Author Erica R. Stinson

Hi guys! So here we are, at the finish line for the creation of a novel. Again, I want to thank you for following me through this writing project. If you are just joining me and you want to read what I've talked about so far, by all means, click  here  so you can catch up. Also, you can  join my mailing list  to learn about my upcoming books, contests, events, and more. Once we have a word document(or whatever program is used to write out the story)now comes every author's nightmare: formatting(ugh) But it doesn't have to be hard at all. Formatting is how you put the word document together in which it can be formed into an eBook, PDF or mobi (a type of file used for the kindle reader) file.  It's also important that the word document transfers over to ePub(or whichever)with things in the right place, hence the term formatting.  Sometimes formatting will change how your file is laid out and the document won't look 'right'. To solve this issue, many authors us

Hi guys! Are you starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel in creating a novel? I am and it feels exciting because that means I am close to releasing another story to my readers. :-)  If you are just joining me and you want to read what I've talked about so far, by all means, click  here  so you can catch up. Also, you can  join my mailing list  to learn about my upcoming books, contests, events, and more. Let's talk about book marketing and promotion.   This is KEY in order for a book to do well.  Can I write a story and just put it up on KDP(more about that in a moment)  Sure!  But if no one is seeing my story or knows who I am and where to find it this kind of makes my book pointless unless I do something about it. So, here's what happens when the story creation, blurb, cover, and beta-readers/editors have torn through everything to give you a basically completed copy of a book: You can go two ways.   Choice one, if you are publishing through amazon, is Kindle D

Hi guys! Thank you for sticking with me through this project as I am hard at completing work on my upcoming novel, Dissemble.   If you are just joining me and you want to read what I've talked about so far, by all means, click here so you can catch up. Also, you can join my mailing list to learn about my upcoming books, contests, events, and more. The creation of the book cover is probably my favorite part of doing a writing project because it's where I am really comfortable, outside of the actual writing of course lol. I actually have a graphic background and in the past, I have done web sites and other graphic projects.  So when I decide to start working on a cover, of course by now I know exactly how the story is going to go.  This is very important because the cover should convey the overall feel/theme/tone of the entire story.  A bad cover can make or break a sale, meaning that I could potentially miss reaching the type of readers that may have enjoyed my book if they cou

Welcome back!  If you haven't had a chance to read the previous episodes, you can do so here and dive right in from the beginning. We are just about halfway through working out the book and today I am going to talk about finalizing the first draft . The first draft  is a sloppy, marked-up-with-red-pen sheaf of papers at this point, but we are well on the way to cleaning it up and making it suitable for reading.   This is when I would reach out to a professional editor to have them go through my manuscript with a fine-tooth comb. In all honesty, I did not always use an editor when I first started out because I didn't know any better, but now I do and it DOES make a difference.   Authors are too close to their own work to view it objectively, so an editor is definitely necessary. Anyway, once the editor looks it over, I get it back and make the necessary changes. Then they may or may not go over it once last time to be sure that it's perfect and then it's time to look at

Welcome back! If you haven't read the intro from last month, you can check it out right here before you read any further. So, does it all begin at Chapter One, Page One? Hardly! That's a part of it, but for me, that doesn't come until a bit down the line.  Where it actually starts is at 'inception'.  Inception is when I start getting weird and crazy thoughts in my head that swirl around in there, sometimes for months, as I try to think up the next big suspense or thriller plot that hasn't already been done or overdone. Sometimes I'll bat stories around for months before I even write a single word. With my very first book, a romantic-suspense called "Broken Pieces", I had written on that story off and on for about ten years. The reason it took long for me to publish it was fear. Fear that it wasn't good enough or people would laugh or worse, they wouldn't want to read it at all. I pride myself on being able to come up with these wild

Hi guys! As promised, today is the day that I begin my new blog series, Many Hands Make Write Work . You know, I have always loved writing and creating stories from a very young age.  My mother Judy, who is a retired 3rd-grade school-teacher, had me reading by the time I was four. Dick and Jane didn't do it for me, no but I began reading books from Stephen King and V.C. Andrews by the time I was eight or so.  But I also read Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, and my beloved hardcover Nancy Drew Mysteries.  I eventually evolved to high-fantasy novels such as Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series and David Eddings' series of books, The Elenium, The Belgariad and The Mallorean.  I actually have a high-fantasy novel that I wrote back in the early '90s that I am planning to release under a pen-name someday. So, who knows?   While reading on an adult-level, I would carry a pocket dictionary with me so I could look up any words I didn't understand. Yes, I was a book-NERD! l

Hi Guys! I am hard at work on my next project and I thought I'd share some insight on what goes into writing a book from beginning to end.  I know most of us are happy to buy a book, read and enjoy a story but have you ever wondered what it takes for a book to get to that point?   Stick with me for a six-episode blog series on this very process as I work on "Dissemble", my upcoming book.   The series will start in May.  Also, if you haven't done so already please sign up for my newsletter by visiting my website at https://ericarstinson.wixsite.com/home Hope to see you soon! Erica :-) 

Get The Doctor by Erica R. Stinson