Tag Archives: self-publishing

Last day of the year!

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Susannah J. Bell

Writers don’t pat themselves on the back often enough, so I thought today, being the last day of the year, would be a good day to look back and see what I’ve accomplished. If anything! I completely overhauled my website, … Continue reading →

Posted in On Writing | Tagged accomplishments, amazon, author, blog, book covers, Book Series, books, brand, diary, diary of a bloomsbury writer, Fantasy, flu, happy new year, instagram, KDP, last day of the year, new year, novels, old year, pat yourself on the back, science fiction, self-published, self-publishing, shattered, Shot, sick, survived, The Exodus Sequence, The Fleet Quintet, writer, writers, writers life, writing, writing community | Leave a comment

The Substantials

Posted on July 28, 2019 by Susannah J. Bell

It was only after I started writing the Exodus Sequence series that I discovered that collections of connected short stories were already in existence. Even Wikipedia has a page on this, calling them a short story cycle. My reason for … Continue reading →

Posted in On Writing | Tagged Atlanteans, Atlantians, Atlantis, Caged, Connected, Crashed, Exodus Sequence, mars, novella, novellas, Reflected, Sacrificed, self-pub, self-published, self-publishing, short stories, short story, short story cycle, Spooked, Substantials, suicided, The Exodus Sequence, trilogy, Woken, writing | Leave a comment

KDP Paperback Problems Part Two

Posted on February 20, 2019 by Susannah J. Bell

KEEP LINES TOGETHER! Remember that. It’ll come in handy later. In my last post I complained bitterly about the new KDP template for a book, highlighting three immediate problems: American spelling (disaster when you write in anything else); bizarre circles … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Published | Tagged ADVANCED MS WORD, BREAKING PARAGRAPHS, KDP, KDP Paperback, KDP Publishing, KDP templates, KEEP LINES TOGETHER, PARAGRAPH, self-published, self-publishing, SPLITTING PARAGRAPHS, USING MS WORD, WIDOWS AND ORPHANS | Leave a comment

The sheer utter misery of approaching literary agents: the days of the rejection slip are over

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Susannah J. Bell

When did literary agents start treating authors like shit? I’ve spent the better part of 30 years trying to find an agent. If I’ve failed, it’s because my work was either utter garbage or wrong for that agent. But there … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Published | Tagged agents, literary agents, manuscript, multiple submissions, publishing, rejection, rejection slip, rejection slips, self-publishing, slush pile, writing | Leave a comment

Please let me know what you think of the blurb for my new book

Posted on February 8, 2017 by Susannah J. Bell

Billions of years ago, before the artificial universe, there was the Fleet. Fleet personnel number 50 – mostly known as Dett – sees a spacial dissociation in Fleet space and realises the control sector is broken. She interacts violently with … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Published, On Writing | Tagged angels, blurbing, Blurbs, book blurb, Commences, existential science fiction, Fleet, Fleet Quinteet, Flesh for Sale, immortality, science fiction, Science Fiction Books, science fiction series, self-employed, self-published, self-publishing, Transference, V. Gomenzi, writing | Leave a comment

Author Review: Flesh for Sale

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Susannah J. Bell

When I began FLESH FOR SALE, it was as the next Fleet novella after COMMENCES, at the time the first Fleet novella. Between the two I had written a short story called Access Denied and it was only while writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged alien invasion, Fleet, Fleet Quinteet, Flesh for Sale, Goodreads, goodreads review, mindwalkers, mindwalking, missing persons, relationships, sci fi, science fiction, self-publishing, Sistia Scarpora | Leave a comment

The price you pay for teeny tiny fonts

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Susannah J. Bell

I have – miraculously – got the price down on my novel TRANSFERENCE and better still, it’s the sort of price you’d expect to pay for a paperback. One of the many cruelties about self-publishing (and that’s a long list … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Published | Tagged amazon, Createspace, Fleet quintet, novel, paperback, science fiction, self-publishing, Transference | Leave a comment

Dear 2016, What do you mean 2017 is going to be worse?

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Susannah J. Bell

Trending on Twitter earlier this week was a “Dear 2016” line (not actually a hashtag). One of the saddest was someone asking 2016 not to take Carrie Fisher, which it then promptly did, along with her mother. The general idea … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Published, On Writing | Tagged 2017, books, editing, Fleet quintet, life, London, new year, novel, publishing, science fiction, self-publishing, short stories | 2 Comments

Why is it so hard to write a book blurb?

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Susannah J. Bell

Does it ever get easier to write a book blurb? At some point, after you’ve battled day after day, does something suddenly go “ping” and you realise how to string the words together adequately? I’ve just written nine new blurbs … Continue reading →

Posted in On Writing | Tagged alter space, Blurbs, book blurb, Fleet, Fleet quintet, Fleet trilogy, quintet, sci fi, science fiction, self-publishing, V. Gomenzi, writing | Leave a comment

Self-publishing – why it’s no longer a good idea

Posted on May 17, 2015 by Susannah J. Bell

I knew this anyway but it’s painful to see it in black and white: http://bit.ly/Self-Publishing-NoLongerAGoodIdea The above blog, belonging to Claude Forthomme, lays out the facts as barely as possible and it’s caused quite a bit of fury. The problem, … Continue reading →

Posted in On Writing | Tagged blog, publishing, self-publishing, selling writing, writing | 2 Comments