Deborah Jay's Blog

#BookReview Dragon Ripples: Makarian Tales Book 1 by Kez Sharrow #Fantasy

While I didn’t have time for writing during my hectic work trip, I did manage to read quite a bit in hotels, at airports, on planes etc., and I’m just now getting around to writing up my reviews for the best books. It sometimes looks like I always award 5, or occassionally, 4 stars to […]

Surviving #StormAmy

I had planned on another book review this week, but the last few days have been rather taken up with pre-empting property damage, and managing everyday chores, during our first major storm of the year: Cyclone Amy – the product of Hurricane Humberto and Hurricane Imelda churning close to each other, causing a rapid pressure […]

The new alternative to #NaNoWriMo

All those many writers who joined NaNoWriMo and found it a fantastic tool to really focus on their writing for the month of November, with the goal of producing 50K words to ‘win’, were devastated when, after 20 years, the announcement came this last spring that it had closed down for good. Well, now there […]

#Bookreview – Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson #SF

It’s been a long time since I felt like committing to a big read, and a science fiction book at that. But Frank Herbert’s DUNE was the book that hooked me on SFF. The scope of storytelling these genres offer, the original concepts they embrace, and yet they way they are used to explore the […]

Brief #blogging hiatus

Life has taken over for a short while – it’s the peak of competition season and I simply don’t have the time to devote sufficient attention to producing quality blog posts, so there will be a short break in my publishing series and general updates. If you’re not familiar with my day job: this was […]

#Pricing your book to sell (self publishing part 12)

We’ve now reached the point in your publishing journey where we are almost ready to press the ‘PUBLISH’ button, but first you have to decide how much you want to charge for your work. These are the first selections you need to make before entering your price: KDP Select If you choose to enrol your […]

More #garden pics, and big #blogging news

Life and work have taken over, as they do, so a quick catch up on garden pics to show you what we are enjoying at the moment. And big news at the end… Crocosmia lucifer in front of echinops globe thistle (not quite in colour yet) and lavatera behind. We have quite a few rose […]

Uploading your ebook to #KDP (Self Publishing Part 11)

Now you have filled out the Metadata for your book, it’s finally time to upload your manuscript. Once you click ‘continue’ on the first page, you will be taken to the upload page. By now, you should already have your ebook and cover formatted and ready to go, and it’s simply a case of uploading […]

#AmazonCategories and #Keywords – what are they, why are they important, and how to choose them, and #Pre-orders (Self Publishing Part 10)

We’ve reached the part in your self publishing journey where you need to do some research before completing this section of your book upload at Amazon and other retailers. Categories First, you need to choose which of 3 categories your book will be listed in. This may sound simple, but that isn’t necessarily so! It’s […]

#Keywords – what are they, why are they important, and how to choose them, and #Pre-orders (Self Publishing Part 10)

We’ve reached the part in your self publishing journey where you need to do some research before completing this section of your book upload at Amazon and other retailers. We’ve been discussing uploading your book to Amazon, and now we’ve reached the point where you are asked for 7 keywords to apply to your book. […]