The Great Free Book Debate: The Readers

This is the first in a two-part series by Alexandra Butcher. Part two is here.

Indie authors are given an almost overwhelming amount of advice about promoting and marketing their book, a great deal of which is contradictory.

It has to be said there is NO single path to take which works for every author. One person may find a good deal of success with one way, and the next finds that it simply does not work.

One of the most controversial ways is to offer a book for free. Amazon’s KDP Select Programme allows self-published authors to do just this.  In return for exclusivity to Amazon, an author can offer his or her book for five days free promotion in every ninety day term. The theory being readers will take a chance on a free book by an unknown or little known author which they may not otherwise consider.

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The Benefits of Outlining: A Layered Approach

wizard writingThis article is by Steven M. Long.

Everybody outlines. The second a writer imagines one scene following another, that writer is creating an outline, even if the outline is incomplete and only in their head.

Referring to a novel writer as an “outliner” usually indicates someone who feels more comfortable with and sees the benefits of knowing – sometimes in great detail – where their novel is headed.

As you can probably guess, I outline, and over the time I’ve been writing novels (I’ve written four, two of them pretty good) I’ve been told repeatedly that I should just “let it go” and that I’m “ruining my creative process.” As often as not, these comments come from people who’ve never finished a novel.

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