Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen I spend a lot of time here telling writers how and why to use social media, but I don’t often address the dangers. Yeah, they exist. I don’t know why, but otherwise sensible people can morph into irrational brutes when they’ve got their fingers on a keyboard and a connection […]
by Anne R. Allen “Authors behaving badly” tends to be a hot topic on booky forums and blogs these days. A lot of people blame the indie movement, but some of the worst social media behavior I’ve seen comes from Big 5 authors who are following the dictates of their marketing departments. Unfortunately, a […]
by Anne R. Allen What? Blog a book? Sez you. You’re always hammering us NOT to put our WIPs on our blogs! True. And I continue to do so—if you’re a beginning novelist hoping to get a traditional book contract. Tiny snippets of fiction for blog hops and other writing-community bonding exercises are OK, […]
by Anne R. Allen In a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog on March 15th, L.L. Barkat said “blogging is a waste of time” for experienced authors. She feels blogging is only helpful for beginning authors who need “to find expression, discipline, and experience.” Her piece suggests blogging is for farm-leaguers only. Once writers […]
by Anne R. Allen Are you “building platform” or just annoying people? This week, author Mary W. Walters blogged that promoting your books on Facebook and Twitter is a total waste of time for book sales. That’s because Social Media is not for selling books. It’s for making friends—friends we hope will help us in our […]
Today we have some valuable advice from Mark Edwards, one of the superstar authors who made indie publishing the powerful movement it has become. He and Louise Voss made history when their self-pubbed books soared to the top of the UK bestseller lists and got them a big-money deal with HarperCollins. One of the secrets […]
by Anne R. Allen First: Many thanks to Writers Digest editor Robert Lee Brewer, who put this blog in his list of “Blogs that Rock” in his BEST BLOGS FOR WRITERS TO READ IN 2013 this week. Yes, you should do frequent Internet searches of your own name. I have to laugh when I see writers apologizing on their […]
by Anne R. Allen Do all aspiring authors need to blog? The answer used to be: Only the ones who want to get published. Now, agents and publishers are letting up on the requirement. Recently, agent Rachelle Gardner changed her stance on blogs.“A few years ago, the standard wisdom was that authors, both fiction […]
by Roni Loren If there is one question that all writers would love to have a definitive answer to, it’d be: How do I reach my current readers and attract new readers? For many of us, the most practical place is online. We don’t have the funds to fly around the country for […]
by Anne R. Allen The list of million-seller “indie” authors is growing every day. Self-publishing has not only become mainstream—it’s edgy and cool. Persuasive blogs by self-publishing stars like Joe Konrath, Dean Wesley Smith, David Gaughran and Kris Rusch have inspired a staggering number of new writers to self-publish in the past two years. […]
by Anne R. Allen Amazon’s Kindle turned five years old last week. What an exciting half-decade it’s been! Jeff Bezos showed his genius when he gave his e-reader that name. The device sparked a conflagration that is still pretty much out of control. The old publishing world is in chaos, and nobody has a […]
by Anne R. Allen This post was originally written in October, 2012. Here’s an update: July 14, 2013. It seems the critically acclaimed detective novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling was written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Here’s an article in the Telegraph with details about the new revelation. It got great reviews, but […]
We first ran into Lila Moore’s scam-alerts at The Passive Voice. We visited her new watchdog site, PopularSoda.com and were impressed with all her savvy advice. Indie publishing has generated lots of new money-wasters and scams. Popular Soda adds an indie-focused viewpoint to other author-advocate voices like Writer Beware and Preditors and Editors. Whether you’re traditionally published or indie, the following tips can […]
