Beta Readers: Who, When, Why, and So What?
Use of beta readers is widespread, but surprisingly little has been written about how writers actually use them and how they help—or if they do.
Category Archives: Guest Post
Schmoozing for Introverts: How to Network Like a Pro
Learn a few simple tricks to schmooze like a pro at your next writing conference—or at least operate like a less awkward version of yourself.
Changes to Amazon Advertising: What Authors Need to Know
Amazon has updated its advertising tools for authors with mixed results. Kindlepreneur’s Dave Chesson breaks down the pros and cons of the new advertising modes, improved dashboard, and better ad targeting in Amazon Ads.
When Your Query Reveals a Story-Level Problem
When novelists struggle to pitch their work, it may have more to do with the book itself than the query letter. Editor and book coach Susan DeFreitas discusses three reasons why a promising work never lands a traditional deal.
A Primer on Estate Planning as a Writer
Whether you start writing as a child or in your golden years, it’s never too early to learn about estate planning. You may wonder which is best, a will or trust, for bequeathing your written work. Both have their advantages. Here’s what you need to know.
3 Types of Contracts Every Writer Should Understand
Publishing relies on contractual relationships, but not all contracts are equally enforceable. Here’s what you need to know about forms of legal contracts.
Understanding Audiobook Production: An Interview with Rich Miller
How much input should an author have when it comes to the narrator’s interpretation? When is feedback helpful, and when is it frustrating? What is a reasonable cost per finished hour of audio? An interview with Rich Miller.
The Myth of Plan First and Write Later
You don’t have to choose between planning and “simply writing.” Do both, at different times, all the way through the novel writing process.
How to Grow an Email Newsletter Starting from Zero
Here is a step-by-step guide to building an email list of thousands within one year—primarily through giveaways and Facebook ads.
The Inner Struggle: How to Show a Character’s Repressed Emotions
If a character is repressing an emotion, real-world behaviors can show it. Readers will catch on because they’ll recognize their own attempts to hide their feelings.
Building a Platform for Your Work When You’re Unpublished
When I finished my biography, I studied how to get it published. Websites advised: platform, platform, platform. But I had no relevant background. Now what?
What Is Public Domain? (And Why 2019 Is a Big Year)
Today’s guest post is by intellectual property lawyer and novelist Brad Frazer (@bfrazjd). The “public domain” is not a place. It is a term used to describe works of authorship (books, movies, poetry, artwork) that either due to their age or their legal status under U.S. copyright law, the ability of the putative copyright owner […]
The Tricky Issue of POV in Memoir
While it’s possible to write memoir from your own authorial POV (because you know more today than you did then), the most engaging memoirs are ones in which the author sticks to their POV at the moment of events.
Balancing Your Submission Budget for Literary Journals
Although the world of submissions can be complex and expensive, balancing your submission budget doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips to help you minimize expenditures and maximize profit.
Questions to Consider When Plotting a Scene
Before writing a scene, determine what type of scene it’s going to be. Will it be a narrative scene? High-action scene? Low-energy dialogue scene?
Your No. 1 Secret Weapon: Writing Communities
Building a supportive network takes time and courage. It’s worth starting to cultivate community early on, even if your instinct or preference is to work alone.
Story Planning Books: 3 Approaches to Consider
Plot and structure books aren’t necessarily calling for adherence to a formula—in fact, they warn against it. Here are 3 story planning methods to consider.
Lit Mag Resources You Can’t Do Without
Today’s guest post is by Jenn Scheck-Kahn, founder of Journal of the Month. Literary magazines, also called literary journals or lit mags, are devoted to short-form creative writing. What distinguishes them is what they publish (a single genre or a mix of genres), how often they publish (annually, biannually, quarterly, monthly), and their medium of […]
Using BookBub Ads to Support Your Book Marketing
Many authors use Facebook and Amazon to advertise their books. If you’ve tried these platforms without success or hesitate to spend the money, consider experimenting with BookBub ads.
Switching Literary Agents: Two Agents Offer Advice
If you’re a writer, how do you know if it’s worth the risk of leaving your current agent? Does past representation impede your ability to find a new agent?
Take Charge of Your Creative Life: The SWOT Analysis
When you understand your SWOT as an author, you can take control over your time. You can stop fighting fires, and start focusing on the things that will truly help you in the long run.
How to Describe Neurodivergent Characters
How do you describe a character with Asperger’s—especially if your story takes place before such a thing had a name?
How to Research Your Writing to Ensure Technical Accuracy
Misconceptions pervade popular science fiction. Many, if not most, could have been avoided if the writers spent some time doing research.
How to Understand Your Reader’s Level of Awareness to Grow Your Fanbase
Readers start their journey to find new books in a broad sense, but eventually gain experience and understand more about what they are looking for. By understanding the awareness level of a reader, we can better position our books and gain long-term fans.
5 Tips for Selling Your Books at Events—on a Budget
It can be challenging to make back the cost of your books and the price of a table when exhibiting at a book festival. So, finding cheap but cool things to use at book events is essential.
