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Indie Authors no. 44 welcomes Grant Faulkner, executive director of NaNoWriMo (National November WritingMonth), the best writing contest in the world.

The show features host Jason Matthews with special guest Grant Faulkner.

It also features authors/NaNo winners from the past, RM Prioleau, Samantha Fury and Lisa Grace.

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on 1 November. The goal is to write a 50,000-word (approximately 175 page) novel by midnight on 30 November.

The very first NaNoWriMo took place in July 1999 with 21 participants.

From the NaNoWriMo website:

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

As you spend November writing you can draw comfort from the fact that all around the world other participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2011 there were 256,618 participants and 36,843 crossed the 50K finish line by the deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

Want to know more about NaNoWriMo? Click on the link and watch the show!

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by Alana Woods

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Indie Authors # 43 presents Madeline Sharples and her memoir, LEAVING THE HALL LIGHTS ON, the harrowing but ultimately uplifting tale of the course of years from her son Paul’s diagnosis with bipolar disorder, through his suicide at her home to the present day. It details how the family weathered its worst nightmare.

The show features host Jason Matthews and guest Madeline Sharples.

In addition to LEAVING THE HALL LIGHTS ON, Madeline co-authored BLUE COLLAR WOMEN: Trailblazing Women Take on Men-Only Jobs (New Horizon Press, 1994) a book about women in nontraditional professions. She also co-edited the poetry anthology, The Great American Poetry Show, Volumes 1 (Muse Media, 2004) and 2 (2010). Her poetry accompanies the work of photographer Paul Blieden in two books, The Emerging Goddess and Intimacy as well as appearing in print and online on many occasions.

Madeline is now a full-time writer and working on a novel based in the 1920s.

  Add me to your Google + circles:  +Alana Woods

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For over 18s only

Indie Authors no. 42 presents erotica author and teacher Shoshanna Evers.

Learn the ins and outs of writing erotica romance from one of the best in the business. For mature audiences.

Featuring host Jason Matthews and guest Shoshanna Evers.

Critically-acclaimed author Shoshanna Evers has written dozens of sexy stories including Amazon Erotica Bestseller Overheated. Her work has been featured in Best Bondage Erotica 2012 and Best Bondage Erotica 2013, the Penguin/Berkley Heat anthology Agony/Ecstasy, and numerous erotic BDSM novellas including Chastity Belt and Punishing the Art Thief from Ellora's Cave Publishing.

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How to SEO for Amazon

Indie authors use SEO for Amazon and Google search engines to sell more books. This week's show focuses on giving tips for other authors. It features host Jason Matthews and regular guests Lisa Grace and Samantha Fury.

Jason Matthews is a writer living in Pismo Beach, California. He is a leader in the self-publishing community, teaching Indie authors how to sell e-books and paperbacks effectively using all free methods. His how-to guides include:

How to Make, Market and Sell Ebooks All for Free

How to Make Your Own Free Website and Your Free Blog Too

Get On Google Front Page

All three are jam-packed with advice that all new authors need to know to optimise their websites and blogs.

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Writing for the Christian genre

The Christian genre in fiction is huge. There's a large section of indie authors who write under it and this week Indie Authors Network Hangouts no. 40 was fortunate enough to feature two authors prominent in the genre, Lisa Grace of The Angel series and Samantha Fury of the Street justice series.

With host Jason Matthews they discuss and share valuable advice for other writers wondering what actually consitutes the genre and how to approach it.

Last year Lisa's books 1 and 2 in the Angel series,  Angel in the shadows and Angel in the storm,  were optioned by Motion Picture Pro Studios. The movie is in development .

Take this link to my review of Angel in the shadows by Lisa Grace.

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Memoir writing

Have you ever contemplated writing a memoir but decided against it because you didn't know how to start?

Then this episode of Indie Authors is going to get you fired up and ready to go.

Indie Authors Network Hangouts no. 39 presents Cheryl Stahle, teacher of memoir writing and author of  SLICES OF LIFE: THE ART AND CRAFT OF MEMOIR WRITING.

It features host Jason Matthews and guest author Cheryl Stahle.

One Amazon reviewer has gone so far as to say: 'Cheryl Butler Stahle has written what may be, at least in my opinion, one of the best works on writing memoir yet to be published'.

SLICES OF LIFE: THE ART AND CRAFT OF MEMOIR WRITING guides the reader in gentle steps towards capturing the heart of the reader's life story. To start readers on their journey, follow the chapters on getting started, finding a theme, developing writer's voice, avoiding common pitfalls and publishing. Each chapter contains a variety of writing activites and prompts to help you dig out the story buried in the reader's memories.

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You probably snorted with a ‘Yeah, right’ when you read the header. Or maybe I should give you the benefit of the doubt; maybe your interest was piqued wondering how writing book reviews could develop writing skills.

Let me lead in to it by reminding you of the advice every experienced writer will offer you: practice makes perfect. You’re not going to become a decent writer if you don’t write constantly.

