Choosing appropriate and specific keywords ensures that the right readers find your book. Although the process is often overlooked, taking a few minutes to research keywords can make a big difference in your book's visibility and sales.

In this post and the video below, we'll walk through a simple method for identifying and selecting keywords.
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​Independent authors have two primary options for self-publishing: Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and IngramSpark. Each of these options has benefits and drawbacks.

In this post, we'll cover the basics of KDP and IngramSpark to help you make an informed decision about where to place your book.

One of our jobs here at Blue Pen is helping first-time authors understand the industry. If you're publishing a book for the first time, you don't know what you don't know. And that leaves you open to getting caught in a scam—or just going down the wrong path for your goals.

In this post, we'll go over some common terminology and the different types of folks offering self-publishing services. Hopefully this helps you feel more prepared and confident as you take on your self-publishing process.

During line editing, ambiguity is one of the most important things to identify and eliminate. You should be looking for ambiguity during your self-editing process, and your professional editor will also root out instances that invite misreadings. Let's explore a few common causes of ambiguity and how you can fix them.

​High school writing classes teach us many lessons. We develop foundational skills that we apply for the rest of our lives—and sometimes that's not such a great thing. Fiction writers, particularly, spend time un-learning lessons from high school.

Here are a few tendencies you may have picked up while learning how to write the perfect college admission essay.

​One of the first questions to ask when you're considering professional editing is What type of editing do I need?

Not only are there a plethora of options, but terminology is not completely standardized throughout the industry. Depending on who you're speaking with, publishing professionals may use different terms for the same type of editing. Specifically, professionals who work directly with authors (like us at Blue Pen) often use different terminology than in-house editors.

As a professional editor, one of the questions that I often hear is Why is editing so expensive? Most writers are asking this from a place of respect and curiosity. It’s a valid question, after all. And it’s worth asking, especially when confronted with less-than-reputable editors who are charging rates significantly below industry standard.

So let’s break this down. Exactly why does editing cost so much, and how do editors set their rates?
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After deciding to pursue professional editing and choosing the perfect editor, you have a big decision to make. Which type or types of editing does your manuscript need?

It can be difficult to be objective about your own work's needs, so don't hesitate to reach out to your editor and ask for their opinion.

To help give you a starting place, I've broken down some common types of editing and the order you should pursue them. Note that terminology is not completely standardized across the industry, so always confirm the scope of work with your editor. The definitions below reflect those of the services available from Blue Pen.