by Ruth Harris Fiction or non-fiction? Thriller or sci-fi/fantasy? Romance or mystery? Young adult or self-help? Readers know what they like and what they want. Categories help them find what they’re looking for whether it’s the latest in steamy romance, a classic, time-tested bestseller or a gardener’s guide to growing petunias in Petaluma. Basically, […]
8 Tips for Writing that Killer Blurb
by Ruth Harris You’ve written a book! Or: You’ve started the first draft. You’ve finished the first draft. You’re waiting for your editor’s comments. You’re thinking about writing a book. You’ve got a great idea for a book. You’re making notes for a book. You’re outlining a book. No matter what stage you’re in, […]
From Pathetic to Professional: 8 Ways to Beat the First Draft Blues
by Ruth Harris You’re happy, even delirious. You’ve finished your first draft! Then you read it. OMG, you think, did I write that?Yes, you did. 🙂 It stinks. It sucks. It’s so rancid it threatens to warp the time-space continuum. Think you’re alone? Here’s Hugh Howey in a blog post: “I suck at writing. Watching a rough […]
Must-Have Writing Research Tools Beyond Google and Wikipedia
Writer’s Toolkit #5 by Ruth Harris A note from Anne: This is the 300th post on this blog, and the 40th for Ruth Harris! Ruth graciously agreed to join my blog in August of 2011, right after my out-of-print comic thriller Food of Love was accepted for re-publication by Popcorn Press. I was about to embark […]
6 Writing Dragons: How To Slay Them…and Realize Your Writing Dreams in 2014
Why Tough (Self-) Love (and Some Dragon-Slaying) Will Get You Where You Want To Be Next Year by Ruth Harris The reasons (excuses?) for not writing/not getting your book finished often come down to six usual suspects: 1) The Procrastination Dragon As if you don’t know what I’m talking about. 😉 But, just in […]
How to Sell Your EBook: Ads, Promo, Marketing—Paid and FREE
Writer’s Toolkit #4 by Ruth Harris The old ways of publicizing books aren’t working so well in the E-Age. In 2011, editor Alan Rinzler famously said, “That $50K space ad in the New York Times? Forget it. It’s only for the author’s mother. The twenty-city bookstore tour with first class airplanes, limousines, and hotel […]
The Big “O” for Writers—Organization: The Writer’s Toolkit #3
by Ruth Harris This is Ruth Harris’s third installment in her Writer’s Toolkit series. You can read Writer’s Toolkit #2 here and Writers Toolkit #1 here. Today she’s talking about tools for organizing your research and ideas: very timely for me this week. I’ve been working on and off for months on researching my […]
The Writer’s Toolkit #2: More Must-Have Tools for Writers
This week Ruth Harris gives us more must-have tools for writers in the second installment of her “Writer’s Toolkit” Series. Lots of stuff here that’s available FREE or cheaply. This is another post—like the one about global markets last week—that reminds me how much I still don’t know about this business. I have to […]
METADATA 101: A Non-Techie Does Her Best to Explain Metadata (and Why it Matters) In Plain English
by Ruth Harris First of all, what the &%^# is metadata? AccordIng to Wikipedia, it’s “data about data.” But we’re writers and we’re talking about books, so, huh? Let me try again: when it comes to a book, metadata can be defined both by what it is and what it isn’t. Metadata’s everything in […]
The Writer’s Toolkit: Must-Haves for Today’s Author, with Links to FREE Downloads
by Ruth Harris As a follow up to Anne’s post, How To Get A Book Published for new or beginning writers, we’ve decided to post a list of the must-haves and the beyond-the-basics that belong in every writer’s toolbox. Even writers just starting out will probably already have at least some of these tools, but there […]
Rejection, Rotten Reviews, and Social Media: 7 Ways Writers Need to be Like Rhinos
by Ruth Harris Writers are always urged to have or develop “rhino skin.” But let me add a few words about rhino skin. When I wrote ZURI, I did lots & lots of research about rhinos. As it turns out, rhinos have thick hides but sensitive skin—quite different from the usual perception. What rhinos […]
Writer Power: The Rebirth of the American Author
This week Ruth Harris gives us some powerful reasons to be happy about the ongoing changes in the publishing business. “What?” sez you. “But we see such woeful lamentation and wringing of hands over the demise of the book industry.” It’s true about the laments. Scott Turow, bestselling author and president of the Author’s Guild […]
The Key to Writing Memorable Fiction
by Ruth Harris This week Ruth Harris discusses one of the major elements that separates ho-hum storytelling from bestselling fiction: details. Yes, we know you’re often told to keep details to a minimum, and that’s a good rule, but like the judicious use of seasonings in cooking, choosing the right ones will make the […]