There’s also plenty of advice about what to write. It doesn’t have to be the next best seller. You’re told it can be anything, as long as you’re writing. Try keeping a diary, do stream of consciousness every day, or try blog posts—they have the added advantage of, with any luck, drawing readers to your site.

But if none of those appeal I suggest writing book reviews. You read, don’t you? I can’t imagine a writer who isn’t also a reader. So when you finish a book, review it.

How can writing a review help? you ask.

Well, I’m not talking about those shorties that say ‘I loved this book. It kept me awake all night because I couldn’t put it down until I finished it’.  There’s definitely nothing wrong with that; authors will tell you receiving any review is fantastic. But you’re not going to improve your writing skills that way.

You need to write in-depth reviews.

Ones that dissect the book: plot line, story and character development, and story and character depth.

Ones that examine dialogue: is it natural, does it carry the story forward.

Ones that look at the hook: did it grab you immediately or did it take some time.

And the resolution: were all the questions answered, was it a satisfying end.

Also examine the author’s writing style: did it appeal to you, what kind of style was it: chatty, literary or something else.

If the book is littered with spelling, punctuation, grammar and formatting errors you could mention that. If there weren’t many perhaps don’t mention them in the review but let the author know what they were—if there’s a contact. Speaking for myself I really appreciate that.

So you see, while dissecting and examining the book you’ve just read you’re learning to identify what makes good fiction. And when writing the review you will be practicing your writing skills. A learning exercise on two fronts.

The bonus is that the author will receive a review which will make them very happy. Doubly happy because it will be an in-depth reasoned one.

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This article was written for and first published on Indies Unlimited

This is a lesson every yet-to-publish author should read.

It’s a lesson in doing your homework before committing yourself publishing-wise.

My first published book AUTOMATON went to print in 2001. I used my own name—Alana Woods—because I‘ve never seen the point of using a pseudonym. I want everyone, and I mean everyone, to know that it was ME, yes ME, who wrote it.

I self published and hawked the first print run of 1000 around bookshops all down Australia’s eastern seaboard on what my husband John and I euphemistically called working holidays. With the second print run of 2000 we thought we’d cut out the middlemen and direct sell so we hired space at markets and shows and gave author talks in libraries and clubs, anywhere I could get an invitation, and it worked. We sold all the books and I accumulated a fan base that was loyal because they knew me personally.

To cut a fairly long story short it never occurred to me back then to check for other authors called Alana Woods. In fact, I’d never met or heard of anyone else with the name of Alana let alone Alana Woods. Not in Australia, and at the time that was my market.

Foolishly I took the same attitude when going global and republishing AUTOMATON almost simultaneously with my second novel IMBROGLIO on Amazon.

I didn’t do a search for either my name or the books’ titles.

I can live with other books having the same titles as mine. I don’t view that as a killer.

But having to share my name and therefore having other authors' books appearing with mine in a search is constantly annoying to me and would be confusing for readers.

It carries over to social media. Fortunately I snapped up alanawoods.com years ago and years before I actually got around to a website. Unfortunately I didn’t do the same with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc. So now there’s always the worry that people don’t associate them with me.

I’ve tried to overcome it by using the same author pic across all sites and pages and I’m hoping that works. Goodreads is the odd site out. It has resisted my efforts to update my profile pic. That’s another lesson come to think of it. Choose a photo you’re happy with and use it everywhere to build recognition.

If I had done a name search I would have gone with either Alana E Woods or AE Woods as neither were taken at the time. I could have used whichever I chose right across the board: books, sites and pages.

You can’t imagine how annoyed I am at myself for not checking.

So before you irrevocably put your name on your book, before you irrevocably enter it into the CreateSpace, Amazon and other sites’ databases, and before you start building brand recognition, unless you don’t mind, for example, your suspense novels being grouped with music and alternative remedies, I urge you to DO A SEARCH.

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Week 36 of the weekly show Indie Authors Network Hangouts discusses a topic definitely NOT for the faint-hearted.

Ghost stories

Emily Hill, author of Ghost stories and the unexplained plus many other books shares her fascinating experiences with ghosts, spirits and entities from the other side.

Featuring host Jason Matthews and authors Emily Hill, Alana Woods and Lisa Grace.

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The topic this week - week 33 - in the Indie Authors Network Hangouts series is a discussion on getting help for different aspects of a writing project.

It features guest host Sonia Marsh and also features authors Kathleen Pooler, Sharon Lippincott, Belinda Nicoll and Juanima Hiatt.  All of these authors have inspirational stories of their own to share.

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This is week 32 in the series Indie Authors Network Hangouts.

This week indie author and New York Times bestseller Victorine Lieske shares the secrets of her success.

Featuring host Jason Matthews and authors Victorine Lieske, RM Prioleau and Samantha Fury.

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This is week 31 in the series Indie Authors Network Hangouts.

Indie authors definitely benefit from having a website and/or a blog, but do they need both?

The panel discusses pros and cons to each design along with mandatory items for authors with sites.

