I was ten when I fell through the ice. Spring had officially arrived two weeks earlier, but you’d never know it from the amount of snow and ice clinging to naked limbs.

I was drawn to the lake that day. I heard it calling me. Later I would realize it was something else.

The shore was frozen solid. I knew this because ten paces out, I could feel it begin to change. Liquid squeezed beneath the ice, following invisible channels. I followed too.

There was something beautifully tragic about the liquid trapped beneath the ice. It flowed like the blood in my veins. Alive.

Twenty paces out, and I learned just how alive it was. The water rushed toward me. The ice cracked. In an instant, it buckled. Water crashed around me. Cold and painful.

I couldn’t move. The air was squeezed from my lungs, my chest compressed like a weight sat on it.

A shadow blocked out the light. A hand grabbed me, pulling me back up through the water and onto the ice.

A boy pulled me to shore. I thought I’d traded one ice world for another, the biting air stinging my skin.

Then my world erupted in fire. The branch on the ground before me went up in roaring flames.

The boy looked at me, and I looked at him. Those eyes would come to haunt my dreams, sunbursts of amber and green and gold. Eyes I feared I’d never see again as he turned and strode back into the woods.

I was certain of two things that day: one, I was in love with the prince, and two, it was doomed from the start.

Because princes didn’t marry orphans, and they definitely didn’t marry the only person in all of Sylviad with no affinity for fire.

Dovan the book dragon says don’t give up.

Until next week—happy reading!

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Janine Eaby is the author of Beyond the Water’s Edge—a fantasy book series influenced by her faith, love of nature, and desire for adventure. For fans of The Cruel Prince and Shadow and Bone.

As writers, we don’t just capture that image, we capture the feeling, something that stirs within ourselves, transferred to paper in the hopes of stirring something within our readers.

When I first started writing, I struggled to include personal moments from my own life in my story. I didn’t want people to think of my protagonist as me because she wasn’t me; she was someone new.

But writing what you know, even in fantasy (especially for fantasy), lends depth and believability.

If you stumbled upon a portal to another world, chances are you’d question your sanity. This is a real fear that I gave my protagonist, enhanced by giving her a distant family member with schizophrenia.

Alaira’s great aunt Edith is based on one of my aunts in real life, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She moved home to the family farmhouse, where I spent most of my childhood and where she helped my mother raise me.

In my book, Edith plays a different role for my character, one to up the stakes and instill a real fear.

Her great-aunt Edith was her gran’s older sister. One who’d spent her entire adult life in one mental facility or another. Schizophrenia, they had called it.

To Alaira, it meant sitting before a frail woman with an odd expression. It took much of the visit for Alaira to name it for what it was—no expression. Edith was so heavily medicated that no emotion showed through. And there she’d always be in Alaira’s memory—sitting in her chair, watching her and Liam behind placid features.

I borrow from an experience when I was young, where my sisters and I tried to save a baby bunny from a cat (spoiler—you can’t).

I put this experience in as a flashback to a time my character failed (or at least felt as though she had).

Slowly, she gathered Enver’s hands, set them in the bowl. When she was eight, she had wrested a baby bunny from a cat. She saw it in the porcelain bowl, small and wet, leaking punctures she had painstakingly cleaned and bandaged. The water ran down the drain pink and flaky. Enver didn’t flinch away from her touch, let her lather the bar of soap over one hand and then the other, follow with the cloth in slow, small circles.

The bunny hadn’t lasted the night.

My mother died during my senior year of high school. Whenever someone learned this, they’d inevitably utter some apology. I always thought that was strange, not least of all because I never had an answer. Why were they sorry, and what was I supposed to say back to that? It always left an awkward gap.

My character frequently struggles to find words. So I included this for her as well.

She tried half a dozen times to find words to bridge the gap. She thought of the condolences people offered when her gran had died. Always sorry for something—sorry for your loss, sorry to hear that. Words that were woefully inadequate.

These are examples from my life that I leant to my character to give her depth and history.

I believe it’s the little details that make a story feel lived in, the parts that don’t just move the story forward, but give it meaning.

Dovan the book dragon is here to tell you to keep going.

Until next week—happy reading!

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Janine Eaby is the author of Beyond the Water’s Edge—a fantasy book series influenced by her faith, love of nature, and desire for adventure. For fans of portal fantasies to other worlds like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

This is one of my all-time favorite books. (It tends to be a staple on these kinds of lists.)

Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman, a category of coming-of-age that focuses on the protagonist’s spiritual or character growth. Charlotte Brontë’s masterful writing brings to life the story of a young girl growing up with an extended family that casts her off, finding her way in the world, and staying true to her convictions. Jane does not take the easy path but always follows what she believes to be right.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

A classic tale of injustice that makes the reader root for Edmond Dantes from page one.

Light/humorous

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

A timeless story of the fight for love.

Epic sword fights, poison, rodents of unusual size, and a sinister plot for murder uncovered. What’s not to love?

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Humorous, witty, and insanely creative. Tress of the Emerald Sea is a tale of traveling through deadly spore oceans in search of a lost love.

What do you get when you cross a talking rat, a wish-granting dragon, an undead being, and a narrator who’s lost his senses—a brilliantly unique story that reads like a modern fairy tale.

Adventurous

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Another of my all-time favorites. The feared pirate Amina al-Sirafi has come out of retirement for one final job. But the job may be more than she bargained for, filled with supernatural beings, not the least of whom is an ex-husband from a past that still haunts her.

The sequel releases in May.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary could well find itself placed in the humorous section with Andy Weir’s writing style, but don’t be fooled, this is The Martian meets existential, world-ending stakes.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

A light, adventurous read that is nothing like the movies (I wish the movies were more like the book so my kids could enjoy them). A story of a simple hobbit discovering he is capable of more than he imagined, filled with danger, adventure, and executed with the skill expected of Tolkien.

Another Time, Another Place

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha follows Sayori, a young girl from a fishing village in Japan, and her unlikely path in life.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A heart-wrenching story that makes it feel like a rebellion to dare to hope in bleak times, to seek out the light in the darkness, and to come through it all with a defiant resilience.

Mysterious

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

A classic closed-room murder mystery that holds up to modern expectations. Don’t be daunted by the number of characters introduced in the beginning, it’s not too difficult to follow along with who’s who through the story, especially by the end. Expect to be rewarded by the payoff.

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

I will never cease to be impressed by an author’s ability to come out and tell you something upfront (the title: None of This is True), and still deliver a rewarding twist.

Bonus: Mysterious/Adventurous

A past lost to time. Dark secrets lurking beneath the surface. And a truth long forgotten. Fantasy meets mystery in this twisted tale of adventure.

What if your whole life has been a lie? How far would you go to discover the truth?

Dovan the book dragon is here to remind you how much it means to authors when readers reach out.

Until next week—happy reading!

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Janine Eaby is the author of Beyond the Water’s Edge—a fantasy book series influenced by her faith, love of nature, and desire for adventure. For fans of portal fantasies to other worlds like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

In August 2024, I took the plunge and published my first book, Beyond the Water’s Edge. A few months later, I published the second, The Water Between Us.

This is a follow-up to a previous post:

Since publishing, I’ve subscribed to newsletters about writing and editing, taken Reedsy courses on publishing and marketing, and dived down the hole that is Reddit.

I knew I could self-publish the books on Amazon KDP and Draft2Digital, and to steer clear of vanity presses (costs a butt ton to format and dump it on these sites, and you lose control of your book. Run from pay-to-publish presses).

But publishing a book and setting it up for success are two different things.

So how do you set your book up for success before hitting publish? When in doubt, copy what the experts do.

Here’s what I wish I knew before I published my first book:

1. Traditional publishers push hype about upcoming releases as far in advance as possible (up to a year).

2. Publishers have critical reviewers read the book in advance in the hopes of getting onto most anticipated books of the year lists (like Goodreads) and other articles.

3. Social media influencers are given ARCs (advanced reader copies). ARCs are essential for reviews and to generate social media awareness.

   -

   You can be an ARC reader. NetGalley is used by big-name publishers. You can create a free account and request books before they hit the shelves—just remember to leave a review. There are other sites too, like BookSirens and BookFunnel, as well as Bookstack right here on Substack. You can check out becoming an ARC reader for indie books via Bookstack HERE.

4. Pre-release sales data gets counted with the first week’s sales to boost numbers and push a book up in its category. Authors sometimes give incentives for pre-orders, such as book merch.

   -

   To be honest, I’m not sure how I’d do that as a small indie author. I have thought about running a promotion for the release of my third book, where proof of preorder would get you the first and second ebooks in the series free. But the only way I could think to do that would be to email me proof of purchase and then send each person the first two ebooks, which would work if sales don’t get too crazy.

5. Publishers host giveaways in advance or coinciding with the release of a book on places like Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

   -

   Last I checked, Goodreads giveaways run around $110 for the standard package, and the StoryGraph (while in beta testing) is half-priced for $49. This doesn’t necessarily directly help sales, but it does get reviews, which are a must for your book to be taken seriously.

6. Authors build a social media presence before publishing.

   -

   I missed this—big time. I kind of hate social media, so I only created accounts around the time I published. I wish I had known of Substack sooner, because this has to be the only social media platform I actually like, instead of suffering through.

