How To Articles

Can you write a book with a word processor? Definitely, and many authors use Word, Apple Pages, or Google Docs. However, you should take a couple of quick precautions before you start writing your book. Doing two simple things will keep your manuscript safe and secure and make preparing your book for publishing easier. First, create…

When you prepare your print-on-demand (POD) book cover, it’s always best practice to output it with print to PDF. Depending on the program, software, or online app you use to create your book cover, you will have other options to create a PDF file. These will probably include options to save to PDF and export…

When you can avoid using the passive voice, your writing will be more concise and clearer because the subject of a sentence performs the action. On the other hand, in sentences using the passive, the subject is not performing the action of the verb. In many cases, it means that a reader doesn’t know who…

Drop caps are large decorative capital letters appearing at the beginning of book chapters. You also sometimes see drop caps used in newspapers and some web pages. Usually, they are two or three lines in height and perhaps in a styled font, but there are many different variations and styles you can use. In this…

Do you want to make your ebook free on Amazon and other online book retailers? Yes, you can create a perma-free title, but it takes a little bit of extra work to make it happen. It’s very easy to do if you use self-publish with Draft2Digital or Smashwords, but Amazon can be problematic. Let’s look…

Why would you want to turn your blog posts into an ebook? It’s an easy way to create an ebook that you can sell or give away. You can self-publish it to sell on Amazon or make it available for free on your blog. With organic search engine traffic becoming more challenging for bloggers, it’s…

Where is the word count and page count in Apple Pages? The quick answer is to go to the View Menu and select Show Page Count. From there, you can see your page and word count. More and more writers and authors are using a Mac and Pages. But this is a common question many…

When it comes time to proofread and check all your dialogue writing in a manuscript, it can be quite a challenging process. Because there are so many elements, it’s also extremely time-consuming. Yes, you need to check your grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation when editing a book manuscript. But above all else, consistency in dialogue is…

Adsense and Core Web Vitals can work happily together despite what you might read. Yes, at first, I struggled with site speed and slow loading for pages with Adsense, especially on mobile. But with a few tweaks and learning how Google calculates Core Web Vitals (CWV), my sites are now getting all green signals on…

Learning to write in formal register is easy once you understand the basics. When you write a job application, a business letter, an essay, or an academic article, you need to use the formal register. It’s not only used in writing. In speaking, we use the formal voice when addressing a doctor or judge or…