Creativindie Experiments in self-publishing, productivity and building a creative empire

When I first started writing fiction, I needed someone to believe in me. I was ecstatic to get my first BookBub deal – a deal that helped me get 20,000 downloads for book one in my series and earn $8,297 in the same month. I thought I’d made it. Together, we were unbeatable. But now you’re always busy with other …

  I started this post in summer 2018 with the line: “I don’t feel ready to write this post, but I’m going to anyway.” But I didn’t publish it. Now at the end of 2018 I’m trying again, to see if I’ve figured this stuff out enough to share it with you. There’s something I want to say, or maybe …

Last year we visited the Charles Dickens house in London, which is when we found out there was a 2017 movie about the author’s life called The Man Who Invented Christmas. I only watched it recently – it’s available on Amazon Prime – and then I watched it again and took notes. These are tips based on the movie; few of …

For the last few years I’ve been editing a 19th century treatise called “The Genius of Solitude.” I already posted the introduction and some of my favorite quotes HERE, but I took some of the longer quotes and turned them into infographics. I love these, not only for the aesthetic beauty of the writing (I tried to find images to …

We’re having a discussion in one of my Facebook groups, after someone asked how much they should pay to hire a freelance writer to do some ghostwriting for them. I suggested $500 for 50K. That’s not a lot of money, at all. Some people in the group are frustrated by people (like me) devaluing the work it takes to write …

For years I’ve been wishing for some kind of automated, daily accountability to keep me inspired and motivated – and I’ve heard a lot of other authors asking for the same thing. The problem is, writing can be a very personal goal, and sometimes it’s hard to self-motivate, especially if nobody else really cares about what you’re trying to do. …

A few years ago I made the Plot Dot – my simple 8 step outline for writing novels, with the major dramatic twists most stories need to hit. I always wanted a more in-depth plotting outline and cheatsheet, but there’s so many conflicting story structures out there… this week however, I managed to put together a 24 step chapter outline …

  Let’s say you make cake, but you don’t want to conform to a type of cake. You create an epic masterpiece, but it’s not quite chocolate, or carrot, or red velvet… it’s a mashup of everything, with layers and structure and everything is new and different. It’s ART. But now that it’s done, how do you market it – …

Almost always, if an author isn’t selling, it’s because their page isn’t converting. You need 3 things to succeed, a great blurb, cover, and enough reviews to offset skepticism. I can help you fix those things; I can also help craft your pitch or hook – which is critical for your amazon page. I can also do keyword and category …

When asked about the best writing apps or software, I used to say, “Just use whatever you have and are comfortable with.” But recently I’ve been focused on upping my productivity and wordcount, so I’m testing everything to see if anything helps. Here’s a quick review of some of the things I think are cool, and what I actually ended …