Allow Main Character to Experience Crisis of Faith – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for June 3, 2025

Plotting Your Book: Allow Main Character to Experience Crisis of Faith
A man vs. himself conflict often elevates a story’s suspense and depth. When a character must face a confrontation with himself, most readers can relate to him. Because of this, many writers introduce a crisis of faith into their story. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Advice: How to Upload Your Paperback to KindleDP 
For those new to self-publishing, uploading your paperback often is a complex and frustrating process. Unfamiliar terms are used, questions that you as an author have never thought of answering are asked, and when errors occur there’s no real explanation as to how to fix them. And while online “tutorials” are offered, the articles either state the obvious or appear to have been written by software engineers rather than someone who actually understands your plight. My book Upload Your Paperback to KindleDP corrects all of that. The explanations in this book make the process easy to understand and to follow. After all, you just want to get your book uploaded so it’s up for sale, not wonder if you wasted your time writing it because of error messages! SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Tighten Writing by Not Countersinking
One way for an author to slow a story is to employ “countersinking.” A term coined by science fiction writer Lewis Shiner, countersinking involves making explicit the very actions that the story implies. An example is: “We need to hide,” she said, asking him to seek cover. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: How to Create Bulleted Lists in Ebooks
One of the big problems with ereaders is that they lack the ability to translate fancy symbols used to make bulleted lists in Microsoft Word. The result is that a bullet point ends up being a letter or set of numbers, which looks unprofessional and can confuse readers. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Consider Organizing Short Stories into Fix-it Novel
If you like to write short stories, you probably are frustrated with the limited number of markets available out there to publish them in. And while ebooks allow you to sell short stories, the short ebooks still aren’t particularly popular (After all, if a reader why spend 99 cents on a short story when the same amount will get you a full-length novel?). You might want to write a fix-it novel. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Decide What Your Book’s Website Will Look Like
Before constructing your website or even deciding what pages you’ll have on your website, you’ll need to think about what the website page should look like. While each page will differ slightly – one might be a collection of publicity photos that can be downloaded while another is primarily a sample chapter of your book – each page should contain certain elements that are consistent throughout your site. This helps give your website a unity of appearance and will improve the reader’s ability to navigate it. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Set Sail” by Nevena Mrdalj
A recent editing client has published a manuscript that I worked with her on – Set Sail. An experienced charter yacht traveler, Nevena shares foolproof tips, boat-friendly recipes, and provisioning advice to make planning easier and cooking onboard a breeze. With easy-to-follow recipes inspired by Mediterranean and Caribbean flavors, Set Sail will help you plan step-by-step from home so that as soon as you arrive on your boat, you can focus on what really matters: an incredible vacation on the water! CHECK IT OUT

$25 Off Your Next Edit!
For being a newsletter subscriber, please take $25 off your next edit with Inventing Reality Editing Service. When scheduling your edit, be sure to mention you’re a subscriber and give the email where you received this newsletter. Minimum order of $200. Offer expires June 10, 2025. SCHEDULE EDIT

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of both aspiring and published writers and offers a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of a novel, the Storytelling 101 Quick Read series, four children’s books, more than 25 bestselling hiking guidebooks, and even a book of poetry. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.