“This book was poop!” ~Goodreads Reviewer

Yes, that is an actual review of a book.

As an author myself, I can only imagine how the author of that book must have winced at reading such disgustingly harsh words. And that isn’t even the worst review I’ve seen.

As the saying goes, shit happens.

The good news is, the bigger a success you are as a writer, the more shit you are likely to get in the form of bad reviews, simply because more people are reading your work. Enjoy that silver lining.

That doesn’t make it any easier when you…

The secret success behind Jessica Knoll’s first published novel

When Jessica Knoll’s debut novel, Luckiest Girl Alive, was published in 2015, the cover with a black rose and bold yellow title played center stage in bookstores across the country. After all, it was a New York Times bestseller.

Knoll’s inclusion on that list was more than just dumb luck, it was a strategic series of steps that ticked all the right boxes to practically guarantee her success, or at least get her much closer to it than the average person.

So what did she do to accomplish this rare feat?

She Paid Attention To What Was Trending

…

And is it worth it to include your book in KDP Select?

Amazon currently offers a service called Kindle Unlimited where, for a monthly fee (currently $9.99/month), readers can indefinitely borrow up to ten books so long as authors/publishers have chosen to include those books in Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select.

From the author's standpoint, there are pros and cons to publishing your book in KDP Select. This article will explain what it is, how you get paid as an author, and whether or not it’s worth it to include your book.

How Do Authors Include a Book in the Program?

Authors publish their books to Amazon via Kindle…

What it’s like to bare it all outdoors as a woman

“Hippie Hollow.”

“What’s that?” I asked, staring over my margarita at my date for the evening.

“It’s a clothing-optional part of Lake Travis in Austin. I think you’d love it.”

He had officially lost me at “clothing-optional,” but that didn’t mean I wasn’t intrigued. I listened as he told me all about the specific area of the lake where going nude was the norm. Even though I lived about two-and-a-half hours away in Houston at the time, I’d never heard of the place. …

It’s a lot easier than you think, even with a full-time job

I make a living writing novels of anywhere from 65,000–95,000 words. It’s a fairly lucrative career, which in and of itself is decent enough motivation.

However, as any writer knows, it takes a lot more than motivation to keep writing, especially when it comes to finishing an entire book. Yet, I manage to complete a book in about thirty days once I start.

So How Do I Do it?

Fair warning, I’m a pantser, not a plotter. …

It’s perfectly okay to use adverbs

Jake was seriously pissed off.

A perfectly fine line, complete with an adverb — the horror!

Many an expert on writing, including the go-to guru for all advice seekers, Stephen King, will tell you that this is a sin in the art of writing. The crime supposedly committed in the above sentence is that the author is telling rather than showing the reader that Jake is angry.

These experts also caution that resorting to adverbs is a lazy way to avoid using your words. Done correctly, writing is supposed to allow the reader to…

Let me get the bad news out of the way first. Yes, it was a romance novel.

Before you click the back button out of immediate disinterest (disgust?), let me make it clear that I didn’t choose to write romance because I’m a huge fan of the genre. Romance is not my go-to when picking up fiction novels to read. I chose it because it is the most lucrative fiction genre to write in with a low barrier to entry.

And I wanted to make money.

That said, even writing in one of the most popular genres doesn’t guarantee a…