Belle Whittington

Author readings and book tours are not an essential component of the writing or publishing processes, and so these events have long been associated with a kind of miasmic purposelessness. Go to your basic reading and sit in the back row, where if you squint, you will see above the head of almost everyone involved—the writer(s)/reader(s), the audience, the publicist, the bookseller, the sales clerk(s) who set up the chairs and must wait around to take them down before heading out to an indie-rock show, the local reporter doing a trend piece on the decline of readings—a clump of thought bubbles bumping up against each other like trapped balloons, all imprinted with slight variations of the same theme, namely: “Why are we here?”

Writers (and to varying extent, their publishers) have long struggled to justify the relevance of readings, both to themselves and to prospective audience members. In 450 BC, for example, when Herodotus (a.k.a. “The Father of Lies”) published his nine-volume epic The Histories and soon after announced his intention to read from his work at an outdoor café/independent bookstore in Halicarnassus, he sent out the following message by runner: “You guys, I’m reading on Tuesday night—hope you can make it!—there’s going to be free booze ☺” To which his best friend nevertheless responded, also by runner: “Sorry, I’m going to be out of town ☹” which (although the record is unclear) we can assume was a lie, given that the event in question conflicted with a much-anticipated television broadcast of Sophocles’ Ἠλέκτρα.

Yet writers continue to promote their events, with or without the help of their publishers—and occasionally, the stars align and the event in question is deemed a success, or at least not a complete disaster. Here with advice, lessons learned as well as horror stories of readings and book tours past are authors Shane Jones, Laurie Weeks, Charles Yu, Tao Lin, Sheila McClear, Jon Michaud and myself; publicists Lauren Cerand and Brian Ulicky; and event organizer Jennie Portnof.

Click here to read the rest…

Post by Mathew Gallaway

By Caitlin Muir In Blogging Tips, How To, Productivity

Ready to start the weekend? Don’t leave your creative spark behind.

The weekend is for writers.

The weekend is for renewing your love affair with the written word.

The weekend is for turning your creative spark into a fire.

The weekend is for blogging on your author website.

This weekend, instead of waiting for your creative muse to come to you, go to her. Being a published writer is about commitment. You will never be able to live your dream without first pursing your passion.

Try one of these tips for staying creative this weekend.

And get writing.

Posted on January 23, 2012 by  Jane Friedman

 

Andrea Costa Photography / Flickr

With more authors publishing independently than ever, I’m hearing more questions about rights and permissions. It’s a tough issue to navigate without having an experienced editor or agent to guide you.

I hope to provide some clarity on permissions in this post. Permissions is all about seeking permission to use other people’s copyrighted work within your own. This means you contact the copyright owner of the work (or their publisher or agent), and request permission to use the work. Most publishers have a formal process that includes paperwork, e.g., a contract to sign. Often, you are charged a fee for the use, anywhere from a few dollars to thousands of dollars.

Trash the brownies. Nix the wine. Cut the Coolatas. Dang. Is it that time of year again? Soon enough, everyone will be turning to those grim New Year’s resolutions.

That roll call of self-deprivation has never been productive. I prefer to look on the bright side.

This year, I plan to live and write large. If I’m making any new year writing plans, it’s to write bolder and happier. This year, I’m going to be the bon vivant of the writing world.

What about you? Was 2011 the year of great and generous writing? Or was your work already trudging toward the winter blahs? Has this been the year when your day job and your family and your pets and the neighbors have demanded too much of your time and sidetracked you from your creative dreams? Or have you been faithfully putting in the time but … well … writing has become just another daily chore? Have you lost your passion?

It’s time to ring out the old writing year and plan for how to build on the past year’s success. And to do that, you may find that you need to refresh your writing routine.

So get happy. Get writing. Here are six questions to ask yourself so you can finish the year right.

Click here to read the rest…

Article by Brian A. Klems

Writing rules. Self-promotion drools. Isn’t this how most writers think?

But as long as you view your writing as art and your self-promotion efforts as the furthest thing from art, your chances of ramping up a successful 21st-century writing career are going to remain slim to none.
These days, there’s an art to writing and an art to self-promotion. From the moment you start putting words to the page, it’s never too early to start thinking about how you’re going to share them. And once you begin to see your writing and promotional efforts as equally artful, something wonderful starts to happen: You find readers.

Books aren’t written overnight—they’re developed one day at a time. And it’s the same with our platforms, which comprise all the ways we make ourselves visible to our readers. The idea that you need a platform might seem overwhelming at first. But if you consistently take small steps to put yourself out there, before you know it, you’ll have built a strong, sturdy foundation for your work.

So, if you’re the kind of writer who prefers being read to being unknown (who doesn’t?), here are 50 quick, simple ways to launch your platform into action. Think of each small step as a giant leap toward finding readers—and a fun, rewarding opportunity to share your hard-wrought words with others.

Listen & Learn

1. Find Your Keepers. Clarify the kinds of readers you want to connect with now, and you’ll be glad you did later. First, jot down a quick list of all the types of readers you’ve ever had. Now, decide which groups you want to stay connected with for the long haul, and make them your keepers.

