Practice Makes Perfect
Maybe you’ve heard this saying before, “Practice makes perfect.” Often we think of this quote as referring to an athlete or a musician—but what about a writer? What roles does practice play in the development of the craft of writing? The truth is: everything. Practice has everything to do with honing the craft of being [...]
New Author Highlight–Marshall Bishop
Our authors are diverse in background, age, and experience–we like to highlight them to prove that, with enough fortitude and dedication, anyone can write a book and make it as good as it can possibly be. If you’re a beer-lover, more likely than not, you’ve tried and perhaps enjoyed a bottle of Shiner Bock. Turns [...]
“The Quiz” – An Interview with Author Jonathan Fletcher
How did you start writing? I was teaching a course at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Columbia, SC on my understanding of Catholic Christology entitled “Scratching the Surface of Christian Transformation.” While Episcopalians or more broadly Anglicans may have repudiated a number of pieces of Catholic doctrine and church structure, they never repudiated the Catholic [...]
New Author Highlight–Lexee Booshay
To show you that you, yes YOU, can write and publish your book, we have decided to highlight an author a month. They are diverse in background, age, and experience and prove that, with enough fortitude and dedication, anyone can write a book and make it as good as it can possibly be. Meet Lexee [...]
New Ways to Fund Your Book
As more and more authors choose the control and profit margin of self-publishing, one of the first questions they, or perhaps other more financially-oriented friends, will ask is, “How much does it cost and how the heck am I going to pay for it?” Depending on the length of the book, and to really do [...]
Tricks of the Editorial Trade
No matter who you are, no matter how many published manuscripts you have, everyone needs their material edited and sharpened. Here are a few tricks of the trade when it comes to editing your own material. Find Another Set of Eyes: I was talking with one of our Samizdat authors today and he made an [...]
A Season with the Kansas City Royals: An Interview with Author Ethan Bryan
Oftentimes the best book ideas are the ones that catch you by surprise. They are a blend of passion and insight, brought together in a single idea. Take Ethan Bryan’s book, Run Home & Take a Bow, for example. After winning a contest for writing a new anthem for the Kansas City Royals, this lifelong [...]
Your Editor—Partner and Ally
Let’s just admit it right up front. Most artists, especially writers, have a deep-seated fear of critique. Now, we may say that we’re open to feedback, but the reality is this—we have an uneasy relationship with critique, even tenuous at best. We want our work to be the very best it can be, sure, but [...]
Business That Builds Community
The Samizdat Group (Samizdat Creative and Conundrum Press) is rooted in building community—fostering relationships between publisher and author, authors with each other, authors with their readers, and all of us with the communities we call home. So we’ve implemented a model of corporate philanthropy where our authors and readers help us give to organizations promoting [...]
Writing From the Heart and the Head
There are certain movies that just seem to stick with you, don’t they? Perhaps it’s a plot line, or an image, a piece of music, or perhaps a piece of dialogue. No matter what it may be, the moment is etched in your mind—forever. Implanted in our memory, that particular moment touches something deep within [...]
From Christian Jihadist to Reconciler: Meet Author Colonel V. Doner
I was at the grocery store when I received the call from Colonel Doner about helping him publish his book. I can’t remember what I was there for because he had immediately swept me up with the force of his wit and experience. As I paced aisle 7, talking on my bluetooth and scaring away [...]
Reading to Write.
One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever received was so simple I almost missed it. While at lunch with a friend and writing mentor, he offered this: If you want be a good writer, you need to read good writers. As an aspiring writer back then, I took this to heart. I [...]
A New Kind of Publishing Company
In the two and a half years since the birth of Samizdat Creative Services, I’ve worked to position what we do in the huge gap between the “traditional” publishing and the “vanity” self-publishing book mills. The problem with exploring new territory is precisely defining where you’re going–in my case, creating an elevator speech summarizing [...]
From Gridiron to Author: Ian Gold
One of the great rewards of Samizdat Creative is being involved in projects that matter. Take “Plant, Water, Grow,” for example—one of our latest projects by new author Ian Gold. Ian walked away from a life in the NFL to pursue a life dedicated to sharing the life-transforming message of Jesus in a very unique [...]
Finding a Voice Amidst the Noise
Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a point to make. You may not see yourself as a writer or communicator, but with the proliferation of blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, more and more people are entering the world of communication. With so many voices out there, how can you find your own unique voice, [...]
A Simpler Faith: Hope For People Who Struggle With Church
Meet Ed Galisewski, a real life Joe Palooka from Jersey. A mens ministry leader for fifteen years, Ed has ministered to literally thousands of people. He’s been in and out (and in again) of church, learning to overcome his own struggles with the institution while still loving the body of Christ. Maybe, like him, you [...]
What Does “Keep 100% of Your Royalties” Really Mean?
(This is part of the How to Navigate the Overcrowded World of Self-Publishing series.) One of your top concerns as a self-publishing author of course is how much you can make per book. It’s your book, you’re publishing it, so you should keep 100% of the royalties, right? Obviously, the answer is yes, but [...]
How to Navigate the Overcrowded World of Self-Publishing
If you want to self-publish a book, you may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of hucksters wanting to “help you.” They promise the impossible–that for a small upfront fee you will have Total and Complete Control, your book will enjoy worldwide distribution, and you will keep 100% of your royalties. Some of these companies [...]
“Why Should Google Editions Have All the Fun?”
by caleb j seeling Speaking of new publishing models, GalleyCat reports that OR Books, an indie publisher, has partnered with St. Mark’s Bookshop, the famous indie bookstore in New York, to offer all of OR Books’ titles in print or electronic form through the bookstore’s online store. The publisher is looking to expand this program [...]
Seth Godin and Amazon Enter the Hybrid Publishing Game–So What?
by caleb j seeling When author and visionary Seth Godin announced his partnership with Amazon to “create a new publishing model.” Amazon followed with a news release of their own, which you can read here. Frankly, there’s nothing new about what they’re up to–it’s the hybrid model that little guys like me have been [...]
Get Ready for Google Editions
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is planning to launch their Google Editions initiative by the end of the year. Their pricing will be about what everyone else is selling, but the books won’t be tied to a specific device like the Kindle. It will be browser-based and all publishers and booksellers will be [...]
Cardus – The Wound of Beauty
Is our North American way of knowing impoverished by its ignorance of beauty? Find out in this fascinating lecture by Image Journal founder and editor Greg Wolfe produced by Cardus’s Think lecture series. Cardus – The Wound of Beauty.
Good news for bloggers: Global literacy is rising – How the World Works – Salon.com
I’m not sure why Salon titled this article the way they did, but it is interesting how the rise of global literacy has corresponded with the decline of American reading rates. The National Endowment for the Arts did report earlier this year that Americans are beginning to read more again, though some believe it is [...]
How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write – WSJ.com
It is important to consider how the digital world should change how you write and how you think about publishing. What are your thoughts? How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write – WSJ.com.