Picture this: You finally sit down to write your first novel. You’ve been brainstorming it for years, since childhood really, and thinking about it has taken over your life. It gnaws at you , creeps down your fingertips and through your pores until you have no choice but to sit down and write it. You’re… Read more »
DNA is a miraculous thing. It’s the microscopic genetic material that contains the blueprint for a life. A well-constructed sentence can do the same thing for your story. It can clearly communicate your story to your audience (and to you too). It can be the building block of all your marketing efforts as well. As… Read more »
You’ve been social networking on Facebook and LinkedIn for years, and you can hunt down lost high school friends with the best of them. So when it comes time to build a professional network for your writing career, it’s understandable if you’re not clear on the difference. What’s wrong with what you’re already doing? The… Read more »
Writing groups take many shapes and sizes. Frequency of meetings, general purpose, size, and requirements all vary from one group to another. Many writing groups exist for more than manuscript exchanges, special events, and critiques. I found myself leading the charge in organizing a writing group in which the members were interested in readings and… Read more »
I’ve submitted to writing contests every so often for the past few years, and honestly, I’ve always found it to be a pretty intimidating process. You know what I’m talking about: I search through dozens (hundreds?) of listings until I find one that fits, Google the judges and read the previous winner’s work, then shell… Read more »
I can credit my local writing group with a lot of things: Teaching me craft, encouraging me to write, critiquing my work, and convincing me to pitch my book. And now, I don’t think it’s too much to credit them with also getting me an agent. Yes, I wrote the book. Yes, I edited it… Read more »
“Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” – Kurt Vonnegut Conflict, rising tensions, epic rivalries; we writers love to finger paint with all of it. But what if you could use the same raw materials of story to map out your marketing efforts? How fun would that be?… Read more »
“My new book is out! Buy for $2.99 on Amazon! [LINK]” “Have you read my new novel yet? Get it now! [LINK]” “ ‘MY BOOK TITLE’ #kindle #bestseller [LINK]” Do these spam author posts feel familiar? It’s become a common author stereotype on social media networks to constantly post asking people to please, for the… Read more »
When looking for a writers group there isn’t always one to find, or if you find one, it isn’t always the right one for you. Here’s a happy-ending tale of a writer who transformed a dying group into a supportive family. Meet Richenda Gould, the leader of the Princeton Writers Group (PWG). “I knew that… Read more »
Marketing is every bit of contact your company has with the outside world. Every bit. – From Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Levinson Why does the term “marketing people” evoke such dread? In some circles it might even be considered an oxymoron. But I say that the trepidation around marketing and marketing volk comes from a… Read more »
