Jade Varden Official Blog

Some writers are so afraid of being rejected or judged in any way, they won't even let others see their work. This was the case for one American woman who would go on to become one of the most celebrated poets of all time. It's only through a quirk of fate that any of us know she existed -- upon her death, she instructed that all of her writings should be burned to ash.  Lucky for us, that's not what happened.  Emily Dickinson lived in Massachusetts, and in her 56 years on Earth she barely saw any of the world. In fact, she barely saw what was going on outside her own room. This is where she spent most of her time, usually wearing white clothing, scribbling away furiously at her poems and her letters. Though she was a homebody who reportedly did not like to greet guests who came to the family house, she was a prolific letter-writer who maintained many close friendships through correspondence.  But most of her time was spent writing poetry, usually on the to...

Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) has been selected as the Indie Book of the Week by the good folks at Bibliofreak . Visit the site and click on the cover of Justice to read all the Amazon reviews and get your Kindle copy of the book!

I went to the biggest middle school in my city, a monster of a 3-story building with annexes, outside buildings and yes, even an elevator. I went to this from a school housing maybe three classes per grade. The whole school building was one floor, and shaped like a big circle, so no student could possibly get lost. That middle school looked massive to me...until I went to high school for a while. Perspective changes everything, and the same can be said when you're talking about editing. You can't make your books perfect unless you change your editing approach, and change your perspective. Changing Your Perspective I've blogged about the logistics of editing before, so you already know how to edit your ebooks. But you're not going to catch all the mistakes (and everybody makes mistakes) unless you change your perspective. What does that mean? It means if you're only reading your book on your computer screen, you're not editing properly.  Chang...

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the best-known children's stories ever written, and almost 150 years later it still delights children and adults today. This book has been put on film many, many times since film was first invented, but today we're only going to discuss a single adaptation: the best one. The Book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most enduring and beloved stories of all time, and it was written by a very boring math professor. Commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland , the book was written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, a pen name used by a professor who also published several ponderous volumes about math. Because of all the strangeness depicted in Wonderland, Carroll is credited with vastly influencing the entire fantasy genre.  You probably know how the story goes: a little girl named Alice is sitting outside with her sister, and she's terribly bored until a white rabbit hops past. Alice chases the creature and fo...

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'...