Novellas, novelettes, and serial fiction are no longer “old fashioned.” by Mara Purl Do you know what George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, and H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds have in common? They’re not novels. They’re novellas. Novellas went out of style in […]
Want to Increase Your Blog Readership? Kill that Popup!
Popups proliferate like Tribbles, but they’re not as cute. by Anne R. Allen Studies tell us the popup is the most hated form of marketing on the Web. A popup is the contemporary version of those phone calls that used to interrupt your life just as you were sitting down to a family dinner. The […]
Writing Memoir that Sells: Think Outside the Book!
Book length memoir is a hard sell, but short essays can be a goldmine. Memoir is the most popular genre at any writers’ conference, and the most common genre in any agent’s slush pile. Unfortunately, it’s the hardest to write well—and the least likely to be successful if you’re an unknown newbie writer. That’s because […]
Anthologies: Great Opportunities for New Writers, but Beware Scams
Anthologies like “Equality” can also be a great way for established authors to expand their readership. by Anne R. Allen Anthologies have long been one of the best ways for new writers to get publishing credits and start building an audience. They’re also an excellent way for authors at any stage of their careers to […]
Dreaming of a Writing Career? 6 Things New Writers Can do NOW
Writing career dreams? How to prepare while you’re writing that novel. by Anne R. Allen Recently fellow mystery author Carmen Amato said she’d been asked by several new writers where they should be focusing their energies as they start a writing career. Carmen passed the question on to me and I wrote a short answer […]
Why Novellas are Hot and How to Write One: a Step by Step Guide
We’re so jazzed! Our blog has been nominated by Indies Unlimited for “Best Resource for Indies”—one of just 7 blogs—along with the fantastic Kristen Lamb, Joel Friedlander “The Book Designer”, The Passive Voice, The Creative Penn, David Gaughran’s “Let’s Get Digital”, and The Indie View. It’s so amazing for a slow, once-a-week blog to be nominated […]