Improbable Press Blog

By Mary Ogle The year I turned forty-eight I decided to become a writer. It was a considered and deliberate decision, not a whim or impulse. I was creative in other ways – I’m a painter and digital artist and I make my living by commercial illustration and designing websites. But I was restless, feeling I was treading a path so worn my head was disappearing below the ruts. I flailed, seeking doorways, searching for exit signs, but encountered only mirrors. I found myself considering a long hidden reflection. I gazed into the troubled eyes of a lonely twelve-year-old in...

By Atlin Merrick Got a book? Then you want to be online to help promote it, whether that's Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or a website. While you can stick to social media-only for promotion, if you decide to create a website – a good long-term investment in your writing self – here are a few ideas on how to do it for free or for cheap. Tumblr For the Win – Maybe The cheapest and easiest way to create a website is to start with Tumblr –  if you're already using it. Something you already know will make the process easier,...

By Atlin Merrick There are a lot of things to do to help promote your book – and here are 11 book promo ideas – but there are a few things you want to not do, including: Don't create a Goodreads page for your book Goodreads is owned by Amazon, and once your book is listed there by your publisher, Amazon automatically generates a Goodreads page for your book. So if you create one before Amazon you will end up with two pages. If you have no book page after a few days or a week after your book is out...

By Atlin Merrick A quick note today and that's this: Know your publisher. I don't mean know the actual people, I don't even mean know all about what they do and when they started, I mean know what sort of publisher they are. I follow and get followed by other publishers and editors on Twitter and I usually follow back, but lately I've stopped doing that automatically, instead seeing who I'm following. This is how I learned that some subsidy presses are calling themselves independent publishers. But they're not. Not in the way that term is traditionally used. Independent Publisher...

By Atlin Merrick I like labels. No, that's wrong, I like labels which help. Lots start out that way, but some labels are turned, used to marginalize, belittle, other. The ones that help though? Oh, the clarity they can bring, the community they can create. This is why I like the #OwnVoices label, a hashtag which popped up on Twitter a few years ago. At its simplest Own Voices means that if your main character identifies as part of a minority group, you the writer are also part of that group. If an author identifies their story as Own Voices,...