorHouse, which is a vanity publisher (which means it takes money from authors to publish their manuscripts). Apparently, agents whose clients are rejected by Thomas Nelson are told if they refer the author to WestBow Press and that author does it, the agent gets some of that...

Publishing Choices

I found this today on Twitter (thanks to 1106Design). It's a series of articles where authors Christine and Ethan Rose discuss various publishing choices, and here is a list of topics. (The post was made on Sept. 27, so you can read the topics listed below now instead of waiting.)

Series Index (all links will not be live until series is complete on 10/11). Seeing that it is past 10/11, all links are active. Check it out. There's bound to be something beneficial for everyone.

1.Four Basic C...