Writing about writing. Mostly.
Website Mistakes Can Lose Book Sales by Nate Hoffelder No matter what industry you are in, the tech you use every day requires regular maintenance. You take your car in every few thousand miles. The office copier gets monthly visits from the service tech. And the software you’re using to write your next book gets […]
Publishing predictions from Laurie’s crystal ball By Laurie McLean, Co-Founder/Agent Partner at Fuse Literary Hello everyone! Well, to say a lot happened in publishing last year is a severe understatement. Simon and Schuster Merger that Wasn’t Among the legal news, the biggest merger in publishing history — Penguin Random House’s proposed acquisition of Simon and […]
Fragmenting Social Media Creates a Problem for Book Marketing By Anne R. Allen I know how it is: your readers started fading from Facebook all through 2022, disgusted by invasive advertising and slimy tactics that spy on your every move. They are also fed up by those bizarre, arbitrary algorithms that send you to Facebook […]
Happy New Year to all pre-published and published authors! by Anne R. Allen I’ve been looking over some old journals from 25-30 years ago, and it’s amazing how many years I made a New Year’s resolution to become a published author. And it’s amazing how many years it didn’t happen. The journals gave me a […]
Anne and Ruth wish all our readers–from pre-published to professional authors– Happy Holidays and a Rewarding New Year! by Ruth Harris I’ve known and worked with a lot of writers over the years (decades). Some work first thing in the AM, others in the PM, some don’t get started until near midnight. Some write sober, […]
by Anne R. Allen Here we are reaching the end of another year. Some of us have reached our writing goals, and some even “won” NaNoWriMo. But a lot of us haven’t. You may have had trouble getting to that last chapter of the novel, even though you wrote the requisite 50K words. Writing a […]
Do you have a NaNoWriMo novel to revise? by Jodie Renner New authors often underestimate the importance of revising a novel before publishing. As Ernest Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is sh*t.” While the first draft of your novel is definitely not crap, it’s likely a long way from being as powerful and […]
by Anne R. Allen “I don’t do realism. Sometimes people will mention that something I’ve written doesn’t seem realistic and I always picture them looking at a Chagall and thinking the same thing. You can say, “I don’t like what you do, or I don’t like Chagall, or I don’t like Picasso” but saying that […]
Clueless comments are guaranteed to drive a writer crazy by Ruth Harris Anne and Ruth are proud to host the first public release of the groundbreaking study devised and conducted by the eminent neuroscientist, Einstein Fitzhemingway, MD, PhD, PfffT, and DuH. Peer reviewed under the auspices of the prestigious research institute, VonShtupp, Dummkopf, Putz und […]
Choosing the right font takes skill by Jessica Bell A good designer will know exactly what style of font suits your design and genre, but if you intend to design your book covers yourself, there are some things worth knowing about fonts before you get started. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen covers on which you […]
Bad critiquing can pop somebody’s bubble without being helpful by Anne R. Allen I often advise new writers to look for a critique group to help them learn the writing ropes and get free feedback as well as the support they need when starting on a writing journey. But critique groups vary widely and some […]
A microfiction contest can be an alternative to novel writing in November by Amber Byers November is here, and many writers have jumped into National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an international writing event in which writers challenge themselves to write an entire book, or 50,000 words, in the month of November. As anyone who has […]
by Ruth Harris I wrote this post on writing a great first sentence as a companion-piece to Anne’s recent post on writing a great first chapter. With apologies to Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged, at least by writers and certainly by agents and editors, that no matter what genre, your first […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris