A Blog About Book Publishing & Marketing

Editing on a Budget – Book Editing

Many writers decide to go the self-publishing route. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s cheap, right? Well, not exactly. The biggest shock for many folks is that you can’t just slap any old thing up on Amazon or Barnes & Noble and make a killing. Nope. You need to put out something that’s great, not just readable. Not even just plain good. But great—a book that readers can’t put down and can’t stop recommending to their friends. Word of mouth sells books more effectively than anything else. There [...]

Radu Balas2017-03-07T09:23:44+00:00Book Covers Design, Book Editing, My Blog|1 Comment

How Do You Plan Your Book?

For authors or even aspiring authors, planning a book is far from easy. And every writer is unique, going on a different path just like our fingerprints are distinct. Some writers are pantsters, a phenomenon that involves “flying by the seat of your pants” and allowing the ideas for the book to come to you willy-nilly. The book is unplanned, but some authors are able to still accomplish a pretty impressive manuscript using this technique. Other authors are plotters; they plan out the book every step of the [...]

Radu Balas2017-03-07T09:23:44+00:00Book Editing, Book Publishing, Case Studies|0 Comments

Social Media for Authors

It is evident that social media has come to stay, therefore; authors must learn to acclimatize to it in other to leverage its advantages. Social media is a powerful avenue for learning, networking, influencing, and marketing for an author when used strategically. As a published author and one that uses social media, I must tell you that it increases your visibility and helps you get in contact with more people – sellers, readers, reviewers, publishers and many more. Today, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, [...]

Radu Balas2017-03-07T09:23:44+00:00My Blog, Social Media|6 Comments

What To Do When It’s Hard to Keep On Track

When I started writing my book six years ago I had no idea if I would ever finish it. Me? Finishing a project? You have to be kidding me! I am a busy mom of two, and a fantastic wife and homemaker who also happens to be a professional rockstar on the weekends… I am one busy woman! But with much love and support by those closest to me, in the fall of 2014 I finished my first manuscript. Granted it wasn’t edited, but I finally finished it!!! [...]

Radu Balas2017-03-07T09:23:47+00:00Book Editing, Book Publishing, Case Studies, My Blog|0 Comments

Angels & Arrows

Hi all! My name is Reyna Hawk and I’m the author of Angels & Arrows which was released in October of 2014. First, I will tell you a little about me, then the book and finally I will move on into my writing style and the reason I chose to write Angels & Arrows. I am a 47 yr. old mother of one grown son and grandmother to one beautiful little girl. I was born and (basically) raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. I say basically because I have moved [...]

Radu Balas2017-03-07T09:23:48+00:00Author Website, Case Studies, My Blog|0 Comments

DO NOT self edit

I am pretty lucky; working for a newspaper I have access to editors and proofreaders that normal writers may not. I try to make their lives easier by doing self-editing, but I do this with caution. It's kind of funny; I can edit other people’s stuff, but we get blind to our own writing. I love to ask the opinion of friends and readers or use Beta readers. But if you self edit, here are some important tips. Tips For Self-Editing: ☆ Wait six months or more. That [...]

Radu Balas2017-03-07T09:23:49+00:00Book Publishing, Case Studies, My Blog|0 Comments

THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD

In 2002, I picked up my grandson from school. He was in second grade. I looked through his backpack for assignments and found a piece of paper it said, "I can't believe what I saw." I asked Logan if he wanted to help me write a story with those words. He said, "I don't know how." So I told him I would help. I kept thinking about those words and where I was when I saw the paper we were leaving the grade school. The playground was in [...]

Radu Balas2016-11-18T13:22:01+00:00Case Studies, My Blog|0 Comments

IN THE SHADOW OF THE DRAGON KING – Why I Wrote It

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had this idea swirling around in my head of knights and dragons, young heroes and cool magic. Over the years I toyed with a lot of different ideas but nothing really stuck until around 2003. It was then the idea came to me and one little story evolved into The Fallhollow Chronicles, a Young Adult trilogy that spans worlds and simultaneous dimensions. The trilogy is steeped in love: love for family, love for boy, love for girl. Even ideas and [...]

Radu Balas2017-03-07T09:23:50+00:00Case Studies, My Blog|0 Comments

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

It was a combination of bad timing and perhaps my own naivety that caused me to originally abandon my first novel before it finally made it to print last year. (The Nestries, A Fairytale for All Ages) After being rejected repeatedly, I took a short sabbatical, visiting with my brother at our beloved childhood home. We often discussed issues he dealt with every day in caring for his mother-in-law who was suffering from dementia. She was now having hallucinations, he said. Although they were disturbing to her, my [...]

Radu Balas2017-03-07T09:23:51+00:00Case Studies, My Blog|0 Comments

Writing 250 words at a time

For most of us, writing can't always be our top priority in terms of time management. We have jobs, school, family, social obligations, grocery shopping, errands, and a ton of other stuff that has to be done, but that chips away at the time we'd rather spend writing. It's hard to find time to think about stories, let alone write them, in the swirl of daily life. One of the most frequent questions I've gotten since the publication of my novel, The Life and Death (but mostly the [...]

Radu Balas2016-11-18T12:56:56+00:00Book Editing, Book Marketing, Book Publishing, Case Studies, Email Marketing, Marketing, My Blog|0 Comments