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Traveling the Self-Published Road for Your Book

Indie books can be a hidden gem. Sometimes, of course, they’re a little rougher and could use some more polishing. But if there’s one constant, it’s that indie books push boundaries. They give us stories that break the mold.

That’s because traditionally published books require comps. Those are comparable titles published in the last five years that prove an author’s story concept is marketable for publishers. That’s also the reason we see tropes and core story concepts repeated over and over.

I didn’t take the traditional route because I knew I was taking a chance with my book. I wanted to break certain tropes, and I didn’t think an agent, let alone a risk-averse publisher, would take it up.

After a year of seriously reading books with a critical eye (and time away from my own book), I finally realized my book was not exempt from the could use a little more polishing category. I ended up with a few mixed reviews from people who liked the story but thought it could use a little more sense of the character’s internal world.

So a few months back, I set out to rewrite my first book. I was amazed at the difference it made and how much my writing improved.

The result: a book I’m truly proud of.

Thanks for reading—until next week!

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Janine Eaby is the author of Beyond the Water’s Edge—a fantasy book series influenced by her faith, love of nature, and desire for adventure. For fans of portal fantasies to other worlds like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Reading is one of the best exercises for improving your writing.

So to see what readers like, I’ve been reading a few popular books. And not just that, but those books’ reviews as well.

Because if you don’t care about reader preferences, not only will your book not do well with today’s readers, it’ll likely never be picked up by tomorrow’s readers either.

I’m not trying to emulate any of these authors’ writing styles. Because, to be honest, I’m not always a fan of the writing style featured in popular books.

But there are elements to a story that readers crave. There are sticking points that readers get tired of seeing. It saves time and effort to study what’s already out there and see what works and what doesn’t.

My writing journey has been filled with articles and newsletters and Reedsy courses, all in the pursuit of becoming better. Writing better stories. Crafting better prose.

I’ve read all the dos and don’ts lists. You know the ones—avoid phrases like “there was/were”, use active voice, vary your sentence length, etc.

I used to spend my time trying to elevate my writing with long, flowy sentences. But big words and long sentences don’t equal better writing.

The real magic happens when you write what readers want to read.

I’ve realized something while puzzling out what makes certain books popular.

Sometimes simpler is better.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars is a young adult thriller popular enough for Prime to pick up and make into a streaming series. So naturally I thought, this’ll be good.

And don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the book. While reviewers bragged about guessing the ending a mile away, I didn’t. I had a suspicion for part of it, but perhaps it’s because I’m too trusting of a reader that the full extent of it blindsided me. I have mixed feelings about the effectiveness of an ending like this book’s, and apparently, a lot of reviewers did as well. It’s risky. (That’s all I have to say about that. Read reviews at your own risk.)

But what shocked me the most about this book was its deceptively simple writing style. Chapter 2 opens with a string of sentences that I wouldn’t dare to put back-to-back, let alone use as a chapter opener—especially one so close to the beginning, where the reader may change their mind and set the book down for good.

MY FULL NAME is Cadence Sinclair Eastman.

I live in Burlington, Vermont, with Mummy and three dogs.

I am nearly eighteen.

I own a well-used library card and not much else, though it is true I live in a grand house full of expensive, useless objects.

—E. Lockhart, We Were Liars

But remember, I said deceptively simple. This isn’t just a story with a shocking ending wrapped up in painfully simple sentences. Later that very same chapter, the writing elevates in a way that catches you off guard.

This was such a visceral scene, describing watching her father leave, that for a sentence or two, I wasn’t sure if it was a metaphor or physically happening.

Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed rhythmically from my open wound,

then from my eyes,

my ears,

my mouth.

It tasted like salt and failure. The bright red shame of being unloved soaked the grass in front of our house, the bricks of the path, the steps to the porch. My heart spasmed among the peonies like a trout.

—E. Lockhart, We Were Liars

This book didn’t rely on overly complicated, overly fancy sentences. It got the job done with a mentality of less is more. It made the book easy to read and easy to finish. (And maybe there’s a trend starting for a simpler writing style to reflect lower attention spans or a decline in literacy skills—but that’s a topic for another day.)

Takeaway: A well-placed metaphor is greater than lofty vocabulary.

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I’m not really sure if I agree with this cover now that I’ve read the book. “She came from nothing. They have everything. Let the games begin,” paired with the dagger, makes it look more like Squid Games. It’s not a her vs. them or really any games at all. It’s the protagonist teaming up with two of the grandsons in the family to solve a riddle left by the late Mr. Hawthorne. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t usually get much say in their book cover.

Pretenses from the cover aside, this book is getting mentioned here for its rule-breaking prose. Descriptions of rooms are filled with “there was” and “there were.” Whoever edited this apparently didn’t care about character filtering.

I did as I was instructed. The candelabra rotated, and then I heard a click, and the back of the fireplace separated from its floor, just by an inch. A moment later, I saw fingertips in the gap, and I watched as the back of the fireplace was lifted up and disappeared behind the mantel.

—Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Inheritance Games (Emphasis added)

Any writing guide will tell you to cut the character filtering by writing the senses without the words “heard,” “saw,” or “watched.” For example, “… The candelabra rotated with a click, and the back of the fireplace separated…. A moment later, fingertips pushed through the gap, and the back of the fireplace lifted up and disappeared behind the mantel.

But here’s the thing, Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a NY Times bestselling author. She didn’t sell these books with out-of-this-world prose. She told a compelling story that readers liked. She told it in a way readers apparently liked.

The protagonist is relatable. The reader follows not only what she’s doing, but what she’s thinking and feeling. And the story unfolds slowly, in a way that makes the reader want to know what happens next. There’s a mystery to be solved, and there are real stakes (an inheritance of billions of dollars and plenty of characters to be wary of).

Takeaway: Including the right character interactions, motivations, and scenes has a greater impact on the book than nailing the perfect descriptions.

So at the end of the day, you can focus on lyrical prose. You can elevate your writing. But if you don’t write a story readers want, you’re writing yourself in circles.

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Janine Eaby is the author of Beyond the Water’s Edge—a fantasy book series influenced by her faith, love of nature, and desire for adventure. Ideal for fans of portal fantasies to other worlds like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs.

—Stephen King

You have the perfect story concept. One you’re sure people will love. The problem? The plot alone can’t save a story. Execution matters.

Your writing will never improve unless you have specific, actionable steps. This post focuses on the verb.

If the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, then the verb is the powerhouse of the sentence.

Problem #1: Weak verbs

She quickly opened the door and ran in from the rain.

Sure, we get a sense of urgency. It conveys what’s going on. But it’s dull. The problem with this sentence is weak verbs—so generic that you feel the need to dress them up with adverbs—in this case, quickly.

And don’t get me wrong, every single writer uses adverbs. The point isn’t to cut them entirely but to look at them differently. They act as a potential red flag for a weak verb.

In the above sentence the adverb “quickly” is a red flag for the vague verb that comes after. If we rewrite the sentence, focusing on a stronger verb choice, we can create a more vivid picture.

She flung the door wide and dashed in from the rain.

Problem #2: Past Continuous Tense

What do you get when you pair an -ing verb (gerund) with was? A sentence that pulls readers from the moment and reads more like a retelling.

Past continuous: was doing.

Past simple: did.

Stick with the simple past tense. This is especially important if you want readers to feel immersed in the story.

He was walking down the road. The wind was blowing through the trees.

This is fine if the story is being told from a narrator in a bar recounting events, but in most cases, simple past tense is your friend.

The above sentences in the simple past tense:

He walked down the road. The wind blew through the trees.

It’s more immediate. This pulls the reader into the scene rather than requiring them to picture it at a distance as a passive observer.

But we can do better with more specific verbs. How did he walk? What about the wind? Was it a soft breeze or a strong gust?

He limped down the road. The wind tore through the trees.

He wandered down the road. The wind whistled through the trees.

These are not only stronger verbs, but they also give more information. Notice how the two sentences complement each other.

The wind in the first example is violent, matching the limp down the road and setting the scene.

The verbs in the second are both more carefree: wandered, whistled.

Similarly, watch the words began and started for the same reasons.

This one isn’t as easy as replacing a single word. It often involves rewriting the whole sentence to be more descriptive.

It began raining.

This sentence is fine if you want to gloss over it, but if the rain is amplifying emotion in the scene, you can rewrite it to enhance the mood.

The first raindrop slid down her cheek like a tear; she turned back as a barrage of cold droplets stung her face.

The bottom line—use specific verbs and keep them consistent. What is the mood you’re painting your scene around? Pick one word to describe your scene and build around that.

Here’s a short list of power verbs:

• Look: Glance, peek, peer, stare, blink up at (someone), eye, glare. (Cut down in general to avoid filtering through the character.)

• Walk: Stride, move (toward or away from something), slide, pace, wander, plod, limp, hobble, pace, stalk

  Other ways to write: closed the distance in three strides, hurried to keep up, lagged behind

• Give: Offer, cede, extend, return

• Run: sprint, rush, hurry, flee, dash, dart, fly, bolt

• Jump: hurdle, leap, plunge, lurch

• Grab: clutch, snatch

• Say: whisper, blurt, shout, warn, murmur (tip: stick mainly to he/she said for dialogue tags—they’re invisible.)

• Felt: describe the texture/sensation and nix the word “felt” entirely.

  The robe felt soft and luxurious in her hand. vs. The robe slipped through her fingers like fine silk.

