Courtney Wendleton's Blog, page 30
September 7, 2016
Should You Self-Publish or Traditionally Publish?
by A.G. Young
So today we’re talking about if you should Self Publish or Traditionally Publish that baby you have been working on for months or years. This of course is no easy question to answer, and also very highly personal to each writer. So I am going to discuss my opinion on the matter. And a little forewarning, because of the topic of this post, this is going to be a long one.
Before you can answer this main question, you must answer a few others first. Let’s see what those are.
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What Does the Death of Anything Mean?
Death is a word that none of us want to hear, read nor say. Yet this is a reality of life since everything in life dies. I am not just referring when it comes to human beings, I’m referring to absolutely everything from seasons to even the job that you have. “Omg Aura, you are taking this overboard” you may be thinking. As a matter of fact, I’m just stating the facts of life and you will see how this relates to your well-being and how you can use this for your growth.
Death just means when something ends or ceases. Certain deaths causes sadness like when a loved one dies or even the end of a marriage. Believe it or not, even while you are on this earth you will have certain parts of you that will cease as well. This is just a natural and necessary cycle of…
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September 5, 2016
How to Write an Irresistible Love Triangle
by Whitney Carter
Ah, the love triangle. For the romantically inclined, is there anything more enticing, more gut-wrenching? The passion, the torn desires, the often vastly different futures – it’s simply too much! *back of hand to forehead in fainting gesture!*
Okay, I’ll stop. But in all seriousness, a well-written triangle can have your readers not only emotionally invested in the characters and their struggles, but also in you as the writer. After all, love triangles are so easy to mess up that nine times out of ten, we as readers expect to be disappointed when the possibility of a triangle is presented. But a writer who can pull one off to our satisfaction? Gold.
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But Who Can Explain Longing To My Child?
But who can explain longing to my child?
The teardrop tries but fails,
For it carries many.
The silenced voice is unheard,
The pounding heart, muffled.
The knotted gut is unseen,
The lumped throat, concealed.
But who can explain longing to my child?
I could explain longing to my child,
But for it is not when I am with her.
Finishing a Book is a Skill
by Millie Ho
It hit me recently that out of all the writing skills I have, actually finishing a book is my least developed.
Compared to other skills such as character development, world building, or plotting, which I improved on a lot in 2015, it’s very rare for me to finish a final draft of a book. This means a solid Chapter One that continued to The End. This is understandable given my problems with writing perfectionism, but now that I’m no longer ripping up every draft when something doesn’t work because I’m approaching the writing process differently, I’m still noticing something in the way.
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What is Niume?
Niume is a nifty new site for writers, bloggers and avid readers.
Their workings run on ‘spheres’. You choose your 5 favorites, and the latest posts show up in your feed. Great for reading!
Now, for writers and bloggers, you can also post your content there. They have Political spheres, humor, lifestyle, literature…and many more.
There is an added perk that they just started up this past week. Its called ‘Revenue’. When you get people to sign up using my link, you get bonus points toward revenue, which, right now, only seems to be capped at about $10.00 a month.
However, your writing earns you revenue as well. The more likes your writings gets, which they call ‘Hype’, the more points towards revenue you get. The really nifty thing? So far, whatever revenue points you earned, but didnt become elegable for a revenue check, roll over into the next…
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August 31, 2016
Ads are NOT a Brand and Promotion is NOT Platform—Understanding the Difference
Image via Flickr Creative Commons courtesy of Ken.
Very often when I write about brand and platform, writers assume I am talking about promotion and marketing (ads) and that is not only a false assumption, it can be a fatal one. When we hop onto Twitter or Facebook and are barraged with book spam, a big reason it annoys us (though not the only) is because the author is engaging in these activities with no solid brand or platform.
It then either becomes white noise (invisible) or worse an irritation (negative branding). Writers trying to create a brand by serving up copious book promotion will have a brand all right. The brand of self-serving asshat.
The sight of the author’s face or book might even be enough to spike our blood pressure. We are far more likely to block than buy.
Why? What went wrong?
We have to look at…
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The Difference Between What Women and Men Read
by Ariel Kusby
When it comes to the difference between the reading habits of women and men, study after study has shown that females generally tend to complete more books per year, regardless of genre. While there is no definitive answer as to why this is true, female readership has undoubtedly increased over the past century.
Though women read more in general, they also tend to read more of certain genres and less of others. A 2007 NPR article reported that women account for eighty percent of the fiction market. Men, in contrast, have been reported to read more nonfiction, the most popular topics being history, politics, and business. Men are also more likely to read science fiction.
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12 Ways to Blog Better
I spend a lot of time in my day job looking at ways to leverage social media and reach a wider audience. As an aspiring author I can’t help but to notice that this is something that my fellow authors think a lot about too! Obviously, the day will come when I’ll have to reach the masses with a book I hope will sell like hot cakes and building up my audience before that day comes can’t hurt!
So, in the interest of sharing good information with our blog readers and other aspiring authors here’s my running list of a dozen great ways to pimp your blog!
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