When I first decided to self-publish, I did a lot of reading. A lot. I found a ton of great articles, started a blog, and started following a bunch of bloggers who were writing about writing. Not just self-publishing, but writing in general. I've written long enough to know that I don't have to do what everyone else tells me to do, but that other writers--especially older ones, more experienced ones, and ones published in genres I don't read--generally have valuable things to say.
For today's Nine Things post, I'm going to share with you nine of my favorite writer's blogs.
1. Joe Konrath - A Newbie's Guide to Publishing
Joe Konrath has been blogging since 2005 and he has a wealth of industry-specific knowledge, tips, and tricks that he regularly shares. He also has some pretty strong opinions about issues within publishing and self-publishing and he is very good at articulating those opinions. I read his blog regularly just so I can feel smarter.
2. Chuck Wendig - Terrible Minds
I devoted this week's Blog Roundup post to Chuck and for good reason. His blog is a nice mix of writing advice, industry knowledge, anecdotes, writing exercises, and information about his work for those of his readers who are fans. There's something for everyone there.
3. Stella Deleuze - Words by Stella Deleuze
Stella is, in addition to a writer herself, an editor. So with her blog, we get both sides: the writer and the editor. She is also a reader, a gardener, a hobby chef, and a conscious critic of self-publishing and indie authors. I like Stella personally--she's straightforward and kind and not afraid to express herself--and I enjoy her blog. Her rants give me a lot of ideas about what not to do.
4. Laura Bradford - A Writer's Notes
I love the minimalist design of her blog and her relevant, easy-to-read posts. She doesn't update as frequently as most of the other bloggers on this list, but when she does, she offers things like posts about knowing your audience.
5. James Killick - James Killick's Blog
Usually, James offers a nice, concise post of writing advice weekly. He understands the total writer package, that being a writer is about more than raw talent and specialized interests. He understands that most of us want to be read and liked. His posts display that understanding and generally offer advice to reconciling all parts of the writer self.
6. Kate Aaron - Only True Magic
The thing that makes Kate's blog unique among the writer blogs I read, I think, is the fact that she regularly writes about gender and sexuality issues in writing, the industry, and in reading. I like that. I almost always learn something new, or at least learn to look at something in a different way.
7. Lynn Viehl - Paperback Writer
Resources! Lynn has been a professional writer for fourteen years (according to her blog heading) and while her blog may be light on the advice, it's definitely heavy on the resources. She offers tips, tricks, programs, websites, submission information, and all kinds of other useful resources. Reading her blog is like reading a morning paper written just for writers.
8. Aimee Salter - Seeking the Write Life
Like Joe Konrath, Aimee is very brusque, very matter-of-fact, and not even a little bit afraid of sharing her opinions. She's smart and she has plenty of advice for the persistent writer, advice that runs the gamut from how to improve query letters to how to beta read to how to not be one of those indie authors giving the rest a bad rap. I stumbled across her blog by accident one day and have been following ever since. I may not always necessarily agree with her opinions, but it doesn't matter, because her input is valuable.
9. Sierra Godfrey - Sassy Sassafras
Sierra follows blogs I don't follow and I don't have to because she does a weekly blog roundup, too. I like her casual, friendly tone and I like that she includes real-life examples of what she's talking about. This blog is an easy, useful read and I really enjoy heading over there to check out what she's offering each week.
Showing posts with label laura e. bradford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laura e. bradford. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Blog Roundup: April 9 - 15, 2012
Chuck Wendig was en fuego this week with two great posts: 25 Reasons I Hate Your Main Character and A Long Look At "Show, Don't Tell." I think both of these posts are must-reads for beginning writers... and it probably couldn't hurt those of us who have been doing it a while.
