Blog
Welcome to The Showcase Blog.
Here you will find: the latest musings of the showcase team, writing tips, short stories, writer’s personal experiences and more. Because of our love for fresh, new content we update our blog regularly, which means that you can come back time and time again – and always find something new to read.
If you are an indie author and would like to guest blog you’ll be happy to hear that we now have an open guest blog submission policy. For more information email us at openblog@selfpubslishersshowcase.com.
An announcement
We are pleased to announce that we have launched our editorial company. The venture, in partnership with author Tim Marquitz, …
It’s our first (and last) double trouble week!
We thought that it might be nice to offer up a bit of a special, completely out of the blue. …
Guest Post: Give Me Some Space: The Importance of Declaring Your Workspace
A word from Sara Cleveland: One of the things I have struggled in my journey as a writer is my …
Featured 5 Authors: August 2015
Our top 5 visited Author pages for July were: TOP PROFILE – Darian Wigfall, author of A Dying Breed: Bright …
Featured 5 Resources: August 2015
Our top 5 visited Resources pages for July were: TOP RESOURCE – Pro Writing Aid Improve the readability and clarity …
Open Blog Weekend: 15 Great and Easy Ways to Promote Your Book Online
There is one question in the publishing universe that has, and always will linger on author’s minds; how to promote and …
Open Blog Weekend: Writing a Travel Blog
Thanks to cheaper airfare and accommodation, more and more people are able to travel these days. This means that many …
Open Blog Weekend: Book Publishing Process – In The Meantime
So your manuscript is at the publisher being transformed into your book. There’s nothing for you to do right? Wrong! …
Open Blog Weekend: Five Reasons to Not KDP Select
There is so much controversy over the Kindle Direct Publishing Select program; some authors think that it’s that best thing …
Open Blog Weekend: Five Top Tips for Highly Creative Covers
You’ve written your book, edited it to perfection and are now ready to self-publish. YAY! Then the awful truth hits …
Open Blog Weekend: Thanks for the Memories
I’m a really lucky guy in a very privileged position. Since 2011 I’ve managed to lie, cheat and steal my …
Open Blog Weekend: The Power of Story
As Jim Loehr, the author of The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny in Work and in …
Open Blog Weekend: Is your author website working for you?
Once you have a website as an author, there is a myth that it will just work and pull in …
Open Blog Weekend: A Symphony of Adrenaline and Drama: Writing Epic Action
I’m an action junkie, no two ways about it. Superheroes, sci-fi, fantasy, horror––if it gets my blood pumping, then I’m …
Open Blog Weekend: Manuscript Appraisals
Finding the path to writing a ‘publishable’ piece of fiction is a balancing act: it takes good prose, a well-crafted …
July’s Open Blog Weekend
It’s now been just under 2 years since we launched. We are still trying our best to keep all rates …
Summer Reading – The Challenge of the New Millennium by Kevin J. Villeneuve
Do you remember the first book that you truly enjoyed? The one that pulled you so far into its world …
Guest Post: 9 Traits Shared by Successful Self-Publishers by James A. Rose
Self-publishing is hard work, there’s no getting around that fact. Successful self-publishing is even harder. If it’s your dream then …
50% off Basic Membership for the whole of June!
That’s right! For June only join us on our Basic Membership package for as little as a one-off payment of …
Guest Post: Reaching for the stars by Kevin J. Villeneuve
Have you ever taken the time to stare into the night sky and actually feel into it? It’s at that …
Guest Post: A look inside an agent’s head by Frank Bukowski
Take a look inside a football agent’s head and prepare to be scared, very scared “Rich Dinero is the world’s …
Back to the Nineteen-Fifties
Time Travel All three of the novels I have written (You Are My Song, Eli’s Heart, How I Grew Up) …
The launch of our sister site
We have kept it quiet until now. But we can’t do it any longer – we are pleased to announce …
William Shakespeare’s Birthday by Martin Baum
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. These words written by William Shakespeare …
Guest Post: Kevin J. Villeneuve’s Sci-fi Learning – Young Readers and the Environment
Environmentalism is a topic that has been fairly mainstream in world media for the past two decades. With technology progressing …
Guest Post: Steve Dullum’s Odyssey of the Abecedarian – Part Four
For anyone who missed Part Three you can find it here Hi, it’s me again. Time to wrap up this …
Guest Post: Making Time To Write by Eileen Granfors
People have asked me how I manage to read so many books. They don’t realize that reading is only one …
Guest Post: Tony Russell – Commons People: Your life in their hands
When I interviewed a group of MPs for my first book Commons People – MPs are Human Too, I wanted …
Guest Post: 3 Tips for Developing a Daily Writing Habit by Kevin Tumlinson
Good writing is about two things: Persistence and making up a second thing as you go. I’m not the only …
Surviving a Genre-Identity Crisis: What I’ve Learned as a Virgin Author by JC Stockli
I can say with firm conviction that I never thought I’d write a book, much less self-publish. It just happened. …
Guest Post: Organizing Your Writing Work Day by Paul Travis
As writers it’s very easy to say we have a full agenda each day…right? Either we are crafting, promoting, researching, …
Guest Post: Mea Culpa (Trilogy Writing) by Eileen Granfors
First-hand experience may be the best teacher, but I hope this blog post will save other writers from the mistakes …
Guest Post: The Importance of Editing by Gabby Weiss
Self publishing authors have this in common: they need an editor. If there were one piece of advice I’d give …
Guest Post: In Search of Character by Karen Long
I am a great fan of the HBO series, ‘Autopsy’, which focuses on strange deaths and the purveyors thereof…One of …
Guest Post: Creating Compelling Titles by Dale Vande Griend
From the writing and work I’ve done creating videos, I’ve found out that a great title is something that often …
Short Story: Why The Bear Will Never Dance by Kneel Downe
“We must gather wood soon.” Said Owl. “For the night draws in….but first. Another Tale…” Amelia moved Frog from his …
What Inspires Me? by Morgan
What Inspires me? What lights the candle of my imagination and sets the flame burning high? What is it that …
Guest Post: Do you need a vacation? by Deanna Kahler
Pack your bags. It’s time for a little trip. You won’t need any money. In fact, where you’re going, you …
Guest Post: 5 Ways to Use a Book to Build Your Business by Kevin Tumlinson
For most of my author coaching clients, and for listeners of the Self Publishing Answers Podcast, the biggest motivation for …
Guest Post: The Writing Life by Kristine Blenkhorn Rodriguez
When you’re a writer, people seem to feel you must be bohemian enough to accept them asking you anything. Or …