Attention, Prosers, 

The Prose Team have been in deep discussion recently with regards to how we make your Prose experience even better, and whilst there are lots of really cool things coming your way soon, we'd like to take the time to introduce the Prose Challenge of the Week. 

Every Monday, there will be a new challenge prompt posted by Prose, some prompts will be very specific, others more general. Each week you will get an email with the latest challenge prompt link so you don't miss it, we're nice like that. 

Not only are these challenges really awesome, but each challenge will come with a prize! 

So, without further ado, your first prompt is a 500 word maximum post that continues this sentence... "A cacophony of shadows, and all I feel is fear." All you have to do is use this sentence as your very first, and see where it takes you creatively. 

The winner is determined by the most combined bookmarks and re-prose's, so don't forget to read, enjoy, and share your peers' words. Community support is what makes Prose the awesome place it is! 

The winner will receive $50 once the challenge has ended, just in time for Christmas. 

So visit the challenge stream right now, and get writing. (We will include the direct link in the comments!) 

As much as we adore real-time digital reading, we understand that there’s nothing quite like the feeling of a paperback in-hand.

Because of that, we are thrilled to announce that physical copies of our e-books (The Prose Anthologies series and others) will soon be available for purchase. For starters, we invite you all to visit the CreateSpace store (look for the link in the comments) where you can order our newest release, Prose: The Haiku Edition. This hard copy edition is complete with Japanese traditional, literal, and English translations.

On the note of publishing, we are also pleased to inform you of a new bi-annual challenge called “The #ProsePitch.”

Twice a year, starting today, we will call for submissions of a 500-750 synopsis of your work-in-progress or completed novel manuscript. This is yet another way for us to help writers achieve their publishing goals.

The challenge (theprose.com/challenge/2444):

Write a 500-750 word synopsis of your work-in-progress or completed novel manuscript. Prose will select the top entry for publication on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. The winner will also be provided a fully customized package of editing, design, and marketing services.

If your novel “pitch” wins, you will receive:

- A full proofread and suggested edits of your complete novel.

- A final line edit and formatting.

- Copies of the final version in .PDF, ePub, and .mobi extensions.

- A published e-book under the Prose KDP/Nook/ Kobo accounts.

- A teleconference with Prose’s in-house graphic designer.

- A custom e-book and paperback cover design.

- 15 custom tweets and captions for you to use on social media to promote your novel.

- Banner/cover photos for Facebook and Twitter featuring the title and cover design of your novel.

- An Instagram promo image with custom caption.

NOTE: The author will receive ALL royalties for the life of the novel.

In addition to the above-listed incentives, the winner will also receive free e-book copies of The Prose Anthologies (Volumes I and II) and the Prose Haiku Edition. Second and third place winners will receive a complimentary copy of one Prose e-book of their choice.

Qualifications:

You must be at least 16 years of age and be able to deliver a full-length novel if you win. Previously published manuscripts are ineligible. Winners will be announced on December 1, 2015. All genres are admissible. NaNoWriMo participants welcome.

The challenge will run for two (2) full months. Once the winners are announced, we will consult directly with the first place author to coordinate editing, marketing, and publishing logistics.

If the winning author is unable to deliver a complete manuscript within 30 days of the announcement, he or she agrees to forfeit the publishing services. We will then defer to the second-place winner.

We will notify everyone late next summer once the winning novel is available for e-reading download or direct purchase on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. Any related news and updates will be featured here and on our blog at: blog.theprose.com, so keep an eye out.

If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact our editorial staff directly at https://theprose.com/p/contact.

I spent years wanting to be a writer but not really wanting to learn to write. I wanted the respect, the interested looks, and to walk into a bookstore and casually whisper to a nearby shopper, “Psst. I wrote that.” Cool right? Unfortunately, that is not how it works.

For some reason no books were publishing themselves in my name as I sat idly by. So, having finally learned a lesson, I set to writing. I knew I didn’t want to deal with traditional publishing. I was too green. Plus, I wanted to learn the publishing process on my own. My mindset was that I would be a published writer come hell or high water. What was the lesson set my writing feet in motion?

There is one thing every single writer has in common: they write. That is step one. Of course, here at Prose., most of you are accomplishing step one every single day. Good work.

Step two is sticking with one project until it is ready to be seen by the world. This can be difficult. It takes over a month, usually, to write the first draft of a novel. That timeline depends on the story’s length and the writer’s schedule, it often takes even longer. Then there is the time spent editing, revising, proofreading, and revising again. Want to know what tedious feels like? Write, edit, and revise your own novel. I will probably never read one of my published books again. I’ve already read each of them five or six times when they come to market.

Step two is the step of discipline. Sticking with your work until it is ready for another set of eyes.

