Writing
The Dragon is Dead: Four Dictation Alternatives for Your Mac
Speech recognition software gives you the ability to streamline your workflow and increase productivity both at work and at home. You can dictate a document around three times the speed of typing it, and with the right software, you can do so with even more accuracy.
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WNFIN: Write a Nonfiction Book in November
What is WNFIN? If you have fiction writing friends, they may have heard of “NaNoWriMo” or National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is an annual challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel in November. There are many local and regional groups and online support for the…
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How to Set a Realistic Writing Goal
Sometimes when I sit down to write, I become a little overly ambitious, I get so excited and inspired! Suddenly my fingers are click-clacking away at the keyboard in front of me, with no sort of rhyme or reason to them. With no sort of plan…
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Self-Publishing or Indie Publishing: What is the Difference?
In the publishing industry, many roads seem to diverge, and an author is expected to pick just one to travel down. Many authors would usually want a big-time publisher to pick up their book. This way they could get their name printed on the New York…
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The Importance of a Marketing Plan for Your Book
Just writing and completing a book is a feat in itself. However, that isn’t where the work ends. Once you’ve written that killer final sentence, edited, and edited, and edited, and edited some more, until you are completely satisfied, there’s still much work to be done.…
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Five Reasons Why I LOVE the Oxford Comma and You Should Too!
While a simple piece of punctuation like the comma may seem totally insignificant, it can completely change the meaning of a sentence. For instance: “I already ate, Grandma” quickly becomes “I already ate Grandma” when you remove the comma. Quickly you’ve gone from declining a meal…
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What is an “em-dash” and how do you use it?
What is an “em-dash”? When you first look up “what is an em-dash?” the very first definition you receive is “a long dash used in punctuation.” Okay…. well, that isn’t very helpful, now is it? Some of you may already be ready to make an…
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How did Lower Case and Uppercase Get Their Names?
How did Lowercase and Uppercase get their names? I’m sure we can all recall our early school years as we carefully crafted each letter of the alphabet on thickly lined paper with our newly sharpened number 2 pencils. Aa Bb Cc Dd… and so on. These…
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Industry Trends: New Adult Fiction
Step aside Young Adult Fiction, you’ve got some competition. Who is this new threat — or rather close relative — to the beloved teen genre, you may be asking? It’s called New Adult. New Adult isn’t necessarily a new thing. However, this is the first…
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Ghostwriting: it’s not nearly as scary as it sounds!
What is a ghostwriter? A ghostwriter is a hired writer who is paid to write under another person’s name — don’t worry, there are no real ghosts involved! A ghostwriter can be hired to work on a number of projects. These projects can range from blog…
Read MoreThe Importance of Your Back Cover
The Importance of Your Back Cover When you think of cover design for your novel, you may be concentrating solely on the front cover: what kind of images will you use, what kind of font, color scheme, etc. However, too often authors and designers alike…
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What’s The Deal With Self-Publishing?
Self-publishing isn’t what it used to be. What was once looked down upon as an unrealistic form of publication, a last-ditch effort for authors, is now emerging as a common practice among many authors. By self-publishing, an author is given authority on a number of decisions…
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Desktop or Mobile: Where Do You Do Your Writing?
Gone are the days when one had to sit in front of a computer to write. This world is now mobile, digital. Or at least that’s what many people seem to think.
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Creating a Writing Schedule and Getting Your Book Written!
This post was written and published by our Summer 2017 Intern, Mallory Corbin, a student at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Whether your book is in its early stages and is no more than an idea, or you are already ten chapters in, you…
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How Publishing a Nonfiction Book Can Boost Your Authority as a Business Owner
This post was written and published by our Summer 2017 Intern, Mallory Corbin, a student at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. If you are a business owner, I already know what you’re probably thinking. How could I possibly have time to write a book while…
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Self-Publishing Checklist
Self-Publishing Checklist Write. If you haven’t finished your book, and you want to publish it in a timely fashion, you will need to set up a schedule. It may help to create certain goals for yourself each day or week. Such as 1000 words a day,…
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4 Steps to Publish Your Book
Writing and publishing a book is not an undemanding venture. The transition between the solitude of the creative process, and exposing your book to the world can be torturous. But you are determined! If you’ve gotten this far, it’s because you deserve it, and you should…
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11th Annual Communication Central Conference
We are so proud to announce that Pamela H. Owens will be a guest speaker for the 11th Annual Communication Central Conference “Be a Better Freelancer® – Profiting in Publishing.” She has prepared an excellent presentation and will be sharing her knowledge with other authors and publishers talking…
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Foreword or Preface?
The term “preface” is more widely known than the term “foreword”. However, it is important to understand what each one means and their differences since they both play a crucial role in the financial and critical success of the book. The foreword is a short paragraph…
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Editing Vs. Proofreading: Do You Know the Difference?
What is the difference between “editing” and “proofreading”? It isn’t always easy to tell both terms apart and many people consider them to be synonyms. However, proofreading and editing focus on different areas and both are still extremely important in the outcome of a document or…
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