Recognize Mood and Tone – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Jan. 20, 2026

Craft of Writing: Recognize Mood and Tone
Two ideas closely related to voice are mood and tone. What’s the difference between voice, mood and tone, and how will knowing this make you a better writing? READ MORE

Marketing Tip: How to Sell Your Book with Amazon Ads
Most indie authors are nervous about buying ads for their books and for good reason. They wonder if the ads really will work or if it’s just dumping money into a bottomless hole. They even have been told not to buy them. I used to think that way too. Then I began to hear from a small number of authors that they actually were having good luck with Amazon ads. A lot of tweaking was necessary, but eventually they figured out a formula that worked. So I gave it a try. Within weeks, I was earning twice as much as I spent on ads, and my sales tripled. My new book Sell Your Book with Amazon Ads is all about how the ad system works, how to build an ad, how to read Amazon’s ad reports, how to optimize your ad, and more. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Describe Setting from Characters’ Perspectives
Novice writers often possess a good understanding of how to write a great description of a story’s setting and of how to present evocative details. Indeed, the ability to create beautiful imagery through words often is a skill that encouraged many aspiring writers to aspire to write a book in the first place. Unfortunately, sometimes novice writers present great descriptions that don’t really advance the story. The use of such wording, while pretty and emotive in its own right, actually can slow the story and feel superfluous. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: What You Need to Self-Publish Your Book
Once you’ve decided to self-publish, you’ll need to make sure that you have all the materials necessary to get through the process. Unless you’re living off the grid, you probably have everything. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Hint at Protagonist’s Intentions on Opening Page
The opening page of your story always should include your protagonist’s intentions, meaning the step he plans to take to deal with the story’s main problem. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Sell Books by Identifying Your Target Reader
Perhaps the biggest mistake authors can make is misidentifying their readers. This occurs when authors market primarily to other writers or when every person, simply because they are able to read, is considered a potential customer. A much more successful approach is to identify the most likely readers of your book and to target them with your promotional efforts. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Mikey’s Absolution” by Sammy Juliano
A long-time editing client has published his third book in a series about a fictional suburban New Jersey family. The darkest of the three novels in the northern New Jersey-set series of an Italian-Irish family growing up in the 1960s to 1980s, Mikey’s Absolution explores gender identity and how hormonal, psychological, and cultural influences impact self-perception. The novel argues that one needs to experience what it is like on the other side and how corruption is a prerequisite to self-fulfillment. The novel suggests that fate determines how lives play out. 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 Jan. 27, 2026. 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 425 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.