Step three is the step of courage, showing your work to another person. Again, because of Prose., we are used to this kind of thing. I recommend having at least one beta reader, preferably two, to find the inconsistencies in your work. Beta readers read your book in the early stages and give you feedback. There are always little problems the writer cannot see because they are too close to the story. That’s why it is important to become friends with other writers, but I will get to that a little later.

Step four is making the final story revisions (yep, you need to read the whole thing again) and finding a proofreader. Some writers are able to do their own proofreading, and good for them. They have my envy. I have trouble finding my own mistakes. I figure the more time that is spent on my manuscript, the better it will be. Having published novels both ways, with just my time invested and with my time plus three other people’s time invested, I assure you this is true.

Step five, your novel is ready for formatting. I did my first novel entirely for free (including my own proofreading, which was a nightmare). I formatted it with whatever word processing program came free with the version of Windows I had back then. For the second novel, I broke down and bought Microsoft Word. It has all the functions necessary to properly format an e-book and a paperback. Please let me know if there is more interest in formatting an e-book and a paperback, it is something I love to do and will happily dedicate an entire blog post to it.

For step six you upload the manuscript and cover. I have created my own covers and worked with a graphic designer. I think it all depends on the book. For “The Bad” and “Sales for Authors,” I did it myself. For “The Dead Don’t Speak,” and when I published “Tanglefoot” by Donna Myhrer, I worked with a graphic designer. Both methods worked out well.

Step seven is the most time consuming thing you will do as an independent author: promote your book. Promotion is a never-ending effort when you publish your own work. My advice is to be shameless in your efforts. Do not hesitate to mention your books, post about them online, and actively seek new opportunities as a writer. Heck, doing exactly that landed me this blogging gig with Prose. Plus, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and Edgar Allan Poe were shameless self-promoters, so consider yourself in good company.

When I mentioned beta reading earlier, I said it was good to make friends with your fellow writers. Now that it is time to promote your work, having writer friends is even better. Your fellow self-publishing authors are an invaluable resource. They know things you do not, they have tried things you hadn’t ever thought of, and they are continually looking for new ways to get the word out about their work, too.

I’ve found two effective avenues to meeting fellow writers.

One is Twitter, writers are all over Twitter. The second is by participating in Facebook book launch parties. There are many, many, many writers' groups on Facebook. Keep an eye on their newsfeed and you will find people asking for volunteers for online book launches. There is a book about Facebook launch parties, where authors do “takeovers.” The book is called, “Your Turn! How to do a Facebook Takeover Like a Boss” by Claudette Melanson.

Once again, because you are already on Prose., you have an advantage over someone like me, when I first started. Prose. is a community of writers. This is a terrific place to make new friends. If you don’t know who to approach or how to not sound like a stalker, send me a message. I am a self-publishing author and I am always looking for new friends. I am eager to connect as well as connect you with people I know.

The bottom line is, if you want to be a writer, then be a writer.

All you need to have to be published is a computer, the internet, and a can-do attitude. Cultivating a positive attitude is the single most important thing a beginning writer can do. It is what keeps you in the game. It increases optimism, helps you see opportunity in failure, and generally keeps the spirits up. I would not be an author without it. If I let a setback or unexpected problem get me down, I would have given up before my first book was ever published.

Until next time...

-Kendall Bailey

...

To view the article, with full references and clickable links, please visit The Official Prose. Blog this afternoon at: blog.theprose.com/blog. Be sure also to follow Kendall here and on Twitter @KBaileyWriter.

Move over, Big Brother.

Amazon, the world’s leading independent publishing marketplace, has its eyes on everyone with cross-hairs pointed directly at indie authors. That is the overarching message we have gleaned from a topic of intense debate and discussion in the literary world today.

In June, Amazon announced that its policies for book review (among others) would undergo a complete overhaul. The purpose of instituting these changes was, allegedly, to give more credence to “helpful” reviews in the hopes of thwarting junk or spam reviews.

What’s the difference? Is not every review helpful in some way? Authors lean on this form of feedback. Five-star reviews are just as valuable as one-stars, aren’t they? Unfortunately, there are people who have willfully “gamed the system,” delivering low ratings and negative feedback for personal reasons. Because of those people (perhaps more aptly named trolls) the entire indie author population is up in arms- and rightfully so.

As of early last month, Amazon changed its customer review policy which had a major retroactive impact. Not only were thousands of reviews, positive and negative, removed without warning, Amazon automatically disallowed reviews from anyone that the author knows personally. That makes sense, right? Your friends and family, coworkers, colleagues, everyone that knows you would have some sort of bias. Any review they provided then, therefore, would cause the scales to tip unfairly in your favor.

