Tag: Publishing

Ask the Author

Ask the Author: Can I really become a published author?

Mandy Webster

Dear Mandy,

So this is kind of random, but I wanted to be an author as a teenager and kind of gave up because it was made out to be impossible by the adults in my life. Is getting something published realistic?

A writer’s desk with a globe, maps, travel photographs, a pen and notebook, and a stack of books labeled “Write,” “Revise,” “Submit,” “Publish,” and “Repeat.” A handwritten note reads, “People like us don’t do things like that,” while the notebook reads, “Same dream. Different path. Still possible.
Becoming an author may not be the most practical path according to someone else’s definition of practical—but if writing is the path you’re meant to follow, it’s worth finding your way there.
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Answer:
Yes.

Seriously. That’s the short answer. And I know that answer because I spent a lot of my own life believing the opposite. When I was a kid, my grandmother had a wall of old National Geographic magazines. I would sit and page through them, fascinated by the photographs and the stories of places I had never seen. I dreamed of writing for National Geographic someday. I wanted to travel the world and write about the things I saw.

Continue reading “Ask the Author: Can I really become a published author?” →
Writers on Writing

Everyone says you’re writing your novel wrong: They’re not all right.

Mandy Webster

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a writer in possession of a novel manuscript in progress must be in want of writing advice. If you’ve ever gone looking for advice about how to write a novel, you’ve probably discovered one of the great truths of writing: for every person who confidently tells you there is a right way to do something, there is another person who will confidently tell you they’re completely wrong—especially if you ask the question of social media.

Everyone has an opinion about the “right” way to write a novel. But what works for one writer, genre, audience, or school of thought may not work for another. The trick is figuring out what you believe a story is supposed to do—and finding the advice that actually serves your goals. There’s no single right way to write a novel. There’s only the way that works for the story you’re trying to tell.
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Plotters will tell you to outline. Pantsers will tell you that outlining kills the magic. One writing teacher will tell you that you should never use adverbs, while another will remind you that adverbs are perfectly legitimate words. Someone will insist that you must start your novel with action, while someone else will tell you that the reader needs time to settle into the world and meet the characters. And then there’s the Oxford comma.

Continue reading “Everyone says you’re writing your novel wrong: They’re not all right.” →
Publishing

Always learning something new on #Smashwords

Mandy Webster

With every new eBook project, it seems like I stumble across a new Smashwords formatting snafu that I hadn’t ever before encountered, or even considered. My recent upload of my newest book, F-ing Freddy Fisher, was no exception. It usually doesn’t take me long to figure out what I’m up against, but this time, when I received an email telling me that my manuscript had been rejected due to the lack of an NCX file, I was stumped.

Like any true worrier, my head immediately whirled with panicked questions. What the heck was an NCX file? Was this something new? Was I going to have to give up on Smashwords for good because they had finally managed to make it too difficult for me to figure something out?

Like any true procrastinator, I then put off thinking about it until I had an entire free afternoon to focus on nothing but this problem. Luckily, it turned out all the panic was for naught. Continue reading “Always learning something new on #Smashwords” →

Editing, Novel Writing

#YouKnowYouAreAWriterWhen you can flip your own switches. #VotB

Mandy Webster

Original manuscript of a revision of "Spi...
Even Poe had to revise his work! | Original manuscript of a revision of “Spirits of the Dead” in Poe’s handwriting. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At various crossroads on my writing journey, I have often happened upon “road signs” that let me know that I am heading in the right direction. These signs make me think, “Wow, I really AM a writer.” One example was when I completed my very first novel manuscript draft seven years ago. You know how it is. It feels like you will never finish. You often wonder if you are even capable of writing a complete novel. And then, one day, you find yourself typing, “THE END,” and you think, “Wow, I really AM a writer.”

At that moment, it feels like you have accomplished everything you need to do. You have reached the end of your writing journey. You wrote a novel! Woohoo! That’s a MAJOR accomplishment. And you are, rightfully, proud of that accomplishment.

But then, you realize that you need to edit that first draft. You realize that you still have a lot of work to do before you can call it, “done.” (Or, at least I hope you do!) You don’t rush out and self-publish that first draft because you take your writing seriously, and you want to offer your readers the best possible reading experience. Continue reading “#YouKnowYouAreAWriterWhen you can flip your own switches. #VotB” →

Blogging, Book Reviews, Valley of the Bees

Valley of the Bees Book Blog Tour: Stop #1

Mandy Webster

Author T. S. Dickerson
Author T. S. Dickerson

The With Envy Stung: Valley of the Bees #1 book blog tour has officially begun! My first stop is taking place today (right now!) over at author T. S. Dickerson’s blog, where she has posted a book review of my latest novel, which will release on September 1, 2016.

