Today I am spotlighting Gary Ponzo. His latest novel is called A Touch of Deceit, and it's doing well in the Kindle market. Really well. One of the reasons for this is that I believe his book offers something a little different than many others out there, and the fact that he incorporates his Sicilian background into the story also helps.



The novel opens well with the line, "There was a time when Nick Bracco would walk down Gold Street late at night and young vandals would…

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You are at a pivotal point in your novel where it would be truly amazing if only you could add just a line or two or three from a song.



The question is, can you?



I have read a lot about this and I definitely have come across a lot of conflicting answers. That in and of itself is frustrating with a capital F! In my quest for the answer, I came across some legitimate resources to share with all of you.



To get started,…

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One thing that works for me is to set up a timeline for the novel I am writing. I do this so that I don't lose track of how many days are passing by and that everything falls in line as it should.



For example, let's say you need something to happen on a specific day, if you have a timeline set up it will help keep things on track and ensure it falls in line as it should.



In my timeline, I include the day, day of the week and chapters and then I write a short description…

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As this month comes to an end, I wanted to add some final thoughts about self-publishing, promoting yourself and the entire process.



Wouldn't it be nice if writers could just write their books and someone else could take care of the rest? It doesn't matter if you are a writer with a publishing company or an indie writer - either way, in today's world we all have to do something to get our books out there.



But how much do you have to do, and how much time should you spend… Continue

Sure, the first page is important, I can't tell you how many times I have read or heard that if the first page doesn't past muster, the whole book is rejected. At first that seemed scary, but now it seems more like a challenge. Are you up for it? The correct answer is YES, because you have to be! I have learned that it isn't even the first page, it's the opening line, and the first paragraph that needs to get whomever you have sent it to so in awe of your awesomeness, yes, I said…

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I've read a lot of different POV's on first or third-person and just like everything else, everyone seems to have an opinion on the subject (shocking as that is). Luckily, there are few options to choose, so that's my glass half full approach for the day ;)



More often than not, I have read that a murder mystery should be written from the first-person POV and that most of them are. How interesting then that a lot of the recent books I picked up and dusted off recently were written in… Continue

Indie writers now have a place to go and chat with each other on Facebook. It was just set up yesterday, and I would like to see everyone there!

Indie Writers Unite

This topic is a little off the beaten path of self-publishing, but it does tie in, and I'll tell you why.



As indie writers, we're in the business of selling books (among other things). So, I took a poll, and these were my questions:



1. Do you sample before you buy a book?

2. If yes, what are you looking for and what turns you off or makes you decide not to purchase?

3. Does formatting matter, mistakes, errors, etc. and if so, how much?

4. How much of a… Continue

There are many outlets both in print and in person where you can be seen and heard.



MAGAZINES



In print, consider submitting short stories to different magazines. Every reader of your article is a possible buyer for your book. For one stop shopping in this area, become a member of Writer's Market. On their site, they list magazines alphabetically that you can submit to.



One other place you can register is at… Continue

A big part of self-publishing is getting out there and becoming involved, and there are so many ways to do that, but I wanted to list several sites that allow you to interact and get to know your readers. I've already covered some of the sites you should sign up with, but I wanted to focus on writer forums.



If you have an eBook on Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook, and chances are you do - you really should pop into their boards and take part. I will say that I see the same… Continue

As you prepare for your book to come out, a great thing you can do in advance is to get together a press release, and there are a few sites that will send them out for you for FREE.



The only downside I had with the ones I have sent out is that I wanted to put my contact info as misspoirotatymail.com instead of using the @ sign. Why does this matter? Once that release goes out a bunch of spammers will flood your inbox with a bunch of stuff you don't want or need. Fortunately, they…

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Ever see the riveting and emotionally charged movie The Bone Collector with Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington? Then you are familiar with Jeffery Deaver. And his success doesn't stop there. Jeffery was chosen by Ian Fleming's Publications to write Carte Blanche. What's so great about that? I'll tell you. Carte Blanche is the next James Bond novel. Aside from that, he has additional novels coming out in 2012 (Kathryn Dance book) and 2013 (Lincoln Rhyme book). With how…

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There are plenty of options out there to promote yourself, which is great because most new authors don't have tons of extra money to shell out to advertise and get themselves out there. You are essentially your own publicist. It is a little daunting at first and takes away from your time as a writer, but gaining readers is a good thing.



For part one, I'm going to touch on the basics. These are things you can do before your book even comes out (and you should).



1.… Continue