It is not a question of intention or logic, though. One of the most prevalent inquiries that keep popping up is, how does Amazon know who knows whom? The corporate “e-tailer” seems to be in no hurry to answer.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a concern of privacy. We were recently approached by an indie author, one who has contributed to our blog previously, about this issue. On the heels of a huge book launch, Brenda Perlin says that the change in Amazon’s policy, though global, hits hardest in her own back yard:

“The consequences of this new policy may change where authors are selling their books and where readers are buying them. Personally, I am going to do as little as possible with them and have taken my books out of the Kindle Unlimited program. I hesitate to take any drastic steps but eventually I might consider selling my books anywhere but Amazon.”

With the help of readers and fellow authors, she says, it is possible to avoid taking such measures.

But how?

…

Stay tuned for the full article, with sources cited, later today on The Official Prose. Blog at: blog.theprose.com/blog.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are excited to share with the news of the newest e-book release.

For those of you that may not know, each month we pose a different challenge that results in publication of your poetry and prose. This month’s challenge (theprose.com/challenge/2404) will be the starting point for Volume III of The Prose Anthologies, #Ideology. However, last month we decided to do something different.

We asked the community to submit a specific type of poetry and have compiled the top entries in a special Prose Haiku Edition on Amazon for Kindle.

Before we go into further detail, we want to remind you that everyone is eligible to participate it these KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) challenges. Entries are selected for publication based upon a number of criteria including original style, creativity, and grammatical tightness.

Through this process we have encountered our own challenges- not only with formatting but with picking what we know to be the strongest possible content. That said, we advise all of you to consider these points before submitting your entries in the future:

- Give your piece a title. Please. Have you ever read a book or a magazine article that didn’t have a title? If you’re struggling with ideas, go back to your work: pick a word or phrase that stands out in the piece and use it as your title. Going forward, untitled pieces will no longer be considered for publication.

- We understand and appreciate that some punctuation and capitalization choices may be stylistic in nature, but formatting your piece prior to submission makes it look that much better on the page. Imagine your piece in print, make any necessary edits, however large or small, and then hit “publish.”

- Including extraneous commentary for purposes of meeting or exceeding the minimum word count is a surefire way for your entry to be disqualified. Only submissions that adhere to guidelines set forth by the challenge(s) will be considered.

- Finally, as we have mentioned before, previously published pieces (to include any that have been posted on Prose. before) will not be considered. This is due, in large part, to Amazon’s KDP restrictions and policies, but it’s also to ensure that each e-book we publish is full of fresh, one-of-a-kind poetry and prose.

"Within these pages you will hear the melodic voices that belong to a generation of writers that aren't afraid to keep things simple. Each piece is delivered with a deep appreciation for history. The artists behind the words open their bright eyes and look to you, the world, with each carefully crafted line, in an effort to make sense of that which has no explanation. No definition apart from form and format. No limits but for the turning of each chapter in the book of consciousness.

"This collection of cultural twists and triumphs is presented in 17-syllable chunks as an homage to tradition that tips its hat to the contemporary: the new Haiku. It is divided into thematic segments that speak to the human condition through nature, fear, loss, love anxiety, touching everything beautiful and complex in between.

"Remember as you read the moments that have led you here. The vast expanse of geography through which language has traveled to bring us together.

"The writers of Prose now invite you to see the mountains and millennia as they have- one graceful, dutiful syllable at a time."

- Maggie Greene

To find out whose Haikus were selected, and to download one of the most unique collections to come from the Prose. community so far, please visit the appropriate link for your country (in the comments below) and grab your copy today. You can also find it by searching “Prose, LLC” on your local Amazon site.

Note: A Japanese translation of this collection will be released separately. We will update you here as soon as it is available.

When the voices in your head are not actually in your head.

When they seem to come from somewhere beyond and swirl around you.

When you think perhaps you might be losing it and feeling lost, confused and alone.

When your friends recoil and say what's wrong, that's crazy?

When your family suggests that you need to see a doctor, you need to take prescription meds.

Consider:

You may be sensitive.

You may be psychic.

You may be hearing the thoughts of others.

You may be feeling the emotions of others.

You may be sensing the feelings of others...from thousand of miles around you and in other dimensions.

You are not alone.

They may be hearing and sensing and feeling you too.

You may all be very ancient beings.

You may all be very gifted.

You may all be awakening.

And you belong here on Earth.

peel back your eyelids and remind yourself that your freckles and flaws were meant to be treasured but never buried below ground

undo the buttons on your blouse and look down at the masterpiece you've tried to paint over knowing the watercolor of words the world has colored you with will wash right off

tilt your head back until your hair hangs low and scream to the sky every word of advice and every time someone has told you it gets better because you know those words never help anything at all

break every tea cup shatter every saucer make your cabinet into a mirror of your heart it will not heal you but it will help the pain settle like boiling water set to simmer

untangle your branches but if your roots brush each other's it's okay to let the past in a little as long as it's not taking all your water because it only rains so often and the salt of your tears dries quickly

press your hand to your breast and remember the world is only as wide as you can imagine and only limited by how high you can count the stars