Writing & Publishing Links for Dec. 23

How to establish your characters: openings

Why less detail makes more believable characters

How to use historical figures in your novels

Using the bystander effect in your novels

How settings make or break your characters

Why smart characters make dumb mistakes

Five steps to building a believable character arc

Plot holes

Some Tips on Evaluating Literary Contests

Why a Books Subtitle is So Important When it Comes to Book Marketing and Book Publicity

As large publishers increase their expectations of midlist sellers, indie presses see an influx

Publishing Your Own Book (text of interview, audio automatically starts to download)

Bookscan Numbers on Amazon

Who decides titles and cover design?

Advertising That Works?

Comparison Doesn't Work

Importance Of Tracking World Rights

Listing of Royalty Rates

Seven Tips on Building a Following

Pick Your Marketing Strategy

Marketing Your Book

Should I Tweet?

Launching Your Career Via Kindle, the Unpublished

Building Your Career on Kindle, the Published

Reversion of Rights

Writing & Publishing Links for Nov. 18

Linnea Sinclair on Deep Third Point of View

Character Building Workshop

25 Reasons Why Your Imperiled Character Can’t Call For Help

On sex and swearing in YA novels

Trans-racial Writing for the Sincere

When something isn’t working in the story

Publishing Contracts

Answering Questions on Contracts, Part 1 of 2

Answering Questions on Contracts, Part 2 of 2

Your Option Clause

The top 3 culprits regarding errors in royalty statements

The Agent-Client Relationship

How long various waits take in publishing

What Editors Won't Tell You (But We Will)

Writing Under a (Supertight) Deadline

A Few Hints on Twitter

Writing & Publishing Links for Nov. 2

3 Mistakes Writers Make in the Quest for Publication

5 Reasons Nonfiction Writers Need a Book Proposal

Tuning Up Your Writing Mechanics

Middle Grade? Teen? Where Do You Draw the Line?

SF&F query letters mistakes. More mistakes.

Inner Critic vs Inner Editor

How to Use Track Changes.
When Not to Have Track Changes

You Have an Offer From a Publisher...But You Don't Have an Agent

For NaNoWriMo participants, some writing tips/reminders:
Choosing the Right Idea
Goals and Obstacles
Editing As You Go

Writing & Publishing Links for Oct. 21

The ways agents don't live up to expectations

What's a Cozy Mystery?

The Great Prologue Debate

The All-Important First Chapter

Details necessary for creating vivid fiction

There's no substitute for getting your hands dirty when you research a story

Writing rules are a means of identifying how to fix a problem so that the reader remains engaged.

Novel Design: Plot Structure

Branding Leads to Landing the All-Important Second Contract

How readers empathize with characters

9 Must-Follow Manuscript Rules

Great Product Is the New Marketing

Writing & Publishing Links for Oct. 7

Defeating Your Inner Critic Part I

Defeating Your Inner Critic Part II

Secrets of Better Writing: The Powers of 1, 2, 3, and 4-or-More

Book Cover Design Resources for Self-Published Authors

To Multi-book, or Not to Multi-book (on multi-book deals)

Working Social Media

Behind the Scenes... "The Call"

In it for the Long Haul

What Do Amazon Rankings Mean To Authors?

Writing & Publishing Links for Sept. 23

Sorry for being absent for a while. It's been a very busy month.

Is a Writer’s Conference Worth the Money?

Post-Publication Book Marketing Activities

What Platform Means for Writers

What Do The Most Highly-Paid Authors Have In Common?

5 Tips To Polish Your Fiction

An Author’s Notebook: Reporting, Evoking, and Creating

How Deliberate Practice Can Make You an Excellent Writer

Seven Keys to Writing Good Dialogue

How To Make a Point Without Being Preachy

Getting Published is Not a Crap Shoot

How Can You Tell How Well Your Book is Selling?

11 Questions for Crafting a Pitch

Once you're a published author, you're going to have a target on your back.

Author Headshots

More on Revision Letters

Behind the Scenes at a Pub Committee Meeting

How to Deal With Contradictory Query Advice

Overview of Writing & Publishing

How to Write a Novel

Do You Suffer From One of These Writing Maladies?

