Kryptonite… a word we have all associated with taking down one of the most beloved superheroes of our time, and for writers, it can be just as destructive. From the time an author’s ideas are transformed into a world-famous masterpiece, we face many obstacles, and our own idiosyncrasies don’t help.

Black Rose Writing has over 500 authors currently under contract, so it goes without saying that in any business or personal relationship of that magnitude, issues will arise. If we, as a small press or Indie publisher, could achieve a 100% satisfactory rating with each author, we’d be at the pinnacle of the author-publisher relationship with nowhere else to go. Simply perfection.

Few things can compare to the beauty of a well-written historical novel. However, the process of writing historical fiction is a beast unto itself. It requires you to have not only a fantastic storyline, engaging characters, and a unique plot, but also to put these things within a real, historical timeline. This can be a different challenge than building a world from scratch because the fictional tale must fit into this slot in time, an era gone before us.

When I was fifteen, my father diagnosed me as a “jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none.” Although I didn’t enjoy having my mediocrity acknowledged by my paterfamilias, he wasn’t wrong. I can do many things well enough. I was a good enough volleyball player to have articles written about me in the local newspaper, but I did not earn any athletic scholarships. I was a good enough actress to be nominated for a regional theatre competition, but I did not win. I was a good enough pianist to play Bach with abandon in the privacy of my living room, but never in front of an audience. Part of the problem was that I loved sports and theatre and music equally. I refused to sacrifice one passion in pursuit of another. But that was only part of my problem.

Here it is! The Written Word Media guide to answer all your questions about managing an author page in Amazon Author Central. Your author page can generate sales and help develop your readers into fans. Whether you have no idea what Amazon Author Central is or you are an old-hand working to tweak your page to get the best results, we’ve got you covered. Read the whole post or skip to sections that are relevant to you by using the links below. Now let’s get to it!

Marketing a book can be complicated, time consuming, and expensive. Authors and publishers should join forces to implement a plan that works.

As a thriller writer, I get to make up stories and create characters. I tend to put those characters in terrible situations and give them seemingly impossible mysteries to solve, but it’s all in the name of entertaining people.

Much of this happens in my head. Then I sit down to write the first draft.

And, for me, that tends to be the laborious part of writing a novel. I power through it, writing words, sentences, and paragraphs that I know will be deleted later. Writer Rick hates that.

But Editor Rick loves it.

While emotional release and creative expression are the reasons why I write, I have spent almost two decades seeking validation for my writing through the act of publishing.

Unfortunately (and despite all my knowledge about good mental health) my personal Hell with seeking validation through publication can be summed up in this terrible (anti) mantra that used to constantly float through my mind: If I write something and no one reads it, did I really write it at all?

Using social media to get our writing out into the world can be an amazing opportunity.  It helps market our works and hopefully, gain a following that will continue to benefit from our writing.

But it can also be a curse. Because of so many social media platforms, most writers languish in obscurity and end up spending more time marketing their writing than just…writing.

Therefore, I’ve constructed this guide to help authors understand the erratic world of social media for writers and authors. I’ll show some of the better social media platforms for writers, how to best approach them, and which writers are doing it right –so you can see what it looks like when done to a level that will bring real success.