• See/hear: Tell us what they see or hear to cut down on filtering.

  She saw a black cat run by. vs. The black cat darted past.

  He heard a sound. vs. A low groan reverberated through the house.

• Stand (up): Rise, scramble to his/her feet, force (oneself/someone else) to their feet

• Sit (Down): plop (down/onto), settle, take a seat, squat

  Other ideas: hover on the edge of a seat

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Janine Eaby is the author of Beyond the Water’s Edge—a fantasy book series influenced by her faith, love of nature, and desire for adventure. Ideal for fans of portal fantasies to other worlds like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

If you’re a writer (I have a suspicion that’s most of you reading this right now), then you know that you don’t just write as a hobby. It’s a need. A calling. The words swirl around your head, clawing to escape. You can’t not write.

You want to share it with others who inherently won’t love it as much as you do. Such is the nature of writing. And yet, we share anyway. Because some people do like it. And as I’ve said before, it’s not like we can just stop writing. It’s not something that’s dependent on the number of followers or likes.

BUT those little likes at the end of a post do have a place. They tell us what’s working and what’s not. And if my goal was to just continue writing away without heeding any of that feedback, I’d risk alienating my reader.

Fiction & Fables is for the reader and for the writing community.

So with that in mind, I’m taking a step back from my serialized fiction. I’m still working through the rewrite of my first novel, but there’s just not enough interest to keep posting chapters here.

And this isn’t a knock against Substack or the readers on this platform. Time is a precious commodity. It’s easier, somehow less taxing, to read nonfiction essays than works of fiction. There’s less commitment needed—you can read essays in any order without risking a confusing gap. You can (dare I say it?) skim.

And if we’re being honest with ourselves about why we came to Substack, most of us would answer something like to write, to improve, to learn, and connect. We can certainly learn from fiction: how other writers do things, what works, and (a little quieter) what doesn’t. But it’s subjective. And it takes more digging. More effort. It’s much easier to read an essay and come away feeling like we got something from it.

I won’t get into more than that because this topic has been covered extensively by others.

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[Essay] Fiction on Substack

Analog Stories

[Essay]: "Fiction on Substack"

Introduction…

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9 months ago · 127 likes · 83 comments · Ricardo José Romeu

Does Substack Hate Fiction Writers

Dunmore Dispatch

Does Substack Hate Fiction Writers?

Hey look! Substack changed its UI again…

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7 months ago · 120 likes · 87 comments · Ian Dunmore

This isn’t meant to discourage anyone from writing fiction here. There are publications that do so successfully (looking at you, and ).

But I didn’t start out on Substack writing fiction, and I can’t expect my subscribers who signed up for book recommendations and essays to stick around for a young adult fantasy book.

So to stick to adding value for my readers, Fiction & Fables will focus more on essays about fiction, and of course, the Indie Author Spotlight and Fantastic Fiction segments will continue to mention and uplift other fiction writers.

That’s not to say I’m throwing in the towel on my own fiction. I still have my WIP, All the Words I Cannot Say, that’s currently shelved but that I plan to bring back out at some point.

And I may experiment with prompts to test the interest.

So there will always be a place on Substack and, specifically, a place in Fiction & Fables for the humble fiction writer.

Calling All Fiction Writers

You can still submit nominations for the Indie Author Spotlight as well as Fantastic Fiction—the segment that highlights notable fiction here on Substack. Comment to nominate a publication or indie author for Fiction & Fables.

If you write fiction, FicStack is compiling publications for a directory. You can learn more about how to enter your publication here:

FicStack

Welcome to FicStack

For a long time, I’ve believed that Substack is one of the most exciting places for writers on the internet. It’s a place for unfiltered creativity and direct connection. But for fiction writers and their readers, there has always been a missing piece: discoverability…

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7 months ago · 96 likes · 33 comments · Gary Mucklow

To help shape Fiction & Fables, please vote.

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Janine Eaby is the author of Beyond the Water’s Edge—a fantasy book series influenced by her faith, love of nature, and desire for adventure. Ideal for fans of portal fantasies to other worlds like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

As a creator, keeping organized notes is essential to keep from losing your mind resources.

Where do you keep track of all those helpful sites, articles, reference images, your to-do list, inspiration, and ideas to revisit?

Notebooks are great for journaling or jotting down ideas before they float away to the memory dump, but they’re not ideal for things like calendar events or copying links.

As far as free note-taking sites, you have options—Microsoft OneNote (part of Microsoft 365 online), Notion, Trello, and Google Forms (part of Google Docs)—to name some of the better-known programs.

Some other notable programs compiled from your comments in response to my note here on Substack include Obsidian, NotebookLM, and Novlr.

I can’t break down all of these in one post, so I’ll compare the two I’ve personally used.

OneNote vs. Notion

I’ll compare how I use notes on these two sites (free versions only).

Also note that while both automatically save to the cloud, it’s not a bad idea to keep backups of your most important work (for instances such as a cat walking over your keyboard and deleting information that you don’t catch for a significant time, rendering “undo” useless—ask me how I know this).

The overlap:

Both

• Automatically save to the cloud with the online version so you don’t lose any work (theoretically).

• Are fairly easy to use.

• Are available in the app store for your phone.

• Organize notes into pages to easily find what you’re looking for.

• Allow for collaboration with others.

• While they both technically offer dictation, this feature is not part of either app’s online version. For OneNote, that means buying the desktop app. For Notion, that means using your device’s dictation tool on the desktop or phone app.

Microsoft OneNote

Strengths:

• The online version is free.

• Color-coded sections make organization easy on the eye.

Drawbacks:

• The online version is missing some important features that the desktop (paid) version has.

• No templates (online).

• To-do lists and managing events become more manual (you can add a to-do check box from tags, but it’s not laid out in a nice calendar).

Use:

OneNote is straightforward and easy to use. Once you start a notebook, you can create sections and then pages within the sections.

This is a real screenshot of my OneNote (I created a sample page so I wouldn’t have to share my real notes).

You’ll see I have my sections labeled and then pages named within that section. You can type or copy and paste links, articles, or images. It’s really as simple as that.

One downside is that I have to physically click on my “To-Do” section and then manage the tasks as a list instead of having them under a specific calendar day.

Notion

Strengths:

• Extensive free features

• The to-do list brings up a weekly calendar view to easily keep track of progress each day.

• Access to templates

• The desktop version is also free

Drawbacks:

• I couldn’t copy and paste images from my OneNote over to Notion and had to take screenshots to move them (other images seemed to copy fine).

• Pages in the panel are not color-coded and tend to blend together.

Use:

Everything is just called a page in Notion. Pages are shown on the sidebar like sections in OneNote, and new pages can be added and rearranged by clicking and dragging.

Subpages can be added and show up as links within as well as indented below their corresponding page along the sidebar. You can have subpages under subpages.

All the gray along the navigation pane makes it hard to pick out the pages from the subpages. I’ve started adding icons, which replace the generic image of a page and help differentiate your notes (you can also favorite your most-used pages to pull them into their own favorites section).

So far, this is very similar to OneNote, but where Notion shines is its ability to use templates and tools such as “Weekly To-do List” and “Project Planner.”

You’ll notice the link under the weekly planner to a custom page I added that I call “Floating Tasks.” This is where I put ongoing tasks or future projects I want to keep in mind.

Likewise, the project planner lets you see all of your projects at a glance, including a helpful status column. This tool is better for ongoing tasks than the To-do List.

I’ve been using OneNote for years, but I’ve recently been drawn to Notion’s templates and tools.

You can find both free and paid templates for new pages (sometimes just browsing these can spark ideas).

I’m currently enamored by the free daily habits template I’ve discovered. It helps keep me accountable for my writing, reading, and workout goals, and after a quick setup, it’s as easy as a click of a box under each habit.

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P.S. If you’re looking for free writing apps, check out LibreOffice (desktop suit), Microsoft 365 (online), or Google Docs for your basic writing needs or Novlr for pairing your writing with goals and tracking writing data.

Thank you for reading. Hitting that little ❤️ heart at the bottom lets me know which content is the most helpful for you.

Janine Eaby is the author of Beyond the Water’s Edge—a fantasy book series influenced by her faith, love of nature, and desire for adventure. Ideal for fans of portal fantasies to other worlds, like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I am not affiliated with any of these programs. Use at your own discretion and always follow all terms and agreements.

Fair warning: I’m a bit of a numbers nerd, and I break down my results in this post.

During beta testing, The StoryGraph offered half-priced giveaways. I took this opportunity to experiment with one for my book, Beyond the Water’s Edge.

Pricing and Options:

The StoryGraph has two giveaway options: premium and standard. Premium giveaways are featured at the top of the list and promoted on the homepage. They also allow you to send a custom message to entrants that did not win. For these extra perks, you can expect to pay a good bit more ($249 in the beta testing phase, expected to increase to $499 at full price).

For my purposes, I found the standard giveaway to be sufficient. I likely would have gotten more views and entries with the premium option, but a standard giveaway is substantially more affordable, with a price tag of just $49 while in the beta phase. (Which is also cheaper than a Goodreads’ giveaway at $110 and lets you run it in 178 countries.)

The standard giveaway listed my book on the giveaway tab and allowed me to offer both an ebook and paperback version under one giveaway (up to a limit of 250 copies for each format).