Read the rest here…

Post by Christina Katz

November 1st is National Author’s Day - Who is your favorite author?

November first is the day set aside as the day to celebrate your favorite author(s).

Nellie Verne Burt McPherson, President of the Bement Illinois Women’s Club, suggested it in 1928 as a means of thanking her favorite author, Irving Bacheller - author of “Eben Holden’s Last Day A Fishin.” The U.S. Department of Commerce recognized the date of November 1st as National Author’s Day in 1949.

What better way to celebrate than to spend a few minutes sharing who your favorite authors are, as well as sharing your personal favorite books that they’ve written.

Regardless of your preferred genre, please give us your top five ‘must reads’.

For additional fun, please tell us which book you would recommend others read if they could only read one book.

Fly a flag, write your favorite author a letter or send them an email, buy a book or write one, share the words of your favorite author with someone you love!

Post by Rhonda Miller

“Don’t forget to show your favorite INDIE authors some love, too!” ~Belle

November is known by most literati as National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. How it works: Start writing a 50,000-word novel on November 1 and finish by midnight on November 30th. (For in-depth details go to the NaNoWriMo.org.) I’ve participated in the event twice. First, let me share these three important takeaways from my experience.

1. It was unbelievably fun.
2. Being that productive gave me the shot of adrenaline I needed to write more.
3. I was terribly unprepared both times and ended up with 50,000 words of useless material.

OK, so “useless” may be a bit harsh, but when looking back at my past attempts I realized that if I had just did some planning and preparation, not only would I have been able to complete more words, they would have been the making of a publishable story. I bring this up because I believe that 1) You should TOTALLY try NaNoWriMo if you haven’t before—you won’t regret it and it will be one of the best writing decisions you make this year, and 2) spend the next few days preparing yourself to write a story that’s not only good, but has the structure to be great.

Go here to read the rest…

Post by Brian Klems

Here’s a riddle: How do you make your book a best seller on the Kindle?

Answer: Give copies away.

That’s right. More than half of the “best-selling” e-books on the Kindle, Amazon.com’s e-reader, are available at no charge.

Although some of the titles are digital versions of books in the public domain — like Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” — many are by authors still trying to make a living from their work.

Earlier this week, for example, the No. 1 and 2 spots on Kindle’s best-seller list were taken by “Cape Refuge” and “Southern Storm,” both novels by Terri Blackstock, a writer of Christian thrillers. The Kindle price: $0. Until the end of the month, Ms. Blackstock’s publisher, Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, is offering readers the opportunity to download the books free to the Kindle or to the Kindle apps on their iPhone or in Windows.

Read the rest here…

By MOTOKO RICH

Click here for a special message :-)

Wow!  This has certainly been a busy and exciting weekend for me!  Mary, at Book Hounds, has featured my doggie and me…and Cicada on her book blog today! :-)

Click here to pop over and take a peek at her terrific blog and today’s post!

Many thanks to my new friends over at Romancing the Book for including me as a guest on their totally awesome book blog!

Click here to see the post! Don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered to win a free copy of Cicada!

Stop by The Bookish Babes book blog and check out my guest post!  While you are there, leave a comment and be entered to win a copy of Cicada! :-)

Join the discussion and enter the giveaway here! <—-

Many thanks to Andrea at The Bookish Babes for such a wonderful, sweet post about my little YA novel and me :-)  You totally made my day! :-)

By now, most authors know what virtual book tours are or at least have heard of them.  They’re that wonderful marketing tool that should be a must have in every new book’s campaign.  With each new book I write, I’m making a game plan before the book is even published and a virtual book tour is the first promotional venue on that list.

While most of us know what they are, there are still a few new authors who might have heard of them but have no idea what they involve.  I give you my top 10 things you need to know about virtual book tours so that you will know what to expect.

Read the rest here…

Post by Dorothy Thompson

Kath here. Please welcome Randall Davidson to WU. Randall is a cofounder of ProofreadingServices. Us, a proofreading company that offers manuscript proofreading. Randall was good enough to share his must-do proofreading tips and best practices with other writing enthusiasts.  Thanks, Randall! 

One of the hardest parts of writing is proofreading your own work. These 10 proofreading tips can help you learn how to distance yourself from your own work and discover your mistakes and issues with clarity.

Read the rest here…

I remember when I first considered self-publishing my book. This was after I decided that I wasn’t going to believe in what people were saying about the stigma. When I began to trust myself, believe that I could produce a great book and have the success others were having; when I thought that self-publishing my book was the first step in this journey.

When you dream of self-publishing your book, you see it as the goal, as the accomplishment, as the first step for something great. Don’t be fooled, it is a big deal. Writing, editing, re-editing and editing again until you are done, is a big deal. Finishing the book and publishing the book is also a big deal.

For many of us, simply dreaming of that famous sentence: “If you build it, they will come,” is our end goal, so you work hard just building it.

But then, after you publish, you discover that building it is simply not enough. Building it will bring no sales. It’s nothing personal; it’s just that you are invisible–people have no clue you exist. You will even discover people close to you, people that you thought were listening every time you said you were writing the book, don’t know you exist as a writer.

Read the rest here…

by vizkr