Some Tips for Writing a Series

How to Write a Query Letter

Moonrat's Rundown of Publishing Options

An Offer From a Small Publisher

What to Ask an Agent

The Revision Letter.

Surviving the Editorial Letter

Promote Your Book Like a Pro


Warning about a Macmillan letter to their authors.

Writing, Editing, Proposals, Self-Publishing, & Career

Victoria Strauss wrote The Myth of the Evil Editor and The Importance of Self-Editing.

Rachelle Gardner wrote The Learning Curve That Never Ends.

Nathan Bransford wrote on the flow of an opening paragraph.

Chuck Sambuchino wrote The 8 Elements of a Nonfiction Book Proposal.

David Carnoy wrote Self-publishing a book: 25 things you need to know.

Jane Friedman wrote 2 Concrete Ways to Keep Your Writing Career Moving Forward.

Writing and Query Letters

Joanna Penn wrote Writing Thrillers: Lessons Learned From James Rollins.

Donald Maass wrote about creating suspense: It’s Not the Cougar.

Why smart characters make dumb mistakes.

Rachelle Gardner wrote A Monkey Could Have Written That and Stuff You Pay For and Sometimes It's Not About Your Book and How Do Agents & Publishers Make Decisions?

Joyce Magnin wrote about revising your manuscript in Seeing the Forest and the Trees.

Jessica Faust wrote Query Don'ts.

Daniel Friedman wrote about query letters in The Rejection Ballet.

Kristin Nelson wrote Why You Can’t Buy An eBook In English Outside The U.S.

Eric wrote about Co-ops and cover art.

Writing and Self-Promotion Advice

Jeannie Campbell wrote Character Stereotypes: The Cynic.

Robin Parrish wrote The Power of Mystery.

Rachelle Gardner wrote Keeping Track of Details.

Nathan Bransford wrote Balancing showing and telling.

Alicia Rasley wrote 9 Questions to Ask Your Main Character.

Mike Duran wrote The Dilemma of Self-Promotion.

Writing, Branding, and Twitter.

Mary wrote about writing for children: Know Your Category and Manuscript Length.

Bryan Russell on the Architecture of Revision.

R.L. LaFevers wrote Does Branding Make Sense?

List of publishers on Twitter.

Advice on Writing and Book Contracts

Kristin Nelson wrote about bok deals: One Book or Two? Maybe Three? and The One-Book Deal and One Possible Peril Of A Multi-book Deal. She also wrote about average advances for a debut novel.

Nathan Bransford wrote Why I Write Vague Rejection Letters.

Lynn Viehl wrote about Fighting Fatigue.

Delia Cabe wrote about cliches to avoid in your writing.

William Cane summarized Stephen King's 3 Steps to Create Suspense.

Writing advice, social networking, and what agents do

Rachelle Gardner wrote Dealing with Contradictory Feedback.

Jessica Faust wrote How Does Social Networking Work for You.

Christie Craig wrote Five Pieces of Well-Meaning Writing Advice That I’m Glad I Didn’t Take.

Nathan Bransford wrote Agents Are Not Just Gatekeepers.

More advice about publishing and writing

Victoria Strauss wrote about Copyright Protection Service: Another One You Don't Need.

Maureen Johnson wrote I am not a brand.

Jessica Faust wrote The Style Sheet and Selling Foreign Rights.

Lauren wrote How the Intern Reads Your Proposal.

Ellery Adams wrote Establishing an Online Presence.

Susan DiMickele wrote No Good Time To Write.

Nathan Bransford wrote about creating suspense/tension in the opening paragraphs of your story.

Rachelle Gardner wrote One-Sentence Summary Critiques & Tips.

Writing and the Business of Writing

Sally MacKenzie wrote about The Business of Writing.

Nathan Bransford wrote about What Makes a Great Setting.

Pitches, Promotion, Contracts, and Technology

Nathan Bransford wrote How to Write a One Sentence Pitch.

Jessica Faust wrote Using Your Galleys to promote your book.

