by Will Viharo

If you’re an independent writer/publisher, most of your work life takes place in cyberspace. That’s where all your DIY tools are located, easily accessible and user-friendly.
 
But your actual workplace/office is just as crucial to your success, because it helps put you in the right mindset for whatever tasks are on your agenda, any given day.
 
Your immediate surroundings will impact your output. So customize them accordingly…

by Matt Banner

Even if you're a social media whiz, there are so many platforms to keep up with, you could be forgiven for flubbing image sizes or spacing on any number of things in your social travels. And if you're new? It can feel like you'll never catch on to the varying nuances of each platform. If you've been wishing for a handy cheat sheet so all the basics (and even some advanced stuff) were all in one place, this infographic is the answer to your prayers...

by Will Viharo

​So you want to be a successful writer. Good luck. Just keep in mind that probably isn’t going to happen. Ever.
 
But it could!
 
You’ll never know unless you try. And one way to increase the odds in your favor is to come up with not just a single book, putting all your eggs in one basket, but a series of inter-related books.
 
That way, at least you have more baskets. Now about those eggs…

by Mary C Long 

Did you ever feel the urge to view your Twitter stream in a way that mimicked the opening crawl from Star Wars? You know the stuff that scrolls up the screen after, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?” 
​
Well, now you can. 

by Kim Niemi

So you’re a widget maker. Yours is the best widget that has ever been made. You sell that widget online through a very accessible website.

That should be enough to make your business a success, shouldn’t it?

by Will Viharo

​So you’ve started your own imprint and you’re publishing your own line of books, whether you’re the sole author or you’re taking on the extremely significant challenge and responsibility of other authors’ books, too.
 
Now what?
 
Time to spread the good word(s)…

​by Cassie Phillips, Guest Contributor

If you are interested in online security or are otherwise concerned about online surveillance, you might have heard of Tor before. It stands for “The Onion Router” and was originally developed by the United States to keep spies safe when they were conducting operations involving digital communication.

To put it simply, it works by tossing your signal through a house of mirrors before getting your information. There is a network of “nodes” that are created by volunteers to mask an IP address.

The end node will have a completely different IP address than whoever sent an information request, and the request has travelled through enough nodes so that the original sender is nearly untraceable. It sounds perfect, doesn’t it?

by Will Viharo

​Whether you’re digitally generating your own books or someone else’s, or both, as an indie publisher you need to be very fastidious about your professionalism, since the skeptical scrutiny regarding your products will be extra intense, and competitive.
 
If you’re working via CreateSpace – and chances of that are high - the first introduction most potential consumers will have to your book is its public product page.
 
Make that first impression count, because it will anyway…