My Birthday Gift To You

Nat RussoGiveaway Leave a Comment

My birthday is coming up later this month (July 31st), and I’d like to celebrate by giving back to my readers.

Free Offer

Starting today, and for a limited time, you’ll be able to download both Necromancer Awakening and The Road To Dar Rodon to your Kindle device or app at no charge!

That’s right. FREE!

I can’t thank you all enough for the incredible outpouring of support you’ve shown me. Not a day goes by that I don’t get emails, tweets, Facebook messages, and blog comments that thank me for the content here in this blog. But the simple truth is that none of this would be possible without you! Thank you all so much for giving me your most valuable gift: time.

And if you already have copies of these stories, please help me spread the word to friends and family. The Pinnacle could use a few more diligent people keeping their eyes on it.

Cheers!

Nat

The Problem with Adverbs

Nat RussoAdverbs, Basics, How-To, Qualifiers, Writing 21 Comments

If you’ve been studying the craft of writing for any length of time, you’ve undoubtedly come across countless writers who think adverbs are evil. As you can see from the previous sentence, I don’t think they’re evil. But I do think you need to exercise caution when using them in your fiction.

We should start by defining what they are. Then I’ll talk about the problem with adverbs in general and offer a demonstration of why they can be problematic.

Adverbs

Lolly Lolly Lolly, get your adverbs here!

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Steel and Bone

Nat RussoGiveaway, Guest Posts, Releases Leave a Comment

 

 

Shovel the coal and stoke the boilers as nine steam punk authors explore islands of mystery and adventure across the seven seas.
 
The Clockwork Seer by Katherine Cowley: On an island of oddities, a young clairvoyant struggles for normalcy, but deadly automatons have other plans.
 
Sindisiwe by Scott E. Tarbet: A slave girl in Zanzibar escapes a beating when a stranger in the marketplace proves her past is more than just a fairy tale.
 
Stand and Deliver by TC Phillips: Neither shackles, slave labor, nor the island’s deadliest inhabitants will prevent these brothers from meting out justice to their father’s murderers.
 
Island Walker by C. R. Simper: Kit digs her treasures out of trash heaps, but the theft of her invention leads to discoveries money can’t buy.
 
A Mind Prone to Wander by Danielle E. Shipley: Beyond a locked door lies Rowan Charles’ death or his sanity, and the survival or extinction of his people.
 
Curio Cay by Sarah E. Seeley: The future of humanity rests in the hands of three time-traveling scientists battling biomechanical creatures in the Jurassic past.
 
The Mysterious Island of Chester Morrison by Kin Law: Dodging her chaperone, a debutante stumbles into adventure and romance at the World’s Fair.
 
Revolutionary by John M. Olsen: A dirigible captain goes down with his ship, and wakes to find himself a captive of a sky-dwelling civilization.
 
The Steel Inside by Gail B. Williams: Darkness lurks in Sarah’s forgotten past, kept hidden by those who claim to be her devoted husband and loyal servants. 

Purchace your copy here:
Amazon Kindle USA: http://www.amazon.com/Steel-Bone-Nine-Steampunk-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00YQRAIIC
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steel-Bone-Nine-Steampunk-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00YQRAIIC

 

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Necromancer Falling Teaser Trailer

Nat RussoUncategorized 7 Comments

I know, I know! Things have been very quiet around A Writer’s Journey lately, and I apologize for that. But I think you’ll appreciate why. Because of my limited writing time, I had to make some difficult choices between writing new articles or completing Necromancer Falling, the sequel to my metaphysical fantasy Necromancer Awakening.

I’m happy to report I recently completed the 1st draft, and I’m preparing to go into the revision process within the next couple of weeks. 

Until then, here’s a little teaser trailer. I hope you all enjoy it!

Seeking Beta Readers

Nat RussoBeta Reading 4 Comments

* * * BETA READERS WANTED * * *

Beta Readers Wanted

If any of you are interested in beta reading Necromancer Falling in JUNE of this year, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT: betareading@erindorpress.com

PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFO:
– Whether or not you have experience beta reading, and in which genres. (What I’m getting at here is this: “Do you enjoy Fantasy?” If the answer to that question is no, you’re going to hate Necromancer Falling. 🙂 )
– Your preferred file format for the manuscript. (MS Word? PDF? Other?)
– Your preferred email address (if it’s different than the “from” address).

