Showing results by author "Rob Bignell" in All Categories

Imagine a place where a mountain rises 10,000 feet above your trail, where you can hike lush desert oases amid a foreboding desert landscape, where you can explore verdant canyons with waterfalls, where rare bighorn sheep stare down upon you as clinging to sheer cliffs, where you can traipse past the homes of movie stars and by ancient Native American ruins. The place is real: It’s called Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. With the valley and surrounding mountains covering hundreds of square miles, how can you ensure that you experience its many natural wonders? That’s what "Day ...

The Grand Canyon rightly defies description. Most who see it for the first time say it reminds them of a majestic painting, appropriately suggesting it’s a place that only can be visualized by actually gazing upon it. “Hittin’ the Trail: Grand Canyon National Park” is the only complete guide to the parks’ great day hiking trails. With one tap of the screen, you can: • Plan days of fun family-friendly activities • Reserve a campsite or lodging • Receive a list of the parks’ current programs • Learn about special kid programs • Find directions, entrance fees, parking ...

UPDATED FOR 2025! You dream of being a published author. You don’t have time to write, though … work or school is hectic, the house needs to be cleaned, the kids demand your attention … But we bet you can find just 7 minutes a day to pursue your dream. If you can, this is the book for you. This practical, how-to-guide will take you step-by-step from coming up with a great story idea to seeing your pride and joy published – with just 7 minutes of writing a day. You’ll complete short, skillful exercises that allow you to build a short story or novel as you read the book, all the ...

One of the most important tools in your writing kit is dialogue. It can help develop your characters, move the plot forward, increase tension, and establish a scene’s mood. Unfortunately, sometimes novice writers write dull dialogue. Like a flat tire that slows your vehicle to a near stop, so dull dialogue can quickly bring your story to a near halt. Write Engaging, Natural Dialogue is all about helping beginning writers better understand how to pen conversations between characters. If you’ve already written a story and know the dialogue is weak, the tips in this book can help you ...

If you're like most authors, the idea of formatting your paperback is frightening. You’ve heard that you can do it yourself, but you may need software programs with which you’re unfamiliar. You'll have to learn how to use such software, but you want to be a writer not a designer. Of course, you could hire someone else to do the formatting. This will get expensive, however, and may not always yield the results you want, delaying your book's publication. Whether you spend time or money to master formatting, it’s worth the effort. Simply put, your paperback needs to look good. Readers ...

The first page of your story is the most important page. Those opening lines draw readers into your story, hook them on it, make them want to read on, and even allow them to put up with a scene they later find dull. Many readers won’t give you more than the first page to engage them in the story. Given this, you must get your first 250 words or so of your story absolutely right. There’s no place for a misstep or a throwaway line. That’s what Write Your Story’s First Page is about – getting it right. Write Your Story’s First Page looks at the 11 must-have components of those ...

Writer’s block is real...and you've got it. There are many reasons people get it – their mind is preoccupied, the environment they’re writing in isn’t conducive to creating, the idea they’ve come up with isn’t particularly good, a lack of imagination or skill to develop the story, coming to the laptop with no idea to write about, and many more. Overcoming Writer's Block helps you understand the cause of your writer’s block then goes into detail on strategies for overcoming each one. Part of the Storytelling 101 Quick Read series, Overcoming Writer’s Block answers all of your...

You've written a book and want to publish it as a paperback. But how do you do that? Maybe you've watched a video about it, but your self-publishing house keeps rejecting what you've created. Or maybe they've accepted it, but its appearance is less than adequate when compared to all of the other books out there. Self-Publish Your Paperback Bundle addresses all of those problems and more. A collection of guidebooks in the popular Storytelling 101 Quick Read series, this bundle includes Format Your Paperback, Design Your Paperback Cover, and Upload Your Paperback to KindleDP. The three titles...

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 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. Upload Your Paperback to KindleDP corrects all of that. The explanations in this book make the process easy to understand and...

For those new to self-publishing, uploading your ebook 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 often no real explanation as to how 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. Upload Your Ebook to KindleDP corrects all of that. The explanations in this book make the process easy to understand and ...

Most potential readers of your paperback will first see its front cover rather than anything written about it. It may be the thumbnail of your book cover that's online or the cover facing forward on a bookstore shelf. If that cover compels them to read the book blurb or opening lines, you are closer to making a sale. How do you create a great cover for your book? Design Your Paperback Cover answers that question. It starts with what software/apps you need to design a cover, moves on to the cover’s various elements, and finally looks at uploading it to a print on demand company like Kindle...

