The Long Road
© 2016 Ane Mulligan If I had known it would take almost twelve years to reach my goal of being published, I’m not sure I would have started. Except I…
Raise Your Book Above the Crowd
© 2015 Sharyn Kopf You’re probably better off if you just don’t think about how many people you compete against when it comes to marketing your novel. We live in…
Captivating Fiction for Tweens
© 2015 Karen Whiting Books that engage kids can spread like wildfire and get other kids reading. I recall when my son was in grades 3 and 4. He discovered…
Write to Children, Not Down to Them
© 2015 Jesse Florea Whenever I speak at a writers’ conference, I tell those in attendance, “If you have a child, were a child, or have ever seen a child,…
The Value of Foreshadow
© 2014 Gary Fearon The action-packed opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark shows Indiana Jones performing a number of death-defying feats while he acquires a historic artifact. Circumventing…
Like Going Home
© 2014 Ann H. Gabhart You’ve all heard the advice to write what you know—but wait a minute. What about fiction? Isn’t that all made up stuff? Not something that…
How to Talk Like Someone Else
© 2014 Lena Wood “Each speech, however brief, must be worth hearing.” —Richard Walter, Screenwriting We make characters come alive through dialogue. Here are a few tips I’ve used in…
Is Indie for You? Why an Independent Book Publisher Might Be Your Best Route to Publishing Success
© 2013 Eddie Jones For most authors, the route to publishing success begins with a pitch to a large publishing house where most book proposals die in the slush pile.…
9 Tips to Writing for a Woman’s Heart
© 2013 Janet Chester Bly Creative writing begins with an idea. What follows determines the result. The motivation. Perseverance. Research. Drafts and rewrites. The sweat to make it happen. But…
Five Ways NOT to Attract an Editor’s Attention
© 2013 W. Terry Whalin Will Rogers is credited with saying, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” As an acquisitions editor, I read book…