Blogging and Writing – A Guide to Information

Our favorite non-Irish drinking holiday of the spring is finally upon us! Easter is this Sunday and Toni and I are both excited to celebrate with our families. My tradition involves a big meal with my parents, siblings and other close family and friends (this year it’s ham, squash casserole and green bean casserole–aw, man! [...]
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1. Meet the Duolit Triplets!
   Here at Duolit, we are all about using illustrative examples to give our customers a better idea of how to…
2. Where in the world have we been? (An update)
   *cricket cricket* No, that’s not a sad, lonely cricket refusing to accept the end of summer — it’s the activity…
3. 5 Tips for Constructing Characters [From the Archives]
   The following was originally posted on March 5, 2010. Ever read a fictional book that was so good you walked…

Continue Reading Easter Fun! [Friday Funday]

Tags: Easter, Friday Funday, Randomness

You’ve conquered the mocking cursor and those blog post ideas are coming fast and furiously. You finish typing just a few more words annnnd…hit ‘publish.’  Now, lean back and smile. This post was a winner. Perfectly suited to your target market, engaging, topical, all that jazz. You’re ready to watch the visitors (and, thus, the [...]
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1. Have Something To Say? Be a Guest Poster!
   By:me and the sysopLet’s face it, with only two authors (Shannon and I), people may get a little sick of…
2. The Long Game of Self-Publishing [Guest Post]
   The following is a guest post from Merry Farmer and the first entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here…
3. Do You Still Enjoy Writing? (And What to Do if You Don’t) [Guest Post]
   The following is a guest post from Michael W. Roberts and an entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here to vote for…

Continue Reading Double Your Traffic: 8 Steps to Becoming a Guest Post Rockstar

Tags: blogging, Guest posting, Marketing & Promotion

I know, I know, it’s one of our “catch phrases” that you’re probably sick of hearing, but that doesn’t make it any less true:  you need to have your book professionally edited! Proper editing can make all the difference between a book that makes a splash with readers and one that goes over…well, like a [...]
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Continue Reading How Do You Choose a Professional Editor? [Discussion]

Tags: Discussion, Editing, editors, services

So, you started your author blog. It was so *exciting* at the beginning! Rainbows and sunshine poured down on you and the posts flowed freely from your fingertips. There was no shortage of ideas and you just knew this blogging thing was meant for you. Fast-forward to a month later. You visit your blog and [...]
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1. 21 Author Blog Post Ideas
   You followed the 14 Steps to Launch Your Author Blog. Your first week went by swimmingly, but now you’re left staring…
2. 14 Steps to Launch Your Author Blog — Today!
   120,000 new blogs created. Over 1.4 million posts published. What’s that, every year? Guess again. That’s every day. Every. Single….
3. A Great Author Blog Example…
   Just a quick post to share a great article over at The Creative Penn — it examines one example of…

Continue Reading 105 Author Blog Prompts: It’s Megapost Time!

Tags: author blogs, blog ideas, Blog Prompts, blogging, Links & Resources, Marketing & Promotion, prompts

The recent news of eBooks outselling their printed counterparts got the little wheels in my head turning. For us indie authors, paperbacks represent a much larger investment, both in terms of time and money. Breaking down the differences between paperbacks and eBooks: Paperbacks: Require more extensive design (layout design/formatting, spine and back cover design, high-resolution cover [...]
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1. [Discussion] How Do You Price Your Books?
   In the past couple of weeks, we have seen a lot of chatter on Twitter about how indie authors do…
2. [Discussion] What’s YOUR Definition of Self-Publishing?
   Indie publishing. Vanity press. Subsidy publishing. Many throw around these terms when referring to certain self-published work (and services), but…
3. How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book? [Discussion]
   One of the most common questions we’re asked from authors looking into self-publishing is: how much does it cost? The…

Continue Reading Are Paperbacks Worth It? [Discussion]

