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10 tips on how to become a better self-published author using digital publishing platforms

Self-publishing has never been easier with the advent of digital publishing platforms like Inkspired, Wattpad, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble Press. With the right strategy and mindset, self-publishing can lead to a successful writing career. Here are 10 tips to help you become a better self-published author.


1.- Know your genre: It's essential to have a clear understanding of the genre you are writing in and what readers expect from it. This knowledge will help you make informed decisions about your writing style, plot, and character development.


2.- Invest in quality cover design: A well-designed cover is crucial for attracting potential readers. A professional cover designer can make all the difference in getting your book noticed and downloaded.


3.- Polish your writing: Before you publish, take the time to revise and edit your work. Hire a professional editor if necessary, or join a writer's group to get feedback on your writing.


4.- Build an author platform: An author platform is a group of people who follow you, know you, and are interested in what you have to offer. Building an author platform takes time and effort, but it's an essential part of building a successful writing career.


5.- Use keywords and categories wisely: When you publish a book on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, you will have the opportunity to use keywords and categories to make your book more discoverable. Research your keywords and categories carefully to make sure your book is found by the right readers.


6.- Offer your book for free: Offering your book for free is a great way to build your author platform and attract new readers. You can offer your book for free for a limited time through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing's KDP Select program.


7.- Take advantage of social media: Social media is a powerful tool for reaching a large audience. Use it to promote your book and engage with your readers.


8.- Reach out to book bloggers and reviewers: Book bloggers and reviewers can help spread the word about your book and reach new readers. Build relationships with them by offering them review copies, responding to their reviews, and engaging with them on social media.


9.- Build your mailing list: A mailing list is a group of people who have given you permission to send them updates and promotions. Building a mailing list is an essential part of building a successful writing career, as it gives you direct access to your readers.


10.- Keep learning and growing: Writing is a craft, and there is always room for improvement. Take courses, attend writing conferences, and read books on the craft of writing to keep growing as a writer.


In conclusion, self-publishing on digital publishing platforms can be a successful and fulfilling experience for writers. By following these tips, you can become a better self-published author and reach a wider audience with your work. Remember, success in self-publishing takes time, effort, and persistence, but with hard work and a strong strategy, it is achievable.

None 0 Bericht Einbetten 5
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7 tips on how to write better narrative fiction

Hi there, dear Inkspired community. Today we are exploring 7 great tips that will help us write better stories by designing consistent characters.


1.- Understanding your story's purpose: Before you start writing a narrative fiction, it's crucial to know what you want to achieve with your story. Having a clear goal will help you make choices that are in line with your story's purpose, and your characters should reflect that goal.


2.- Character development: To write better characters, start by giving them depth and complexity. Avoid one-dimensional characters, and instead create multi-layered individuals who have their own motivations, desires, and flaws.


3.- Character arcs: Character arcs are the journeys that your characters go through in your story. These arcs should be linked to your story's purpose, and help the characters grow and change over the course of the story.


4.- Show, don't tell: When writing narrative fiction, it's important to show the reader what's happening, instead of telling them. This can be achieved through vivid descriptions and dialogue that reveal your characters' thoughts, feelings, and motivations.


5.- Dialogue: Dialogue is an excellent way to reveal character and advance your story. Make sure your characters each have their own unique voice and use dialogue to reveal their personalities, motivations, and relationships with other characters.


6.- World building: A well-designed setting can help bring your characters and story to life. Think about the world your characters inhabit, and how it affects their actions, motivations, and desires. Inkspired has a fantastic tool for this called Inkspired Universes. You can use it to design the holistic world of your story and add very-well-detailed characters, events, places to it using its Smart Glossaries.


7.- Revisions: Finally, it's essential to revise your work and refine your characters and story. Ask for feedback from beta readers, and be willing to make changes to make your story the best it can be.


In conclusion, writing better narrative fiction and designing better characters takes time, effort, and practice. However, by understanding your story's purpose, developing well-rounded characters, using vivid descriptions and dialogue, and revising your work, you can create engaging, memorable stories that your readers will love.

2. Februar 2023 10:14 0 Bericht Einbetten 9
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Of Reviews and Knowledge – Part 2

This article is subjective based on my own experience and thinking. It's fine if you think differently.


In the previous part, I proposed this question: what to ask people to get reviews?


Instead of answering this from the beginning, I'm going to propose you another question: how can you reach a point where you don't need to ask for reviews anymore?


Maybe you read this question and you think, that reviews are an important part of the life of any artist, they are necessary, it's not possible to reach a point where you don't need to ask, you'll always have to ask.


Well, let's think a bit about it. Imagine that you are a 60 years old person, you have seen a lot in your life and you have read so many books in all these years, you have done a lot of research, you have even interviewed other people over the years to tell a great story. And then, for some reason, you ask for reviews, and you get reviews from teenagers saying that your story is bad.


