Melissa Maygrove

L. Diane Wolfe has formatted for me in the past. She's professional and talented, so when I heard how the pandemic had hindered her ability to earn a living with in-person classes, I offered to help her get the word out about her webinars. For a very reasonable price, you can learn about publishing and promoting your books in the safety and comfort of your own home.

I was invited a while back to guest post on J.Q. Rose's blog during a series she did on writing tips. With her guests' permission, Janet has turned those tips into a Kindle e-book to help budding writers.  Several authors contributed information on various aspects of the writing and publishing process, and Janet took those posts and organized them into a book by topic. The book sells for 99c, and the proceeds are donated to libraries.

It's feast or famine around here... hurry up and wait. Due to AtoZ, I scheduled my cover reveal a little earlier than I otherwise would have, and (unfortunately) that huge marketing push came about the time I was preparing my manuscript for the formatter. Gah! I'll never do that again. I was so busy there for a couple of weeks, I thought I was going to die! Now I've come to a strange lull. I'm literally twiddling my thumbs with nothing much to do. I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something, but according to my detailed publishing to-do list, I'm right on track.

A mile-long 'to do' list comes with publishing your first book. If you think writing and editing the manuscript is the worst of your worries, think again. Accounts have to be opened, a website has to be built, a bio has to be written, and your book blurb must be polished to perfection — it's overwhelming. I thought I'd list a few resources that have helped me along the way. Maybe some of you will find these useful, too. Author Bio

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for March.   For more information about the group, see the bottom of this post. Alex's awesome co-hosts for March are: MJ Joachim, Elsie, Elizabeth Seckman,   and Julie Flanders! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you. Publishing a debut novel is one heck of a ride. One minute I'm reading Susan Kaye Quinn's Indie Author Survival Guide and feeling like I'm twirling on top of the mountain shown on the cover, and the next, I'm pulling my hair out, trying to understand ISBN barcodes and trim sizes — all the while biting my nails, waiting for the beta feedback to come in.  Gah! I must've been temporarily insane when I took this on!

My recent post about author-editor Nicole Steinhaus drew a LOT of attention. Just 36 hours after launch, it became the most-visited post on my blog, of all time. I want to thank those of you who offered your support. Save a few remarks from Nicole and her Twitter followers ( who likely didn't have all the facts ), not a single person chided me for my post. In fact, the supportive comments you see are but a fraction of the ones I got. Many members of the writing community were not in a position to comment publicly, and I understand.

Stop that senseless querying. Don't bother finding an agent. The secret to making it big in publishing is hiding right under your nose.  Just get a job in the publishing industry, jump on the NA bandwagon, and self-publish under a pen name. Heck—promote your alter ego as if you’re two separate people and write a review for your own book if you feel so inclined. Before you know it, you'll be raking in thousands! I'm sure you've all heard that the author behind the pen name Cora Carmack ( Losing It ) is really literary agent Brittany Howard. You can read her confession here . Well, guess what? It's happened again.

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for June.   IWSG is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's a monthly bloghop that offers a safe haven for writers to express their feelings and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. It's also a venue for offering support, both in the form of comments and positive posts. Writers of all kinds are welcome.  We 'meet' the first Wednesday of every month. If you're interested in learning more, click on the link above. And don't be intimidated by the size of the group. We're not expected to visit everyone on the list.  One thing about being a writer that makes me anxious is meeting deadlines. I'm a responsible person, and I'm usually very organized, but not everything is within my control. The fear of getting involved with a publisher and then being unable to turn out a finished product fast enough sends my sympathetic nervous system into overdrive. It's one reason I le...

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for April.   IWSG is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's a monthly bloghop that offers a safe haven for writers to express their feelings and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. It's also a venue for offering support, both in the form of comments and positive posts . Writers of all kinds are welcome.  We 'meet' the first Wednesday of every month. If you're interested in learning more, click on the link above. And don't be intimidated by the size of the group. We're not expected to visit everyone on the list.  I make blank place-holder posts for IWSG, and this one sat empty for a long time. I kept waiting for a flash of inspiration about what to write. In light of my impending blog hiatus, I decided to address the semi-scathing article I posted last week. In it, I took a strong stand against careless self-publishing. The post generated many cries of support...

This is my Insecure Writer's Support Group post for August.  Enjoy... Just like grieving, writing has stages. Sometimes staying motivated is best accomplished by taking a break to laugh when we'd rather cry. Stage 1 - Wow! That would make a great story!

No, I haven't gone off the deep end or dyed my hair to look like a rainbow snow cone. The title of this post refers to my stubborn nature to control. I might as well admit it. "My name is Melissa and I'm a control freak." "Hi, Melissa," comes a rippled murmur from the audience.  Okay. So there's really just a lone cricket. I can pretend, right?  :P I thought I'd open it up for comments today about how our love for our stories combined with our personality determines the amount of control we like to have over our writing and how that control affects both the way we process critiques and the choices we make when it comes time to publish.  I must admit, this mix of protectiveness and stubbornness has not only made it hard for me to see reason with negative comments from my critters at times, but it has also been one of the driving forces behind me viewing indie and self publishing as more desirable than the traditional route. I'll readily admit I do...