By Writing Holiday, I of course mean Writing ON a Holiday. Holidays are better known as Writer’s Retreats, for all writers truly addicted to their art seize on the first amount of free time to face the blank page. Or the written page that desperately needs revising. Novel writing occurs over an extended period of a year or more. Long form story writing requires you to visit your work as often as possible — that’s…
CATEGORIES! I know it’s all about discoverability. I know that Amazon ranking depends on choosing the right category and tags for your book. I know, I know … and I hate fitting into boxes. I finally figured out where my book fits on Amazon, and I can’t say I’m happy. But I’m going to be in: Kindle eBooks : Romance: Fantasy: “love stories historical fantasy” When I was going after agents, I was all, like…
If you’re considering “going indie” (self-publishing), consider the category of your fiction. Publishing categories matter in the success of self-published books. Author and editor Jane Friedman has a helpful article on deciding if you should self-publish: Jane on how to make the decision. But one thing most people don’t discuss is how to self-publish mainstream fiction (including women’s fiction). Most successful self-published authors write genre fiction.
It’s a marathon: 50,000 words of prose, the majority of words for an 80,000-word standard mainstream novel. I’m at a little over 24,000 words this morning. Why am I doing this? Because writing is bliss and marketing a book is hell. Undergoing the process of trying to get a literary agent, who then tries to get your book a publisher, who then takes more than a year to publish it — that’s anyone’s definition of…
I’m really happy that one of my most recently published poems was “Wings Clipped” and appeared in Issue 4 of a journal called Panoply. Several reasons: 1) I’ve had a panoply of acceptances this season — far more than my usual batting average! 2) “Wings Clipped” is the lead poem in my new manuscript, Arabesque (available to an interested publisher) and 3) the poem brings together the two art forms I’ve devoted myself to: dance…
Author platform: what is it, do I need it for fiction, and other brain-freezing topics. There’s so much written about this ugly word (I keep thinking of those awful shoes you can literally fall off and break your ankle), that my research has frozen my mind on the topic. So here’s my hopefully refreshing take on Platform for Novelists. You don’t need one. No, you just need to be your most authentic writer-self, and in…
Is she in ecstasy or torture? Does she look like she’s in ecstasy or torture? She must be a writer of fiction conteomplating current avenues of publication because where there was once a clear path to authorship, fame, and fortune, now … 100 articles on how to publish OR see a fabulous, must-own publishing guide by The Book Doctors and Jane Friedman’s advice on publishing. So you studied all that, and now you’re ready to…
They’re like fallen leaves, memories. They arrange themselves in nature’s beautiful random order beyond our ability to perceive, like weather, like a life until you’re looking back on it and suddenly see an organizational purpose. And are amazed into writing about it. The thing is, who else wants to see it? Why is that mysterious, suddenly perceived arrangement important to anyone but you? That’s the question a memoir essay or book must answer. Answering it…
I’ve had poetry in a lot of journals over many years, but I’ve rarely been so pleased to have work alongside such a great group of poets and writers. I was talking about publishers and poetry presses with a friend this morning and we agreed that even if it’s on a paper bag, it’s the quality of work that outlasts any reputation, prominence, or publicity a publisher might be able to boast of or gain.…
To help us all tilt our pens forward and launch them into a vibrant and productive 2016, I thought I’d share some bad news and some good news about writing. First the bad news. Kristen Lamb’s blog entry today sums up the bad news about publishing, for the writer. Never mind if book sales are up over Kindle sales, and don’t bother with the debate about Amazon vs. Indie bookstores. You’re almost never going to…