Special Feature

Setting Goals for Your Writing Life

When I finished my first novel, at 15, my goal was to get it published within a year. I never even considered self publishing it, at the time that was not as common as it is now. During that year I finished the 10th grade, had a part time job, and completed my swimming lessons….
Issue Eighty-One Special Feature

The Importance of Writing Challenges

Someone told me about NaNoWriMo for the first time when I was 19. I had never heard of a writing challenge before, but the idea of there being a National Novel Writing Month, where writers attempted to complete a manuscript in just one month, was very exciting to me. I really liked the idea of…
Issue Seventy-Eight Special Feature

3 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was First Submitting To Literary Journals

When I was first submitting to literary journals, I would spend 15 minutes or more on their website tracking down any scrap or clue that might help help my work be accepted. I read their guidelines multiple times. Every time I received a rejection I read a lot into it. Now, many years and at…
Issue Eighty Special Feature

Pay It Forward

          As an indie writer struggling build a career, it can be easy to lose sight of many things. Unless you’re fortunate enough to have friends in high places or you’re just plain lucky, you must devote a substantial amount of time to your career. It doesn’t take long to realize…
Issue Seventy-Seven Special Feature

A Proper Indie Book Launch

Just close your eyes for a moment and imagine that you’ve finally done it. The manuscript that you labored on for so long is perfectly polished, it has been written, edited, re-written, laid out in its final format, and the eye-catching cover is designed.  Your head is swimming with a myriad of emotions, anticipation, fear,…
Issue Seventy-Six Publishing Guides Self Publishing Special Feature

We Support Banned Books

6 or so years ago, I read Truth & Beauty by Anne Pattchet. It was one of my favorite books right away. I loaned it to my mother, who loved it. A little while later I read an article about the book by Anne Pattchet in The Atlantic. I was shocked to discover that it…
Issue Seventy-Five Special Feature

Evaluating a Publisher’s Website

Updated February 20th 2016 Submitting your work to full length publishers is a terrifying process partially because you are facing potential rejection and partially because it is not easy to know if the publisher will treat your work fairly. I have written before about how to avoid bad publishers in the article Red Flags. Sometimes…
Issue Seventy-Four Special Feature

The 10 Best Writing Quotes

Over the last 2 years I have made over 3,000 literary quote memes, including the one featured above. This means that I have spent many hours seeking quotes out, reading them, and re-reading them. I now like to think that I can spot a fake quote a mile away, although this is not always the…
Issue Seventy-Three Special Feature

The Climate Fiction Controversy

One of the first challenges an author faces is understanding the genre he or she is writing. From elevator pitches to query letters and beyond, professionals in the industry and the public use the idea of genre to help classify, organize, and clarify the contents of books. Cli-Fi or climate fiction is a relatively new…
Issue Seventy-Two Publishing Guides Special Feature

5 Books Every Writer Should Read

There are a lot of books on writing out there. In fact it can seem overwhelming at times. However, whether you are a poet, a fiction writer, or a non fiction writer, there are four books that I think everyone should read. I did not enjoy reading all of these books, but they all impacted…
Issue Seventy-One Publishing Guides Special Feature

Book Bloggers & Writing Success: Exploiting the Connection

One of the most important relationships an author can have is with book bloggers. These people are the ones who review your books, participate in your giveaways and cover reveals, spread the word about your new releases, and can be one of the biggest supporters an author will ever have. Sometimes, just finding book blogs…
Issue Seventy Publishing Guides Special Feature

Good Literary Journals for Unpublished Writers

Updated February 16th, 2015 Over the years we have published a lot of articles about Literary Journals. If you’re curious why, then start with this article: Why You Should Submit to Literary Journals. In response, many of our readers have asked about where authors who are new to submitting should send their work. If you’re…
Issue Sixty Nine Publishing Guides Special Feature

Mainstream Versus Literati

When I entered college as a graduate student in creative writing I had already spent a lot of my life writing. I finished my first novel at 15 and had completed four more after that. I had written over 200 poems the year before. I have always a wide variety of books. Still, I stuck…
Issue Sixty Eight Special Feature

7 Chapbook Publishers

We recently published an article about chapbooks, titled The Case for Chapbooks. If you have not read it already, you should before starting this article. When we published The Case for Chapbooks, I received a number of questions from writers about chapbook publishers and how to find them. Unfortunately most of listings of chapbooks publishers…
Issue Sixty Seven Publishing Guides Special Feature

Reviews for Your Book

Recent controversies over reviews for books bandy about the idea that reviews are now only gimmicks for marketing purposes, due to their lack of quality and the ease with which anyone can rate a book. With a limited number of traditionally published books being reviewed by presses like the New York Times and Quill &…
Issue Sixty Six Special Feature

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