New writers get a lot of pressure to start a blog. With good reasons:1) It’s a free website. Most writers don’t need any other website. A free Blogger.com blog allows up to ten pages of content, and you can even post a link to your “buy” pages at Amazon if you have books to sell. 2) You become Googlable. With a generic name like Anne Allen, I was a needle in the search engine haystack until I started blogging. Now a search of my name brings up dozens of pages of entries—most of which actually refer...
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Sunday, 22 August 2010
WRITERS CONFERENCE TIPS--10 Dos and Don'ts
Posted on 10:26 by Unknown
Next month (September 17-18) I’ll be attending the Central Coast Writers Conference at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, CA. It’s a great little conference, where I always learn something new.There are still places available. And this year the keynote speaker is the awesome agent, author, and uberblogger NATHAN BRANSFORD!!!!In honor of the conference I thought I’d re-run my list of tips on getting the most out of a writers’ conferenceDON’T dress to impress. (At one conference I attended, a woman came dressed as a tree. Shedding real leaves....
Sunday, 15 August 2010
12 MYTHS ABOUT GETTING PUBLISHED
Posted on 11:06 by Unknown
When you’re a beginning writer, you’re likely to get bombarded with advice from all quarters—your family, your friends, your hairdresser, and of course that know-it-all guy at work. I don’t know why, but everybody who’s ever watched a few minutes of Oprah seems to think they know all about the publishing business. But chances are pretty good they don’t. And chances are even better that whatever they may have heard is out of date. The business is in a state of rapid changeIf you don’t want your heart broken in this ever-more-difficult, soul-crushing...
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Deadline Looms for Literary Lab's “Notes from Underground” Contest
Posted on 10:22 by Unknown
Literary Lab is running a fun contest to lure the most creative writers out there for their next anthology. But the submissions close on Sunday, August 15th! Here’s what you do—send them 5 pages of your most creative stuff—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, even art, and they’ll choose 25 of the most talented among us to get 10 pages (count them, ten!) in their next anthology. So cutting-edge writers out there, here’s your chance to shine! Info at http://literarylab.blogspot.com/p/contests.h...
Sunday, 8 August 2010
THE DORCHESTER BOMBSHELL—How Does it Affect You?
Posted on 14:42 by Unknown
Las Friday, Dorchester Publishing announced it is ceasing publication of paper books and going to e-publishing only. This means that as of Monday morning, their authors will be out of print—but still under contract. Their work will be primarily sold as e-books, but they’ll only get the tiny royalty rate contracted for paperbacks.In other words, these writers will be paid an 8%-10% royalty on books they could have put on Amazon themselves for a 70% royalty. Perhaps a moment of silence is in order for our colleagues at Dorchester, which has...
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Two more chances to study with Catherine Ryan Hyde
Posted on 10:40 by Unknown
Catherine Ryan Hyde, who wrote PAY IT FORWARD (and 14 other fantastic novels, one of which was nominated for a British Book Award) has been offering workshops this summer for a small, select group of writers. The next two still have a few places available. On August 14th and 15th, she will hold a two-day workshop devoted to perfecting your query and pitch technique. You’ll learn the art of the verbal pitch and get at least an hour and a half devoted to your own query and synopsis.On August 28th and 29th, she’s offering a workshop for beginning...
Sunday, 1 August 2010
HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’RE REALLY A WRITER?
Posted on 11:41 by Unknown
Ever get the “OMG I’m-not-really-a-writer, why-am-I-kidding-myself” blues? Agent Nathan Bransford calls them the “Am-I-Crazies.” Most of us have been there. Rejections are pouring in. Your WIP is stalled. Your BFF has refused to listen to one more word about the unfairness of the publishing industry. After a sleepless, agonizing night, you decide you’re unworthy to call yourself a writer.Q. So how DO you know if you’re a writer? A. You write.If you go off by yourself at regular intervals to create stuff using words, you’re a writer. Maybe you haven’t...
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