Essays, author interviews and publishing advice for curious readers and writers.
Christmas in my home means a lot of things. It means dusting off the decorations I put away in January, taking a moment to admire each one and perhaps reminisce about the person who made or gifted it before finding a place to display it for the season. It mea...
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Rock Bottom was a cathartic story for me to tell and my purpose for writing it was not just to share my story,but hopefully to help others in the process. So I wanted to share with you the 10 most important lessons from Rock Bottom that I hope others will lea...
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I’m a latecomer to Lovecraft. I knew who the man was when I first dabbled in horror and SFF when I was a schoolboy, but for some reason passed him by, maybe labouring under the idiotic impression that he was too pulpy for my tastes. The irony was that the man...
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About four or six weeks ago, I sent the first draft of my newest book, The Reluctant Queen-The Story of Esther—to my four readers. These four people are generous enough to read the word document online and tell me what they think. It's not editing I want...
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A letter written by a freedman to his former master doesn’t just shine a powerful light on his dignity but makes a mockery of slavery and in a voice that is snarky, intelligent, and fueled by irony. This classic letter is excerpted from William E. Gienapp, ed...
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No matter what you write, what keeps the reader engaged is your voice. The reader wants to think that they are seated across from you, listening to you. They want to hear you clearly and they want to connect with you and it is your voice that makes that conne...
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It takes a lot of time and commitment to get a book written. But that is the easiest part of the process. Getting it published and into the hands of avid readers or fans of the genre poses a lot of challenges, especially for authors with minimal marketing exp...
Read the article →Reviews tell readers whether they should or should not buy a book, and the more positive reviews a book gets, the stronger the appeal it has for readers. Reviews give credibility to an author’s craft, and funny as it sounds, the majority of buyers rely on boo...
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