The above quote is from Hawk’s Autumn Rose, Book 3 of the Heart of the Rose Series. If you haven’t met Miranda and the Earl of Hawk, now is the time to get acquainted. All three books in the Victorian era series are available at your favorite online retailer.
You can’t go wrong with an article like this one by Martha Carlson-Bradley at Editing Queries. I published 3 books without the help of an editor and lived to regret it. I found an editor (a good one, by the way – Jenny Quinlan at Historical Editorial), but I didn’t have access to all the tips given here. With my editor’s help, I revisited the first three, and her editing was invaluable for numbers 4 and 5. My advice is to copy this. Print it. WARNING: Do not, under ANY circumstance, publish without finding a good editor. It’s just as important as your cover, maybe moreso.
Here’s a wonderful blog post from Leona’s Blog of Shadows, where she discusses how Amanda Hocking sold 1.5 million on Amazon. Amanda Hocking is an indie author success story, one that many indies would love to duplicate. What the following blog post illustrates is the beauty of simplicity. Ms. Hocking wrote engaging blog posts, interacted with others, and made a place for herself on the internet. That’s the true secret of her success–along with writing books that people wanted to read. Enjoy!
You might have heard of Amanda Hocking, the indie superstar who sold 1.5 million on Amazon and got picked up by a big house and signed a movie deal for her Trylle Trilogy.
This is the exact quote from her explaining how her sales exploded after the book bloggers spread the word:
Then in June, something truly magical happened. I discovered book bloggers. I had no idea such people existed. They just read books and write about them. And I don’t mean “just.” These people take times out of their busy lives to talk about books and have contests and connect with followers and writers and other readers.
These guys are honestly my heroes. I’m a little in love with all of them.
I asked several if they would be interested in reviewing my books, and most of them said yes, even if they didn’t generally review self-published work.
Then…
View original post 552 more words
Gayle Mullen Pace 