They even gave me the benefit of allowing the ebook winners to claim their copy in the app, saving me from having to distribute all those ebooks. This option extends to audiobooks as well.

My Results:

The breakdown:

Impressions: This is the total number of people who’ve seen the giveaway. I’m not sure if this counts repeat visitors.

Pageviews: This is the number of views my specific giveaway page received. Again, this might include repeat visitors. Edit: Apparently this number continues to rise even after the giveaway closes (but all the other numbers stay the same).

6.5% of those who saw my page clicked on it. I would be curious to see the percentage of unique viewers, since people scrolling through repeatedly might throw this off.

Total entries: The number of people who signed up for my ebook and print copy combined.

71.6% of the people who clicked on my page entered for one or both of the giveaways.

Unique entries: The total number of people who’ve signed up (removes the repeats for those who signed up for my ebook and again for the print book).

With the repeats removed, my percentage of people who signed up for the giveaway after viewing the page drops to 55%.

This started out at almost 70% the first week and then decreased throughout the month, making me suspect that they count repeat visitors in the pageview count (you can view the page multiple times but only enter once).

To-Read count: Unlike Goodreads, The StoryGraph doesn’t automatically add the book to the entrants’ to-read shelf. This means that people have to click “Add To-Read.” I saw the most growth in the first two weeks, with a steep drop-off by the last week.

4.5% of those who entered added my book to their to-read shelf. I will be curious to see how this number shifts after the winners are announced. Some who didn’t win may remove it, while others may add it after winning.

Unfortunately, the StoryGraph doesn’t track this statistic after the giveaway closes. Compare that to Goodreads, which tells you how many people have shelved your book and even how many are currently reading it.

Premium vs. Standard

I checked a couple of the featured giveaways (the premium option) and found that a few had significantly more entries, while many only had a few more: between 3k-10k, with an average of 4.64k.1 Since this option was 5x more expensive, I would hope that would also lead to at least 5x more sales (but this is a harder number to track).

Other standard giveaways ranged between 1.16k and 2.73k entries, with those around the 1.4k-1.6k range most common, and an average of 1.89k.2

Ebook vs. Print

A noteworthy trend emerged. Even though I offered substantially more ebooks (100), more people signed up for a chance to win one of the 2 print versions. While ebooks are growing in popularity (I read a ton), many still prefer print books. This is helpful to keep in mind if you decide to run your own giveaway.

If we break this down by entrants/number of prizes, it’ll be easier to see this difference:

Digital format: 1.46k entries/100 winners: avg. 14.6 entries/winner

Print format: 1.52k entries/2 winners: avg. 760 entries/winner

The Winners:

Over half of the winners claimed their prize on the first day. By the second day, this rose to 75%.

The ebook winners will be able to claim their prize in the app; however, I still emailed them.

This gave me the chance to introduce myself and reinforce that I am a real person. I also offered them the option to sign up for my newsletter, as well as dropped in a line about how much reviews mean to authors. The app gives ebook winners one week to download the book, so this will give them my contact information if they miss the app deadline.

For my print-copy winners, I will have to mail them physical copies of my book. In addition to the first book, I plan to send these two winners my second book as a bonus. Nothing like winning two books instead of one.

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A bonus tip:

Did you know that you can increase your chances of winning future giveaways? Adding the book to your To-Read Pile, reading and reviewing it within a year of winning a book, helps increase your odds of winning again in the future.

2 Month Edit:

I have not noticed any increase in sales after the giveaway. As of two months later, only two of the winners have finished the book. Both left reviews, probably because of the email I sent reminding readers how much reviews mean to authors.

Next time I do a giveaway, I’ll probably host it myself on social media for newsletter sign-ups or try Goodreads, where they automatically add the book to readers’ to-read shelf if they enter the giveaway.

If they don’t win or add it to a shelf, it’s as good as forgotten.

Disclosures: I am not affiliated with the StoryGraph in any way. This is not a promotion or recommendation for their site or services. There is no guarantee you will achieve these statistics for a giveaway, and this is for reference only.

I came across a post called “How [name] Made $4 Million with Amazon KDP.” (I removed the name for privacy reasons.) This post had 60 likes, but more surprisingly, it had a slew of comments all saying some variation of “Thanks for sharing” or “This is amazing.”

The problem with posts like these is the message they inherently send: that writing books and publishing on KDP is a passive income stream that anyone can tap into. Aspiring authors see these posts and think, That’ll be me one day. Published authors see that post and think, I must be doing something wrong.

This isn’t a dump on indie authors who are doing well. It happens. It’s rare, but it happens. This isn’t meant to be a resentful post either. I’m glad some authors are succeeding. But let’s get real here. The posts that talk up the insane success some authors enjoy are selling clickbait. They know readers will click and read (or watch on YouTube) because they’ve tapped into an audience that thinks they can replicate that success for themselves. Or they’re selling you a course or product “promising” to help you replicate that success.

People naturally follow successful people. We want to learn what they did and implement the same strategy. The problem? Not everyone can be a bestselling author. It’s not physically possible. Those posts don’t talk about that because you can’t monetize mediocrity.

If you’ve written and published a book, chances are you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, let me give you the bigger picture these success stories tend to leave out. I don’t want to turn off aspiring authors—by all means, write your book. If you don’t, who will? I don’t want you to quit or be dissuaded. I do, however, want you to go into the process with eyes wide open.

When I published my first book, I had no idea how oversaturated the market was. Anyone and everyone can and does publish on Amazon KDP. And for good reason. They’re the largest book market, and they offer pretty impressive commissions. I make better royalties off my paperback priced at $9.99 on Amazon than I do for my paperback priced at $13.99 on Draft2Digital.

But here’s the thing. Broadcasting the rare, majorly successful author is a bit like a sales pitch from a multilevel marketing company telling you how much money you can earn by selling their product. A few people make a killing while most people don’t make anything (and many actually lose money when you factor in the costs involved with some of those MLM companies).

If you self-publish, you’ll be lucky to make back the money you spend on an editor, book cover design, and copyright. That’s not including any potential expenses like buying ISBNs or paying for ARC readers or formatting software. I say this to be realistic and also caution new authors with their purchasing decisions.

I didn’t know many publishing statistics before releasing my first book, but I knew enough to understand that a book is a risky venture. I was frugal with my expenses, knowing that many books don’t “make it” (whatever that means). I have the potential to make back the money I spent by the end of 2025 (publishing two books in 2024, one in Sept. and one at the end of Nov.). I tell you this to give you perspective.

This is more than my personal experience. It’s statistics.1 And going the traditional publishing route doesn’t make you immune.

• According to Bowker, over 2 million books are published every year.

• In the 20 years between 2000 and 2020, book revenue remained static. Only 2021 saw growth, which reverted back by 2022.

• The average book sells less than 1,000 copies in all formats in its lifetime. This is even smaller for most self-published books.

• Given the explosion of books published, any title has less than a 1% chance of making it onto a bookshelf in any given bookstore.

• Publishers have shifted much of the marketing to the author.

You can certainly increase the chances of your book selling better than average. A good cover design, editing, and a convincing blurb are all a must. But even if you have a fantastic book, you still have the uphill battle of getting noticed in the sea of other works. Doing keyword research and genre trend research before starting also helps (fiction outsells memoirs, so maybe rethink that memoir you’ve been wanting to write). But even your best efforts and research won’t guarantee sales.

Publishing isn’t an exact science: The Big 5 don’t know which titles will end up as the next big hit. The publishing world is a whirl of ever-evolving trends, and even the instant success is not granted immortality in the book world.

The hard truth is that there are more books published than readers available. So if you want to write that book, do it, but do so for the right reasons.

The focus of this post is to discuss how to write a blurb (and what mistakes to avoid) for fiction. Nonfiction book blurbs will follow different rules.

What is a book blurb?

The blurb is the little snippet you find on the back cover of a paperback (or the inside jacket of a hardcover) that tells you what you can expect from the book.

What it isn’t is well, many things, as you’ll see in the list of mistakes.

Top 5 Mistakes I’ve Seen in Book Blurbs:

1. It’s not written in present tense third person.

   Even if the book is written in past tense or uses first person narration, book blurbs are usually written in present tense from the third person point of view. Think of it like your author bio in this regard.

   Very rarely, a book can get away with a blurb that’s not third person, but this is the exception to the rule.

2. It has too many complicated or made-up words.

   Fantasy and sci-fi are especially guilty of this. If you cram in too many unfamiliar words, you risk losing readers. A fictional realm and a magic user are fine if you introduce them clearly. The key is that it still needs to flow with the surrounding text.

3. It’s written like a book report.

   Frankly, this is dull and uninspiring. Don’t just list out what happens in your book, and avoid oversharing. Explain just enough to tell the reader what it’s about while also leaving some intrigue.

4. It ends with a question.

   Don’t Do It. Seriously, don’t. It’s tempting, I know. But the author shouldn’t be the one asking questions; set it up in such a way that the reader naturally asks themselves those questions, like, What happens next?

5. It fails to hook the reader.

   The blurb is book marketing. After the cover and the title (yes, readers will judge your title as well as the cover), it’s often the decision-maker for whether or not they’ll buy the book. So sell your story. What makes it interesting? Is there a murder to solve? Is there a power struggle in the kingdom?

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What makes a great book blurb?

