QueryTracker Blog

Helping Authors Find Literary Agents

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Writing groups: a field guide

If your New Year's resolution will be to join a writing group, you'll want to learn from my horrible (and sometimes hilarious) experiences. I've belonged to writing groups since age twelve, but I didn't start classifying their subspecies until I became the only member of a once-thriving group.

If you're thinking of joining or starting a writing group, it's best to have your focus in mind right from the beginning. The basic commonality is that writing groups in general consist of writers.


(Don't you already feel enlightened? Well read on!)


Because that's pretty much where the commonality ends. Let's check out three distinct species of writing groups.


The first species is what I'd consider a support group. The focus is social: the writers gather to gripe about writing. They will perhaps come up with an organized topic of the day, but for the most part this group is about the snacks, the sharing, the complaining, and some exchange of advice. Its function is primarily to meet other writers and to get out of the house. 


Some of the topics you'll see covered here are how much rejection sucks, how hard it is to get things published, why is that particular crap in the bookstore when yours isn't, what you think of the recent election, and whether there's really a problem with that genetically-altered corn. You may also hear about places to search for markets. 


If this group is online, then expect to read dozens of posts about everything under the sun, and whenever someone complains that the group is too cluttered, someone is sure to respond, "But we're writers -- this is what we do!" My first online group was of this variety, and I loved it. I learned a metric crapton about everything you can imagine, including some tidbits about writing.


My once-thriving group was also a social/support group type. Sixty local writers would gather, always with coffee and muffins, and sometimes they'd share a paragraph or two, maybe a poem or a letter to the editor, and everyone would tell them how lovely it was and suggest changing a comma in the second line. Someone might give a brief talk, at about the depth of an article in a writing magazine. There was a break in the middle so we could chat.


When I joined, one of the members told me, "This group is for everyone from multipublished journalists to little old ladies writing poetry for their cats." Even their critique guidelines were flowery and overwritten, but the group itself was positive, supportive -- and it thrived. When four of us wanted mutual assistance on novels, we split off to form a novel critique group that met after the main meeting.


This leads to the second species: the critique group. My current group is critique-only. The membership is limited. Two weeks before the meeting, the leader distributes the pieces we'll be pulverizing working on, and at the meeting we spend one hour on each. While we do socialize before and after the meeting, socialization is not the point. The point is critique: improve the manuscript before you. Also bear in mind that critiquing others is of equal value to having your own piece critiqued. I cannot tell you how many times my work on someone else's manuscript has shown me a flaw in my own. 


[Please note: I'm really tolerant, but if you ever end up in a critique group dominated by nastiness and negativism, thank them for their time and don't come back. There's nothing to be gained and everything to be lost when writers gang up to punch a newcomer's manuscript full of little holes just because it's fun. I can still remember one particular group leader looking at a manuscript as if it reeked of vomit, then growling, "This is crrrrrap." Run away. Run like a citizen of Tokyo fleeing Godzilla.]


The third species of writing group is the instructional group. In this, your meetings resemble classes. The instruction may involve some degree of critique, but it's within the narrow guidelines of the lesson. This week we're working on point of view, everyone, so get out your notebooks and write a third-person paragraph about a man whose wife has just died. Now write it from someone else's perspective. Now I want you to combine those pieces and deliberately head-hop, and let's see how that affects the work.


Like a critique-only group, the instructional group will focus on improving your writing, but you won't learn by comments specific to your own piece or by interaction. The benefit of an instructional group is that you don't have to show your own writing to anyone else in order to reap the full benefits of the group.


These varieties of groups (and their hybrids) fit different niches, and all of them are useful. If you're just beginning to write, for example, maybe you're not yet ready to receive critque, but if your group's structure enforces sharing, your writing will be exposed at a time when you still feel vulnerable. (You'll always feel vulnerable. I mean especially vulnerable.) Or if you're ready for a black-belt level beat-down of your manuscript, a social group might leave you restless.


Now, how to kill a writing group in three easy steps? Actually, one easy step. Take your sixty-member social group, which has remained largely unchanged for fifteen years, and force it into an instructional model. In our case, the purely-social members drifted away after the first two lessons. After six months, the group leader was assuring those who remained, "We'll have a core group of highly-motivated writers." I kept believing her right up until the minute I couldn't any longer -- when she left. The members hadn't been coming for high-tech instruction. They wanted the coffee and the cameraderie.


If you decide it's time to seek out a group, whether online or in person, be open to what that group has to offer rather than forcing it to fit your preconceived notion. Figure out what this group can offer and what you can offer the group. Then be flexible: you may discover a critique group isn't what you're ready for yet, or you may feel unfulfilled doing nothing but socializing. On the other hand, you may discover the perfect critque partner in that social setting. Opportunities are everywhere if you accept them for what they are.


