Two weekends ago, Heather Kindt and I co-rented a booth at Albuquerque Comic Con (read her post about it here). Check us out in our costumed glory. You can’t see my A+ Rey hairdoo game, but I think the foam belt and wrist thingie get the point across. Heather thought her web outfit was lame,…
There’s an interesting phenomenon in the blogospere and in social media. It looks something like this: “I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while.” “I’m sorry for posting so often.” “I apologize for the political post.” “Sorry for all the book posts.” And on and on and on. I noticed the first example in blogs…
Before I get started on today’s topic, I want to express a huge thank you to everyone who supported my fundraiser for Houston disaster relief or gave directly to an organization that will help people in need. We are seeing the best of America coming through every day, and if there’s a silver lining to…
The title is one that I hope will spark some constructive discussion. I’ve asked myself the question many times since the election and on certain days when I find myself glued to my Twitter feed. I realize the title itself may cause a few to bristle. Everyone is “allowed” to say whatever the hell they…
A friend emailed me a question. She’s written a book and is considering what to do with it. Her question: “How do you self-publish on Amazon?” She didn’t mean what buttons to push on KDP that makes the book go live. She meant: “What are the steps necessary to prepare a book for publication?” I…
When I published my first book twenty-one months ago (two years ago come February, so you don’t have to math), I didn’t know what to expect. I knew I’d sell some copies, probably my friends would read it, and it would get a handful reviews (hopefully good ones). If you’ve followed the blog for a…
I had so much fun making the trailer for Drake and the Fliers that I had to take a stab at Project Renovatio. Like Drake’s, I made this one without paying for anything (click on the Drake post to see how). I’d love to know what you think!
Fellow authors, I need to tell you a secret – you can create a book trailer for free. Last night, my son (he’s 11, by the way) showed me a “trailer” he made with his school iPad. It was pretty cool, so I asked him to show me how me made it. He directed me…
I read a lot of blog posts over the course of a week. A lot. And most of them don’t come from my WordPress Reader, where the blogs I’ve subscribed to are listed. I find most of them on Twitter blog share days, where bloggers can share their interesting content with specified hashtags, expanding potential…
I haven’t been an author for long, especially compared to the literary giants who have become household names. Most of those guys have been writing longer than I’ve been alive. But even so, having a couple published books under my belt has taught me some things – things I didn’t completely expect, though a couple…
Allison Maruska 