Laura Bradford's post on writing as an invisible business really hit home for me. When my sister was here, it was nearly impossible to get any work done. Now that my husband is home on leave, same story. It takes great, concentrated effort to get my toddler to play by herself for short periods of time ever since she had a constant companion in my sister. Writing itself is hard--finding the time to do it without distraction or interruption is even harder. More than once, I've questioned why I even bother. (And then I remember that I really do love it and it really does matter to me and I think I'm okay at it, so all the extra hard work seems worth it. And then I have a drink because I really must be crazy.)
Girl Who Reads offered up an analysis of the star rating system in her Tips on Thursday post. I like the star rating system, personally; it gives me a lot of information at first glance. But I either don't really care what other people think of a book and will read it if I want to, anyway, or--if it's a book I'm uncertain of, like The Hunger Games--I will read the reviews with one through three stars. Two and three star reviews, in my experience, tend to be the most tell-tale.
Last week was Indie Author Week at Into the Morning (a great blog you should be following, anyway) and my favorite post was this one about indie book covers. We all judge books by their covers. No sense saying we don't. And independent books... well... they're frequently lacking. The most glaring problem I see is that we use a lot of the same stock photos. I like her quickie review of the good and the bad book covers. I think, especially for those of us designing our own, it's a good idea to look at all the criticism and praise for book covers that we possibly can. (Related: I tend to take inspiration from the traditionally-published erotica books I enjoyed. So I've based my covers on books like Breathless by Bonnie Edwards and pretty much everything by Delilah Devlin, as two examples.)
James Killick shared a short list of Five Things More Important Than Knowledge. The thing about knowledge is that it can be acquired. Or it can be rejected in favor of blissful ignorance. His list is comprised of things that are pretty hard to reject and ignore, at least in my experience.
Keystrokes and Word Counts has a short review of KDP free days. If it's something you're considering, I'd advise reading as much as possible on the experiences of other authors. I have a project in the works that I am planning to enroll in KDP select when the time comes, so posts like this are helpful to me.
Sierra Godfrey had a thought-provoking post asking where to find the self-pubbed books. She has a point. A good one. In my case, I don't market so much as I tailor my keywords for searches... because that's pretty much how I find the books I want to read.
Stella Deleuze advised that authors choose a publisher wisely. Personally, I'd do a ton of research--on the company and the people I'm working with. I'd check out the other books they'd published, not just the sales rankings, but the cover designs and reviews and the books themselves. I don't have an answer for Ms. Deleuze. I don't know what I'd do if my book was at the mercy of an editor who didn't know what she was doing. I sincerely hope I never have to answer that question.
Laura Bradford's post on writing as an invisible business really hit home for me. When my sister was here, it was nearly impossible to get any work done. Now that my husband is home on leave, same story. It takes great, concentrated effort to get my toddler to play by herself for short periods of time ever since she had a constant companion in my sister. Writing itself is hard--finding the time to do it without distraction or interruption is even harder. More than once, I've questioned why I even bother. (And then I remember that I really do love it and it really does matter to me and I think I'm okay at it, so all the extra hard work seems worth it. And then I have a drink because I really must be crazy.)
Girl Who Reads offered up an analysis of the star rating system in her Tips on Thursday post. I like the star rating system, personally; it gives me a lot of information at first glance. But I either don't really care what other people think of a book and will read it if I want to, anyway, or--if it's a book I'm uncertain of, like The Hunger Games--I will read the reviews with one through three stars. Two and three star reviews, in my experience, tend to be the most tell-tale.
Last week was Indie Author Week at Into the Morning (a great blog you should be following, anyway) and my favorite post was this one about indie book covers. We all judge books by their covers. No sense saying we don't. And independent books... well... they're frequently lacking. The most glaring problem I see is that we use a lot of the same stock photos. I like her quickie review of the good and the bad book covers. I think, especially for those of us designing our own, it's a good idea to look at all the criticism and praise for book covers that we possibly can. (Related: I tend to take inspiration from the traditionally-published erotica books I enjoyed. So I've based my covers on books like Breathless by Bonnie Edwards and pretty much everything by Delilah Devlin, as two examples.)
