Have a Soulful Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, and a Merry Christmas! We’ll be back on a limited basis in the new year, and wish you all very happy holidays! Anne and Ruth
Wishing You Very Booky Holidays!
Personal Appearance and Reading
If you happen to be on California’s Central Coast next Saturday, October 19th, TV actress Mara Purl and Anne will be doing a presentation and dramatic reading at Volumes of Pleasure Bookshop in Los Osos at 1:00 PM. We’ll read four scenes from our published and upcoming novels.
Blog Vacation Time! This Blog is Taking a Hiatus.
by Anne R. Allen Yes, Ruth and I are taking a break. I’ve kept this blog going for fifteen years, posting every Sunday morning for most of that time, except the 5 months in 2020 when I was hospitalized. During that tough time, Ruth took the reins and kept the blog going with great […]
Tips on Finding the Right Agent and a Secret Way to Discover Agents You Don’t Know About
Find the right agent with the help of Literary Rambles by Natalie Aguirre Thanks so much for having me here, Anne and Ruth. Finding an agent can be incredibly challenging, and sometimes, it can feel impossible. One thing I’ve learned from my almost 15 years of interviewing debut and traditionally published authors and agents at […]
Rejected? How to Keep it in Perspective
Rejected? Maybe it’s not you. Today we’re celebrating Ruth Harris’s 13th blogiversary. Ruth joined this blog in June of 2011, and I know it wouldn’t have succeeded without her expertise, humor, and warmth. To celebrate, we thought we’d re-run Ruth’s very first post. It’s packed with wisdom that still applies today. How to Keep […]
8 Reasons Your Amazon Ads Aren’t Working
by Penny Sansevieri Amazon ads are a very popular go-to for the majority of authors and we know it’s a big revenue driver for Amazon. But do Amazon ads make money for authors? In some cases, yes, but sadly the majority of authors aren’t using the platform in a way that benefits them. And […]
Mastering Point of View: How to Learn to Avoid Head-Hopping
by Anne R. Allen Whenever I teach a writing workshop, the hardest concept to get across is point of view. Almost every new writer wants to “head-hop”— that is, describe the thoughts of every character in the story — “hopping” from one head to another. This is why head-hopping is considered the mark of […]
Should You Show a WIP to Friends and Family?
by Anne R. Allen What should a new writer do when friends or family members ask to look at your fledgling WIP (work in progress)? We’re usually eager to share our work, and want to hear if we’re on the right track. The problem is, over-exuberant praise can keep us from polishing a draft, […]
How to Stage a Book Event That’s Entertaining and Draws a Crowd
by Anne R. Allen How do you plan an in-person book event that people actually want to attend? That is — people who are not your family, friends, or coerced co-workers? Should you sign books, maybe while offering coffee and cookies? Or should you offer a reading, where you read aloud from your book? […]
Is Fear of Creativity the Root of Bad Writing?
by Ruth Harris Style was once described as “looking like yourself on purpose.” I don’t know who said it but the words and the idea behind them always made sense to me. Certainly Barbra Streisand, Audrey Hepburn and Tilda Swinton are examples. So are Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol. They don’t look like anyone else and are instantly […]
Genre, Comps, Categories, and Labels: Where Does Your Book Belong on a Bookstore Shelf?
by Anne R. Allen Unless you’ve chosen to write in a specific genre from the get-go — and you’ve purposely written Romance, Mystery, Sci-Fi, etc, one of the toughest jobs for a new writer is figuring out how to categorize your book. I spent years querying an uncategorized book, and many of my books […]
What I Wish I’d Known Before Self-Publishing My First Novel
by Jaire Sims I decided to write and publish a Young Adult (YA) story when I was in high school. The process was exciting but had challenges along the way. Once I began writing my debut novel, it took almost ten years to self-publish my story, and the year after publishing, Getting By earned […]
Nobody Expects the Trollbot Inquisition! Are Foreign Bots Censoring U.S. Authors?
Exterminate, exterminate—the Trollbot Inquisition may be coming for you! by Anne R. Allen We hardly ever write personal stuff here on the blog. I avoid politics and religion in my fiction as well as social media, and I figure nobody needs to hear about my little emotional ups and downs. But a couple of weeks […]
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