Here I’m giving an update on my experience so far with booksprout.co. I’ve already received a 4 star review for my upcoming release, Match-Made Christmas! Yes it’s only one review, but it’s better than zero.

ARCs? These are advanced readers copies of books that an author chooses to give away in exchange for a review. This comes in handy right before your official release date. It builds excitement and publicity for your book! So... how do you get them? Here’s one way! Booksprout.co is mentioned in this episode. Follow @booksproutapp

Because I’m scoping for beta readers, I’m exploring all possibilities. I’ve recently discovered critiquematch.com and I’ve already found a beta reader! Listen to see how this site works.

Am I really a writer? Should I even be doing this? I’m not the best so why bother? Am I a fraud? Is this journey even worth it?

Head-hopping? What is that? It confuses readers and overall it’s not good. Here I’ll share on how to avoid this in your books and how you can makes the changes if you’re doing this. Head-Hopping Gives Readers Whiplash by Beth Hill, fiction editor and novel editor Ellen Brock are mentioned in this episode.

I participated in ALLi’s self publishing conference this past weekend. What did I take away? Have a listen and find out.

What truly makes a great book? Is it the outlining? The plotting? Is it the polished grammar or inciting incident? What about the climax and the denouement? Perhaps it’s the conflict and tension that’s added to keep readers on their toes. Then again, what if it’s none of those things? Could it be that what makes a great book is... the author?

Revising your manuscript. Some of us love it, and the rest of us hate it with a passion. Which one am I? Have a listen.

I’m seeing a lot of backstory as I work with my critique partners. I’m still dealing with it myself. What am I learning about it and what’s the best way to handle it? How can you tell if you’re using too much backstory? Are you “info dumping” unnecessarily? How can we break up with it? This is a follow up to the previous episode “Backstory.” I refer to Sandra Gerth’s book Show, Don’t Tell, K.M. Weiland, and Ellen Brock in this episode.

I’m learning a lot as I work with critique partners. In this episode we’ll discuss how to give and receive constructive criticism from your CP. How much is too much critiquing? Do you point out everything you see? How do you establish boundaries?