Category Archives: Writing

NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

2013-Winner-Facebook-ProfileAs a multi-year winner (including this year, he wrote, tooting his own horn), I always look forward to NaNoWriMo.  And Camp NaNoWriMo.  And I have fond memories of Scriptfrenzy, and hope they bring it back.

An article from the Examiner puts NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in perspective:

A day to remember for a lot of writers. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has officially come to an end. While a lot of authors have triumphed, writing 50,000 words in just one month, others gave it their best but didn’t quite make it. But that should hardly be the point.

A lot of people think the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words in a single month is about completing that. It’s just a goal; a difficult goal. But the point of this goal is to learn how to squeeze every ounce of free time into your creativity: For writers to give it their best, grasp the concept of pumping out a rough draft without worrying about revisions, editing, or how a chapter flows.

Talk to any writer and most of them will tell you they have an abundance of ideas, and the hardest part is writing it out. This is the sole purpose of NaNoWriMo: get that idea out on paper and worry about refining when it’s finished! This could very well be a revolutionary idea in the realm of books.

You can read the whole article HERE.

If you’re a writer, you can find out more about NaNoWriMo HERE.

Helicon Books eBook Quality Assurance Service Offers Writers EPUB Review and Report Ahead of Publishing

A free tool from Helicon Books, the online EPUB validation, aims to save writers time and money when publishing eBooks by offering them a full review and report of critical errors in their document ensuring a smoother process to market, including quality assurance against iBooks and Kobo specific guidelines.

Helicon Books’ EPUB Quality Assurance (QA) service for eBooks offers writers and publishers a new validation service to ensure that all books are error free ahead of publishing, thus saving any potential costs and complaints from readers.

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Vivalogue Announces New Self-Publishing Forum for Independent Authors

New Westminster, B.C. (PRWEB) November 29, 2013 – Vivalogue, an author services company based in New Westminster, BC, has strengthened its commitment to independent authors by launching a new networking cooperative for self-published authors and writers considering self-publishing.

The network “Raindance for Independent Authors” grew out of the Raindance Book Festival for Independent Authors held November 9, 2013 in Richmond, B.C. Believed to be the first of its kind in Canada, the festival included a book fair, workshops, editors’ ‘blue pencil’ sessions and a book drive supporting Frontier College. The festival was organized using a collaborative model which encouraged authors to contribute their collective time and talents. Authors identified this collaborative aspect of the festival as a key benefit of participation and expressed interest in continuing these relationships.

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USA Today: Companies book profits from self-publishing

Jeremy Greenfield (Special for USA Today) has posted a new article on the USA Today website about how new firms have sprung up to help writers get their ebooks published:

In the spring of 2010, Amanda Hocking, a social worker from Rochester, Minn., uploaded several books she had been working on to Amazon.com. In the first weeks, she sold a few dozen copies — success for someone who just wanted to have her work read.

In the next few months, she published several more manuscripts, and soon, the sales started piling up. By the end of the summer, Hocking had made enough money to quit her job, and in January 2011, she sold “an insane amount of books,” she said, estimating the total at 100,000.

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‘Tired Of Waiting’ Teenager Self-Publishes Novels

Mary Isokariari has posted on Young Voices about Lloyd Harry-Davis, 16, who “juggles studies with writing works of fantasy fiction.” She writes:

AN ENTERPRISING teenage author has self-published a series of urban fantasy novels.

Lloyd Harry-Davis, a 16-year-old first year sixth-form student at St Dominic’s Sixth Form College in Harrow, northwest London, wrote his first book Preternatural at the age of 12 and completed the second a year later.

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