While there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for a gripping blurb that sells, great blurbs contain several elements that fit together for the main goal: to spark the interest of a potential reader so that they want to know more (and hopefully buy the book).

Let’s see if we can spot them in some examples of book blurbs that have worked to catch my attention. These examples are taken from the fantasy, thriller, and YA genres.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each one more interested in her wealth than her well-being—and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy. Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation, and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.

However, Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful—and more irresistible—than she ever dared imagine.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible — a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.

Breaking it down

Did you see the pattern? These blurbs all have three main parts:

1. Hook the reader from the start by presenting a character readers could care about.

   • In The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, we’re lured by a tale of pirate adventures with a hint of supernatural elements.

   • In Belladonna, the reader is interested in the character for two reasons: 1. she’s an orphan, and 2. people around her mysteriously die.

   • Beautiful Ugly opens with an intriguing and paradoxical statement: “Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.” Why is it both the best and worst day of his life?

2. Introduce the inciting incident (the event that throws the protagonist’s life out of balance). You’ll often see transition words that introduce this: but, when, however.

   • Amina al-Sirafi comes out of retirement to track down the kidnapper of the daughter of a former crewmate.

     “But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum.”

   • Signa has come to live with her last remaining relatives and must solve the murder of her aunt.

     “But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned…”

   • Grady’s wife vanishes on her drive home.

     “…but his wife has disappeared.”

3. Bring it all home by letting the reader know what’s at stake.

   • Amina al-Sirafi risks not only her life in this mission but also her eternal soul.

   • Signa must solve the mystery of who murdered her aunt before they strike again.

   • Grady’s life is unraveling after the disapearance of his wife, and unless he gets closure, he risks losing everything (a writer who can’t write is out of a job).

By the end of these three parts, the reader should have a feel for what the story concept is, a taste of the author’s voice/tone of the book, and have a curiosity for how it all plays out.

• Are you curious to know if and how Amina rescues the kidnapped girl?

• Will Signa catch the murderer in time? And what’s with her partnership with death?

• Will Grady ever find his missing wife? Who’s the woman on the remote island who has an uncanny resemblance?

The Stucture

These blurbs all follow a pattern: The character’s life is one way, but then when this one thing happens, their life is changed forever. Now they must do x to accomplish their goal. Don’t forget to end with what’s at stake.

Of course, they’re all much subtler and more nuanced than that extreme take, but this gives you a clearer picture, like an x-ray of the underlying structure.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing a book blurb does is spark curiosity. When you do that, you don’t have to end with cheesy questions that sound like they came from the show Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. Paint the picture and allow the reader to ask the questions.

P.S. Ready for a giveaway? My book, Beyond the Water’s Edge, is part of The StoryGraph’s giveaways between Feb. 19 and March 18, 2025.

[Giveaway is now closed.]

Book marketing is… tough. There’s no way to sugarcoat it.

You’ve spent countless hours writing, and after all the editing, formatting, and back and forth with the design, you’ve finally hit publish.

You’re standing with your book in hand, proud of your finished product, but that new book feeling starts to wear off when you notice your sales—or lack thereof.

Don’t get me wrong, being a published author is rewarding in and of itself, but you wrote the book hoping others would enjoy it just as much as you did.

So why hasn’t anyone noticed?

Well, if you’re an indie author, your book is up against a vast collection of classics, best-sellers, and viral BookTok/Bookstagram recommendations, all vying for readers’ attention. You’re a team of one against traditionally published books, with a team of editors, designers, and marketers helping those books reach readers.

The answer: copy. Traditional publishers know how to market, and they have resources. While indie authors don’t have access to all the same resources publishers have, you can employ some of the same strategies.

1. Make a plan.

No one starts building a house without first sitting down to draw out the blueprints.

Get organized. I use OneNote for all my resources, notes, and planning, but there are other programs as well (I’m looking to possibly switch to either Trello or Notion).

Clearly state your goals. For example, going viral is nice, but that’s not necessarily the goal. The goal is to sell more books. It can be easy to get caught up in going viral and gaining followers on social media, but don’t lose sight of your real goals. Follower and like counts are an ever-moving target, and enough is never really enough if those are the metrics you’re tracking.

Understand your audience. This is your ideal reader. Who is most likely to pick up your book? Sometimes the answer is more surprising than you’d think. I’ve had more men reading my fantasy books than women—though in hindsight that shouldn’t be that surprising given that it’s not romantasy and the covers are more subdued.

Make a marketing plan. With your goals and target audience in mind, decide on a path forward. This stage should be actionable steps to reach your goals.

My marketing plan includes a mix of social media, giveaways, a sprinkling of ads, blogging, and growing a newsletter. This is a broad stroke. My actual plan has dates and specific ads or giveaways.

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2. Social Media

You have to go where your readers are. Building a presence on social media can help generate awareness and hype for an upcoming or new release. This step can be done before the book is even published.

Understand that follower counts are helpful but can also be misleading. Followers and likes don’t necessarily translate to sales.

That said, posting on social media is a free way to “advertise.” I use the word lightly here, as you don’t want your social media posts to feel like ads. You want them to feel authentic.

Platforms to Try:

Find a couple of platforms that work for you and your target audience.

Instagram & TikTok: Both platforms have an established booklover audience. On Instagram, it’s known as Bookstagram. This is no different from a regular account except the name is something book-related. On TikTok, it’s known as BookTok. Both are highly visual platforms. TikTok is best for short-form videos. While Instagram supports short videos (reels), it also utilizes images.

X (formerly Twitter), Threads, & BlueSky: These are all short, text-based platforms. Where you go depends on your own preference as well as your target audience. If you write poetry or fem lit, for example, you might struggle to promote it on X.

Facebook: This is pretty hit or miss. I see a lot of romance authors on Facebook, so I think there’s a market there. I also find a never-ending stream of people who pitch their services to authors here, as well as scammers.

I haven’t generated many sales from Facebook, and I’ve gotten strange results from the ads I’ve run. I experimented with two different $20 ads, one directly after Thanksgiving for the Black Friday sales and one on the heels of Christmas to reach readers looking for new ebooks after the holidays.

Facebook consistently shows my book to predominantly female readers over the age of 60 (even when I specify a younger age group). That’s not my target audience for my fantasy books. That’s the audience Facebook has found is the most likely to click on book ads. It’s led to a poor conversion rate.

That doesn’t mean your book wouldn’t benefit from a Facebook ad. They’re cheap and easy to experiment with.

Pinterest: This is an extremely visual-heavy environment. Users scroll through a feed and only click on the pins that stand out. The advantage here is that you can feature artwork related to your book and set up external links for users to follow. You can also reuse content from your Instagram. The square size from Instagram works for Pinterest.

YouTube: This works well for medium to long videos. Gaining views and an audience can be a bit tricky, and like all social media, you’ll have to experiment to find what works.

What to Share: Share teasers, top quotes from your book, behind-the-scenes stories, and art related to your book. Engage with readers in your genre’s communities and participate in trending hashtags like #BookTok or #Bookstagram.

Focus on building a brand and posting on brand. What does your target audience like? This might have to be tweaked for different platforms, but I regularly cross-post to save time.

To give examples, I’ve seen some authors have success with short videos featuring interesting facts or posts about historical places (this would work best if you write historical fiction).

Tip: Canva is a free (with premium features) program that can help create eye-catching graphics and posts. Search their templates to save time and then fix them up for your brand.

3. Author Website or Blog

There are free website builders if you use the website’s domain (Wix and WordPress are two). You can always experiment with a free website and then upgrade to a custom domain later.

Tip: Take a look at the paid versions before you create your free website to save time later so you don’t have to move all your content to another platform.

How to Use: Create a simple site to showcase your book, share updates, sales, and news on new releases. You can also experiment with blogging on your website or even post other content.

I write fantasy books, but I showcase some of my Substack posts for my blog and even post poetry on my website.

4. Email Newsletter

Starting a newsletter can seem daunting. But ultimately, you’re in control. Social media sites can get banned or change their algorithms. Audiences may leave for another site. You own your own content with a newsletter, and your message reaches readers directly.

To get a following, you’ll likely need a reader magnet—something free to offer when people sign up for your newsletter. Of course, you can skip that if you’re writing on Substack, where connections outperform freebies. I offered my ebook for free to start my newsletter.

There are free sites (up to a certain number of subscribers) such as MailerLite, Mailchimp, Kit (previously ConvertKit), and of course, Substack.

Substack has been crucial for my newsletter growth. My Kit newsletter sat stagnant for a month before I tried Substack and found an audience.

Recently, Kit has made some changes, and they now offer smart recommendations so your newsletter automatically shows up on similar creators’ landing pages. They also let you choose to recommend other newsletters, and I’ve seen the most growth from another author who started recommending my newsletter. This is great because my growth doesn’t rely on social media alone.

Kit is also nice because they let you set up a tip jar and digital products. I sell my ebook directly on Kit and currently am experimenting with a 50% off sale.

5. Guest Posts/Interviews

Collaborate with others. Feature authors and guests on your website or podcast. If offered, write guest posts on other authors' blogs or book-related websites. Consider accepting any offers you may receive or even reach out to be interviewed on podcasts or blogs. This increases visibility and attracts readers from other authors' fan bases.

6. Reddit and Forums

Find more tips on writing, publishing, and marketing on subreddits like r/SelfPublishing, r/indieauthors, or r/ebooks.

