Tools for Authors: Upwork
Alt. title: Where Have I Been? With sincere apologies to those few of you who have left me real messages in the “contact us” form, and who I’ve missed because of all the spam messages, Spencer Meadow Press has moved operations to the freelancer site: Upwork. If you want to find me and skip the rest of this post, just…
Tools for Authors: Fiverr
There’s a really cool website called Fiverr.com where people from all over the world post their services. It used to be that everything was $5 (hence the name), but Fiverr has changed some rules and so now rates that are listed might be considerably higher. They’re still very reasonable, though, for the most part. Fiverr sellers are professionals in many fields,…
Shutterfly: Because Sometimes You Only Want One Book
A couple years ago our family was given the generous gift of a vacation to Southern California. We visited a bunch of amusement parks, toured the USS Midway (a surprise hit!) and spent time on the beach. And at one stop we stayed at a resort hotel which provided us some extra perks, including a coupon from Shutterfly for us…
Writing Early Readers, Part 2: Using Lexile Levels
Once you understand how the Lexile system works (Writing Early Readers, Part 1: Understanding Lexile Levels), the next step is to use the Lexile system to write at the desired level. This matters most when you are writing books to be read by young readers. Suppose you want to write an early reader for grades K-2. Here’s how I did…
Writing Early Readers, Part 1: Understanding Lexile Levels
The genre of early readers can be fun and delightful (Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham) or dull as dry toast (Dick and Jane). Maybe the only element these books have in common is the ease with which they can be read. If you want to write early readers (generally grades K-2), it is necessary to understand concepts that factor…
Tools for Authors: Readers’ Favorite Reviews
As a self-published author, you’re probably always looking for those elusive reviews. We need customer reviews, but it is also nice to have something to put in the “Editorial Reviews” section of your Amazon listing. I sometimes ask my connections who are experts in the field to write something for me, and I also go to Readers’ Favorite. (Full disclosure:…
An Author’s Journey
I have wanted to be an author for almost as long as I can remember. In elementary school I worked on an ongoing series of stories I called Mermaids of the Deep Lagoon, which unfortunately have been lost. But when I was in fifth grade I was very excited to hear that our class was going to write books! After…