Kristin Nelson wrote eBook Royalty: Another Way To Protect.

Alan Rinzler wrote How an iPad App can add sizzle to your book.

Joanna Penn wrote 5 Reasons Writers Need To Embrace Technology.

Pitches, Writing, and Other Publishing Stuff

Nathan Bransford wrote The One Sentence, One Paragraph, and Two Paragraph Pitch.

Rachelle Gardner wrote What if My Agent Doesn't Like My Next Book? and The Value of the Verbal Pitch.

Kristen Nelson wrote Age Is Just A Number and How Enhanced Ebooks Will Cause Havoc.

Sue Collier wrote about Non-Traditional Publishing.

Eric wrote about various departments (and their functions) that make up a publishing house.

kt literary had a post about Can you know TOO MUCH about an author?

Nancy Ancowitz wrote Public Speaking for Introverts.

Jody Hedlund wrote How Essential is an Online Presence to a Writer's Career?

Karen Holt wrote Digital Case Study: Can Goodreads Ads Help Unknown Authors Find an Audience?

Lisa Tener wrote about How to Set Up Book Signings…Strategically.

Jerry B. Jenkins wrote 8 Basic Writing Blunders.

Publicity, Pitches, and Writing

Yolanda Johnson-Bryant wrote about Using Promotional Material to Boost Publicity.

Rachelle Gardner wrote Secrets of a Great Pitch.

Kristin Nelson wrote about Starting A Novel In The Wrong Place and POV—Which Is Best?

Karen Witemeyer wrote The Benefit of Hindsight.

Dave Cullen wrote Writing Wisdom.

Nathan Bransford wrote How to Craft a Great Voice.

Mary wrote Know Your Category.

Agency Gatekeeper wrote On Acknowledgments.

Marketing and Contracts

Jessica Faust wrote Author-Agent Agreements.

Rachelle Gardner wrote What's in a Publishing Contract?

Eric wrote Terms to Know: Non-Compete Clause and other Terms to Know.

Christa Allan wrote Journaling Your Way Out of Writer’s Block.

Editorial Anonymous wrote differences in presenting Children vs Adults books.

Alyx Dellamonica wrote Self-Promotion--Starting Too Soon?

Jane Friedman wrote What, Me Market? (Book Marketing for the Clueless)

Trade Shows, Critique Groups, and Buzz

The Rejecter wrote about going to trade shows.

Becky Levine wrote about Choosing a Critique Group That's Right For YOU.

Kristin Nelson wrote an ISBN That Could Hurt about giving out free work to build a following and about self-publishing.

Nathan Bransford wrote The Science of Buzz.

Chip MacGregor wrote Estimating a Book's Size.

Queries, marketing, and the publishing business

Rachelle Gardner wrote It's Not Like Other Businesses and Query Critique: Carey On.

Penny C. Sansevieri wrote Why (Some) Authors Fail.

Abigail Goben wrote How Libraries Choose Books to Purchase.

If you're looking for someone to critique your query, Phoenix will do so on her blog.

Query Letters and The Business of Being an Author

Jessica Faust wrote Getting Reviews and about Making Comparisons in your query letter.

Rachelle Gardner wrote The Tax Man Cometh and Keeping Track of Things.

Nathan Bransford wrote All About Co-op and The Importance of the Pitch.

Advances, Self-publishing, Timing, Editors, & Cussing

Victoria Strauss wrote First Novel Sales: The Data on Advances.

Nathan Bransford wrote Should You Self-Publish? Ten Questions to Ask Yourself.

Rachelle Gardner wrote How long does this process take, anyway? and Should I Hire a Freelance Editor?

Natalie Whipple wrote the Real Problem with Constant Cussing.

Writing and query letters

Writer's Relief Staff wrote How To Do Research For Historical Fiction.

Moonrat answered what's a standard submission process like?

Nathan Bransford wrote a great post on how to format an e-mail query letter. He also wrote The Secret Strength of Killer Queries: Specificity.

Various agents shares Querying Blunders: One, Two, Three.

Jenny Bent wrote Rookie Query Mistakes.