Tags: Discussion, e-publishing, ebooks, paperbacks, Publishing

Hi, my name is Shannon… (Hello, Shannon!) …and I’m addicted to Pinterest. IN MY DEFENSE, I can honestly say — who isn’t addicted to Pinterest at this point? I now have a list of DIY projects a mile long that I plan to tackle (including tinted mason jars) and recipes that I plan to cook [...]
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1. As the Self-Pub World Turns: Unique Book Promo Ideas Edition
   We’ve heard you guys loud and clear: book marketing sucks, it takes up too much time, etc, etc. Luckily, the…
2. Episode 3: What Everyone’s Talking About & The Importance of Planning
   A big story (at least as big as it gets in the self-publishing world) broke this week, and it seemed…
3. [Friday Fun] Worst Plot Ever?
   Now that you guys have all downloaded our six super amazing plot, character and perspective templates we know for certain…

Continue Reading [Friday Fun] Best Thing You’ve Found on Pinterest

Tags: Discussion

Many moons ago, I eagerly planted myself in the front row of a Florida State classroom for my first day of a public relations writing class. I was two semesters into my third major in college and pretty stoked about learning the core of the skill set I would need to secure a job post-grad. [...]
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1. Five Tips for Writing a Stellar Press Release
   You would think, as writers, that we would be perfectly gifted for writing top-notch press releases. It’s what we do…
2. Get noticed: 5 Steps to Boosting Book Publicity
   As they say–better late than never, right? We are getting back on track with this week’s blog post and will…
3. Affordable Self-Publishing Services
   Your needs are different from those of your author friends, and that’s why we’re proud to offer all of our…

Continue Reading 3 Places to Send A Press Release (And How to Write One)

Tags: Marketing & Promotion, Press Release, Press Release Template, Writing Press Releases

The following is a guest post by Grant Piercy. Thanks for a great post, Grant! So you’re in the process of writing your masterpiece. Say you’re in the car, contemplating your work-in-progress, and a song comes on the radio. You hear some great lyric that somehow clicks with your manuscript; it applies so well that [...]
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1. Do You Still Enjoy Writing? (And What to Do if You Don’t) [Guest Post]
   The following is a guest post from Michael W. Roberts and an entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here to vote for…
2. Self-publishing is not a new thing! [Guest Post]
   The following is a guest post from William Joel and an entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here to vote for the…
3. The Old Shell Game of Publishing [Guest Post]
   The following is a guest post from Allan Douglas and an entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here to vote for the…

Continue Reading Quoting Lyrics and Dodging Copyright Issues [Guest Post]

Tags: Publishing

We’ve heard you guys loud and clear: book marketing sucks, it takes up too much time, etc, etc. Luckily, the self-publishing blogosphere has come through with some fun, unique and effective ways to promote your book. Let’s check them out in this week’s edition of As The Self-Pub World Turns! QR Codes by Joel Friedlander. [...]
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1. As The Self-Pub World Turns: Amazon’s Taking Over Edition
   At our weekly Duolit pow-wow, Shannon mentioned that she missed the Links of the Week posts from back in the…
2. How One Indie Author Increased Kindle Sales 3600% in ONE WEEK
   Today’s post is a bit unscheduled, but still wonderful news for all our indie author friends. You see, one of…
3. 21 Author Blog Post Ideas
   You followed the 14 Steps to Launch Your Author Blog. Your first week went by swimmingly, but now you’re left staring…

Continue Reading As the Self-Pub World Turns: Unique Book Promo Ideas Edition

Tags: Links & Resources, Marketing & Promotion

It comes in the form of a DM or a @mention…trying to lure you with links…and you know you love to hate it. That’s right, it’s Twitter spam! For this week’s Friday Fun discussion, let’s share the best of the worst of this normally irritating (but sometimes amusing) phenomenon. To jump start things, let me [...]
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1. More Useful: Facebook or Twitter? [Discussion]
   Without a doubt, Facebook and Twitter are king and queen of the social media world. As you dive in, however,…
2. Don’t Tweet Like Nicholas Sparks: Using Twitter Effectively
   How Aspiring Authors Should Use Twitter – And How They Shouldn’t By:Shovelling SonTwitter can be a powerful tool for aspiring…
3. [Friday Fun] Worst Plot Ever?
   Now that you guys have all downloaded our six super amazing plot, character and perspective templates we know for certain…

Continue Reading [Friday Fun] Most Obnoxious Twitter Spam…Ever?

Tags: Discussion