RELEVANT DETAILS:
– Necromancer Falling is the sequel to Necromancer Awakening and is book 2 of a trilogy. While it is a self-contained story, it does not resolve the multi-book story arc. You’ll likely want to have read Necromancer Awakening first, as this is a multi-book epic.

– This book falls under the Fantasy genre within the “Metaphysical and Visionary Fantasy” sub-genre. Book 1 (Necromancer Awakening) is a portal fantasy.

– The manuscript will weigh in between 140k and 160k words.

– I expect to have a beta-ready draft by June 15th.

– I MUST have all feedback by July 31st. If you cannot read and provide feedback within this time frame, I won’t have time to incorporate your input in the final draft.

Thanks so much!

Cuisine a la Card

Nat RussoOpinion, Reviews 2 Comments

I’d like to take an unusual detour this week to discuss a unique new card game that I discovered several weeks ago. The game is called Cuisine a la Card and is being developed by InMotion Software by way of a Kickstarter campaign. But don’t let the word “Software” fool you! Cuisine a la Card is a competitive and unique deck building card game that you play on a tabletop. 

If you’ve ever watched and enjoyed a cooking competition show (Iron Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, Chopped, etc), then you owe it to yourself to take a serious look at this game.

Cuisine a la Card

I’m going to dig a little deeper into the gameplay, show you some of the cards, and talk about the pros and cons.

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Are You Using Pinned Tweets?

Nat RussoHow-To, Marketing, Platform, Social Media, Twitter 29 Comments

Twitter recently rolled out a new feature for profile pages that allows you to keep your vital content visible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This feature is known as Pinned Tweets, and it’s an important part of your content delivery strategy.

And you’re not using it.

pin2

 

You read that correctly. It’s one of the single greatest content delivery features Twitter has graced us with, and you’re completely ignoring it! How do I know? Allow me to explain (in an admittedly roundabout way).

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Whiskey, Wine, & Writing (& Me!)

Nat RussoMarketing, Platform, Publishing Leave a Comment

Hello friends and readers!

I had the great privilege of being interviewed by the beautiful people at Whiskey, Wine, & Writing last night on Google Hangouts. We covered everything from Self-Publishing to…MORE SELF-PUBLISHING! 

[What else did you think I’d be talking about? 🙂 ]

If you get the chance, head on over to the link above and give it a watch. And since they took the time to make this awesome graphic (below), I’m going to share it even though the event is in the past.

Cheers!

Nat

CBX5mTAWsAAq46U

Link Globalization

Nat RussoHow-To, Marketing, Platform, Publishing, Social Media 27 Comments

[UPDATED – 7/22/2015]

Did you know there is more than one Amazon.com store? Don’t worry. If you didn’t know there is an amazon.co.uk, or an amazon.de, or even an amazon.co.jp, you’re not alone. In fact, many are unaware there are at least 13 international Amazon storefronts. But until you’re aware of this (and do something about it) you may be sending potential customers to the wrong store, losing untold sales in the process!

Link globalization is something you need to be aware of if you’re attempting to direct people to an Amazon storefront. If you give an Amazon.com link to someone in the UK or Australia, for example, that person will not be able to purchase the product you’ve linked without going through a lot of trouble.

First, they’ll have to navigate to their own Amazon store. Then, they’ll have to manually search for your product. Finally, they’ll have to click the “Buy Now” button.

Link Globalization will send them straight to the store they need so all they’ll have to do is click “Buy Now”.

Image of the Earth.

Image taken from nasa.gov

 

 

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Out of Office

Nat RussoUncategorized 1 Comment

Hello friends! If I’m slow to respond to comments through my various media outlets over the next 10 days, it’s because I’m out of office with limited access. I promise I’ll get caught up around the 18th-ish of March.

Cheers!

Nat will be out of office through the 18th of April