Rachelle Gardner talks about elements needed in nonfiction queries.

Queries and Writing Advice

Jessica Faust wrote Query Pet Peeves.

Rachelle Gardner wrote Common Questions Answered about the querying process and related topics. She also wrote Think Hard Before Self-Publishing.

Jane Friedman wrote The Biggest Bad Advice About Story Openings.

Jennifer R. Hubbard wrote Tension: Desire and Obstacles.

Ronnie Kendig wrote about writing suspense novels.

Steven James wrote Crafting Killer Thrillers.

Writing and Titles

Rachelle Gardner wrote How To Title Your Book.

Nathan Bransford wrote What Writing and Lying Have in Common.

Cheryl Klein wrote about emotional plots and action plots, especially in children's picture books (though it's good information for everyone to think about).

Writing and eBooks

Laura Miller wrote A reader's advice to writers: A word to the novelist on how to write better books.

Jay Asher wrote about negative reviews of your novel.

Jessica Faust wrote New and Updated Publishing Dictionary.

Motoko Rich wrote the Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book.

Kristin Nelson wrote eBooks and Royalty Statements, Bonus Clauses—Another Item to Re-evaluate With eBooks?, and Redefining Net Receipts Where eBooks Are Concerned.

Writing, Marketing, and Agent Communication

Kathi Lipp wrote about the differences in writing your second novel after the first is published.

Shelli Johanes-Wells wrote Marketing Stages for after the deal and after the book comes out.

Rachelle Gardner wrote about Communicating with Your Agent.

Marketing, Writing, Why Rejection, etc.

Shelli Johanes-Wells wrote about Marketing Stages.

Rachelle Gardner wrote A Day in the Life and Saying No After I've Requested Your Manuscript.

Jessica Faust wrote about Obtaining Permissions and Formatting Guidelines.

Suzette Saxton wrote How to Plot (or Revise) Your Book.

Writing advice and queries

Kristin Nelson wrote Why Prologues Often Don’t Work.

Rachelle Gardner wrote Craft, Story, and Voice.

Brandilyn Collins wrote Ten Ways To Create Character Empathy.

Shawn Grady wrote He Wouldn’t Have Lived If I Hadn’t Shot Him, about good opening lines.

Janet Reid wrote What you need before you query.

eBooks, queries, and more

Craig Morgan Teicher wrote The Making of an eBook: Part 1 and Part 2.

Kristin Nelson wrote about how ebooks and iBookstore are changing how the publishing game is played.

Nathan Bransford wrote What Should an E-book Cost?

Jessica Faust wrote about Writing Series and Trilogies and about how you handle revisions.

Rachelle Gardner wrote The Top Ten Query Mistakes and Should You Have a Book Trailer?

A Lot of Writing Advice

Becky Levine wrote about Critique Groups.

Kristin Nelson wrote about no-no's for the first few pages of a story.

Jessica Faust wrote about using Poetry and Music in Books.

Nathan Bransford wrote Think About What Everyone Else Would Do: Then Do Something Different.

Suzannah Windsor Freeman wrote Are You a Word Nerd or a Grammar Rebel?

Gordon Silverstein on Humorous Reminders of Common Writing Mistakes.

Rachelle Gardner wrote Email Protocol.

Book Marketing

Nathan Bransford wrote The Key to Marketing Your Book: Time Well-Spent.

Myrlin A. Hermes wrote How to Make a Book Trailer.

Yen wrote Why authors shouldn’t contact journalists directly.

Writing Advice and Publishing Answers

Candace Calvert wrote Writer 911: “Help, my character’s fallen and can’t get up” about correctly describing medical problems in our novels.

A.J.Barnett wrote 20 Top Tips for Editing that Novel.

Jessica Faust answered Questions on Mysteries and A Discussion of Sell-Through.

Distributor, Wholesaler; Rejection; and Cover Art

Cathy Clamp wrote about Distributor vs. Wholesaler--Getting Your Book on the Shelf.

Rachelle Gardner wrote Why Didn't I Say Yes to Your Novel?

Irene Gallo gave information about free Famous Artists Courses.