---
Jane Lebak is the author of The Wrong Enemy. She has four kids, three cats, two books in print, and one husband. She lives in the Swamp and spends her time either writing books or ejecting stink bugs from the house. She is pretty sure no one reads these author bios. At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four kids. If you want to make her rich and famous, please contact the riveting Roseanne Wells of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. 

Friday, December 21, 2012

The Publishing Pulse: December 21st, 2012



Success Stories

Congratulations go out this week to Morgan Shamy, Chelle Bruhn, and Katherine Ernst for recently signing with their agents.

Around the Internet

In addition to looking for certain genres, agents and editors have favorite tropes they love to receive in their submission piles. Unsure what a trope is? Check out this post. In addition to an explanation as to what a trope is, there are links to dozens of different ones and examples from movies and books. 

 Stephen King shared his writing advice in this humorous video

Jody Hedlund shared her scene-editing checklist. This should be used after your developmental edits (e.g. characterization, plot, and story structure). 

Getting ready to query in the New Year? (Hint: this should not be the manuscript you finished during NaNoWriMo 2012). Here are examples of successful queries, from numerous genres, to help you make yours shine. 

Penguin Group settled with the Department of Justice in the price-fixing lawsuit.

In honor of the 200th anniversary of the Brothers Grimm stories, Galleycat has rounded up some stories you can download for free. If you are looking for story inspirations, this might the place for you.

If you’re interested in self publishing, you’ll want to check out this free online conference (February 12-14, 2013).  It promises to be great. 



©Stina Lindenblatt

From all of us at the Querytracker blog, we wish you and your family a happy holiday season.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Promotional Techniques for Authors

All authors, whether independent or traditionally published, will eventually need to turn their attention to the wide world of promotion. Even traditionally published authors have to do a lot of self-promotion, despite having the power of a big publishing house behind them. Every author, no matter who has published their work, has one goal in common: to see their hard work and beautiful books promoted from sea to sea to sea.  We all want to go global, don't we?

In the beginning of my career, I was a shy writer, the girl who wanted her promotional attempts to be as far outside her "personal space" as possible. Think: billboard, but cheaper. I wasn't ready for signings or meet-and-greets or conferences. I thought a static webpage and a blog for announcements would be enough. Thank goodness I dispelled those illusions before I got my novel published.

Because I started out writing poetry and short stories, I was able to find my way through the promotional jungle one footstep at a time. Along the way, I've learned countless ways to promote my work--and most ways cost more time than money. You can tailor your methods to suit you and your work best; you can decide if you want to hire out to save time and work or make it a DIY project that will be inexpensive but time-consuming.

That's the beauty of promotion--it's a personal endeavor that you can make work for you.

Keeping my "personal space" in mind, here are some methods I've used--without ever leaving my writing cave.
  • Social media: please don't tell me you are still putting off getting online with Facebook and Twitter. While you are at it, join Goodreads and think about Pinterest or Google+. You won't sell books hanging a For Sale sign in an empty room. Get your social media profiles polished, start collecting friends, and don't ignore them! They'll only stay interested as long as you are interesting. Still intimidated? Check out this introduction to social networking here. The more advanced crowd might consider a Twitter party and enlist a few friends to help you promote through chatter and hashtags.

  • Blog: It's not enough to blog...you have to promote it as widely as possible. I've been reading up on SEO (search engine optimization) and learned a trick to get my blog to pop up in more searches. You can too--enroll your pages in blog directories to get more exposure, then make sure you use a lot of tags to describe your content. Some directories require annual re-enrollment and each one I've used require a code be placed on the blog (known as a reciprocal link.) I invite you to scroll to the bottom of my own blog to see which ones I use--you'll find at least four different graphics. Click on them to learn more about each directory.
     Also, consider joining Triberr, which combines the power of blogging with the audience of Twitter. In short: expand your audience. You can find more information on Triberr here.
 
  • Virtual book tours: Going on an author tour can be expensive, time-consuming, and all-around terrifying. Did you know you can promote a new release by going on a virtual book tour, instead? Instead of book stores and libraries, you visit book blogs and websites. Offer bloggers a giveaway, an excerpt, or an interview--your imagination can run wild, and bloggers love free content.
     Unlike physical touring, it's pretty much free (unless you offer prizes) and not terrifying at all. However, it still is time-consuming because you need to research blogs and email each blogger--and the prep work can take several weeks. (Many of the more popular blogs require months of notice in order to get you on their schedule, so start early.) Nonetheless, it's great promotion. You can see what I did on my virtual book tour here.
 
