Jade Varden Official Blog

Halloween is approaching, and to me that means one thing: time for scary movies. Some of the best scary movies were books before they were film. One of my favorites is Along Came a Spider , the novel that launched a 19-book (and counting) career for literary detective Alex Cross.  The Book James Patterson published Along Came a Spider in 1993, introducing the world to Alex Cross. Cross is a detective with the Washington, D.C. police force and a forensic psychologist. How good is the book that introduced him? Along , so far, has launched 18 sequels, a film adaptation and millions of fans. At the start of the story, Alex is investigating three horrific murders. The stakes are raised when two prominent students, Maggie Rose Dunne and Michael Goldberg, are kidnapped by math teacher Gary Soneji. Cross is ordered to investigated the high-profile kidnappings, which enrages him because the world seems more interested in the disappearance of two rich white children than ...

Every author knows that pacing is an important aspect of every book. When events occur very quickly, it creates a sense of action and excitement. ...Or, it makes the book feel rushed. So if you're writing with a fast pace, you have to ask yourself: is it action-packed, or is it rushed?  Double Time Timing and pacing will make or break a book. You can use your words to make time feel as though it's passing slowly, or very quickly, in your story. When scenes are thick and heavy and events are occurring very rarely, time will feel as though it's passing slowly. When events are happening much more frequently and sentences are short and to the point, everything feels fast. Many writers use this technique to create action scenes, and drive the pace forward quickly in order to excite readers. But when it's not done well, it just makes the book feel rushed. There's a very fine line between writing great action and dragging readers across the pages of your st...

I make to-do lists and write reminders for even the most mundane tasks. If I didn't, I wouldn't have electricity or any food to eat because I would forget to do it all. I have to put everything on my lists, and cross items off those lists, as each day progresses. I like to try and do things at the same time every day, so it's easier to maintain some sort of order. I've even caught myself putting "work on the book" on my list...and on those days, I get maybe one good paragraph written.  You can't make yourself be creative. Storytelling isn't something that you can command at will. And I would know...because I've tried. On My Watch When you're an indie author, you're also a lot of other things. If you're like me, you've got a ton of things to do in any given day: drink copious amounts of coffee, exercise, clean, work, write, blog...spend lots of time on Twitter. If you work down a list to check all those items off, event...

In my "day job," I used to write advice articles for freelance writers, and I constantly cautioned them against undervaluing themselves. As a freelance writer, you have to set a minimum price and refuse to waver (unless the economy crashes, but that's a whole different issue). As an indie author, freebies are your bread and butter. You can't possibly undervalue yourself or give enough books away for free. What I'm saying is this: never, ever shy away from giving out freebies. Free Milk Homespun wisdom dictates that you should never give anything away for free. Do so, and why would anyone end up buying it?  But that's just not how it works with books; it's never how it has worked with books. What's the most-read, most-sold, most-known book in the United States? The Bible. It's given away for free all the time, and you can find copies of it in every hotel and church pew in the nation. Yet it also sells more copies every single year. Cle...

You know how people always tell you "just be yourself" when it comes to any sticky situation? That doesn't apply to self-published authors. In fact, here's much better advice for the indie writer: don't be yourself. Don't be yourself at all.  What "Be Yourself" Really Means Everyone makes decisions and forms opinions every day. Some people use all sorts of different criteria when they're deciding what to read -- and the author's personal history and beliefs aren't at all off-limits. I stumbled across a Goodreads thread not too long ago where one reader stated they wouldn't purchase a certain author's books, because of something they'd done or said . Unless you specifically write politically- or religiously-toned books, readers don't need to know where you stand on the issues, how you vote or what you think happens to us when we die. Your personal opinions on the President, war and other matters a...

In case you missed the spam email that flooded many Smashwords author inboxes, you need to know the latest indie news: series have come to the site. Smashwords has unveiled a new function on the site that allows series books to be grouped together, and it's pretty easy to implement.  To unite your series books as a unit, log into your Smashwords account. A link to the Series Manager tool should appear right on the homepage. Click it and begin following the steps to create a new series. You'll be guided through the process, and taken to a page where you'll find a list of all your books. Click the relevant titles and keep following the steps until you get to the end (it shouldn't take more than a few minutes).  Once you're done managing your series books, a new link will appear under those titles. This will take you straight to the series page for that book series. Smashwords plans to use the tool to make book-buying easier for customers and selling easi...

James M. Cain published The Postman Always Rings Twice in 1934, and gained notoriety at once. The book is quick, thrilling and (in its day) quite controversial. The novel was banned in Boston for its sexy scenes and themes of violence. But it didn't really get sexy until the 1940s, when Lana Turner helped turn it into a movie. The Book The story begins with Frank Chambers, a roustabout who travels from place to place. Right now he's in California and he has wandered into a diner that just so happens to need a helping hand. Frank's always looking for work to make quick money...and there's another incentive. The diner is owned by Nick Papadakis, an older man with a very young, beautiful wife. Frank is interested at once, and not much troubled by morals. The two begin an affair quickly, because Cora is only too willing. From the very start, there's a level of violence to their relationship. Cora plainly doesn't love Nick, and she...

When you list your self-published books on Amazon, B&N or pretty much any other store, you're going to have the option of adding tags. You should always do this, because tagging matters.  Words, Words, Words Seems like there's always one more thing to do, right? It's not enough to write a book. You have to edit it and format it. Don't forget the cover! Now you need a blurb. Have you published it yet? What's the price? Check the layout! Oh, and now add a bunch of words. Tagging can feel like a stumbling block on the road to making your work publicly available. It's one of the very last things you have to do in a process that can take many years to complete, and it's easy to rush through. You can simply ignore it. You can plug in a handful of words without half thinking about it. And you can move on.  But if you do it this way, you're automatically decreasing your chances of selling that book. Tagging matters. Why else would all th...