Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen “Chapter titles!?” sez you. What is this, the 18th century? What am I supposed to write? Something like this? Chapter the first, in which our hero is born, discovers that fire is hot, learns to pull up his own breeches, and slays a smallish dragon. Hey, those 18th century writers knew […]
Self-publishing isn’t about the author. It’s about pleasing the reader. by Anne R. Allen Easy self-publishing and the introduction of the e-reader brought seismic changes to the publishing world a decade ago. The “Kindle Revolution” propelled a bunch of smart authors from the slush pile to the top of Amazon’s bestseller lists. Suddenly writers had […]
Are you ready to publish? by Anne R. Allen If you’ve used the pandemic lockdown as a time to write that novel you always knew you had in you, congratulations! You’ve taken the depressing, horrific lemon that was 2020 and turned it into literary lemonade. You deserve a great big “Congrats!” and several pats on […]
by Anne R. Allen Social Media is both a boon and a curse to new writers. Online writing groups and forums are an excellent source of insider information on the publishing industry—stuff we once could only find at expensive classes and writers’ conferences. But social media is also a major source of misinformation and dangerously […]
Saying goodbye to that WIP can be bittersweet.. by Anne R. Allen I’ve recently had discussions with several writers who have been pondering saying goodbye to that WIP they’ve been laboring at for years. All of them wanted to move on for different reasons. All of their reasons were valid. Unfortunately, the writers felt it […]
Writer’s block can be a sign of incipient depression. by Anne R. Allen Writer’s block is probably the most popular topic in the writing posts on Medium, the popular new (ish) blogging platform. Lots of Millennials use Medium, and their posts offer an insight into our culture’s future. I’ve been amazed to see how many young […]
Cults are as dangerous now as in Savonarola’s day by Anne R. Allen Over the years I’ve written quite a bit about the dangers of author-on-author cyberbullying. A few years ago, a group I called “Mean Girls-meets-Lord of the Flies” terrorized authors on Goodreads and Amazon. A lot of us left Goodreads and never went […]
Audiobooks narrator C. S. Perryess at work. An Interview with Audible Narrator C. S. Perryess Audiobooks are hot. Especially for adult fiction. People like to listen to audiobooks on their phones. New audio platforms like Amazon Echo and Alexa and Google home make listening to audiobooks convenient and fun. Millennials like audiobooks. There are lots […]
Looking into my Crystal Ball by Fuse Literary Agency Co-Founder Laurie McLean Wow. 2016 sucked. In so many ways. I was never happier to kick a year to the curb than 2016. From David Bowie in January to Carrie Fisher in December, it seemed that each week brought a fresh tragedy to our lives. […]
Amazon’s New Review Rules: Nobody expects the Amazon Inquisition! by Anne R. Allen Amazon has been tweaking its customer review rules. Some revisions appeared in late September and others debuted early in October. So how do they affect authors? Should we be worried? Is the Amazon Review Inquisition going to excommunicate more reviewers and banish our reviews? […]
by Anne R. Allen “Blogging doesn’t sell books.” “Don’t waste your time blogging.” “Make book trailers! Email those newsletters! Spend more time on Pinterest and Instagram! Blogging is so over!” I’m hearing this stuff every day. But I still think a blog is one of the best uses of an author’s time. Even if […]
by Anne R. Allen Lots has been written about the pain caused by online bullying of children and teens—and that stuff is horrific—but we don’t hear as much about the cyberbullying that goes on in the adult world. But cyberbullying can have disastrous consequences, no matter what the victim’s age or social status. In […]
by Anne R. Allen I’m not going to pretend that picking a title for your book is easy. In fact, it gets tougher all the time. We have to consider a lot more than how grabby a title looks on a bookstore shelf these days. In choosing a title now, we have to think […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris