We at The Book Designer are sad to learn of the passing of Joel Friedlander. Anyone who had the pleasure of knowing Joel will remember him for his kindness, generosity, and ability to inspire and teach countless authors, book lovers, and self-publishers over the years. Its amazing to think about all the people Joel helped […]
Writing
Punctuation Guide – The Period
When it comes to perfecting English grammar, we can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the period is just about as easy as it gets. The rules and uses are relatively simplistic, often the first thing we learn about when we’re just starting to hone our reading and writing skills. What follows is […]
Story Elements
Are you ready to learn about everything your next story needs to give readers the experience they crave? Putting together a brand new story is an exciting time. You have a totally blank slate to create a world from scratch. But what are the essential elements every story needs, no matter the style or genre? […]
Punctuation Guide – Exclamation Point
Like all terminal punctuation, the exclamation point has its place at the end of particular sentences; however, it also has its frequency. As easy as it is to use exclamation points, its far easier to overuse them. In this guide, we’ll explain not only the when you should use exclamation points, but how often they […]
Punctuation Guide – Comma
As omnipresent and inconspicuous as the comma is in the English language, it’s surprisingly common to see it misplaced and misused. After all, there’s an abundance of circumstances surrounding whether or not you should use commas, where you should use them, and how their usage and placement could drastically change the meaning of your sentence. […]
Amazon Self-Publishing – Facts and FAQs
If you’re an author, it’s probably you considered the possibility of publishing your work on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), the world’s largest self-publishing platform. Well, you’re in the right place. In this simple guide I’ll explain how to publish a book on Amazon in the fastest and easiest way. You’ll see that in a […]
Punctuation Guide – How to Use Punctuation
Entering the world of punctuation can very quickly take you down a long and winding road into specifics of the English language that you may not have known existed. We know firsthand how easy it is to get lost among the seemingly endless punctuation points; that’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive punctuation guide to […]
What is a Preface?
Sometimes, it’s important to refresh your knowledge of the basic parts of a book. It might not be glamorous or exciting, but it’s an essential part of making sure your book contains everything a reader expects. One example of these plain but essential basic elements is the preface of a book. What exactly is it, […]
Grammar and Our Changing Society
Think about how grammar has changed, let’s say, since the days of Shakespeare. Has it really? What changes most is actually vocabulary.
A Quick Holiday Break
By Shelley Sturgeon The blog is taking a mini break but please check out the links below for lots of great reading about all things self-publishing. You can find our post archives here. Past issues of our blog carnival, Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies, can be found here. (Hint, hint: submit your articles for our […]