Be mindful not to spam; focus on genuine interaction. Many subreddits don’t allow self-promotion.

It’s a great place to meet other indie authors.

7. Book Reviews & ARC (Advanced Review Copies)

Traditional publishers send out free books to social media influencers, bloggers, book reviewers, etc. This has a dual purpose: it helps create buzz around a new release, and it gives your book social proof.

Reach out to book bloggers, reviewers, or readers who specialize in your genre. Offer them ARCs (advanced reader copies) in exchange for honest reviews on platforms like Amazon, Goodreads, or personal blogs.

It’ll save you money if you can give away free ebooks for these reviews. Many book review sites will only post a review if they can honestly give your book a three-star rating, but there are some who will give it a lower rating.

Each site will have its own submission requirements, so read them and follow accordingly.

8. Book Promotion Sites

You’re not limited to Facebook or Amazon for book ads (though those are two popular platforms). BookBub, Freebooksy, BookSends, and Robin Reads are all examples of other platforms to promote your book—especially sales and freebies.

These sites offer paid promotions for free and deeply discounted ebooks (the exception being BookBub, which allows advertising of full-price books). They often have large newsletters to reach readers of specific genres.

9. Goodreads and The StoryGraph

These are sites that allow readers to track the books they read as well as discover new books for their to-be-read shelf. You can set up an author profile on both sites as well as participate in giveaways.

Goodreads giveaway: $110 to list your book. Print giveaways are limited to the US and Canada. Goodreads automatically adds your book to a reader’s to-be-read shelf when they enter your giveaway.

The StoryGraph: While giveaways are in beta mode (currently), they are discounted to $49 for a standard giveaway and $249 for premium. They don’t automatically place your book on the reader’s to-be-read shelf when they sign up, but they do email you the contact information for the winners.

I entered my book on The StoryGraph for February 19-March 18, 2025. I found the standard giveaway to be sufficient for experimentation.

They allow up to 250 copies of your book for each format (ebook, print, or audiobook) and let you list multiple formats under one giveaway. My $49 got me a giveaway where I can offer both ebooks and a couple of print copies (I limit my budget on new ventures).

You can also distribute the ebook and audiobook to winners directly on the app (as opposed to emailing each winner directly).

I will likely write a follow-up post on the results in late March.

10. Collaborate with Other Authors

Team up with fellow indie authors for joint promotions, giveaways, or blog tours. Cross-promote each other's books in your newsletters or social media posts.

I do an indie book or indie author spotlight on Facebook, BlueSky, and Instagram. Occasionally, someone features me as well. I got my first author interview from another indie author on BlueSky.

It’s essential for indie authors to support each other.

11. Create a Book Trailer

You can use free images to make your own book trailer using programs like Canva or CapCut and image sites like Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay.

Just make sure the image site you use allows commercial use in their licensing agreement.

A simple, well-made book trailer on YouTube or Instagram can get the attention of potential readers. Experiment with royalty-free music and images.

12. Amazon KDP Free Promotions

Amazon KDP is the largest market for books, especially ebooks. KDP allows users to list a countdown promotion, whether free or discounted, once per 90 days. There is a limit of five days for the promotion, and if you only use two, you still can’t run another in the 90-day window.

Make sure you promote these sales ahead of time on social media and in your newsletter. You can also list the sale on your website and promote it on paid platforms mentioned in number 8.

13. Create and Sell Merchandise

I have to admit that I haven’t tried this one, but I’ve seen it suggested. I’m not sure how well book merchandise will sell for an obscure book, but you can give it a shot.

There are print-on-demand services like Redbubble or Teespring.

How to Use: Design merchandise like t-shirts, mugs, bookmarks, or journals based on your book's theme or cover art. You can offer to sell this to fans. Alternatively, you can offer it as part of a giveaway bundle to promote your book on social media and get sign-ups to your newsletter.

I’d err on the side of caution. I’m not a risk taker, and I wouldn’t go crazy spending here unless you find a demand for these products.

14. Utilize Book Clubs

Engage with online book clubs or start one around your book's genre. You can politely pitch your book or offer to be a part of a virtual discussion with the club, answering questions about your book and writing process.

15. Networking at Local Events or Online

Attend virtual or in-person book conventions, workshops, or writer's events. Networking with other authors and readers is an easy way to promote your book through word of mouth.

I donated a copy of my book to my local library, and they recently reached out to me to start planning a local author event.

Start slow. Don’t do all of these all at once. Pick a few and start there.

Don’t get caught up doomscrolling social media, and don’t let any one tactic consume all your time. In time you’ll find a rhythm to balance writing, social media, and marketing.

Make sure to keep track of what works best for your audience and adjust your strategy accordingly. Picking one promotion tactic at a time will help narrow down what’s working.

Let me know if any of these work for you or if you have any to add.

Click the image to check out my book, Beyond the Water’s Edge.

The US copyright office just released an official updated report on copyright protections for AI versus human writers, and you can find it here.

For those who may not know the backstory of where this is coming from: Chinese AI program DeepSeek just launched on January 22, 2025, disrupting the US stock market by a staggering $969 billion. That’s right, one company set off a chain reaction that led to tech companies in the S&P 500 dropping by nearly $1 trillion.

Why? DeepSeek is new to the AI competition, but its development cost just a fraction to program and train compared to American competitors. Now, we could get into all sorts of rabbit holes on why this might be (unfair labor practices in China). But according to OpenAI, the Chinese startup used their AI to train the new program.

Now you may ask: You mean to say that a new AI program profited by training itself off of another existing AI program while ignoring copyrights?

To which I might answer: Probably.

The irony here is rich. AI has been blatantly using copyrighted material to train its algorithm, not bothering to get permission from writers. Publishers then jumped in to make some money from this under the guise of fair licensing. HarperCollins lets authors opt in to allow their books to be used for AI training in a licensing deal.

So now we’re in a muddled mess. Are AI outputs under copyright protection?

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Some key points from the copyright office’s assessment:

• The use of AI tools to assist rather than stand in for human creativity does not affect the availability of copyright protection for the output.

• Copyright protects the original expression in a work created by a human author, even if the work also includes AI-generated material.

• Based on the functioning of current generally available technology, prompts do not alone provide sufficient control.

What this means: Writers who use AI to assist in their writing can still obtain copyright protections. (Whether or not it’s ethical to write with AI, and to what extent, is another discussion.)

However, simply typing a prompt and using the AI output is not sufficient to count as human writing for copyright protection.

• Human authors are entitled to copyright in their works of authorship that are perceptible in AI-generated outputs, as well as the creative selection, coordination, or arrangement of material in the outputs, or creative modifications of the outputs.

• The case has not been made for additional copyright or sui generis protection for AIgenerated content.

What this means: human authors are still eligible for copyright protections if their work is included in AI outputs.

Say you type in a prompt for a story about a group of magic users who try to overthrow a dystopian government. Now this is a broad story concept and can be used. However, if AI spits out segments of story that are clearly taken from Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, he’s still protected under his copyright.

Confusing, right? How do AI users know if the output is infringing on another’s copyright?

Now for the second point. AI outputs in and of themselves are not entitled to those same protections. Under the copyright office’s assessment, OpenAI has pretty much lost the case for its generative outputs being protected by copyright.

OpenAI may still pursue its case against DeepSeek. Maybe they argue intellectual property infringement next. For me, this is a bit rich coming from the company that’s facing over a dozen copyright lawsuits stemming from authors and even The New York Times.

For now, human authors are still protected (theoretically), and AI isn’t.

To keep this post from being just a dump on all things AI, I will add that I believe AI can be useful. I posit that perhaps instead of trying to replace our creativity with computers, we should focus our efforts in areas to augment humans—like medical research and advanced medicine. AI can search for patterns and solutions in research environments faster, presenting results for humans to review and consider.

I’ll close with what I believe to be an appropriate proverb:

If you set a trap for others, you will get caught in it yourself. If you roll a boulder down on others, it will crush you instead.

—Proverbs 26:27

“I want to keep publishing books, and writing and spreading my heartsong through the world.”

—Mattie Stepanek

Think of this as your roadmap to publishing.

I believe the writing community is collaborative. We share our ideas, inspirations, frustrations, and breakthroughs. And here’s something I’ve learned: other writers aren’t my rivals. We don’t have to push others down to raise ourselves up. We celebrate others’ successes and learn from each other’s mistakes. That’s why I freely share my publishing journey so that others can flourish.

My writing journey began in high school with inspiration borne out of naiveté and an idea for a book that evolved as I wrote. I didn’t know where or how to publish. I didn’t even know where the book idea would take me.

One book turned into two and then eventually three. I edited these manuscripts off and on over the next fifteen years until finally, enough was enough. Last year, I got serious, sticking it out until the first two books in the series were ready for publishing—at least as ready as they’d ever be.

I spent countless hours researching how to edit, format, and publish. And while I’m far from a bestselling author, at least now I’ve reached my goal of being a published author.

1. It starts with a concept, and an idea develops.

My published book is drastically different from my initial concept. I sat down to write one story, and somehow this new world opened that I didn’t know existed until I began to write. I found a girl, Alaira Hughes, who discovered a world beyond our own, and slowly, bit by bit, that world began to take form.

In hindsight, I missed a step when I sat down to write: research. If you're looking to traditionally publish, this step is crucial. You need to research market demand and write to genre accordingly. Find out what’s marketable to agents and what they’re accepting.

