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Space Authors

38 members • Free

The Independent Authors Guild

438 members • Free

16 contributions to The Independent Authors Guild
Chalk Dust and Broomsticks by Shirley Midnight
This is my latest book, published in July on Amazon as an e-book (only at the moment). 'When a new headteacher comes to Primrose Primary School in Langwitch, many strange things start to happen, but the strangest of all is on the eve of the Christmas holidays, when a dark figure is seen to be dragging a sack across the school car-park towards the boiler house. Is it Father Christmas with a sack of presents for the children or is it something much more sinister?' The cover was designed for me by www.49thfloor.co.uk and my target audience is teachers, teachers on holiday, anyone interested in the goings on in a school or an institution and those who enjoy the supernatural world. The genre is Mystery, Psychology and Occult. Thank you Lara for giving me the chance to promote my book on here. I hope someone here will be interested enough to buy a copy and if so, enjoy it and give me a review. Thank you :)
Chalk Dust and Broomsticks by Shirley Midnight
1 like • 3d
Congratulations on your lauch. 🎉 I read a few pages of the sample. One thing stood out "hair color of woodsmoke and spectacles". I'm not sure what that means. 🤔
Question: Author's website and/or/versus Self-publishing website
I have an author's website by name, but shouldn't I purchase a separate domain name as a self-publishing entity if it's different from my own?
1 like • 5d
If you have two different domains, you'll have to do the maintenance and costs for both. I would put the imprint (publishingbentity) into the main site, for example www.yourname.com/imprintname. If it's a micro-publishing business, I would switch it around and make the business the main site and put your author page within that domain.
The book cover
The book cover. Where do you recomend getting affordable book covers and illustrations from? My friends all turned down making a book cover on commission because they thought they were not up to the task. Please dont hate on me but this book cover was AI generated. I made a lot of changes to it with my simple understanding of photoshop and I think it hits all the marks of a good fantasy book cover. It tells the viewer this is a fantasy novel about a bard, a crazy gnome, and a horned woman who plays with fire at a circus.
The book cover
3 likes • 28d
@David Burdick the woman’s hands look a bit strange. I don't see any other major AI tells/flaws. 🤔 Personally, it would bother me if I couldn't copyright a major part of my product - the cover is often the only thing a potential reader sees before clicking - but it is your decision. 🍀
0 likes • 12d
@Rose Rogers This is David's cover, not mine. I am currently painting my cover image - old-school, on paper. It's not finished, so I can't show it yet. 😅
new author here, and i need help.
hello everyone, how are you? hope you guys are doing great. i am a new author, trying to write ;) so won't bit around the bushes, straight to the point. English is not my first language, that might sound scary, but it is not that bad, and it is not an excuse to write a poorly written book, i want to get stronger, and put words on the paper which would make me proud not ashamed, but there is always this fear in the back of my mind, asking "what if there is something within your writing, described the best you could, but still not how you wanted it to be? or what if the reader cannot actually communicate properly as you have planned with what you wanted to deliver?" that stress is neither good, nor healthy, i am very well aware of that, but i need guidance, is there any specific questions that i must ask myself during edit session, to make sure the text is exactly as what i wanted it to be, not combined with the images and the plot in my head, which creates the understanding; for readers who have just picked up my book, giving it a try, they wont have the images and the scenes unless the book is read, which means if i have failed to write it right :) they wont see what i see, they wont feel what i feel. sorry got a bit too long, hope it didn't bore you guys out. looking forward to receive guidance from my senior writers and this junior writer thanks you by tons already. take care.
4 likes • 20d
@Blaze Martel a caveat with this to consider: All material you give to an AI might be used to train future models. So, instead of feeding your manuscript into it you could use writing prompt exercises to practice your prose and let AI analyze that.
0 likes • 19d
@Helena Vaalen Thank you for sharing this. I have heard of Autocrit and ProWritingAid, but haven't tried either yet. 🙂
Typefaces
Which typeface is your favorite for reading paper books? I’m a sans-serif writer, but I used Georgia in the novella. Serif reads better on paper, but I don’t really have any favorites, and I’m limited by what Scivener has on offer.
2 likes • 21d
I really like "Segoe UI light", both for Scrivener and print. "Segoe UI" looks a bit too thick in print for my personal taste.
2 likes • 20d
Yes, Garamond is my favorite serif font. I'm writing sci-fi, so I think a sans-serif font is a better fit for my genre (and for thrillers or horror). But I would definitely use a serif font for fantasy & romance etc. Maybe it's strange to separate it like that. 😅 I guess it's a matter of personal taste.
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Sonja G
3
11 points to level up
@sonja-g-1785
I am writing a military sci-fi horror series. I'm German, addicted to coffee and surrogate mom of two small fluffy rabbits.

Active 7h ago
Joined Jul 10, 2026
Germany