  • Book blasts: This is kind of like a virtual book tour except it's more ad than commercial. I just participated in a book blast for my urban fantasy Bleeding Hearts. Over fifty blogs posted a boilerplate post containing my book's blurb, buy links, and cover. My photo and bio were also displayed. Of course, there was a huge giveaway.
     This is one of the few times I've paid for promotion. While it was costly, it gave me access to new blogs and new audiences. All the work was done for me--and having organized a book tour in the past, I appreciated not having to spend hours and hours emailing and organizing. The result? Check out one of the blogs who hosted my book blast--and enter the contest while you still can!
 

  • Goodreads: If you are a Goodreads author (and you really should be) you should give serious though to offering your book in a Goodreads giveaway. You spark a lot of interest in your new book just by giving one away, since most entrants also add your book to their Want to Read shelf. Consider opening your giveaway to all countries available--the international readers will appreciate it and you'll expand your potential audience. The downside is the cost of extra postage, but that's pretty much it.
    There are also several--okay, a ton--of groups on Goodreads. I belong to a number of them that have review request programs. An author will offer a set number of books to giveaway in exchange for reviews. I've gotten some great reviews this way, and it didn't cost a penny (not that you should ever have to pay for reviews.)
 
  • Swag: Okay, it costs money to get good swag but, thanks to places like Vistaprint.com or Print Runner, you've got affordable options. My favorites? Magnets and t-shirts, because everyone I know either owns a refrigerator or wears clothing. (Sometimes, they do both.) A word of warning: a brick of magnets will get you pulled out of line for a bag search in an airport, so put them in the tray to save time getting through security.
This list is far from complete but it's an excellent start for the author getting ready to promote themselves--and each of these can be accomplished without ever getting up from the computer.

What about you? Have you used a technique or an event to promote your work? Was it effective? Share your experience with us!




Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer who resides in the heart of the Pennsylvania coal region, where she keeps the book jacket for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" in a frame over her desk. Visit Ash's blog at www.ash-krafton.blogspot.com for news on her urban fantasy "Bleeding Hearts: Book One of the Demimonde" (Pink Narcissus Press 2012).

Monday, December 17, 2012

Why I Use Scrivener


Scrivener is a word processing program for writers of book length work and screenplays. The first time a writer friend told me to try it, I deferred. After all, why would I want to use a strange bit of software when the rest of the world is using Word? The idea seemed to fall into the category of: why buy problems when they’re giving them away for free?

But there was a quote on the Scrivener website which kept niggling at me. “Scrivener is the first and only word processing program designed specifically for the messy, non-linear way writers really work.”

To write a novel is to take an unruly pile of ideas and stretch them into something sleek and linear. And here was a hint from the universe that it was normal to struggle, but that there might be a better weapon for the fight.

To acquaint myself with Scrivener, I watched a single YouTube video by the developer. (The amusing “novel” he uses for his example is worth the price of admission alone. I'll say only that a giant squid figures into the plot.) That gave me enough familiarity to become a novice user.

(Note: I use the Windows version of Scrivener, and the program was originally written for Mac. In fact, the Mac version has a few more features, about which I know nothing.)

Scrivener works like a very customizable master document (called the “binder”) with sub-documents  Sub-documents can be pieces of your manuscript or notes for your project. And these can be moved, grouped or nested as often as you wish. The pictured example is divided into sections by geographical location. The first section is labeled “Orlando, Florida.” But at any moment, a user can reorder chapters by dragging them around. Clicking on any of the chapters in the list on the left side of the screen will bring up that chapter in the document editor.


This is bulletin board mode. The chapter list is always there on the left. But the bulletin board alternates with a text editor or outline view. The user clicks on one of the choices visible in the upper right corner to toggle among them.

To see the novel as a continuous beast, one merely clicks on “manuscript” at the top, and there it is. But I never do that, because I’ve become enamored with jumping from chapter to chapter. You can see from my screenshot that I’ve given them all names. Scrivener understands that you may want to nickname chapters without those tags appearing in the final document.

The setup saves time in many ways. While writing, say, chapter four, I might include a detail which requires that I change earlier facts. With Scrivener, I don’t have to make a note to myself or lose my place. I can hop back to the earlier fact, fix it, and then click on chapter four again. When I do, I find myself at precisely the same place in the subdocument as I was when I left.

Also, there’s much less cutting and pasting when you can rearrange chapters at will.

