#5onFri: Five Tips for Rocking Your Next Open Mic Reading

Imagine you’ve been invited to read your writing out loud for an audience. Maybe it’s for an open mic night at a local café or indie bookstore. Or, maybe it’s an awards banquet or literary conference event where the recognized writers can bring flash fiction, poetry, or an essay. Regardless, you think, “Sure, why not?”… Read more »

The Comics World of Julia Wertz

I came late to The Fart Party, only discovering the wonderfully funny work of Julia Wertz long after her diary comics zines [RE1] of that title had been published as a collection in The Museum of Mistakes. I found this hilarious book in a comics store in Ashland, Oregon, and bartered for it with my… Read more »

Indie basics: It’s a business. Treat it that way.

Maybe you’re sold on the independent publishing model. Maybe you’ve even written a book and published it on Amazon, but nobody’s bought a copy except your mom. Where is the publishing glory you were promised? You can’t leave it all up to Amazon. If you want to make a success of independent publishing, be prepared… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Author Productivity Tools

Finding a useful author tool can make all the difference to a writer’s life. After all, the best tools help us to do things in a more efficient and effective way. They allow us to focus on our writing, rather than being slowed down and distracted by carrying out tasks in a suboptimal fashion. To… Read more »

Ask the Editor: Getting Conflicting Critique

Dear Editor, I’ve been working on my current manuscript for a while now. It’s special to me, and I want it to be the best it can, so I’ve had it read by an editor and gotten feedback from other writers and even an agent. I’ve murdered it so much at this point. Like I… Read more »