Stephen King’s legacy as a bestselling horror/psychological fiction writer is attributed to his writing style. Because readers can identify with many of King’s three-dimensional, dynamic characters, his stories captivate and engage his loyal fans and first-time readers.
Self-publishing
The Writing Style of Agatha Christie
The works of Dame Agatha Christie are still a part of popular culture. In a writing career lasting more than 55 years, she wrote 72 novels (66 mystery novels and 6 romance novels) and 15 short story collections – a body of work that remains unparalleled in any genre
Writing the Query Letter
Negative or non-responses to query letters are why some writers give up and self-publish. Self-publishing is an entirely different process that is not without its own pitfalls, and is costly and the subject of another article
Writing For The Spiritual Market
The last decade or so, we’ve seen a huge surge in spiritually based books. They’ve sold so well (both fiction and non) that most of the big houses have some sort of spiritual imprint, running the gamut from Christian Fiction to Buddhist texts to New-Age works a la Hay House, etc. I’ve seen a host of such manuscripts.
The Freelance Writer’s Marketing Plan
2009 has to be the year for you to make money! But wishing is really not enough. What you need is a kick-ass marketing plan
10 Smart Moves For Getting Published in Top Magazines
Freshen up perennial topics. Some magazines revisit the same topics again and again because relationships, or toilet training, or camping in national parks lie at the core of the magazine’s mission.
How To Make Your Memories into a Memoir
Why should you consider creating a memoir of your personal experiences for publication?
How to Be a Home-based Magazine Writer
Review the magazine counter at your local shop. Select a number of magazines you think you would be able to contribute to and study the content. Which ones suit your taste and talent best?
6 Steps to a Good Low-Budget Movie Script
Give the character some depth. He or she is a human being you are creating. They have a past, dreams, failures and successes just like every real person does. This all needs to be fabricated but credible
19 Questions to Help You Write a Memoir
There are more than six billion people on the planet and I am a firm believer that every one of us has a story to tell.
How to Write and Publish a Book About Your Historic Neighborhood
What better way to preserve your neighborhood’s history than with a book? It’s a permanent document that can be passed down through the generations.
Freelance Writing Advice – How to Build Your Portfolio When You’re Starting Out
New to Freelance Writing? Here are some helpful tips on how to create a portfolio when you are trying to establish yourself as a writer.
Social Media: How to Use Geographic Targeting to Attract Clients
From location-based tweets, to Facebook geotagging, Google Places and Four Square: read about how to use Social Media geo targets to attract clients.
Write the Story of Your Life
I want to write my life story, but I don’t know where to start. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this statement. Many people have a story to tell. It doesn’t matter that that story will never be on the New York Times
Why Book and eBook Authors Still Need Literary Agents
A competent literary agent knows the literary requirements that different book editors and publishers demand right now. He knows the length and style of books suitable for such and such publisher or book distributor, as well as the genres and subjects
Why Authors Should Care About Copyright
Authors’ works are habitually plagiarized, infringed upon and otherwise exploited without their permission and without fair compensation. Just as frequently, authors who are ignorant of their rights are taken advantage of by unscrupulous publishers. Consider these real examples
The Option Clause in a Book Contract: A Trap for the Unwary Author
Reputable publishers almost always will drop or modify the option clause. Vanity presses are notorious for tying up your next book. And many smaller or start-up publishers that don’t want to pay for legal services
Part 1: The Craft of Writing for Self-Publishing
In this series of articles, I’d like to focus on those areas of the craft that are helpful in publishing your own work. To illustrate the process I’ll share some of my own journey in learning how to write and self-publish three non-fiction books.
Part 4: The Craft of Marketing Your Self-Published Book
In marketing my own self-published books, I’ve found a number of helpful (and some not so helpful) channels to get the word out which I’ll share in this article. My first suggestion for effectively marketing your book is to start with your closest connections.
Part 2: The Craft of Editing for Self-Publishing
Learn how to edit your manuscript before you self-publish your book or ebook. Going through traditional publishing channels is getting harder and harder as the population of writers continues to boom. It makes sense then to look at self-publishing as a viable alternative. As you pursue these avenues it pays to heed what exactly it is that publishers do well so that you can mimic this yourself.
