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November 23, 2014 By Anne R. Allen 86 Comments

8 Bogus “Rules” New Writers Tell Each Other

8 Bogus “Rules” New Writers Tell Each Other

by Anne R. Allen   We get lots of questions from new writers who have spent time in forums and online writers’ groups where they’ve been given advice by other newbies. Some of that advice is fine, but a whole lot is dead wrong. Unfortunately, the wrong stuff is usually delivered with the most certainty. […]

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Filed Under: Social Media and Marketing For Writers, The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Anne R. Allen, bad advice, critique groups and criticism, do’s and don’ts for writing a memoir, Dunning-Kruger Effect, Kristen Lamb, Point of View, Sherwood Ltd., writing rules

November 16, 2014 By Anne R. Allen 31 Comments

Feel Like Popping Your Editor? Keep Calm and Read This.

Most writers know we require editors. The need for editing is drummed into us from the time we venture into our first writing class, blog, or forum. We know if we’re offered a contract, we’ll be assigned an in-house editor, and if we self-publish, we’ll want to hire a freelancer.These days, agents do a lot […]

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Filed Under: Self-Publishing, Writing Craft Tagged With: book editing, Editing, Freelance book editors, how much should you pay a book editor, Jami Gold, Judy Probus, Meghan Ward, Types of Editing

November 9, 2014 By Anne R. Allen 71 Comments

Is Talent Overrated? 8 Things that are More Important than Talent for Writing Success

by Anne R. Allen   I often run into new writers who want to be reassured they have talent. They sometimes ask me to read some fledgling work in hopes I’ll pronounce them “talented.”I always decline. (A wise author never goes there.) It’s not simply that I can’t fit one more thing into my already […]

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Filed Under: Social Media and Marketing For Writers, The Publishing Business, The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Achieving your writing goals, Craig Tanner, how not to publish, Michael Ventura, Roxanna Britton, Shirley S. Allen, Talent, The Myth of Talent, The Talent of the Room

November 2, 2014 By Ruth Harris 19 Comments

How to Turn “Real Life” into Bestselling Fiction…and a Word about Memoirs

How to Turn “Real Life” into Bestselling Fiction…and a Word about Memoirs

by Ruth Harris Writing a novel based on the lives of real people is much more than simply recounting their story—even if it’s a whizz-bang, humdinger of a story. The challenge is turning real people and real events into fiction. Having no guidelines at the time I wrote Decades, I figured it out as I […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: advice for writers, Decades, memoir or fiction, Michael Harris, Ruth Harris, The Atomic Times, turning real life into fiction

October 26, 2014 By Anne R. Allen 55 Comments

Is Perfectionism Slowing Your Writing Process? 7 Ways NaNoWriMo Can Help

Is Perfectionism Slowing Your Writing Process? 7 Ways NaNoWriMo Can Help

by Anne R. Allen   We’ve all met those people who think their sojourn on earth is meant to be a fault-finding mission. They can spot lint on your jacket at fifty paces, provide a litany of your imperfections whenever there’s a lull in the conversation, and be counted upon to tell you why your pumpkin […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Amazon countdown, Anne Lamott, Chris Baty, How to Be a Writer in the E-Age, Hugh Howey, Inner critic, NaNoREADMo, NaNoWriMo, Perfectionism, sucky first drafts

October 19, 2014 By Anne R. Allen 66 Comments

Living with Robot Overlords: How to Survive in Our Cyborg World

Living with Robot Overlords: How to Survive in Our Cyborg World

by Anne R. Allen   Everybody tells us that to succeed as writers in the e-age, we need to be active in social media. And once we get the hang of it, most of us find it a lot of fun. Cyberspace can feel like a big old playground for writers. Look! I can type […]

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Filed Under: E-Books and Technology for Writers, Social Media and Marketing For Writers, The Publishing Business, The Writing Life Tagged With: algorithms, Amazon, Catherine Ryan Hyde, Datenkraken, Dr. Who, Facebook, Ghostwriters in the Sky, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Robot Overlords

October 12, 2014 By Jessica Bell 80 Comments

How to Write Chapter Endings That Make Readers Want to Turn the Page

How to Write Chapter Endings That Make Readers Want to Turn the Page

by Jessica Bell   A good chapter ending is like having one mouthful of your favourite food left on your plate, but not yet feeling full, so you go for seconds … and we hope, thirds, and fourths. The key to a great chapter ending is to introduce a new conflict. It doesn’t have to […]

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Filed Under: Writing Craft Tagged With: Catherine Ryan Hyde, chapter endings, first chapters, How to Be a Writer in the E-Age, How to edit your own work, how to write a novel, Jessica Bell

October 5, 2014 By Anne R. Allen 142 Comments

Do Authors Obsess Too Much About Book Reviews?

