An Exercise from Twitter for Authors: Social Media Book Marketing Strategies for Shy Writers
What if you could share what you write in one sentence and immediately know if your listener was curious, or not, about what you write?
Category: Writing Tips
Why E.L. James’ 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 1 of 2)
I’ve heard a lot of erotica writers say, “I don’t get it! Why is 50 Shades of Grey so Popular?” Many of us get our panties in a bunch, jealous that someone else’s first-time work of erotica can be a national bestseller. The truth is, what Erika Leonard, aka E.L. James, did can be a guide for all of us fiction authors, and you, too, can become a bestselling author.
Use Setting and Background to Meet Reader Expectations
Setting should never be an afterthought in your story planning. Where you place your characters—and how you describe their geography, time period, and other setting elements—can expand or clarify themes, build story unity, tighten plot structure, intensify suspense, motivate and explain character, and intensify reader involvement.
How to Get Published: Don’t Bore the Acquisitions Editor Into a Screaming Fit by Guest Author Erin Lale
Have you ever seen someone roll her eyes so much they pop out? Me neither, but that would be a great premise for a horror story, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately I’m much more likely to receive a story labeled horror in my slush pile that is fan fiction based on the 20 year old quickly-canceled TV show spin-off of the role playing game Vampire: The Masquerade.
Video Interview: No More Starving Artists with Beth Barany
Enjoy this Skype interview I did in May 2012 with Laura Howard. “My guest is author entrepreneur Beth Barany. Beth started her career helping writers get there message out into the world. As a certified Creativity Coach, she has a passion for helping authors build successful careers. She teaches through speaking, coaching and consulting with authors.
Author Entrepreneur Magazine: August 2012 issue is Here!
Author Entrepreneur Magazine, August 2012 is out! This free online magazine is dedicated to helping authors create successful and sustainable careers.
Villains in Literature
We love villains in literature. WE want to spend time with the antagonist. We like the hero to have a good challenge, but it’s more than that. For good to triumph, it has to contrast with something. We can’t know what’s right till we see what’s wrong.
Artist Entrepreneur: N for News— The Artist’s Alphabet Guide to Writing About Your Art by Aletta de Wal
Technology has expanded your potential audience to the planet, shrunk the world to the size of your computer screen, and extended your reach to the span of your keyboard. That’s good news because you can reach so many more people without even having to step out of your studio. The downside is that we are all inundated with information everywhere we go.
How Book Shepherds Can Help Authors By Scott Lorenz Westwind Communications
I recommend authors look into hiring a book shepherd for a current or upcoming writing and publishing project. A book shepherd is someone whose expertise in books and publishing will help you throughout the entire book process. From cover art, editing, dealing with Amazon to locating a printer, a book shepherd will assist you from start to finish.
How To Write the Setting of a Story: Finding the Right Place
Your characters do not act in a vacuum. They live somewhere—in a house, an ocean, a country, planet, period, zeitgeist, vacuum. Often they travel to somewhere else, or aspire to. They carry baggage—metaphorical as well as literal. They have history and a future, cultural attitudes and speech patterns.
Helping the Romance Writer Romance Her Readers
Romancing the reader is a widely held philosophy by romance writers to deliver what they promised to audiences. How does one go about romancing a reader varies, which is why you’ll find contrasting reviews about the same book.
Book Promotion: 4 Ways to Provide Value to Your Readers
Scan Twitter or Facebook streams, and you will see it over and over again, authors asking for people to support their book, to share it and promote it. Some will even write simply “Buy my book,” over and over again and wonder why nobody does. They are forgetting to add any kind of value to a potential reader’s life.
Writing Advice from Confessed Chocolate Lover and Book Review of Theft By Chocolate
Today I do something I’ve never done here at Writer’s Fun Zone: I feature a book review AND an author article, both about the new fun mystery, Theft By Chocolate by Luba Lesychyn. We’re also featuring a book giveaway for a copy of Luba’s book here on this blog, so comment below to enter. Lastly, you can enter Luba’s Grand Prize Giveaway for a $150 gift certificate for chocolate. Yes, I did say Chocolate!
Editing Your Own Work: 3 Tips For Editing
I’m both an author and an editor, but I’m very aware of the very different demands of those two roles. As an author, I’m a firm believer that the closer to your material you are, the better. As an editor, you need a fresh pair of eyes to see the book as the reader will see it, without all the vivid abundance of character and setting which live in the author’s head and may never have made it into the book.
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