How to Throw Your Own Successful Book Signing
Of course everyone wants to have a book signing at a big bookstore, but sometimes that’s difficult to negotiate, especially if your book is self-published. However, the good news is that if you can get a smaller bookstore on board, it’s easier to approach the better-known stores
Part 3: How to Print and Distribute Your Self-Published Book
Authors who want to self-publish their books have unprecedented options. There are many successful authors who are going straight to ebooks and skip the printing of their work all together.
Make Your Book a Success: How to Hire and Work with an Editor
It is nearly impossible to market and sell a poorly edited book. Whether you contract with a traditional publisher or self-publish, an experienced editor is the key to your book’s success. If you choose the self-publishing route, it’s important to know what to look for.
4 Ways Self-Publishing on Amazon is a Great Content Marketing and Lead Generation Opportunity
Self-publishing on Amazon is like putting an infinite number of your books in the center of the world’s largest bookstore. Amazon is like a miniature search engine. Except it’s less competitive than Google. It’s become cheaper and easier than ever to start a blog, making it harder to get the attention
Where, Oh Where, Has My Creativity Gone? 5 Steps to Bring it Back
Creativity is the key to every writer’s craft. Without it, we are nothing more than people sitting at desks with paper and pencil, or blank computer screen.
How to Write a Riveting Romance – Anima/Animus Archetype – Part 2
Every archetype has a positive and a negative side. As we saw in the Three-Dimensional Villains article, the villain is the negative aspect of the shadow, while creativity is the positive.
How New Authors Can Keep Their Manuscripts Coherent
In the world of publishing, many manuscripts make it to the editor’s desk, simply because they are badly disorganized and downright incoherent.
A Quick Guide to Manuscript Format
Writing a manuscript? If conflicting advice on format has left you confused, the following tips should help clarify the issues.
Being Creative: The Right-Brain/Left-Brain Myth, and Achieving Flow
The wonderful state in which words just flow from our fingers is caused by certain kinds of brain activation–which means there’s nothing mystical about it.
A Simple Creative Writing Solution: Think Backwards
Here is a neat little trick I have employed all my life in resolving problems, in realizing goals, and finally as a tool for crafting fiction. I call it reverse plotting but it is in effect the act of thinking backwards to arrive at solutions.
5 Steps to Getting Started in Erotica Writing
Ever thought about writing erotica, but don’t know where to begin? Here are a few tips to help get you started on the road to writing bedroom fiction.
Truth or Lies? How to Approach Truth and Healing Ethically as a Memoir Writer
As a memoir teacher, I find that people are very worried about the ethical issues involved in memoir writing. Here’s how to think about truth and lies.
6 Continents, 6 Monsters, and 6 Ways to Make a Truly Demonic Horror Story
Horror writing takes many forms. Here are 6 monsters from 6 different continents that you can use to add terror to your horror story.
How to Co-Write a Memoir in 5 Steps, and Why
Chances are, the subjects of many intense stories don’t realize the potency of their tales. So what to do? You co-write their memoirs.
How to Recognize and Monetize Your Expertise and Passion
Thousands of people have harnessed the unbelievable power of their writing talents to not only enrich others, but literally enrich themselves financially.
How to Write a Love Scene
The most critical lesson in writing a love scene is that it is similar to making love in the real world: when done well, it is messy, chaotic and somewhat animalistic.
How to Write a Murder Mystery
An author must first and foremost always tell a compelling story, involving, to one extent or another, recognizable three-dimensional characters.
10 Lessons That Star Trek Can Teach You About Writing
Star Trek has a lot to teach about writing. We’ve taken 10 lessons you can learn from the crew of the Starship Enterprise.
How to Write Powerful, Exciting, and Realistic Battle Scenes
The biggest challenge in writing a battle scene is the point of view. To make the experience exciting and moving, it’s best to stick to the perspective of a single fighter.
4 Top Memoir Writing Lessons Tips – How To Write A Great Memoir
Memoir writing can be a great process if it is done properly. However, if you’ve never been taught how to do it properly then it can be an extremely difficult task that is draining and annoying to continue with
10 Tips For Writing a Memoir
What differentiates memoir from autobiography is that it deals with only a slice, a portion or event in your life, rather than your whole life. Memoir is a story within the story of your life. Stay focused on your chosen topic. Avoid meandering off in another direction.