Do Authors Obsess Too Much About Book Reviews?

by Anne R. Allen Let’s Face it: Getting Reviews is Tough Whether we’re newbies or superstars, traditional or self-publishers, pretty much all authors stress about reviews: getting them…and surviving them. From the time our first book launches, we’re told our number one job is to get reviewed. We send out ARCs, desperately query book bloggers […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, The Writing Life, Writers Dealing with Reviews and Rejection Tagged With: Amazon reviews, Amazon rules, bad reviews, Barbara Morgenroth, Book Marketing, Book review blogs, Book Reviews, Joel Friedlander, Mark Coker, Molly Greene, online reviews, Reviews and Rejection, tell-a-friend

September 28, 2014 By Ruth Harris 59 Comments

BLOCK-BUSTING: 14 Never-Fail Tricks Every Writer Needs to Know

BLOCK-BUSTING: 14 Never-Fail Tricks Every Writer Needs to Know

by Ruth Harris Stuck? Can’t get there from here? Something’s wrong but you don’t know what. You’re chasing your tail in an endless loop with no off-ramps in sight. You’re stalled out at a dead end in a dark, scary forest. Happens to every writer and no one knows why, but your book—and you—have come […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Brainwashed, how to write a blurb, Jami Gold, Michael Harris, plot generator, reverse outlining, Ruth Harris, Writers block, Writing prompts

September 21, 2014 By Anne R. Allen 152 Comments

10 Things that Red-Flag a Newbie Novelist

10 Things that Red-Flag a Newbie Novelist

  by Anne R. Allen   Beginning novelists are like Tolstoy’s happy families. They tend to be remarkably alike. Certain mistakes are common to almost all beginners. These things aren’t necessarily wrong, but they are difficult to do well—and get in the way of smooth storytelling They also make it easy for professionals—and a lot […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, Writing Craft Tagged With: 21st Century writing, advice on craft, How Not to Start a Novel, How to get your book rejected, Mooderino, newbie advice, querying agents

September 14, 2014 By Anne R. Allen 56 Comments

The Secret to Publishing Success in the Era of Social Media: Teaming with Your Fellow Authors

 by Anne R. Allen Jon Stewart said on The Daily Show on August 27, (with heavy irony, of course) “Everybody uses Social Media as a weapon; that’s what it’s for.” He was, as usual, uttering spot-on truth disguised as a joke. Lots of people DO seem to use social media as a weapon, whether it’s […]

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Filed Under: E-Books and Technology for Writers, Self-Publishing, Social Media and Marketing For Writers Tagged With: Author Collectives, Bargain Ebook Newsletters, Book Marketing, Book promotion, David Farland, Janice Hardy, Jason Kong. Boxed sets, Molly Greene, multi-author promotions, Six Pack of Sleuths

September 7, 2014 By Anne R. Allen 71 Comments

The Biggest Mistake New Writers Make and 5 Ways to Avoid It

The Biggest Mistake New Writers Make and 5 Ways to Avoid It

by Anne R. Allen   It’s been an exciting week for the blog. Marketing expert Penny Sansevieri named us to the Top 30 Websites for Indies and blog guru Molly Greene named us to her list of must-read “leaders” in self-publishing. (I’m only recently self-published—and most of my work is still with a small press—but […]

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Filed Under: Self-Publishing, The Publishing Business, The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Achieving your writing goals, Agent rejection, Elizabeth S. Craig, how to be a successful author, Kris Rusch, Kristen Lamb, Malcolm Gladwell, Sherwood Ltd., Why You Should Write Short Fiction

August 31, 2014 By Ruth Harris 20 Comments

Writing Collaboration: Is it Right for You?

by Ruth Harris According to the sublime Cole Porter lyric: Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it.Writers do it, too. Often. Collaborate, that is. Peter Staub and Stephen King paired up to write horror and dark fantasy in The Talisman. Their Black House is a Stoker Award winner. Joe Konrath, an […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Catherine Ryan Hyde, Co-Authors, Evelyn David, Michael Harris, Ruth Harris, The David Whiting Story, Vanessa Kelly, When Collaborators Disagree, Writing collaboration

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writers digest 101 best websites for writers award

Anne R. AllenAnne R. Allen writes funny mysteries and how-to-books for writers. She also writes poetry and short stories on occasion. She’s a contributor to Writer’s Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market.

Her bestselling Camilla Randall Mystery Series features perennially down-on-her-luck former socialite Camilla Randall—who is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.

Ruth Harris NYT best selling authorRuth is a million-copy New York Times bestselling author, Romantic Times award winner, former Big 5 editor, publisher, and news junkie.

Her emotional, entertaining women’s fiction and critically praised novels have sold millions of copies in hard cover, paperback and ebook editions, been translated into 19 languages, sold in 30 countries, and were prominent selections of leading book clubs including the Literary Guild and the Book Of The Month Club.

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