Publishing an ebook with your paperback is a given these days. Today, ebooks make up a sizable share of the book market, as they can be read on smartphones as well as ereaders or tablets. Thousands of books can be stored on those devices or accessed through the cloud, allowing readers to carry a library in their pocket. Why wouldn’t you want to sell your title as an ebook? The best way to construct an ebook is as a unique document rather than running your paperback through meat grinder software. Fortunately, you can construct it right on your laptop without buying expensive software or ...

When writers come up with a great story idea but don’t know how to develop it, usually the problem is one of plotting. Understanding story structure – i.e. plot – would be extremely helpful in developing their story. Devise Your Story's Plot is all about understanding the basic rules for constructing your story. It examines plot’s role in storytelling, the importance of conflict in plotting, and the five traditional elements of a plot. It also looks at some common plot pitfalls. The structural guidelines outlined in the book work for any genre, whether you’re writing a serious ...

You need a website if you’re a serious author. A website is the hub where readers can go to find out about your books, a little about you, where to find you on social media, how to contact you, and more. Fortunately, you can construct a website for very little cost right in the comfort of your own home. Build Your Author’s Website explains how, using easy to understand, practical explanations. This book covers such diverse topics as finding a Website Host, deciding what your website will look like, pages needed for your website, share buttons, pictures, your website text’s readability...

Many authors are happy to simply do what they enjoy most, which is write. You also have to promote your published books, though, and a time-honored way of doing so is by making presentations, such as readings and signings, at libraries, bookstores and other businesses that might carry your titles. Nail Your Book Reading and Signing covers just how to do that with easy to understand, practical tips. Topics covered include: potential locations for a book presentation; arranging, preparing and promoting your presentation; creating visuals for the presentation; avoiding stage fright during a ...

Imagine a place where you can hike miles of shoreline along the world’s largest freshwater lake or stand at the base of a 16-story waterfall, where you can retrace the steps of ancient portages or hike trails beside a scenic river popular with American presidents, where the beaches you traipse yield up bear tracks or the woods you cross take you past rare, delicious berries. The place is real: It’s called Douglas County, Wisconsin. This is the only complete guide to Douglas County’s great day hiking trails. With just a single click, you can: • Plan a day of fun family-friendly ...

Passionate and evocative, "Love Letters to Sophie’s Mom" traces a relationship from the first dance of love at a coffee shop to its tragic demise as mental illness overtakes the narrator’s beloved. Inspired by a diverse array of writings, including the verse of Pablo Neruda, Dylan Thomas, and Bob Dylan, the collection’s 34 poems touch upon an array of themes including nature, and Southern California and Northwoods motifs.

Imagine a place where sun-dappled paths run alongside murmuring rivers, where trails retrace former rail lines past historic depots, where real carnivorous plants line your walking route, where a mile-high glacier shaped the hummocky forests around you, where any turn of the corner might reveal a majestic white-tailed buck or a tiny young porcupine sunning itself upon a rock, where bald eagles and osprey regally circle and swoop high above the trees. The place is real: It’s called Washburn County, Wisconsin. With this book, you can: • Plan a day of fun family-friendly activities • ...

THE BEST GUIDE TO ENJOYING WISCONSIN’S TOP WILDFLOWER TRAILS! UPDATED FOR 2023! Home to more than 500 wildflower species, Wisconsin stands out as one of the best states to see these beautiful wonders. From the tiny pasqueflower that appears with the first warm breath of spring to the 10-foot-tall giant sunflower rising above prairie grasses in late summer, from late spring’s woodland blooms that look like you’re walking through a Monet painting to October’s single small blossoms that work their way up through fallen leaves, Wisconsin offers a variety of great wildflower experiences....

Imagine a place where you can walk quiet paths lined with red-leaved maple and green-needled spruce, where grouse drum and dance in the wide open each spring, where osprey and bald eagles dip out of the sky upon eyeing a river fish, of trails that once were historic portage routes used by fur traders, of routes alongside a rapids-filled river now conquered by modern kayakers. The place is real: It’s called Sawyer County, Wisconsin. This is the only complete guide to Sawyer County’s great day hiking trails. With a tap of the screen, this volume helps you: • Plan a day of fun family-...