Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen Two weeks ago, I posted a helpful piece from children’s author Sarah Allen about using Substack. A Substack newsletter is the trendiest way for authors to communicate with readers right now. But here I am, still blogging, with no newsletter, much less a fancy Substack one. In fact, this is my […]
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 […]
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 […]
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? […]
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 […]
by Ruth Harris Your agent is your representative in the publishing world. A good or great one will have wide knowledge of the current trends — are historicals hot? Is alien sci-fi romance coming up? Is medieval adventure staggering along on its last legs? Your agent will know where best to target your work, which […]
by Leah Paulos Many authors would rather chew off their own arm than stand in the spotlight promoting a book. They say things like, “I don’t want to seem narcissistic,” “I hate being like, ‘Me, me, me!’” or “I just want to write.’” If this describes you, I am here to explain why — and […]
By Yvonne Osborne Note from Anne: Yvonne is a long-time reader of this blog. When her writing dreams came true and a traditional publisher was about to release her first book, I asked her to write about the process. THE OFFER I’m writing this guest post from behind two boxes of books just delivered […]
by Kenneth Strange, Jr. As a former FBI agent and true crime author, I seem to be more in demand for speaking engagements than ever before. However, to set the record straight, I will often begin a talk debunking FBI myths including the notion that we FBI agents have experience working in the realm […]
By Laurie McLean, Fuse Literary Publishing woke up from the pandemic years of big backlist profits and came out of the gate swinging in 2023. Publishing houses did not buy as many books as in 2022. (Anecdotally, I sold 24 books in 2022 and had a million-dollar sales month, but I only sold 4 […]
by Anne R. Allen So you won NaNoWriMo! You had to skip Thanksgiving dinner with your brother-in-law’s fabulous spatchcocked turkey, and watching the game with your favorite cousins. Plus your houseplants died, your cat evaporated, and you still have your Halloween decorations up. Tip: Make some Santa hats for all your bats, witches and […]
Rudyard Kipling needed a literary agent by Mark Williams As last September ended, a report from the Association of American Literary Agents painted a bleak picture of the American literary agent — working long hours and struggling to pay the bills, worrying for their future. Among the members of the author community who had ever […]
Is your query letter the problem? by Anne R. Allen I’ve often wondered why some wonderful writers never get a nibble from an agent, and others get a request for a full manuscript after a handful of queries. I had an insight into the issue this week when I heard from a friend of a […]
