Writers’ Toolkit #4: How to Sell Your EBook: Ads, Promo, Marketing—Paid and FREE

First, an Awesome AnnouncementRuth and Anne have been blog partners for over two years, and we both write comedy, but you've never been able to read our fiction in one place before. Now you can! On Friday, the official launch day, the new boxed set made #3 in Amazon's Hot New Releases for Mystery and #5 Hot New Releases in Comedy. Thanks to all our fantastic readers!!Hot-off-the-cyber-press!CHANEL and GATSBY: A Comic two-fer. By guess who?????Hollywood...

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Are Your Family and Friends Sabotaging your Writing Dreams?

Writers participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) may discover that friends and family aren't entirely enthused by your decision to disappear into your computer for a month. (I have a secret suspicion that Chris Baty invented NaNo in order to escape those painful family Thanksgiving dinners.)But at any time of year, some people in your life will find it difficult to relate to your passion to write. A few will even sabotage your...

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How to Write Funny Novels...And Why You Shouldn't

We've got a V.I.P. guest on the blog this week. She's Melodie Campbell, bestselling author and the Executive Director of Crime Writers of Canada.She's also hilarious.She contacted me last month because she liked one of my blogposts. (See, blogging is an effective networking tool!) She saw we share a love of funny books. A lot of North America's best comedy comes from Canada. From much of the original cast of Saturday Night Live to up-and-coming...

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Sex Sells, Right? Maybe Not. Why you Might Want to Rethink those Steamy Scenes in Your Novel

When my publisher asked me to remove the explicit sex scenes from my upcoming novel, The Lady of the Lakewood Diner I thought he was nuts. Sex sells, doesn't it?Maybe not so much anymore. That screeching sound you hear is the abrupt U-turn the publishing industry is taking away from erotic material. A number of factors have contributed to the change:1) Erotica FatigueAfter the breakout success of Fifty Shades of Grey, there was a surge in copycats,...

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