Opyrus Blog for Authors and Writers

Last week I lost a friend. When I heard the news I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak. So I cried.

For a number of hours that was all I could do.

Have you ever struggled with calling yourself a “writer”? There is something about that title that seems to come with a showy-off type of feeling. It is as if saying you are a writer automatically means that you are saying you are talented. And...

Have you noticed that people often have a love or hate relationship with writing? My guess is that it is a result of years of getting blood-stained papers back in school with comments such as “awkward” or “???” or “wrong word choice.”

Often we think of the writing process of one that requires us to be calm and collected. We have our steaming hot coffee, some classical music playing in the background, the sun is streaming in beautifully and our creative juices are flowing.

You're planning on adding an audiobook to your current novel or nonfiction book. Many people tell you that you have a nice voice, or maybe you're thinking you might save a little cash, and you're thinking about doing your own audio.  Is this a...

We've all heard the words, "publish or perish," when it comes to academic careers, but what about an independent writer? After all, you have to publish to get readership, and you have to keep publishing if you want to continue to have readers....

Shutting your "work brain" off as an independent author is difficult. You don't have the luxury of leaving work at the office and if you're not working, you're not earning money. Relaxing becomes even more challenging over the holidays, when...

One tool many Independent authors often ignore but shouldn't is their author mailing list. With the vagaries of promotion on social media, email is the one tool that still hits a home run for readers, even if they claim they never read or use...

When it comes to writing and marketing, very few authors can top Seth Godin. Seth Godin has 19 bestselling books, which means it's hard to go wrong listening to his advice for writing and marketing.  Here are some excellent pieces of advice he...