Don’t Let The Comma Before Which Confuse You – by Derek Haines…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

on Just Publishing Advice:

When do you use a comma before which?

The answer is easy.

Yes. You use a comma when the word which introduces a nonrestrictive phrase, which is also called a non-defining clause.

No. You don’t add a comma when which comes before a restrictive or defining clause.

No. There is no comma when which forms an indirect or direct question or is part of a prepositional phrase.

In This Article

Explaining the comma before which

When you don’t use a comma with which
No comma with prepositional phrases
Which in questions
Summary of the rules

Continue reading HERE

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How Library Distribution Works for Indie Authors – by AskALLi Team…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

on Self Publishing Advice:

We all know that having our books in a library is a good thing. More readers, a segment of readership we don’t always reach, and, in some territories,  income. But how do you get your books into a library and how does their distribution system work? These are questions we answer today in this post about how library distribution works for indie authors.

Do you think libraries don’t buy books from self-published authors? Think again. In a 2016 survey conducted by US-based publishing service New Shelves Books, 92 percent of librarians reported that they regularly purchase from self-published authors and small presses.

Clearly, librarians are buying self-published books that fit their acquisition guidelines. And libraries are full of avid readers.

If you want to get your books into libraries, the first thing you need to know is that libraries don’t buy directly from publishers or authors…

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How Library Distribution Works for Indie Authors – by AskALLi Team…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

on Self Publishing Advice:

We all know that having our books in a library is a good thing. More readers, a segment of readership we don’t always reach, and, in some territories,  income. But how do you get your books into a library and how does their distribution system work? These are questions we answer today in this post about how library distribution works for indie authors.

Do you think libraries don’t buy books from self-published authors? Think again. In a 2016 survey conducted by US-based publishing service New Shelves Books, 92 percent of librarians reported that they regularly purchase from self-published authors and small presses.

Clearly, librarians are buying self-published books that fit their acquisition guidelines. And libraries are full of avid readers.

If you want to get your books into libraries, the first thing you need to know is that libraries don’t buy directly from publishers or authors…

View original post 29 more words

Hello, Kindle Vella

An interesting concept.

Nicholas C. Rossis

Kindle Vella | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's book

Have you heard the news? Amazon just announced the Kindle Vella system. This is sort of “Wattpad on Amazon,” as a quick recap will show you:

  • You publish your book, one chapter (“episode”) at a time. Episodes are between 600-5,000 words long.
  • Readers find your story in the Kindle Vella store on Amazon.com and in the Kindle app on iOS. They can start reading using their Tokens.
  • Readers can buy Tokens for as little as $1.99 (for 200 Tokens).
  • To give readers a chance to check out a story, they can read the first three episodes of every story for free.
  • To unlock later episodes, readers must purchase and redeem Tokens. The number of Tokens needed to unlock an episode is determined by the episode’s word count at the rate of one token per 100 words. For example, it takes six Tokens to unlock a 638-word episode.
  • Authors earn…

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Amazon Changing File Requirements for KDP Ebooks – by New Shelves…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Many of you have recently received emails from Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) announcing that Amazon is changing file requirements for KDP ebooks. As often happens with change, there is some confusion about how this will change how authors and publishers will upload their ebooks to KDP leading to questions and concerns.

From https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634390:

“After June 28, 2021, we will no longer support MOBI files when publishing new or updating previously published reflowable ebooks. Instead, use EPUB, DOCX or KPF formats, see our Frequently Asked Questions for more information. MOBI files are still accepted for fixed-layout ebooks.”

What Does That Mean, Exactly?

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A trick that works

Story Empire

Hi gang, Craig with you again. I’ve been toying with something I think you’ll be interested in. First you get some background.

When I started writing I used to play classical music in the background. I can’t handle anything with vocals or I won’t focus on the task at hand. This worked well for about a year, until my wife started having the same days off I did.

When you get up at 4:00 to write, your wife won’t appreciate your classical music while she’s trying to sleep. I started writing in total silence.

Time marched on, and we wound up with different shifts again. I made a playlist of theatrical music and that helped. (Still no vocals.)

This year we got one of those silly Alexa devices for Christmas. After about a day of trying to stump her with obscure blues music, the new wore off. Then, I was…

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Writers Beware!

Have We Had Help?

This is for all self-published writers, both new and old. I recently uploaded a corrected version of the text for my latest novella The Forgotten People to the original I had added and published on the 17th of March this year. Brilliant, I can now expect it to be posted to my books page on Amazon. Right? Wrong!

After communicating with the people at KDP, I realised that it was a case of wasted effort on my part. Why? Because they do not ‘update’ text on any book you’ve already published on KDP. Why not I hear you cry? Why not indeed! While they acknowledged that they could see I had done as I said when they took a look for themselves, it soon became blindingly obvious that while they are there to answer queries, that’s as far as they will go!

Instead, first you have to unpublish the original…

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