Writing & Publishing links for May 7, 2011

Top 5 Band-Aids to Apply Before Querying (about editing your manuscript)

How I Edit [my manuscript]

How To Make a Book Cover Optical Illusion

Why I Chose a Traditional Publisher (by Nathan Bransford)

Social Networking: Twitter v. Facebook

13 Reasons Why You Didn’t Get Followed Back [on Twitter]

The Interminable Agency Clause [in contracts]

Writing & Publishing Links for Feb. 24

Phrase Frequency Counter for Writers

Characters in Denial

Action is Character

Reasons for a Rewrite: The Ugly Truth

How to Edit Your Dialogue

Editing Your Fiction Manuscript

Your Author Photo: General Tips and Posing Tips

How to Get Published (The Definitive Post) by Rachelle Gardner

You Don't Have to Blog, Tweet, or Be on Facebook

What's Your Blog Identity?

5 Ways Authors Alienate Readers on Social Media Sites

What are Remainders?

Quick & Easy Answers about publishing

Sell-in, Sell-Through, Earn-Out (and Returns)

Agency Agreements

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Launching Your Career Via Kindle, the Unpublished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, 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)