You Don’t Need a KDP Account to Manage Amazon Ads for Your Books

Amazon Author Central Reports and Marketing Option

If you have an Amazon Author Central account, you’ve probably seen an Amazon Advertising box in the Reports + Marketing section. This is a perfect option for traditionally published authors who don’t have a KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) account. And it’s quite essential for an author to have an Amazon Advertising account because, as you’ll hear me say over and over again, you won’t sell books on Amazon unless you advertise. You might be afraid … Read more

5 Reasons Author Central is an Essential Part of Your Author Presence in the Amazon Bookstore

Do you want readers to buy your books? Of course you do. Then don’t just put your books in bookstores, put yourself out there too. Amazon’s Author Central brings both you and your books together in one place that you control. Besides introducing you to Amazon’s customer base, it encourages readers to buy more of your books, and here’s how. 1. Author Follows Amazon is invested in understanding their customers’ preferences because it results in … Read more

Manuscripts Are A Dirty Business: Remove The Extra Sections, Breaks, and Spaces Before Submitting or Formatting Your Book

Let’s face facts. It’s hard enough to write a book, let alone keep the manuscript file clean. Eventually you find yourself with an edited book that you want to submit to agents or self-publish, but there’s all kinds of extra line breaks, spaces, tabs and other inconsistencies that make your manuscript look like a giant mess. Sure, you can turn it over to a book formatter, but the up front work to clean up the … Read more

Interview With Marin Resnick, Author Of Fall Night Fun

We are excited to announce we’ve been working with a new children’s book author. ArmLin House Productions will be publishing Marin Resnick’s second children’s book, her first titled Scary the Scared Iguana. Her new book, Fall Night Fun, is about Apollo the horse and Jerry the squirrel, best friends that live on a farm and venture out to find pumpkins during a crescent moon and the Halloween harvest. Marin is a mom, writer, and coffee … Read more

The Remaking of a Fiction Series and Why You Should Consider Remaking Your Series

I write a fiction series, currently titled The Courier under the pen name Winnie Jean Howard, but I’m changing the series name to Angels Dark and Dumb. Why, you ask? Because the series title doesn’t speak to the actual series’ genre/sub-genres. Yes, the main character is a courier, and he continues to transport otherworldly things and beings in the series, but The Courier doesn’t speak to the fantasy, paranormal, and comedy side of the series. … Read more

Remember Holidays with Your Mother?

Dr. Martha talks about holidays with family throughout her life in Catholic Daughters of Catholic Mothers. The word Lent has multiple meanings, and somehow it came to mean the forty days before Easter Sunday beginning on Ash Wednesday. One explanation is that the 40 days represent the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert. There was also this tradition—the only word I can think to describe it because it … Read more

Dr. Martha Shares How Motherhood Has Changed Over the Last 50+ Years

In Catholic Daughters of Catholic Mothers, Dr. Martha discusses 4 generations of motherhood. But I wish they had lived longer. I have bunches of patients who are my age and whose parents are alive, or at least one is alive. I envy that. I tell people that my parents died young because I do think that 76 and 77 are young. Too young to be dead. I have a four-generation picture of my mother’s mother, … Read more

Catholic Daughters of Catholic Mothers is the Perfect Mother’s Day Gift

Mother’s Day is fast approaching. Have you thought about what you’ll get Mom or Grandma this year? If they grew up Catholic during the 60s and 70s, they will love Catholic Daughters of Catholic Mothers, a walk down a memory lane of baptism, naming ceremonies, confession, confirmation, marriage, divorce, and much much more. Dr. Lucas candidly recounts memories of her Catholic daughter’s childhood: beginning with her parents choosing which saint to name her after and … Read more

The Fun Parts of Motherhood: Naming Babies and More

Dr. Martha Lucas has an interesting story about how she was named. This and much more from her on being a baby in her Catholic Daughters of Catholic Mothers book about life as a Catholic woman in the 60s, 70, and beyond. They named me after Saint Martha, the patron saint of housewives, servants, and cooks. Catholics turn to her when dealing with chronic stress and doubt. Martha was a worker, keeping everybody fed and … Read more

Dr. Martha Shares the Challenges of Being a Single, College Student, Working Mom Ready to Date

Being a single working mom attending college is hard enough. Find out what happened to Dr. Martha when she was also ready to date. Twenty somethings date. So I did. In my mind, I can’t apologize or punish myself enough for not being at home with my children every minute that I wasn’t at work or in school. Did you say Catholic guilt? Oh, I’m an expert at that. I was guilty then and I’m … Read more

The Complications of Mother Daughter Relationships

Dr. Martha talks about shaming women about their appearance, a thing that seems timeless. Did your mother preach modesty or let you choose what you wore? Here’s an excerpt from Catholic Daughters of Catholic Mothers and one of Dr. Martha’s experiences on the topic from when she was growing up. Modesty and shame. Strangely, I think they go together or at least have gone together in my life. My mother’s focus on modesty created a … Read more

Dr. Martha Shares Why Women Should Set Aside Time for Self and Breathe

Dr. Martha learned the importance of taking time for self from her experiences as a child. She knows what it’s like to spend too much time worrying and what it does to the body mind and spirit. In this excerpt she shares her story and one way you can relieve stress. Martha’s Rat Brain Trauma is a strong, scary word. But honestly, my childhood experience drives my animal brain to think that if one of … Read more

Dr. Martha’s Experience as a Single Mom in the 70s

You’ve come a long way, babe. That’s what Dr. Martha shows in the chapter about her divorce in Catholic Daughters of Catholic Mothers. In this excerpt she shows her willingness to challenge the beliefs of the day and set her life on a nontraditional path. My D I V O R C E Naturally, I was taught that marriage is for life. If you got divorced, you weren’t allowed to remarry unless the first marriage … Read more

Interview with Wendy Spurlin, Founder of ArmLin House

Hello, and welcome to my interview, although it’s more of a brain dump. I figure it’s fitting to go 1st person considering I’m the one who posts the interviews in this blog. Who am I, and why did I decide to start a publishing and video production company? Well, there’s the fact that it’s what I know best. I’ve been a writer forever and have written all kinds of stuff. The only thing I love … Read more

An Interview with Miranda Tanner, Author of The Mutant Monsters of Marsden Mountain

ArmLin House Productions welcomes Miranda Tanner to our team of children’s book authors. As you’ll see, she’s unapologetically herself and her imaginations is incredibly vivid. When asked to describe herself, she says, “Friendly, fun & spontaneous. Sprinkle of mom, Pixiedust.” In Miranda’s book series, a chemical spill flows through a town and turns animals and inanimate objects into unique monsters with vibrant personalities. After humans force them to relocate, these spunky creatures build a community, … Read more

Missing Fonts While Placing Text in Adobe InDesign: Resolve the Issue by Changing the Default Font

The missing fonts issue in InDesign, which I originally encountered while placing text from an external document file, is a well known problem, or possibly it works as designed, although poorly if you ask me. Regardless, and as annoying as it is, there is a quick fix. I mainly use a Window’s machine, so the instructions below are for that operating system. The Problem of Missing Fonts in InDesign Per my opening complaint, does the … Read more

Got EPUB and Paper Book Formatting Questions? ArmLin House Can Help

From the very beginning of self-publishing, formatting books has been one of my favorite things to do…like a hobby. I first learned the eBook process by writing the HTML and XML that encompass a book you can read on an eReader. After working in tech jobs for the early part of my career, it was a given that I’d delve deep into the guts of an eBook before learning any other method or tool to … Read more