Jade Varden Official Blog

Indie authors have to do everything on their own (that's what independent means), and it gets pretty overwhelming. Many indies have to pay for their copyright registration, their book cover, maybe even a book trailer or a professional editor, formatting software -- the cost of a single ebook can add up pretty quickly. Then, of course, there's the marketing: paid advertising, ad design, more software...the list goes on. Should you start paying for reviews, too, and invest in something that could potentially help you sell more books? Reviews Reviews are very important, and every indie author wants more of them. Just one 5-star review can cause more readers to become interested...but getting that review is a tedious, heart-wrenching process for many. Is it worth paying to get it?  Kirkus One of the most well-known names in paid review services, Kirkus makes it a point to reach out to indie authors who are looking for reviews. They also charge an absolutely as...

The Holy Bible is the best-selling book of all time...if you use that term loosely. The Bible has probably been printed more than any other book, but it is often given away free and that generates no sales figures. Even if you don't follow the various religions associated with the Bible, you can't deny that it contains a rich tapestry of stories. The imagery is fantastic: sulfur raining from the sky, Lot's wife turning in a pillar of salt, the rainstorm that swallowed the world. It all beautifully lends itself to fiction, and some fantastic books have been written with Biblical themes. One of the best re-tellings of a story in the Bible I've read was written by (who else?) a Catholic priest.    Andrew M. Greeley has written many bestsellers that blend Irish lore and culture, religion, Chicago culture, history and modern-day settings -- not necessarily all in the same book. I've read lots of his works, but one of my favorites is based on a book in the Old Test...

Change just one vowel, and you might change a word completely. Some homonym pairs are similar right down to a single letter. Swap the letter out for a different one, and you've just changed the word -- and with it, your entire sentence. If you don't use the words that complement your story correctly, no one's likely to compliment your work. They're just going to be focusing on the errors, and that will disrupt the entire flow of the book.  Tricky Pairs Some word pairs are a little trickier than others because they're just too similar, and spell checkers will mark both as correct. Here's the problem: the meanings aren't similar at all, so if you use the wrong word you're just making a mess of your writing.  Complement/Compliment Complement and compliment are confused all the time; they're especially tricky. To compliment someone is to praise them. When you says "hey, Linda, you look great today," you're paying Linda a c...

Indie authors have to face a few hard truths when they first embark on the road to self-publishing, and the worst one is this: some readers will never read an indie author. In fact, among certain circles you're getting a bad reputation the moment you identify as an indie. You've got a stigma, and you can't deal with it unless you know what it is.  Indie Authors So, what is an indie author? Lots of writers have used it to mean lots of different things, but at the end of the day an indie author is someone who is not working with a publisher. Authors belonging to micro-presses and indie publishers, however, often still claim the title (and we'll go ahead and let them). But usually, an indie author is someone who has ownership of their own ISBNs and directly reaps the rewards of the sales they earn through Amazon, Smashwords, and so on. Self-Publishing Because indie publishing houses and micro-presses are often indie-owned, some indie authors don'...

How many times have you been asked to study "The Raven" in school? Have you ever heard of the Tell-Tale Heart ? Even if you're not an avid reader of his works, chances are extremely high that you've heard the name Edgar Allan Poe at some point in your life. He's still being referenced in popular culture today, and he's credited with inventing the detective fiction drama that's served so many writers so well.  He died alone, broke and didn't receive much recognition for his work during his own lifetime. One may even infer that at the time of his death, by many perspectives Poe was something of a failure as a writer.  Starving Editor His life, sadly, played out a little like something out of one of his own grim tales. After a brief military career, during which Poe asked to be discharged early, he moved to a city that has been a mecca for writers for centuries: New York.  Poe had published a book of poetry while in the army...

You know that guy who shows up to all your parties, even when he's not invited? His name is Al -- and if you're not being careful, he might be attaching himself to all kinds of words inside your ebooks. When Al shows up to the party, you'd better make sure he's attached to the right word in the right way...because he's got a terrible habit of showing up where he's not needed. Al and Other Words By now, you might be wondering who Al is. He's the guy that shows up in words like altogether, already and  alright. Sometimes, Al gets together with a word and everything's great. Sometimes, however, he's not actually creating a new word -- he's making a mess of your writing.  All Together/Altogether By themselves, all and together are two separate words...so it follows that when you use them as a pair, they form a unique phrase that is more than the sum of its parts. All together just means as a group , like if you shout "Everyon...

Death has arrived! To help you get caught up on the story so far, I'm giving away Justice and The Tower all month long free . Visit my Smashwords page to download both books in the format of your choice. Enter the coupon code SSWIN to get a 100% price reduction.  About Justice When you build an entire life on a foundation of lies, it only takes one truth for the whole thing to come crashing down. I never invited the truth in. I never went searching for it. I never had any reason to suspect that the two people I loved most were dishonest with me every second of every day. I made one bad decision, and in a single day my entire world changed. If I’m ever going to discover the truth about myself and my parents, I have to trace all the lies back to their source. I have to try to find the truth that they’re hiding. The more I discover about myself, and my past, the more I realize that lies really are better than the truth. But now that I know the lies a...

It's July 1, and that can only mean one thing -- Death has been released! Get the book at Amazon and Smashwords , and get all the new lies.