Overcoming Creativity Wounds
There’s no one recipe to overcome a creativity wound, but putting a pen between your fingers and then resting it on a piece of paper is a pretty good start to finding one.
5 On: Russell Rowland
Author Russell Rowland discusses the big mistake he made with HarperCollins, whether the journey of writing is truly its own reward, why his Indiegogo campaign worked so well, and his experiences with publishing—from one of the Big 5 to self-publishing.
6 Questions to Help Nonfiction Writers Find Their Niche
No matter how many books have been written about a topic, there is probably some important facet that has not yet been covered thoroughly or well. A key driver behind success is understanding how you fit into the existing landscape, what distinguishes your work, and why it is likely to appeal to a particular audience.
10 Instagram Tips for Writers
Younger generations (and older ones!) flock to Instagram for its feed of beautiful pictures. So how can writers use Instagram to their benefit?
How Writers Can Overcome Their Fear of Public Speaking
Public speaking skills are more akin to musical or athletic skills than intellectual knowledge alone. Mastery does not take place simply in your brain; it takes place in your body, in the “doing” of it.
How Long Should It Take to Write a Book?
Writing a novel requires the creation of a living, breathing, fully populated world. Deities can pull off a trick like that in six days, but how long should it take to write a book?
5 Steps to Writing Better How-To
Learn how to simplify the writing process for how-to books and write them in a way that provides maximum value in an information-filled world.
For Indie Publishers: When and Why to Work with a Trade Book Distributor
A trade distributor is a partner company who takes over the tasks and responsibilities of selling your books to trade accounts like bookstores and wholesalers.
Nonfiction Writers: Beware the Curse of Knowledge
Few of your readers care about what you know, no matter how many years you have spent accumulating that wisdom. They care about what they need or want to understand.
Resolving My Cheater Shame: Listening to Books Instead of Reading Them
I’ve been air-quoting “reading” since my first legitimate introduction to audiobooks this past winter.
How Traditionally Published Authors Can Repackage and Self-Publish Their Backlist
A checklist for repackaging and republishing your own backlist after you get rights reverted from your traditional publisher.
The 13 Most Common Self-Publishing Mistakes to Avoid
For every new venture, there is a learning curve. When it comes to self-publishing your book, however, that curve can be steep.
5 Ways to Sell More Books for the Holidays
I used to laugh at the “Christmas-in-July” ads until I promoted my first holiday-related book. We actually started the promotion in July, and July turned out to be the perfect time.
How to Skillfully Use Subplots in Your Novel
Subplots help you pace your story and keep the tension rising. Unfortunately, the name “subplots” wrongly suggests they are somehow inferior or substandard.
How to Stay Sane While You Publish
To some degree, we get to pick and choose our publishing and publicity tasks. Sometimes we forget this and freak out because we think we have to do it all.
Character, Writers, and Portrait Photography
In many ways, a portrait photographer encounters the same great issue as fiction writers, chiefly, creating and revealing character.
The Psychology of Author Marketing
It’s one thing to know how to setup something technical like an advertisement, an email system, or your book’s sales page on Amazon. However, crafting them so a potential reader will take action is something else.
The Introvert’s Guide to Launching a Book
Unless you are Harper Lee, you are probably going to launch more than one book during your career. For the introvert, learn six ways to keep your head above water not just for your first book, but also for the long haul.
What Does It Mean to Write a Scene That Works?
On the whole, stories are about change. And scenes are a boiled down, less intense, mini-story. They should do the same thing your global story does: upset the life value of the character and put them on a path to try and restore it.
How to Lessen Your Chances of an Online Crisis
It can happen to you. Your carefully built author business and your reputation can come under attack and threaten to disrupt your livelihood and your personal life. But you can help prevent a crisis in the first place by using some simple engagement strategies.
What to Look for in a Book Publicist—Plus Tips for Going It Alone
Hiring an outside publicity firm is a big decision, and knowing what to expect on the front end can help you make the right selection and get more out of the experience.
Starting Later & Starting Over: Launching a Writing Career When You’re No Longer “Young”
Seven-figure deals seem to be given to more 20-something debut writers than debut writers in any other age group, yet Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx started writing at 58—and Frank McCourt began writing in his 60s. Were these writers more talented than younger writers trying to break in at the same time? Or has the industry started gravitating more toward younger writers in recent years? Two literary agents, Sarah Davies and Dr. Uwe Stender, offer their thoughts on the publishing industry’s attitude toward age.
6 Reasons to Relaunch Your Book
Book relaunches can take a variety of forms. If done right, they enhance your overall brand, as well as your book sales. Their first and foremost benefit is the new publication date. Having a new book opens up access to bloggers and media who might not have been available to you with an older book.
What It Really Takes to Break Through with Your First Book Deal
In many ways, it’s never been harder to get a traditional book deal. At the same time, there have never been more ways to establish a career as an author.
How to Become a Bestseller with Money, Luck, or Work (Mostly Work)
“If you build it, they will come” is the biggest crock of sh*t ever foisted. The second biggest is my own mental script: “If I write it, The New York Times bestseller list will come.” Nope. Wrong answer.