Featuring host Jason Matthews and authors Lisa Grace, RM Prioleau and Samantha Fury.

This is week 30 in the series Indie Authors Network Hangouts.

Indie authors discuss translating your book with options like Elance and Odesk for outsourcing translators.

Is it affordable? Not for everyone but for some books and authors, it can be.

The show features host Jason Matthews and authors Jessica Lauren, Emily Hill, Lisa Graceand RM Prioleau. 

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This is the next in the series Indie Authors Network Hangouts. The hangouts are a weekly show recorded on Mondays and posted to YouTube. The topics discussed cover anything and everything to do with publishing.

This is hangout no. 35. Founder of Autography, TJ Waters, discusses the latest and best way for authors to autograph ebooks.

It features host Jason Matthews and guests TJ Waters, Sherry Snider, Lisa Grace and RM Prioleau.

My books on Amazon.com (includes India)

My books on Amazon.UK

My books on Amazon.ca

My books on Amazon.de

My books on Amazon.fr

My books on Amazon.it

My books on Amazon.es

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This week is the next in the series Indie Authors Network Hangouts. The hangouts are a weekly show recorded on Mondays and posted to YouTube. The topics discussed cover anything and everything to do with publishing.

This week is hangout no. 29 in which professional book cover designers discuss what makes a great cover and everything involved in the book design process.

Featuring host Jason Matthews and professional book cover designers Victorine Lieske (NYTimes best selling author), Fiona Jayde and Dusty Catlett.

My books on Amazon.com (includes India)

My books on Amazon.UK

My books on Amazon.ca

My books on Amazon.de

My books on Amazon.fr

My books on Amazon.it

My books on Amazon.es

My books  on Amazon.jp

I know I'm jumping out of sequence with my Indie Authors Network Hangouts posts but the justification is that I was the featured guest this week.

This week is Indie Authors no. 34 in which I share some advice from my book 25 essential writing tips: guide to writing good fiction. The show features host Jason Matthews and authors Lisa Grace and Samantha Fury.

We had a lot of fun. Lisa and Samantha braved Hurricane Sandy to discuss such things as The Hook, Show don't tell, Dialogue, Characterisation and a whole lot more.

The hangouts are a weekly show recorded on Mondays and posted to YouTube. The topics discussed cover anything and everything to do with publishing.

My books on Amazon.com (includes India)

My books on Amazon.UK

My books on Amazon.ca

My books on Amazon.de

My books on Amazon.fr

My books on Amazon.it

My books on Amazon.es

My books  on Amazon.jp

This week is the next in the series Indie Authors Network Hangouts. The hangouts are a weekly show recorded on Mondays and posted to YouTube. The topics discussed cover anything and everything to do with publishing.

This week is hangout no. 28 in which indie authors discuss Amazon Author Central and making the most of your author profiles at Amazon in the USA as well as for the UK, Germany and France.

It features host Jason Matthews and authors Emily Hill, Lisa Grace and RM Prioleau.

My books on Amazon.com (includes India)

My books on Amazon.UK

My books on Amazon.ca

My books on Amazon.de

My books on Amazon.fr

My books on Amazon.it

My books on Amazon.es

My books  on Amazon.jp

This week is the next in the series Indie Authors Network Hangouts. The hangouts are a weekly show recorded on Mondays and posted to YouTube. The topics discussed cover anything and everything to do with publishing.

This week is hangout no. 27 and the subject under the microscope is formatting MS Word Docs to ebooks for uploading to Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble and more.

It features host Jason Matthews and authors Lisa Grace and Samantha Fury.

Enjoy.

And don't forget you can catch up on back hangouts 1 to 26.

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Two weeks ago I started a new Wednesday blog topic: Indie Authors Network Hangouts recorded every Monday and posted on YouTube.

The hangout has been happening for some months now and is in full swing with a different topic each week.

Past topics have included time management, memoir writing, romance novel covers, Amazon pages, interviews with authors and more.

This week it's Indie Authors Network Hangout no. 26. The topic of discussion is Facebook fan pages, group pages and generally making the most of Facebook. A subject many of us struggle with.

It features host Jason Matthews and authors Lisa Grace, RM Prioleau, Samantha Fury and Sherry Snider.

Enjoy.

My books on Amazon.

Last week I started a new Wednesday blog topic: Indie Authors Network Hangouts recorded every Monday and posted on YouTube.

The hangout has been happening for some months now and is in full swing with a different topic each week.

Past topics have included time management, memoir writing, romance novel covers, Facebook pages, Amazon pages, interviews with authors and more.

The show is hosted by Jason Matthews of How to make, market and sell Ebooks all for free fame.

Jason is the subject of this week's show, No. 25. He's interviewed by guest host Sonia Marsh and authors Lisa Grace, Madeline Sharples, Samantha Fury, Sharon Lippincott and RM Prioleau.Pas.

Please like and comment on the show if you like it. And feel free to repost.

Enjoy.

My books on Amazon.