Becca Puglisi As authors, we all know the importance of engaging our audience within a book’s first few pages. It’s called grabbing the reader: captivating them in a way that makes them want to stick with the story to its end. Michael Hauge prefers the term seducing: “Everybody likes to be seduced; it’s a gradual, […]

Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy When I sat down to write this post I intended to write about writing. It's what I love doing, and why folks tend to invite me to guest post on their blogs (which I appreciate). But this came at a time when I'm feeling reflective and optimistically hopeful about the new year […]

Sherry Ficklin First, let me begin by saying that if you don’t have at least a basic marketing budget set aside, you are going to have a very hard time promoting your book, whether it’s your first book or your 100th. A successful marketing budget is going to be a key part of your overall […]

Suzanne Purvis A new year full of writing possibilities, hopefully including the most exciting possibility: sending out your submission package to agents and/or editors. You’ve finished your novel, revised, revised, revised, and polished. Your query letter is tantalizing. Now you're in need of the last, and most important, piece of your submission package--the synopsis. Oh, […]

Kathryn Craft Turning Whine into Gold If Facebook posts are to be trusted, all a creative writer needs to be productive is coffee, chocolate, and wine. Rather than flow rich with ideas and possibilities, the creative blood of many writers is a biochemistry experiment gone awry. You already know why we rely upon caffeine, nutrient-poor […]