Jade Varden Official Blog

"If you, like me, loved her Deck of Lies series, you MUST read this one." "Anyone with a mature point of view, love for clever stories and in search for a good book should read it." Hope's Rebellion has been reviewed at Reading...Dreaming , friend to the blog but brutally truthful when it comes to books.  Read the whole review to find out why you should get your free copy of the book before the end of February. Go to Smashwords with the code WQ47M to get it in any electronic format.

When it comes to historical stories, I'm a bit of a purist. I want every single detail to be accurate to the time period, and that's it. But lots of people do not agree with me. Many storytellers are doing very well by rewriting history. So when will it be okay for you to do it, too? Anything Quentin Tarantino Can Do, I Can Do Better After all, if Disney can change the tale of Pocahontas and Tarantino can change the outcome of World War II, it's okay if I write a book about Queen Elizabeth living as a secret lesbian -- right?  The appropriate term for this sort of thing is historical revisionism , and it's been happening since history was written down. Some scholars argue, in fact, that all history as we know it today has been rewritten with time. Isn't it the winners who get to tell the story of the battle? So if all history is a little bit suspect, why can't I turn a former President into a killer of supernatural beasts?

I've written posts about finding your audience, figuring out your characters and working out your plot. But I've failed to address one of the fundamental issues I struggle with almost every day: who am I? If you're an author and lots of other things besides, you may also struggle with this very basic query. If This is Belgium, It Must Be Tuesday For me, the issue is probably a little more convoluted than most. I was born with a name, like most people, and got pretty used to it over the years. I'm a modern gal, but at his request I took my husband's name upon our marriage, so I acquired another name at this time. I earn my bread as a freelance writer by day, and for this I use a pen name. It's different from the pen name I'm using right now, which is the one I've reserved for certain self-publishing endeavors. I'm about to acquire another pen name for my day job (long story). So if I get a phone call, I have to clearly establish to whom the ...

Aching to get on the Amazon bestseller list? Despite the title, the view isn't really so much better from the top of the heap. According to a new report, the authors on that list aren't even making federal minimum wage.  Money, Money, Money In fact, you'd earn more money (now) as a full-time government employee than as an Amazon bestselling author . Hugh Howey released a report detailing the actual earnings of Amazon's indie and self-published authors. He studied 3,439 authors responsible for the 7,000 bestsellers listed on Amazon. These are books that sell more than one copy daily. Only 944 of them were earning more than $58 per day, which is the amount you'd receive working 8 hours per day at federal minimum wage earnings of $7.25. It's not very promising, but other numbers-crunchers argue that this is just a glimpse of a small piece of the big picture. Publishing is changing quickly now, and self-publishing is becoming more of a force in the ...

Frances Hodgson Burnett, one of the greatest children's book authors of all time, first conceived of "A Little Princess" way, way back in 1888. It got its lasting title and became a novel in 1905. A few years later, it became an iconic Shirley Temple film. And many years after that, I became familiar with the tale. It's still one of my favorites. The Book A Little Princess was serialized before it became a book. When the story was complete near the turn of the century, it was revised and richer in content. The book follows Sara Crewe, who is 7, as she arrives at Miss Mincin's boarding school in London. Sara is the only child of the well-to-do Captain Crewe. The two have been residing in India, but now it's time to go to school.  She fits in well with the other girls at the school, delighting them with tales of India. They begin calling her "a little princess" because she's ladylike and has lived such a lavish lifestyle. But ...

"The writing in this novel was superb. It was sophisticated, and witty, and engaging, and incredibly eloquent." "I have no words to describe how phenomenal this book was written. Every little tiny detail had a purpose, and it all comes together in such a way that, at the end, your mind is completely blown." Hope's Rebellion is featured at Book Butterfly reviews ! Check out the full review to find out why the reader didn't want to read this story at all...and why they're happy they decided to do it, anyway. You can get the book for FREE at Smashwords. Just use the code WQ47M to get your copy in any electronic format.

As an indie author, it's a good idea if you write frequently so you can publish often and keep readers interested in your work. But it's not necessary. What's even more important than writing? Consistent marketing. My Girl Likes to Market All the Time I may be taking a somewhat controversial stance on this issue, of this I am aware. Some may say what's a writer without the writing ? But that may be wrong. Writers do not have to be prolific in order to be successful. I know I bring her up all the time, but I must point again to Margaret Mitchell. She wrote only one book. But after " Gone With the Wind ," where is there to go? Jane Austen wrote a mere 6 books.  If you write great books, you don't necessarily have to write a ton of books. But you will have to do a ton of marketing, even if you only write one book. The key to being an indie author isn't in the amount of marketing you do. It's that you do it consistently . 

I'm all for being artistic, and I personally consider myself a "creative type." I like irony and I appreciate authors who want to create a title that will instantly grab readers. But when you knowingly give your book a title that directly contradicts the content of the book, readers are going to get aggravated with you. Some may even give up on you. When it comes to titling your book, literal really is better...and mismatched titles really aren't a good idea. By Any Other Name... Don't believe me? Fine, then don't believe me. Believe Shakespeare, truly one of the most prolific, famous and enduring storytellers in human history. Think about the names of his most famous works. Romeo & Juliet , Henry V , MacBeth , The Taming of the Shrew . Suppose that Romeo & Juliet had been about an old church named St. Pat's instead. It wouldn't make much sense, would it? You'd be pretty put-out if you went to the theater expecting to learn ...