James Minter's Blog: Writers do it in Public... - Posts Tagged "writing"

The Power of Creativity (Book 3): How to Conquer Procrastination, Finish Your Work and Find Success by Bryan Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I really like this Author and what he has to say. He can be counted on to give great stories and examples of what needs to happen to become more creative. There are lots of learnings, and I feel he’s really on my side, and perhaps even understands me a bit!

It’s always reassuring to be given examples of how others who have come before, have struggled with the same issues I have, and it inspires me to become better than I perhaps thought I am.

This is book 3 from Collins on the Power of Creative, and it contains many nuggets of information. However, I feel he does himself an injustice since they should be pointed out to the reader, not simply embedded inside paragraphs. I believe this book would have more impact with better formatting. Having said that, it is still well worth the read.

The author provided me with a copy of the book for the purposes of reviewing it.



View all my reviews

How to Self-publish and Market a Children's Book by Karen P Inglis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The self-publishing process is split into two very distinct but inextricably linked camps as Ms Inglis points out– the publishing process itself and the on-going marketing needs books require. With books for children, there is an added layer – you cannot “sell” to children as such – ethically it’s not acceptable, nor can they buy your book – sub-teens tend not to have their own money but rely on parents/ guardians/grandparents to purchase for them. So authors of middle-grade books find the sales process is doubly tricky – you need to get the reader to choose your book in the first place and then win over the adult who will complete the purchasing process.

Any author going down the self-publishing road needs all the help they can get. There is a heap of information out there on the internet, but what Ms Inglis has done is make an excellent attempt at bringing it all together into a single place. By doing so this she’s made the information more accessible, as well as presenting it in a logically structured style – you only need to read the Table Of Contents to see that. Moreover, it is massively sourced with her hard-won knowledge and experience gained by going through the process with her books. That’s why I love “How to…” books. They capture hard-won knowledge and experience and make it available in an easily consumable form so saving you making the same mistakes, wasting time, money, or going off tangent.

Self-publishing and book marketing are significant, evolving processes, and a guide such as this cannot be complete or entirely up to date. As with all eBooks, it can be continuously corrected, amended, or added to. Ms Inglis makes good use of live links, and a password-protected resources page on her website to allow the reader to explore the software products and tools she discusses.

In conclusion, this is a book well worth purchasing for potential, new, and existing authors. For the price of your morning coffee and cake , you gain the knowledge and expertise of successful children’s author who speaks from the heart and shares not only her successes but things that didn’t work out so well. And, that takes courage but gives the book huge credibility.



View all my reviews