Writers love to talk about their books, their friends’s books, trends in the publishing industry, and our endless anxieties about writing. But our poor families can only take so much of this at the dinner table. My advice to every writer is to assemble a team of key friends who can handle your obsession, help… Read more »
Last year, we dedicated ourselves to exploring the messy middle of inclusive writing by reflecting on ways to craft complex characters and build dynamic worlds that connect with readers from marginalized identity groups. We decided that we will answer the call for diverse and inclusive writing by being specific, honest, and intentional with our representations… Read more »
As an independent author, you’re more than the person who writes words in a novel. Once you choose to go the self-publishing route, you inadvertently choose to also become a self-employed entrepreneur. As such, you now wear every hat for all the departments of your business. This includes wearing the marketing and sales hats. This… Read more »
Just as a high-stress job can lead to Sunday Scaries as the dreaded Monday deluge approaches, many authors experience what I call Book Promotion Scaries as a launch date for a new book nears. In fact, I don’t think I know a single author who doesn’t get a case of nerves from putting their newest… Read more »
Creating Your Logo, the Arts & Crafts Way After some enjoyable downtime over the summer, I’m back building my small business with renewed energy. So, I decided to start with tackling some of the areas that I’ve had resistance with in the past – primarily setting up my first website and drafting and designing the… Read more »
Do you need a break? A lot of people recommend pressing forward through exhaustion, hard choices, and those moments that make you want to give up. And I want to be perfectly clear. I am not asking you to give up. I am asking you to take a break before you push through to the… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sophfronia Scott. Sophfronia is a novelist and essayist whose work has appeared in Time, People, O: The Oprah Magazine, as well as many other outlets. Her first novel, All I Need to Get By, was nominated for best new author at the African American Literary Awards and Sophfronia… Read more »
Over a decade ago, in one of my first college writing workshops, I commented that a story’s eclectic vocabulary jarred me out of its narrative. The author’s suave, privately-schooled best friend was in our class, and he volleyed my critique back: “It would’ve taken seconds to look up aquiline on your iPhone.” I had a… Read more »
Newsletters seem to have a way of intimidating many authors. If they don’t get tripped up over what to say, then it’s the commitment to a frequent schedule, or even the lack of a jump in Amazon rankings after each new issue. Many lose themselves to the drone of obligatory promotion blasts once a month… Read more »
Seven summers ago, I walked into a small conference room at the Writer’s Digest Conference, wondering what I was doing there. The topic was YA literature, and while I was interested in YA, the novel I was working on was for adults. I think it’s safe to say that if there had been anything more… Read more »
