“YOU WOULDN’T STEAL A CAR”, the famous anti-piracy ad campaign asserts. “PIRACY IS STEALING”. The use of creative content, whether it be a movie, a book or an image, can be a tricky business. So […]
Amphetamines in the Morning: 7 of the Weirdest Ways Authors Have Found Their Muse
Writers, like many other creatives, are so often the weird sorts. Not your standard ‘wear a colander as a helmet’ or ‘yell at inanimate objects’ weird; no, they’re a more insidious weird – the sort […]
The Vital Elements That Make up Any Good Story
Whether you’re writing a story about a mouse who lost its cheese, or a sprawling Tolstoyesque tale of a kingdom pressured into a war after it lost its cheese, there are some vital elements that […]
What’s the difference between eBook and print covers?
What’s the difference between eBook and print covers? It sounds like bad 80s stand-up material, doesn’t it? Thankfully I’m not creative enough to come up with a suitably average punchline. Lucky you. Before diving into […]
The Whys and Hows of Developing a Story Outline for Your Novel
While many authors will happily sit down at their author desks in the morning and rattle off a chapter of their novel as if it were being copied off a blackboard, the majority of wordsmiths […]
Structured or Free-Form? Techniques to Help You Write at Your Peak
The process of writing a novel, I don’t need to tell you, is an arduous one. Sure, that first chapter may have almost materialised by itself, and you could be thinking that this author business […]
7 Ways That Self-Publishing Has Changed the Author Game
CONCEPT: Rather than letting publishing houses choose which authors are successful, let any author get published, and allow readers to decide. Two decades ago traditional publishers would’ve told you to take a long walk off […]
A Brief History of Early Book Covers
Everything has a history; some admittedly more boring than others. Bread tags, placemats, door hinges; all of these things had to be dreamed up, designed and perfected over years of trial and error. But as […]
3 of the Most Effective Ways to Market Your Self-Published Book
If we’re working on stereotypes and sweeping generalisations, which I love to do, authors and marketers have traditionally moved in different circles. Authors, so often thought of as introverted and reclusive, are seemingly the yin […]
How to Publish Your Book on Amazon Using Createspace
Despite an endless news cycle of horror and despair, when you step back and have a look at the big picture, we humans have it about as easy now as we ever have. The common […]