You’ve written your book and now you’re trying to decide what format to use to put it out into the world. Or maybe you’re still considering writing your book but you want to decide which format to use prior to writing. You’ve come to the right place. The format you choose to host your book […]
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Understanding Book Layouts and Page Margins
Understanding Book Layouts and Page Margins describes typical margins for a standard 6 inch by 9 inch trade paperback, including CreateSpace book layout specifications
Sample Copyright Pages [Two Free Templates for Your Book]
So why exactly do you need a sample copyright page? One of the most common questions I get from new self-publishers is, “What do I put on the copyright page?” For some reason, the copyright page has the power to intimidate some people, with its small print and legalistic language, not to mention all those […]
What is the Easiest Font to Read?
If you’ve never formatted a book before, you might not know exactly how much work goes into it. It might seem easy and uniform—it just needs to look like a book, right?—but you’d be surprised just how many decisions you’ll need to make if you’re formatting on your own. Among the most important of these […]
Book Disclaimers: Everything You Need to Know
Many authors assume the legal disclaimers for their books are supposed to be boring, but the law does not require a disclaimer to be boring. Many writers have a lot of fun with their disclaimers. Here’s some examples.
How to Add Text to a Picture (Easy Guide for Authors)
If you’re a self-published author, you may already know that writing is only one part of the gig. There’s a conception that writers don’t need to have any technical no-how—after all, people have been writing novels long before the invention of the computer, right? However, there are a ton of tech-based skills that can help […]
When to Use Nor (3 Useful Fixes for Writers)
Knowing when to use nor in your writing might not seem too important, but it’s a subtlety worth studying. Writing in the English language can be a bit of a challenge even if English is your first language. There are so many grammatical rules that fluctuate depending on the context of a sentence, such as […]
What is Passive Voice Misuse? (Examples and Fixes)
It’s unlikely the classics we grew up studying in school would sell well today. And it’s unlikely the books that hit bestseller lists would have sold a hundred years ago. Why? Because writing evolves and is an ever-changing process. What sold hundreds of years ago doesn’t connect with today’s readers. In a fast-paced world of […]
What Is Purple Prose? A Guide for Writers
When I say ‘purple prose,’ what springs to mind? Probably dense, complicated chunks of classic books you were forced to read in high school, or maybe Twitter screenshots of embarrassing novels laden with straining metaphors. If anything, you probably know that it’s ‘bad,’ and that we’re supposed to not do it. But what is it, […]
Hero’s Journey Examples From Beloved Stories
Ah, the hero’s journey. It’s a tried-and-true storytelling structure that makes up the bones of our favorite movies, books, and TV shows. You may not even know it, but most of your favorite stories probably follow the hero’s journey. If you’re an author, you’re probably also familiar with using the hero’s journey to outline. A […]