Go check out this book review now, and then check back here later to find out where the With Envy Stung: Valley of the Bees #1 book blog tour will be stopping next.

Do you want to be a part of this blog tour? Contact Me for details!

Buy The Book

For a limited time, With Envy Stung: Valley of the Bees #1 is available for only 99 cents. Pre-order your copy today before the book returns to its regular price of $3.99!

Continue reading “Valley of the Bees Book Blog Tour: Stop #1” →

eBooks, Publishing

How to expand your audience with Smashwords

Mandy Webster

Like many indie publishers, I began my publishing journey with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Since learning to publish an eBook was more than enough knowledge to digest on its own without learning to publish on multiple platforms at once, I decided to stick with KDP for a while until I had a better idea of what I was doing. However, with the launch of my latest book project, I decided it was time to finally expand beyond Kindle and Nook and learn how to use Smashwords.

Capture

The leap from Kindle to Nook eBook publishing was a no-brainer. I wanted my print books to be available in brick and mortar bookstores like Barnes and Noble, and I wanted my B&N customers to also be able to access my books on their eReaders. But I knew there was still a vast audience that had no access to my books. Continue reading “How to expand your audience with Smashwords” →

Short Story

Now available on Kindle: Rain at Three (with a bonus free download!)

Mandy Webster

Rain at three, short story
“Rain at Three” is now available on Kindle for 99 cents.

My short story, Rain at Three, is now available on Kindle for 99 cents! Here’s a brief description:

Can you ever really know the man you’re marrying until you’ve really gotten to know him? Vicki is beginning to learn just what kind of man she has married. Is the honeymoon over so quickly? It may be 73 degrees and sunny in Hawaii, but it always rains at 3 p.m.

Download your copy of Rain at Three today! If you like my story, please do me a favor and review it on Amazon.

As an added bonus, for today only, you can also get a free download of my son’s book, Avery Moves. Avery was eight years old when he wrote and illustrated this book for a school project. He had so much fun with it, we decided to take the fun one step further and publish the book on Kindle! He would love to see that people are downloading his story. If you have any words of encouragement for him to keep writing, please post them to the review section on Amazon.  Continue reading “Now available on Kindle: Rain at Three (with a bonus free download!)” →

eBooks, Novel Writing

Publishing thoughts tumbling around in my mind     

Mandy Webster

I’ve been thinking a lot about my fantasy novel WIP lately. The story has grown far beyond the scope of a single book. In fact, I’m pretty sure at this point that it has grown beyond the scope of a trilogy. It has reached such epic proportions, I feel I should stop searching for the end of the journey and instead start looking for a wayside stop with a magnificent view to share with my readers. In short, I am thinking about serializing my story and releasing the first part at some point in the next month or two.


Embed from Getty Images

I’ve been chasing this idea around in circles for months. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but there’s this part of me that wonders if the added pressure of a potential readership anxiously awaiting the next installment will push me to get part two ready to publish. I have proven that I am at my most productive when I have hard and fast deadlines to meet. I haven’t missed a deadline yet. Continue reading “Publishing thoughts tumbling around in my mind     “ →

Publishing

Publishing 101: Honey, that’s not how it works

Mandy Webster

This gave me a chuckle. I recently saw this comment on a promotional post on the HarperCollins Facebook page.

Publishing - That's not how it works

Do people really believe that getting a novel published is as easy as commenting on a publisher’s Facebook post and asking how much they charge? Continue reading “Publishing 101: Honey, that’s not how it works” →

Publishing

KDP publishing lesson: Convert your Word document to a webpage prior to publishing

Mandy Webster

Word document to web page conversion
Here’s a screen shot of me converting my Word document to a “web page.” Click the image to “enlargen.” (Yes, this is me making up new words again. I’m a writer. It’s what I do.)

They say you learn something new every day, and I tend to agree. Today, I learned something new that is worth sharing with anyone who is considering publishing their own work via Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

If you have ever published an eBook via KDP, you are probably familiar with that moment of frustration you experience when you realize that the Word document you so carefully edited and formatted has not rendered properly in Kindle format.

When I published my poetry collection last year, I spent hours flipping back and forth between my original Word document and the converted Kindle file, fixing one formatting error after another. I then had to re-publish the book with the new, updated version of my Word document. I am still not happy with the results, but I eventually just got sick of messing with it! Continue reading “KDP publishing lesson: Convert your Word document to a webpage prior to publishing” →