Category: For the Writers

• October 2, 2018

  Yes, You Have to Price Your Books Low if You Want People to Buy Them

  You dedicated two years to working on your first novel (here’s mine!). Spent several hundred dollars (or even a couple thousand) on editors and designers. And now that you’re ready to publish, you’re being told to price your book LOW? Screw that, right? I’m Here to Tell You that Low Prices = Higher Readership I…
• September 27, 2018

  Why Indie Authors Have to Stick Together

  I’ve heard self-publishing “experts” say time and time again that no big difference exists between an author going the traditional route or the indie route. Ahem — I beg to differ. Therefore, here are the reasons why us indie authors have to stick together: 1) We have to pay for EVERYTHING. Editors, designers, copyright filing,…
• August 9, 2018

  What it’s Like to Be 2 Millennia Old?

  The following is a guest post from a mysterious writer. You must read until the end to discover the secretive recluse … Everyone has their secrets. Mine is more complicated than most. Sure, I look like a perky twenty-four-year-old with resting bitchy face, but you’d be wrong. At least about the twenty-four-year-old part. I’m actually…
• August 1, 2018

  The Great Goodreads Confession of 2018 (from a Goodreads Author, Nonetheless)

  Let me make a confession: technically, I’ve been a Goodreads member since 2008 or 2009. But I lost my username, password, and old email address. And I couldn’t get back in (can we say “BUMMER?”). I know, I know. For someone who wrote a science fiction dystopia about the future repercussions of a society that’s…
• July 29, 2018

  From Journalist to Horror, Author John Coon Gets Real on His Journey

  I am so excited to have new author and veteran journalist, John Coon, on my blog today! John agreed to an interview about his debut horror novel, Pandora Reborn (which frankly, looks crazy scary, so you should check it out). So, without further ado … SHARI: You’re a fellow journalist! I always love connecting with other…
• July 25, 2018

  How to Deal with Criticism After Publishing Your Book

  No matter how you slice it, reading criticism of your beloved book is hard. Especially when it’s your first book, and a critique can feel like a personal assault on your child. I get it. As I prepared to read the first public reviews of my debut novel, The Apollo Illusion, I mentally put up…
• May 5, 2015

  Up to 40 Rejections, and Counting

  I’m officially baptized into the world of creative writing. I’ve been rejected by 40 literary agents … and the number keeps climbing. Is it frustrating? Yes. Is it angering. Definitely. Am I giving up? HELL NO. Why? Because I’m a writer, dammit. And writers get rejected over and over and over and over and over…
• April 28, 2015

  Do You Need a Proofreader or Copyeditor?

  What’s the difference between a proofreader and copyeditor? You’ve heard the terms, but which do you need? I’ll admit, it can be quite confusing. And depending on your project, you may need both (gasp!). The Proofreaders These are the guys with the eagle eyes. The ones who will catch the missed periods or the typos…
• April 21, 2015

  3 Lessons from My Year Without Blogging

  I’ve been back to blogging for a few months now, but before that, I stepped away from the blogging world for a year to finish my novel. When I re-launched Rogue Writer, one of my longtime blogging buddies, Nina Badzin, commented, “I would love to see a post on how it felt to step away and…
• January 7, 2015

  How Reading Critically Changed My (Writing) Life

  If you’re like me (a writer), you probably love to read. Good books. Not crappy books. Crappy books bore me. They probably bore you, too. Which is why, as a writer, I want to write those good books. You know, the ones everyone can’t stop talking about during lunch in the break room. I want to be that writer.…