Starting over with nothing at 32: Thoughts on the creative life, independence and retirement

Starting over with nothing at 32: Thoughts on the creative life, independence and retirement

For the last week I’ve been avoiding my work: the pressures and responsibilities and deadlines have been building up, and like a turtle I react by disappearing, into junk food and catching up on popular TV series. But today I’m catching up – starting with a fancy breakfast of icecream strawberry waffles at a nearby

My Super Simple Ebook Formatting and Conversion Process for the New Kindle, Smashwords and Epub Rules

My Super Simple Ebook Formatting and Conversion Process for the New Kindle, Smashwords and Epub Rules

I’ve been meaning to learn ebook formatting and conversion for over 2 years. Sadly, every time I got started, the sheer enormity of the process scared me away. Multiple formats? Lots of Code and HTML? Yuck. But I’ve been giving the work away for too long, and I know it’s something I’m going to need

How not to be a hopelessly tragic romantically poor artist (why you should buy art, the value of art and how to sell your art)

How not to be a hopelessly tragic romantically poor artist (why you should buy art, the value of art and how to sell your art)

Today I got an email message from the site Nurturing Creativity. It’s a beautiful site with a good message, and I support Denise’s main aim of nurturing creative entrepreneurs. But something about this message struck me wrong. Rather than an inspiration to artists, it’s a confirmation of some very bad messages about what art...

The Best Royalty-Free Stock Image Sites for Your Book Cover (and How to Avoid Choosing the Same One as Everybody Else).

The Best Royalty-Free Stock Image Sites for Your Book Cover (and How to Avoid Choosing the Same One as Everybody Else).

If you’re indie publishing, you probably can’t afford a photo shoot. Fortunately (or unfortunately), these days major publishing houses can’t either, which means everybody is using stock photography. Stock photos are royalty-free images you pay to download, that you can use for book cover designs or other projects. There are...

New Book Cover Size and Ratio Requirements for Kindle, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords + some free cover templates!

New Book Cover Size and Ratio Requirements for Kindle, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords + some free cover templates!

As a book cover designer, many times my clients question me on my choices for the size and height-width ratio of my book covers. And for good reason: there is no industry standard for ebook covers – Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple and Smashwords all recommend different things. Many indie authors recommend making a perfect,