Even if you plan to self-publish, research is your friend. This will help you narrow down your genre if you’re on the fence. It’ll also help you change gears early on to avoid an unmarketable flop.

Unless you’re a celebrity or survived something extraordinary like war or famine, your personal memoir probably isn’t going to sell. However, if you take inspiration from your life and write a fictional account, now it’s a more palatable genre. (This also gives the added benefit of taking artistic liberties to rise above the confines of sticking strictly to what actually happened.)

2. Planning: To Outline or Not to Outline

I was what’s called a pantser—that is, I wrote by the seat of my pants, making up the story as I went along. A pantser is the opposite of a plotter—someone who outlines and plans their novel. While every writer is different, we all fall somewhere along this spectrum.

Looking back, it’s hard to say whether I would have benefited from an outline. Outlines can save time, as I’ve had to go back and change plot elements in the beginning as the story evolved, but I also didn’t know the story until I wrote it.

For those who outline, it doesn’t have to be rigid. It can act as a springboard, a loose starting place that’s flexible to change if your writing takes a different turn than initially expected.

At least some planning before you write will save you time when you get to editing.

• Consider your theme or main idea that will guide your writing.

• Decide your character’s purpose or object of desire. What are they trying to accomplish? Keeping this in mind will keep the story on track: how they fail, grow, and eventually obtain this desire.

• Make character arcs: define your characters’ physical, emotional, and moral characteristics and how they change through the story (maybe the physical attributes don’t change, but something should—positively or negatively).

• Research and build the world/setting: Is it a real place? Is your story set in the present or a historical setting, and what does that look like? If you build your own world, make a list of attributes for the setting, climate, socio-economic conditions, extent of the world, and rules. If you have a magic system, you need rules and limitations. The reader doesn’t have to know all of this, but you do.

3. Writing the Manuscript

I spent hours writing alone in my room. But as many of you may relate, this wasn’t lonely. My characters sprang to life. They had backstories (that I wove little snippets and hints of into the story), hopes, plans, desires, shortcomings. To me, my characters felt like real people, and I had to write in such a way as to convince readers the same.

Some of my difficulties lay with motive. I had to balance having a character perform a certain action or make a certain decision to advance the plot while also keeping it believable for the reader. Why would a typical high school-aged girl follow a stranger to a land she’s only gained a glimpse of? But if her object of desire is answers to her questions, this may be more believable.

If you want writing tips, check out a previous post: 8 Tips for Writing a Novel.

4. Edit, Edit, and then Edit Again

This is where the magic happens. Some of my best writing came in the editing phase. I replaced bland chapters that did nothing for the plot with ones that drove the story forward. I deleted an unnecessary character and even completely rewrote another.

First, give yourself time away from your manuscript and come back with fresh eyes. Read through and avoid making changes other than correcting typos and grammatical errors. Make notes of potential changes and the chain reaction those changes would set off.

Read with an eye for:

• Plot holes

• Character inconsistencies in action or dialogue.

• Pacing: every scene should drive the story or provide something vital.

• Dialogue: make sure it’s in character, realistic, and concise.

• Awkward phrasing: stick to active voice over passive, avoid starting multiple sentences in a row with the same word, and vary your sentence structure and length.

Review your notes and finally, implement the necessary changes.

I might do a separate piece on editing if I get feedback that you want more on this topic.

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5. Beta Readers and Feedback

Get more eyes on your work. It’s better to get feedback here than in your reviews once you hit publish.

It’s important to consider all the feedback given, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to implement 100% of what those readers suggest. You don’t have to make sweeping changes to your novel based on the feedback from one reader, but if you notice a pattern emerging, you may want to consider some of those changes.

Ideally, your beta readers will be familiar with your genre and those genre conventions. Your family and friends aren’t the best choice here (unless you have a friend who’s in a literary field). If you don’t personally know people who fit this bill, you can check out online communities.

For more about beta readers and where to find them, check out this article from Reedsy.

6. Get an Editor

If you’re planning to publish traditionally, the publishing house will have editors. However, you may still want to consider getting an editor for at least the first three chapters that you’ll use to query an agent. You want your work to look the best that it can.

If you’re self-publishing, the standing advice is to get a professional editor. As a self-published author, you still have to compete with traditional publishers who churn out quality books.

There are different types of editors:

• Developmental editors are useful for plot, pacing, and characters.

• Structural editors are related to developmental editors and can provide feedback on the big-picture structure, especially for manuscripts that combine multiple narratives or jump back and forth through time.

• Line editors evaluate the flow, sentence structure, and word choice.

• Copy editors come into play for grammar, spelling, and proper punctuation.

You can do some of the proofreading yourself. There are also AI grammar checkers that can help cut down on some of the copy edits. Evaluate each suggestion—don’t just blanket accept all “corrections.”

I’ve seen AI grammar checkers suggest wrong word choices, especially Microsoft’s built-in spelling and grammar checker. I once had one suggest I change the phrase, “descrying the copse of trees,” to “describing the copse of trees.” These are two completely different meanings. (Also, for some reason most spell checkers don’t recognize the word “copse” and try to change it to “corpse”—another mortifying mistake if it makes it to the final print.)

Always do the final read-through yourself—and do it out loud.

7. Deciding on the Publishing Path

Traditional and self-publishing both have advantages and disadvantages.

Traditional publishing gives you access to a team of editors, designers, and marketers who will turn your manuscript into a professional book.

However, the traditional route may take years between querying and securing an agent and getting picked up by a publishing house—if you get picked up at all. You’re likely to face multiple rejections from agents and publishers alike, and even if you land an agent, that’s still no guarantee you’ll be published.

For more information on traditional publishing, check out the subreddit r/PubTips.

Self-publishing puts the onus on the author to do or outsource every task. Let’s not forget the financial burden of the upfront costs of getting an editor, cover designer, copyright, ISBNs, and marketing.

Self-publishing has its upsides, though. For one, you’re in complete control. You don’t have to compromise your story, title, or cover.

You can publish faster. Once you’ve edited, have a cover, and received feedback from beta readers, you can quickly publish on platforms like Amazon’s KDP, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, and other places.

You keep more of your royalties. Depending on where you publish, you can expect 70% commission on ebooks and 60% on print versions (minus the print costs, which come out of your 60%).

Traditionally published authors typically make between 5-18% off the retail price of their books, and that’s after their sales have earned back the initial advance from the publisher.

And just because you’re traditionally published doesn’t get you off the hook for book marketing. Those publishers still expect the author to actively market their book. Marketing a book is harder than publishing it. There’s a sea of other books, and most readers have a backlog of books on their to-be-read shelf.

8. Cover Design and Book Blurb

If you’re self-publishing, you’ll want to find a book cover designer. It’s not advised for the author to do this in-house. Your cover is the first detail that will catch a prospective reader’s eye. It needs to fit your genre and your story.

If you can’t afford a $100-$300 professional cover, there are sites that offer these services cheaper and will likely still be better than what the average author can design themselves.

With all the hype that book covers get, it can be easy to forget another essential ingredient in the marketing recipe: the title. I’ve seen self-published books with titles like Searching for [insert fictional place here]. Believe it or not, I saw a memoir titled Too Much. Those titles aren’t going to sell.

Take a look at popular (or even classic) book titles. They’re intriguing and creative. You spent countless hours writing. Don’t waste it by giving your book a subpar title.

A note on popular book titles: fads rise and fall. Some readers are turned off by overly used formulas. If you write certain romantasy tropes, A Noun of X and Y may work fine, but know that some readers are tired of seeing that and may actively avoid books with that framework title.

Next up: the dreaded blurb. Why is the book blurb harder to write than the book?

While your cover artist is designing the cover, this is a good time to work on your book blurb. The blurb is the enticing bit of marketing on the back cover that tells your reader what to expect. This is not a plot summary. It’s not a space to ask questions. Will the hero save the day before it’s too late? Stop. Don’t do that. Write a concise, interesting snapshot of your book and leave some room for the reader to ask questions.

When the reader wants to know what happens, they’re more likely to buy the book.

For an in-depth look at book blurbs, check out my post, The Top Mistakes Authors Make with Book Blurbs.

9. Formatting, Printing, and Distribution

If you’re traditionally publishing, the publisher will take care of this step.

If you’re self-publishing, you’ll need to do it. The good news is that it’s easier than ever to format and print a book.

DO NOT PAY a company to format and publish a book for you. This is at best an unnecessary expense and at worst a scam. Beware of scammers—they prey on the unknowledgeable.

You can pay for programs that help with formatting; some authors swear by them. I didn’t bother because both KDP and Draft2Digital (publishing platforms) offer formatting for free. That’s not to say you’re 100% off the hook. You will want to keep a few formatting considerations in mind when you’re writing.

• Books are not left justified, they’re full justified. That means each line (except for a partial line at the end of a paragraph) is stretched all the way across the page evenly, eliminating ragged right edges.

• The first paragraph of a chapter or new scene is not indented.

• Paragraph indents are 1/4 inch (as opposed to the standard 1/2 in. from the tab key in Microsoft Word.)

• Avoid windows at the end of a chapter. Don’t let a few words or a single line dangle on its own page. This will take a bit of work to tweak the spacing of some chapters to avoid.

