Jade Varden Official Blog

Lots of readers make the argument that books, which are so rich and full, cannot possibly fit into a movie that offers only a few hours of entertainment at best. There is perhaps one book that makes this argument more eloquently than any other: The Bell Jar . The trouble is, someone did try to turn it into a movie...and all the book fans just hated it . The Book The only book Sylvia Plath ever wrote, The Bell Jar was published very close to the time of her suicide in 1963. From what we know about Plath's short life, most critics speculate that she was writing about many of the personal experiences she had during the summer of 1953. That's the setting of the book. It's hot in New York City, and Esther Greenwood is a young writer full of dreams. The story opens as Esther is thinking about the execution of the Rosenbergs, convicted communists. She's in the big city for the first time, seemingly with the world at her feet...and she's terrified. She...

"Jade Varden does it again!  There's just something about her writing style that makes you want to read more and more and more."  "There is never a moment where I find myself skimming, or wanting to fall asleep."  Erin at Bookluvrs Haven has posted her review of The Tower, and it's spoiler-free so feel free to go and check it out. You'll find links to the entire Deck of Lies series while you're there!

 I've dedicated an entire blog to what it takes to be an indie author, all the many different tasks one must complete. So why self-publish? Why not go the traditional route, like so many greats, and start hammering away at agents and publishers? It's a valid question, and one I've been asked more than once. The thing is, there's really no easy answer to it.  Traditional Publishing There are a lot of advantages to traditional publishing, that's for sure, but only in the best of cases. The nitty-gritty of traditional publishing is actually a whole lot like self-publishing. Not everyone is Stephen King, and even if your writing is better you probably don't have his connections (because if you are married to a relative of the acquisitions editor at a huge publishing firm, you probably haven't read this far into the post).  Before getting into self-publishing pros and cons, let's debunk some of the myths that shroud traditional publishing.  T...

"This book was amazing." "The story is fast-paced and keeps you hanging on for dear life." The lovely Ariel Avalon has reviewed The Tower at her blog. There are some spoilers , so don't read the review unless you've also read Justice!  While you're at Ariel's blog, check out her reviews of Justice and Death as well.

Even after you learn how to master grammar, punctuation and descriptive language, the self-publishing journey is far from over. You've still got to figure out how to make money as an indie author -- and trust me, it's not easy. The Road to Self-Publishing Success is Paved with Broken Indies You may have an amazing book on your hands, a story so pure and so good it absolutely deserves to be a bestseller. But there are thousands of writers just like you, people who have created truly exceptional work, and we may never learn their names. After you write the book, format the book and self-publish the book, you've got all the easy stuff out of the way. You were born to write stories, weave plots and entertain the masses -- so of course you wrote the book. Actually promoting the damn thing, now that's hard.  And it's where lots of indie authors fail. Too many writers have a dream that they're going to write a book, publish that book and then, magically...

Some authors invent amazing new worlds and rich characters unlike anything readers have ever seen. L. Frank Baum, J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkein -- these are the greats. But it's not easy to invent an amazing new world; just ask any other author. You don't need to come up with something completely new to be a hit. Some authors have done very, very well with an un-original idea. Let us not forget that Fifty Shades of Grey started out as Twilight fan fiction. You might be inspired by something old, and end up creating something new. Have you ever thought about writing an unofficial sequel? New Author, Old Story Some authors have taken the work of other authors and added to it, successfully. Alice Randall wrote a book called The Wind Done Gone , a novel based upon Gone With the Wind that was not approved through Margaret Mitchell's estate. The Wind Done Gone is a re-telling of the original tale, this time from the point of view of a slave at Tara. There was some...

"Damn engrossing." "It was simply superb!" Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) has been reviewed at Reading 24/7 . Go check it out before you get your copy of the book!

I once read a romance novel where every single chapter started with a quote from one of William Shakespeare's many works. To really drive the point home, one of the characters in the story was obsessed with the Bard; she, too, quoted him incessantly. Lots of books feature quotes at the start of chapters. I've also seen quotes from poems, songs and other books inside the text itself. Quoting is a great way to pay homage to someone else's work. It's also a great way to get yourself in serious trouble if you're a self-published author. Before you add quotes from songs, poems or other books to anything you're writing, make sure you're doing it without breaking copyright laws.   Copyright Laws I've blogged about using brand names and celebrity names in self-published books in the past, and using song lyrics and other quotes is pretty similar. What I'm saying here is, you can get sued. Since you're not the creator of those lyrics, that ...