Does that mean that the story is bad? What was explained in this case is a person with a lot of knowledge gets opinions from people with less knowledge. In this example, you can see how useless the reviews were.


It's not a matter of feeling that you are superior because you are older or because you did more research. It's a matter of knowing what you are doing. If you are crafting a story with so much dedication and people who don't have a clue of what you are doing to write this story start saying criticism based on things they don't know, this is not useful.


So let's go back to the first question. What to ask people to get reviews? The answer can be as simple as “tell me your impressions” to something specific. When “tell me your impressions”, you must know how to select what reviews are clearly useful and what is not. Maybe you think or feel that your writing misses something or could be improved by something but no matter what, you just can't find the solution. Maybe a review from someone who likes this style can help. But for this to happen, the author must feel that there is something wrong in the text, something hard to detect, and only people with enough experience reading this kind of text can attempt to see it. That's why I said that asking for “tell me your impressions” can be more useful than anything else.


Just to end, I just want to say these thoughts have come with the passing of time, and don't take them too harshly. It's very liberating when you think that everything is subjective and you don't need to like everybody. My attempt with these articles is not to make you think like me. I just want to give you something to think about, and whether you reach the same conclusions as me or not, that's another matter. Just think. If you want reviews, ask the correct questions, for that might give you the correct answers. But remember, “correct” is subjective. So, the reviews you get are also subjective. Always remember this, and you'll know when you ask for reviews, what to ask for reviews, what reviews are useful for you, and how you can let useful reviews to people.


I dearly hope these articles made you think and you have a nice time reading them. Wish you the best with your writing!

None 0 Bericht Einbetten 5
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Of reviews and knowledge Part 1

This article is subjective based on my own experience and thinking. It's fine if you think differently.


Reviews. Something every person who writes has wanted at some point in his or her career. Reviews to see if the piece of text they have written is good enough, to see if they can earn the public and, who knows, maybe get famous, well known, and have success.

But there is something that people seem to forget when asking for a review. And I say this also to the myself-of-the-past. Reviews are subjective. Yes, just like this text that you are reading right now.

But, can you ask for an objective review? Most likely no. Because the commentary that is let in a review is how that person perceives the piece of text. And that text can be good for someone and bad for others. And there are countless examples I could name but I promise I'll stick to a few.

Certainly, if you ask for a review about a text that tells a science fiction story to a person who dislikes science fiction, he's most likely to say that it's bad. If you ask for a review from a person who only likes fast pacing writing and your text looks like the Illiad, he will certainly say that it's bad. If you ask for a review from a person who can't stand theatre and your text looks like Shakespeare, it's going to say that it's bad. Even if there are certain individuals who can see the quality in a text of a genre or style that they don't particularly like, this is not very useful at all.

Let's talk about grammar and orthography. Maybe you can think that this topic is certainly objective because it cannot be subjective the fact or “writing badly”. It cannot be acceptable. Well, in this I might agree, but there are some exceptions. Until very recently, I thought that writing adjectives after nouns in English were incorrect until I read La Morte d'Artur, where I read many times about the Table Round. Is this wrong? If it is, then the whole book is bad writing. But it's not. It's poetry.

So well, yes, it's objective if you read a text and it's so poorly written that you can't even understand, but not because of things like the previous example, but because of incorrect use of words or bad formatting. But I think any person who writes seriously would take care of these things because it's very basic.


So the final question is, why should you ask for a review, and if you do, what should be the questions you ask about it? That's actually very hard to answer. In my opinion, I came to the conclusion that most reviews are useless. And I don't mean just beta-reader reviews, but also reviews left on websites. But at the same time, this might be because people don't ask the correct questions and also people don't answer the correct questions, or answer correctly. For example, why should someone who dislikes slow-paced fantasy say that a slow-paced fantasy book is bad because whatever? For a review to be useful, it must be directed to the people who enjoy that kind of story. Don't take seriously the review of your love story that comes from a person who doesn't like reading love stories. The stories should make people feel, but that doesn't mean that they must make all people feel. You might feel crime books, and others might feel horror. It's a matter of preferences. It's subjective. Just like reviews.

If you want to do a review, always think about the kind of people who can enjoy these stories. The most useful reviews I've read are when they say “if you are looking for a fantasy story, this is very good” or “if you are looking for a faithful adaptation, this is very bad”. Because yes, reviews are not only about books. Also films, paintings, sculptures... art. Think about the people who can enjoy that particular piece of art, and that's how to make a great review.


And what to ask people to get reviews? Well, that will be content for the second part of this post coming soon.


Article by: Anamura.

11. November 2022 16:58 1 Bericht Einbetten 4
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