• You’ll still need to decide on a book size. This will depend in part on the length of your book. A 5.5”x8.5” may look nicer than a 6”x9” for a 300-350 page book. It also comes down to personal preference. Hardcovers tend to run slightly larger than paperbacks.

• When it comes to printing and distribution, you’ll want to find a self-publishing platform or multiple platforms. Your book will be listed online and offered as print-on-demand (POD). POD reduces costs by only printing the book once someone orders it. This is how indie authors sell books at places like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Keep in mind that the more platforms you list your book on, the more work you’ll create for yourself every time you have to make an update. Not all places allow unlimited free updates to print versions. KDP does, Draft2Digital limits users to one free update to a physical copy per 90 days.

Publishing on more platforms also increases the places you’ll need to track sales on.

There’s a difference between a single platform and a wholesaler or distributor.

KDP can be a single platform, but they also offer the option for extended distribution, which will allow Amazon to list your book on other markets like a wholesaler. This is probably the easiest option, but it lowers your commission.

Since Amazon is my largest market, I don’t do the extended distribution because I want the full 70% (ebook) and 60% (print books) commission. I take my books to Draft2Digital (D2D) for their wider distribution. They used to focus solely on ebooks but in recent years expanded to POD for physical books as well. With D2D, my ebook and paperback book are automatically listed in other stores like Walmart (online), B&N, Apple Books, and more.

IngramSpark is another wholesaler, but they don’t offer free formatting. If you format with D2D, you can download the PDF file of your book and take it to other sites.

As a note: all of these sites are free to list your book—they just take a portion of your sales (you get paid 70% on KDP; they keep 30%).

These sites also offer free ISBNs if you don’t buy your own. If you use KDP’s free ISBNs, you can’t take them elsewhere, so you’ll have different ISBNs if you go to D2D or IngramSpark. Personally, I don’t see why this matters, and I just let my books have different ISBNs on each site.

10. Marketing and Promotion

• Create a Marketing Plan: This is a strategy for promoting the book. This could include book tours, interviews, social media campaigns, and book signings. I used social media for my book launch (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and BlueSky). Some authors report success with BookTok (TikTok).

• Press Kits and Media Outreach: You can provide press kits with information about the book and author to journalists, bloggers, and reviewers. Consider offering a free advanced reader copy (ARC) to bloggers and influencers to feature your book.

• Book Reviews and Launch Campaigns: Generate buzz by securing reviews (from critics or readers), using platforms like Goodreads, and organizing online or physical book launch events. This is harder if you’re an indie author. Goodreads allows you to list a giveaway, but it’ll cost $110.

  A better way, in my opinion, is to do a giveaway yourself on social media in exchange for signing up to your newsletter. You can also reach out to book reviewers to review your book for free to give it the social proof it needs to get readers.

  I also donated a copy of my book to my local library. They’re planning a local author event.

• Author Platform: Build an online presence with a website, social media accounts, and a newsletter. Newsletters are the slowest and hardest to build, but Substack helps with that. Offering a lead magnet also helps grow your list. I offered my first book for free for sign-ups to my Kit newsletter.

• Ongoing Marketing Efforts: You’ll need to continue marketing the book to sustain interest. You can offer discounts, contests/giveaways, or participate in virtual book tours.

  Once you get some reviews, you can try your hand at ads on places such as Facebook and Amazon. (You’ll want to go ahead and turn down pretty much everyone who messages you on Facebook to offer their services. They stalk authors on that platform. Scammers also lurk, pretending to be Meta and threatening to deactivate your account if you don’t fork over your login credentials.)

• Fan Engagement: Connect with readers through book clubs, social media, and events, fostering loyalty and support for future works.

  I have to admit I’m not that great with fan engagement, not because I don’t reply to fans, but because I don’t have a lot of readers who’ve reached out to me. I mostly hear from other indie authors who’ve read my book.

• Don’t get discouraged: Publishing a book is easy. Seeing results—not so much. Set realistic expectations. Most authors I hear from either have another job, rely on a spouse’s income, or have at least five books published. Your first book isn’t likely to be a bestseller. Move on to the next book. (And it’s probably not the best idea to start out with a trilogy like I did. If people don’t read the first book, they’re not likely to read any of the others).

Helpful Links and Resources

8 Tips for Writing a Novel

Beta Readers: https://blog.reedsy.com/beta-readers/

I’ve compiled all my free programs and sites I used for self-publishing into a PDF. You can download “The Ultimate Writer’s Resource Guide” from my Kit landing page HERE.

If you’re interested, check out my series Beyond the Water’s Edge.

If you found this helpful or want more information on any of these topics, let me know.

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1. Start anywhere—you don't have to start with chapter one. You can write in any order and rearrange your chapters and scenes at the end. Do you already have the end in mind? Start there.

   Tip: If you're looking for a platform to write, there are several places you can write your story for free:

   - Libre Office: A free suite of desktop applications that includes a word processing platform that can edit existing .doc and .docx files as well as save in these formats.

   - Google Docs: If you have a Gmail account, you already have access to these free programs. Share files easily and save automatically to your Google Drive.

   - Microsoft 365 online: The online version of Microsoft is free with up to 5 GB of storage to automatically save online and avoid losing your work. One drawback: the online version of Word doesn't have all the features found in the desktop program.

2. Whatever you choose for your opening scene, make sure you write a gripping hook and include it early on. I once read a book that opened with pages-long discussions about crops. Not the most exciting way to start a story. You can open right in the middle of the action if you want, and if you don't have a gripping hook to start your story, you can always include a prologue. Just remember that if you use a prologue, it should be the length of a short chapter, and it should set the scene for something central to your book.

3. Give yourself permission to write an abysmal first draft. Write anything. You can (and will) edit later, but you won't have anything to edit if you haven't written anything. The first draft of my first novel was truly cringe-worthy (trust me when I say editing made the book).

4. Focus on the scene level. You can't write a readable story, let alone a page-turner, if you can't write a scene. There should be a hook, an object of desire for your character (in short, a goal or sub-goal they are working to achieve), and story progression. If your scene isn't progressing the story, chances are it needs to be edited or nixed.

5. Include dialogue and make it believable and tailored to the character. Dialogue can make or break your story, so special care should be taken to get it right. Dialogue can be challenging because you, as the author, need to tailor it to the individual character and need to balance making it meaningful and making it believable. For example, in real life, people say mundane phrases like, "Good morning," and "I have to go to the bathroom." While these are very believable and realistic things to say, they don't progress the story and so are often omitted. Unless greetings are integral to the story, they can be summed up fairly briefly in the text instead of being given line-by-line quotes.

   Dialogue should flow with the story, not feel set apart and choppy or forced. Be careful of creating emotionally charged dialogue that makes it seem like characters fly off the handle too quickly just for the sake of adding more drama. Emotionally charged dialogue can be powerful, but it must be set up properly (with buildup). Remember: the outburst is only as good as the buildup. Tension can be just as powerful as the resulting confrontation and can work to get the reader on your character's side.

   Tip: If you have large sections of dialogue, break it up with actions. People move when they speak (scratch their nose or shift their gaze). Minimize long speeches given all in one shot, and avoid clichés (long villain monologues, for example).

6. Make a schedule if possible and create a habit of writing daily (or close to it). Getting started with writing is the hardest part, so once you have the momentum going, don't stop. You can set word count goals or simply time goals. These don't have to be lofty goals. If all you get done is two paragraphs, that's two paragraphs of progress. Everyone writes at their own pace. When you write during this time, disconnect from distractions like social media.

7. Read. You've probably heard this advice before. If you want to write, you should read, but what does that mean? Simply reading other material won't necessarily make you a better writer in and of itself. When you read, you should pay attention to what makes your favorite books just that—your favorite books. Pay attention to:

   - The pacing of the story.

   - How dialogue is written and how it works to progress the story while still being believable and in character.

   - The sentence structure (varying the length and sentence openers).

   - How the senses are engaged to produce descriptions.

   And finally

   - Transitions. Transitions in the story are often overlooked because, if done right, they're not noticeable.

   Tip: If you find yourself struggling with a certain transition, you can use a scene break or end of a chapter to help. This strategy won't automatically progress the story if you're missing the introduction of a clue or lead the characters are discussing following, but it can help you skip over them physically walking or driving there.

8. Make your characters realistic by giving them pasts (careful—not every detail of everyone's past needs to be brought up), desires, hopes, dreams, likes, and dislikes. Describe your characters early on (at least enough to give the reader a general picture). If you suddenly introduce the character's hair color in chapter eight, chances are the reader has already been picturing your character a certain way up until this point, and the sudden correction to their mental image can be distracting and difficult to alter.

   Bonus Tip: Once you start your story, keep to the same story until it's finished. You can take a break with shorter works such as poetry if the mood hits, but keep to one book at a time. Great ideas for new books are sure to strike; jot these down in your notes for later and stay focused on your book. Otherwise, you'll end up with a myriad of partial stories and no finished product to show for all your hard work.

So no more excuses. If you have an idea for a story, open up one of those writing apps discussed in the first tip (or another app you like to use) and start writing! An idea is only as good as the execution. So keep a level head—not being overly critical of your own work and not getting too puffed up to take constructive feedback—and take the first steps to writing your very own novel to be proud of.

Janine Eaby loves to read, write, and garden. She is the author of the Beyond the Water's Edge fantasy book series and enjoys experimenting with poetry.

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