James Killick shared a short list of Five Things More Important Than Knowledge. The thing about knowledge is that it can be acquired. Or it can be rejected in favor of blissful ignorance. His list is comprised of things that are pretty hard to reject and ignore, at least in my experience.
Keystrokes and Word Counts has a short review of KDP free days. If it's something you're considering, I'd advise reading as much as possible on the experiences of other authors. I have a project in the works that I am planning to enroll in KDP select when the time comes, so posts like this are helpful to me.
Sierra Godfrey had a thought-provoking post asking where to find the self-pubbed books. She has a point. A good one. In my case, I don't market so much as I tailor my keywords for searches... because that's pretty much how I find the books I want to read.
Stella Deleuze advised that authors choose a publisher wisely. Personally, I'd do a ton of research--on the company and the people I'm working with. I'd check out the other books they'd published, not just the sales rankings, but the cover designs and reviews and the books themselves. I don't have an answer for Ms. Deleuze. I don't know what I'd do if my book was at the mercy of an editor who didn't know what she was doing. I sincerely hope I never have to answer that question.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Blog Roundup: February 13 - 19, 2012
Chuck Wendig delivered again with yet another list of 25, this time on the things you should know about protagonists.
Greta van der Rol hosted a guest post by Michael Combes on the subject of suspense of information in fiction. I also enjoyed her look at "hard" SF.
Laura Bradford hosted K. M. Parr, who wrote about writing as serious (frustrating, rewarding) business.
I thought this post from Girl Who Reads on the influence of blog reviews for self-published books was interesting.
Aimee Salter's self-publishing #10 went up here.
Greta van der Rol hosted a guest post by Michael Combes on the subject of suspense of information in fiction. I also enjoyed her look at "hard" SF.
Laura Bradford hosted K. M. Parr, who wrote about writing as serious (frustrating, rewarding) business.
I thought this post from Girl Who Reads on the influence of blog reviews for self-published books was interesting.
Aimee Salter's self-publishing #10 went up here.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Blog Roundup: January 9 - 15, 2012
Chuck Wendig had two good posts this week: 25 Things Writers Should Know About Finding Their Voice and How to Self-Publish So It Benefits Readers.
Roni Loren's blog is a veritable treasure trove of good posts. This guest post is 5 Narrative Mistakes You Can Fix Now, this post is about the etiquette of guest blogging, and this is her Fill-Me-In-Friday post.
Laura E. Bradford offered these resources and recommendations for new writers.
Imran Siddiq wrote about his process and included a pretty specific timeline.
James Killick posted about How to Make Good Writing Great.
Over at Keystrokes and Word Counts, it looks like a new post series is starting. The first seems to be Adventures in Promoland: Giveaways.
Paperback Writer shared this interesting post, Collecting Characters.
Agent Kristin over at Pub Rants wrote about the need to keep an eye on conversation in your story.
R. S. Guthrie posted about taking the plunge, joining the Dark Side, and signing up for KDP Select.
It looks like Aimee Salter is starting a new post series, too, this one on self-editing. The first post is here.
Sierra Godfrey posted her Google Reader Roundup.
Roni Loren's blog is a veritable treasure trove of good posts. This guest post is 5 Narrative Mistakes You Can Fix Now, this post is about the etiquette of guest blogging, and this is her Fill-Me-In-Friday post.
Laura E. Bradford offered these resources and recommendations for new writers.
Imran Siddiq wrote about his process and included a pretty specific timeline.
James Killick posted about How to Make Good Writing Great.
Over at Keystrokes and Word Counts, it looks like a new post series is starting. The first seems to be Adventures in Promoland: Giveaways.
Paperback Writer shared this interesting post, Collecting Characters.
Agent Kristin over at Pub Rants wrote about the need to keep an eye on conversation in your story.
R. S. Guthrie posted about taking the plunge, joining the Dark Side, and signing up for KDP Select.
It looks like Aimee Salter is starting a new post series, too, this one on self-editing. The first post is here.
Sierra Godfrey posted her Google Reader Roundup.
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