Special Feature

12 Sure Signs You Should Give This Writing Thing a Try

By Jessica Delfino Are you floating the idea of quitting your full-time “other” job with insurance and benefits to write that master work that has been preoccupying a hefty chunk of your waking (and even sleeping) thoughts? Not so fast! Before you storm into your boss’s office and slam down a cake decorated with “I…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Eight Special Feature

It’s a Performance: Reading Your Work in Public

By Tom Sigafoos What are your worst fears? According to a legendary survey, most people are afraid of three things, in this order: Snakes Death Public Speaking Whether that survey was apocryphal or scientific, there’s a germ of truth in the premise: most people dread the idea of speaking in front of others. But reading…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Seven Special Feature

5 Paying Literary Markets to Submit to in January 2020

These literary markets pay writers for fiction, and some also pay for nonfiction and poetry. They are a mix of literary and genre markets, and do not charge a submission fee, or they have fee-free options. Not all of them are open throughout the month. Cossmass Infinities This is a science fiction and fantasy short…
Calls for Submissions Issue Three Hundred Forty Six Special Feature

How to Actually Finish Your Novel

As a writer it is a lot easier to start a novel than to finish one. I started at least 5 before I ever wrote one from beginning to end. Before I finished my first novel, I would get different new ideas all the time. I wrote at least twenty first chapters before I ever…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Five Special Feature Uncategorized

The Importance of Writing and Exercise

Phillip Roth often said that he walked a mile for every page he wrote. He also wrote those pages standing up. Hemingway was also known for standing while he wrote, and many modern writers from John Green to Susan Orleans have been known to use a treadmill desk. The science fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Four Special Feature

Literary Journals: A Great Way to Promote Your Book

A literary journal is an online or print periodical devoted to literature. Literary journals usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays. Most focus on general literature, but there are others with more specialized interests such as science fiction, children’s literature, horror, and mystery. Some are just focused on a specific subject matter. For example there…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Three Special Feature

The Sea of Tranquility: A Self-Publishing Success Story

The Sea of Tranquility was initially self-published by Katja Millay in 2012. Within only three weeks of being self-published, the novel was picked up by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. It went on to win the American Library Association’s Alex Award and A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. She…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Nine Special Feature

The Top Three Reasons Authors Need a Writing Community

By Kathryn Haueisen “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” – Coretta Scott King Writing by committee is sheer torture for me. Leave me alone until I’ve written what’s been swirling around in my mind, keeping me awake by night and leading me to ignore real people because…
Issue Three Hundred Forty One Special Feature

The Writing Habit I Needed the Most

By Nicole Pyles Call me a bit of a Goldilocks when it comes to writing habits. I’ve tried the word-count-a-day habit, but sometimes I don’t have 500 words in me (or whichever word count a day I’ve decided upon). I’ve tried the 20-minute-a-day habit, but this results in me looking for excuses to not give…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Special Feature

Author Platforms: One Size Does Not Fit All

An “author platform” is your position as a writer, not just in terms of social media, but in terms of real-life connections and associations. More publishers and agents are asking for writers to talk about their author platforms as part of the query letter, and more small presses and agents are approaching authors that already…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Two Special Feature

Writing Partnerships: When Two Heads are Better Than One

By John Dorroh   In the spring of 2014 I found myself at the post-funeral party for a friend’s husband. He was a member of a local band, well loved, and had a great sense of humor. He told his wife to throw a party in his honor a week after he was buried. I…
Issue Three Hundred Thirty Nine Special Feature

How to Know If You Are Really a Writer

They say that everyone has at least one good book in them. Does that make you a writer? Or is it more than that? Is it something you decide to be, something you learn to be, or something you have always been whether you liked it or not? The following statements are what I believe…
Issue Ninety-Three Issue Three Hundred Thirty Eight Special Feature

How to Engage Your Readers By Editing for Who, What, Where, When Why, & How

By Wendy S. Delmater As a writer you want your readers fully immersed in your world, as seen through the eyes of a character that they fully identify with. The last, the very last thing you want to do is break the suspension of disbelief.  In this final entry in a series of articles, I’ve…
Issue Three Hundred Thirty Eight Special Feature

5 Paying Literary Markets to Submit to in November 2019

These magazines pay for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and are a mix of literary and genre markets. Not all of them are open through the month. PodCastle This is a fantasy magazine. They print stories in an audio format and online. They are open to all the sub-genres of fantasy, from magical realism to urban…
Calls for Submissions Issue Three Hundred Thirty Seven Special Feature

Three Unusual Ways to Market Your Books

By Phil Bowie If you’ve exhausted all the usual ways to promote your books—having a nice-looking website, presenting an energetic social media presence, taking part in blog tours, seeking reviews, giving talks to civic and writers’ groups, doing traditional bookstore signings, and so on, here are three easy low- or no-cost unusual promotions that have…
Issue Three Hundred Thirty Six Special Feature

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