Monthly Archives: April 2019

A Short History of Spiritualism that ends with #VirtusSaga

The concpt of Spiritualism is that there is a spirit world, and that humans have the ability to communicate with that world and its inhabitants. Spiritualism has been around for a very long time, though it didn’t always have that name. Cultures around the world believe in the spirit world and that some individuals have the ability to communicate with it. All you have to do is look at the many indigenous cultures around the world in Africa, the Americas, Lapland and even pre-history in Western Europe and you will find psychics, mediums and medicine people performing this role in their individual societies. The Greeks consulted oracles, and the Romans had their own version by practicing divination, using augury (a sign of what will happen in the future). Also, according to many, Jesus was a psychic and medium, and mediumship was practiced in the early Christian church until 4th century Council of Nicaea put a stop to it. At that point, society considered mediums “false prophets.” There are different versions of how modern Spiritualism began, but most sources agree that it started in 1848 with the Fox sisters, daughters of a rural blacksmith in upstate New York.

The Fox sisters …

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How to Use LinkedIn to Help Build Your Author Brand

Many authors don’t think of LinkedIn as some place that they can sell books. While it’s true that this is more a social media tool for those who are professionals, if you write whether it be fiction or non-fiction then

you’re a professional writer and can use LinkedIn to help build your author brand.

If you’re thinking, “But I already have an account on LinkedIn, what else can I do there to help build my author brand, other than have the account, offer my own services if I have them, and make connections?” Believe it or not, you can do more. Now, you should also continue to make connections on LinkedIn, but you can take it one-step further. You can now post content on LinkedIn! Actually, this has been available for a while now, and participating can definitely help you build your author brand, particularly if you offer content that is readable and interesting.

So, how do you go about publishing on LinkedIn?

It’s very easy really. You just sign into your LinkedIn account, and you’ll notice a small box that says, “Share an update”. To the far right of that box is a pencil icon. All you have to …

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#VirtusSaga 5 Tips for Crafting a Stellar Book Blurb

Whether you’re a self-published or traditionally published author, you need to know what it takes to write a blurb. Your blurb along with your cover are the two things that readers see first and use to decide whether or not they are going to buy your book.

Most publishers want authors to write their own blurbs. After all, who knows your story better than you?

Here’s what you need to make sure your blurb makes the cut:

1. Keep it short. Some authors put too much information into their book blurbs and in this day and age of short attention spans, if you write too much into your blurb you’re going to lose readers. Your blurb should be between 100-200 words.

2. Be dramatic. Show your readers what the problem is the characters are facing and use words that are popular in your genre and that are descriptive.

3. Create a tag line that comes even before the blurb itself. This helps you to catch the reader’s attention. For example, In Regina Paul’s Through a Dark Mirror the tag line is, “Sometimes evil follows you from one life to the next.” This lets the reader know right away the story …

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