It is a crazy time in the world! Are you staying safe at home? Have you read any good books lately? Today I'm doing a follow up interview with Daniel Ottalini, author of the Steam Empire Chronicles. I met Daniel a few years ago at a publishing convention. HA: When we met, you were being […]

Note: This post contains some excerpts from the infamous book 5 of my Publishing Gold Series, the one that can't be published on Amazon. I'm offering a special price on that book since you have to go to Smashwords to get it. Use coupon code: QN34K  and you'll get it for 99 cents. Coupon is […]

Here are the covers for the first two books in my Publishing Gold series:    

I made a stunning mistake. I wrote a book that can't be published. It takes skill to be that amazingly shortsighted. Especially given that I'm an indie publisher! I've taught classes on indie publishing, both one-on-one and in group settings, for years. There are thousands of books out there on the subject. But I came […]

Prerequisite: Publishing 99. If you haven't done those things, you don't belong here. You aren't ready to be published yet—regardless of method. In college creative writing classes, I learned how to get published. The steps were deceptively simple: Write a good book. Get an agent. Get a publisher. No one ever promised I'd make money, […]

Writing is a business, and it requires more thought than setting up a lemonade stand. Writing isn't magic. It's a craft. You need to learn it, hone it, polish it. You may have a gift for storytelling, but if you can't use the language—your brush—you can't paint the word pictures to bring the story to […]

There. I said it. Self-publishing is dead. But before you all scream and throw fire balls at me, read on. The publishing industry is changing. Dramatically. Daily. I'm not saying anything that everyone doesn't already know. But I see a lot of folks trying to describe what is going on in terms of a model […]

Sorry for the long silence on the blog, folks. Lots of exciting things happening and some revealing posts coming this week. I want to introduce you to the newest author in Heart Ally's line-up. I met Daniel Ottalini at a publishing conference. We were both a little overwhelmed by all of the folks at the […]

I'm inspired by the strength of New Yorkers recovering from Sandy. Poet Elise Skidmore considers herself fortunate: she only lost her roof -- and she was able to get gas today! In her recently published book When Leaves Fall she wrote a poem honoring her native New York City. Share this to encourage the New […]

Why did you decide to indie-publish? Why now? About 3 years ago, I went to yet another writer's convention. I met with yet another agent. She loved my writing but said there was no way she could help me publish it...and she was sad about that. I took some time and really got to know […]

Here is my long-overdue interview with Alicia McCalla. Alicia has been a delight to work with and I was proud to publish her book, Breaking Free, in February 2012. She's hard at work on the sequel as well as another novel that she'll be self-publishing. I frequently use Alicia as an example of how to […]

I've been busy the last few months with medical issues (not my own), so this post is delayed. Delayed, but important. Amazon has a program out for publishers called Amazon Select. They're offering participants this month $600,000 in bonus money (divided up by how many downloads a book receives) if they will agree to publish […]