Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen Ruth and I get lots of email from fledgling authors, both indie and trad-pubbed. The majority ask pretty much the same question: “I’ve got great reviews, I’m on social media, and I send out a newsletter—just like [my publisher/agent/a blog guru/this book I read] told me to: why isn’t my […]
by Anne R. Allen Let’s face it. Authors do a lot of obnoxious things online in the name of “marketing.” I think that’s because the average author isn’t educated in the field and we don’t realize that not all marketing is created equal. Good marketing is not about bullying your customers. It’s about enticing […]
by Editor Jodie Renner Writing short stories is a great way to test the waters of fiction without making a huge commitment, or to experiment with different genres, characters, settings, and voices. Even if you’ve published a novel or two, it’s a good idea to try to release a few high-quality, well-edited short stories […]
by Anne R. Allen Ruth and I often get requests to censor our posts when a word or link or piece of news has offended somebody. We usually comply. We don’t want a minor distraction to interfere with our purpose—which is to share information about the writing business in a straightforward, lighthearted, encouraging way. But […]
by Ruth Harris I’m an Amazon #1 and million-copy NYT bestselling author published by Random House, Simon & Schuster and St. Martin’s. I was also an editor for over 20 years. I worked at Macmillan, Dell and Bantam and for a small but thriving independent paperback house, now defunct—not because of me. 🙂 I was also […]
by Anne R. Allen We are always hearing about authors who have phenomenal success with a “first novel.” I’m sure most writers fantasize about being that author sometime in our early careers. I sure did. But here’s what I didn’t know back then: the novels that are published first are rarely the first novel […]
by Melodie Campbell I was tickled when the big city (Toronto) library sought me out to do a workshop for aspiring writers on “Building Atmosphere”.“Sure!” I said. “Are you paying me?” I said. (Although not necessarily in that order.) They were, thankfully. And then the anxiety set in. (Cue the strident violins.) Was I the best […]
by Anne R. Allen “Be fearless… The world is filled with people who will be more than willing to give you self-defeating, negative advice. If you have a dream, the single most important question you must ask yourself is—how can you fulfill that dream? If your resources are very limited, that is not an excuse.” […]
by Ruth Harris Good guy/gal or bad guy/gal, the super spy, the nutcase, the grunt who saves his battalion, the alcoholic teacher who can’t save herself but rescues her class from a typhoon, the jihadist with a heart of gold, the whore with a heart of coal, the psychotic, psychopathic, and just plain psychic […]
by Anne R. Allen Ruth and I like to say we made all the writing and publishing mistakes so you don’t have to. I figure that personally I’ve collected nearly the full set of authorial faux pas since I embarked on a writing career. Here’s a list of some of the things I wish I […]
by Agent Laurie McLean Publishing has been going through tumultuous times of late. Chaos reigns. But that doesn’t scare me. I like chaos. Because when things are crazy it means there are opportunities galore for those willing to dive in and stir things up. And I like change as much as I like […]
by Anne R. Allen A few years ago, soon after the debut of the Kindle e-reader, the world was buzzing with talk of self-published “Kindle Millionaires” like Amanda Hocking and John Locke, and big publishers were beating a path to the doors of all the newly successful self-published ebook writers. Even modestly successful self-publishers […]
by Ruth Harris As Anne and I looked back at the blog for the past year, a portrait emerged highlighting the themes and subjects that interested you most. We were intrigued by these clues about what was on our readers’ minds in 2014 and thought you’d be interested, too. So here are the […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris