iUniverse Advice on How To Create a Bio for Every Occasion

You are a writer, you wrote a book, and now you are agonizing over crafting a short piece to introduce yourself to your audience. Although it is challenging, it just a matter of being yourself and imagining who is your ideal reader, and how to interest them. Never fear. iUniverse Publishing is here to provide you with a dose of confidence and some sound advice to get you over the hurdle.

Your bio has the difficult job of being short, revealing important information about you, being interesting and sounding professional at the same time. A helpful first exercise to start pen to paper or finger to keyboard, is to write down a list of all the things you think might work.

Mention your spouse, children, dog, awards, day job, hometown, inspiration, writer’s awards, your affinity for epicurean caffeine sources, and other things you have published, anything that comes to mind. Craft this in first person. This will be the biography on your blog or website.

See more at: http://www.iuniverseselfpublishing.com/after-publication/bio-for-every-occasion/

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iUniverse Teaches You How to Use Facebook Like a Pro

What are you doing to make your Facebook page attractive and interactive? Are you having fun with it? Do your posts offer something more than buy now information? Here are some expert tips to get you going in the right direction. iUniverse Publishing offers this advice to take your Facebook usage to the next level.

Be interesting! Being a bit provocative and edgy is the perfect tone for Facebook, and it gets attention. You are also more likely to get comments which will be seen in friends of friend’s news feed.

Learn the ins and outs of all the native features. Did you know that you can select a post to span two columns by hovering over it and clicking the star? In addition you can pin it by hovering over the post, clicking the icon and selecting “pin to top” This will keep your post at the top of your page for seven days to ensure maximum visibility.

See more at: http://www.iuniverseselfpublishing.com/during-publication/facebook-secrets/

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iUniverse Advice: How To Start an Early PR for Your Book

iUniverse Writer’s Tips says it’s never too early to spread the word about your book. Build up the excitement over your work at once, so it becomes even hotter off the press!

When Should You Start Promoting Your Book?

Just like everything else in life, timing is everything when preparing to release a book. The simple answer: it’s never too early to start your promotion campaign. If you want to sell books, it’s important to remember the time-worn truth: “it takes money to make money.” Or if you don’t have the money, I’d like to suggest “it takes time to make a dime.”

Either way you have to hire a company to take care of your publicity, or you have to take time to do it yourself. It is important that you set up a deliberate schedule, and are not scrambling to get going on promotions with a box of books sitting in the garage.

See more at: http://www.iuniverseselfpublishing.com/before-publication/start-pr/

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iUniverse Tips on How To Turn your Book into a Movie – Part 1

Things to think about when learning how to edit your book into a screenplay

Do you dream of seeing your book become a movie? If so, you will need to start with an interesting story with a strong, quick-moving plot. You’ll also have to learn how to format your film script properly. Read these iUniverse tips to get your story in the big screen.

Film script writing is as much an art as writing literature and should be respected as such. The two require two entirely different skill sets. The artistic procedures are as different as those used by a chef and a short order cook.

See more at: http://www.iuniverseselfpublishing.com/before-publication/turn-your-book-into-a-movie-1/

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7 iUniverse Tips on How To Spot Spelling and Grammar Mistakes

As writers, we all know the importance of a gleaming manuscript free from spelling and grammar errors. After all, even just one mistake on the first page can instantly turn the reader off, or worse cause, make them think you’re an amateur.

Mistakes are bad for a writer’s reputation so you’ve got to edit, edit, edit. But if you’ve ever tried to go through your entire manuscript first chapter to last, you’ll know that spotting those pesky mistakes is extremely difficult. Even the writer’s favorite spellchecker simply can’t distinguish between correct phrases and word confusions. (I hat that man, for example)

So how can we reduce the number of errors in our writing?

Below are some very effective techniques used by iUniverse Publishing’s professional proofreaders to eradicate those naughty errors.

See more at: http://www.iuniverseselfpublishing.com/during-publication/7-tips-for-spotting-spelling-and-grammar-mistakes/

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iUniverse Publishing: How To Be Your Own Copyeditor

If you have aspirations of making writing a profession, then you need to be professional. A sloppy manuscript reflects badly on the author so make sure yours is edited, proofread, and all spelling and grammar mistakes eliminated.

Of course, iUniverse Publishing can help you with this process with our range of editorial services, but you can also learn how to polish your own manuscript to perfection.

An experienced copyeditor will tell you that editing is more than just running though your words with a spellchecker. Below are some common details that a copyeditor will strive to perfect. Use them as a checklist to eliminate more errors next time you’re editing.

See more at: http://www.iuniverseselfpublishing.com/during-publication/own-copyeditor/

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iUniverse Publishing’s How-To Guide on Mastering the Metaphor

The Greek philosopher Aristotle once said “The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.” 2500 years later and he is still right.

Used correctly, a metaphor can breathe life into your writing. Metaphors are a great way of providing emphasis, clarity, and freshness to your work.

But be warned. Getting it wrong can lead to a writing disaster. So iUniverse Publishing has thoughtfully put together this quick-start guide to mastering the metaphor.

What is a metaphor? What is a simile?

Simply stated, a metaphor is a comparison between two or more unrelated objects. By understanding one object we get a clearer picture of how the other is. Similes operate in a similar way. Here is a basic example of a metaphor and simile in action:

See more at: http://www.iuniverseselfpublishing.com/before-publication/mastering-the-metaphor/

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iUniverse Publishing’s How-To Guide: ‘Show, Don’t Tell’

Most authors have heard of the ‘show, don’t tell’ technique of writing. It’s on the agenda of most basic creative writing courses. Although this technique sounds simple enough, it can be difficult to master. To help you get to grips with this powerful technique, iUniverse Publishing has provided you an easy guide to showing, not telling.

Why is showing important?

Showing invites the reader to follow the author into the scene; to see, feel and experience the story, making your writing much more interesting, and more effective at making a point.

Here’s a simple example to demonstrate:

See more at: http://www.iuniverseselfpublishing.com/before-publication/show-dont-tell/

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iUniverse Tips on How To Optimize Your Book’s Online Listings

Here at iUniverse Publishing, we not only help you print a professional quality book but we can also get it listed for you on several major online bookstores, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the iUniverse Bookstore.

Once online, your book is directly competing against millions of others. The competition is pretty tough, but did you know there are a few ways to help increase your sales from those sites?

In this article iUniverse Publishing aims to teach you how to maximize your book’s sales potential by offering advice on maintaining an optimized listing page.

See more at: http://www.iuniverseselfpublishing.com/after-publication/books-online-listings/

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