When sub-documents are infinitely flexible, you can write text without even guessing where it will end up. I keep a folder called "for later." In that folder there are scenes and mini scenes which I hope to successfully fit into the book's chronology, but haven't yet. Before Scrivener, I would write all my "notes for later" in another computer file or in a notebook, and then often lose them. I don't lose ideas anymore, because everything pertaining to the project is in the binder. (Or it's in the notebook in my glove compartment. Until Scrivener is built into the steering column, that's one bug that won't get fixed.)

Outlining is another boon. The outline overlies the document. At any moment you can switch to outline view. Your chapters populate automatically, and there’s space to write yourself a description. I’ve used this to remind myself of what I’ve already written, or to remind myself of how I want a chapter to shape up. You can also color code scenes or chapters in outline mode (useful for multiple POV works) or label them any way you want. The software suggests “preliminary draft” “final draft” etc. But you can make your own labels.

The third view is bulletin board (shown above). Your outline text will appear there as well.

And I’m no longer afraid of using an unfamiliar file type to store my work, because that’s not what happens. Scrivener stores all of your subdocuments as .rtf (rich text) files, and then stitches them together when you want to see the whole manuscript at once, or when you choose to “compile” it into a document to be read in other software.

Each night when I’m finished working I “compile” my Scrivener manuscript into a new Microsoft Word doc. This takes about three keystrokes, and helps me remember to backup my work.

Learning Curve

It took me awhile to learn to navigate between outlining and text editor modes. And the art of compiling what you see in the text editor into a Word .doc precisely as you wish takes a bit of study. But the documentation is excellent, and the small group of people who work on Scrivener are as helpful as can be.

The retail price of Scrivener is $40. (By the way, I receive no benefit for writing about this product. I'm preaching from the choir loft on this one.) I paid a bit less because I took advantage of the NaNoWriMo discount. The software has a "household" licence, which means that for one price I have the software on both my laptop and our kitchen machine.

I tried the free trial version first. It contains the full program, but expires after thirty days. If it's any clue to how helpful I found the software, you should know that I paid for mine when there were still twenty six days left on my trial.

Happy scrivening!




Sarah Pinneo
 
is a novelist, food writer and book publicity specialist. Her most recent book is Julia’s Child. Follow her on twitter at @SarahPinneo.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Publishing Pulse for December 14th, 2012

New At QueryTracker:


Even though they say there's seven days to go until the end of the world, the publishing world rocks on. We've updated three agent profiles in the database this week. Always make sure you double-check every agent's website or Publisher's Marketplace page before querying.

If you're a QueryTracker premium member, then you can be notified whenever an agent or publisher profile is added or updated. If you're not a premium member, you can just check for yourself.

Publishing News:

Keep in mind that with Christmas just around the corner, many publishers and agents are taking longer to respond to queries. That doesn't mean not to query, but definitely adjust your timeframe expectations. (The exception being if the agency has closed to querying until January. In which case, you of course will not query until January.)

Scholastic released its top ten trends in children's books for 2013.

Apple, along with Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette Livre, and Macmillan settled with the EU about ebook price fixing.

Here's a cool infographic about the digital publishing explosion.

Are you wondering about the privacy of your ereader information? Now you can know.

Around the Blogosphere:

Joshua Getzler analyzes his query inbox.

Janet Reid shows what an interesting author bio can do for you.

Literary Quote of the Week:

Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. - Flannery O'Connor

Thanks for stopping by, and keep sending those queries!

---
Jane Lebak is the author of The Wrong Enemy. She has four kids, three cats, two books in print, and one husband. She lives in the Swamp and spends her time either writing books or ejecting stink bugs from the house. At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four kids. If you want to make her rich and famous, please contact the riveting Roseanne Wells of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. 

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Psychology Q&A: Abusive Teen Relationships

Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is intended for writing purposes only and does not represent psychological advice.
QUESTIONS: 1. What kind of therapy would a teenage girl go through after she's been in an abusive relationship? 2. Are there any books or websites you could recommend for more information dealing with therapy post break-up? 3. Since there is a new love interest in the MC's life, would he be involved in any sessions?  4. Is there a way for him to learn how to be there for her, or is that something that is never considered? 5. From what I've read, girls who've experienced relationship abuse may have posttraumatic stress disorder after it's over. Do you have any other resources you'd recommend?
ANSWERS: For readers who aren't familiar with the signs and causes of domestic violence, you may want to drop by the HelpGuide for a comprehensive overview.

On to the questions!

1. What kind of therapy would a teenage girl go through after she's been in an abusive relationship? 

 If you're looking for the name of a therapy, I'd say a likely choice would be Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) coupled with feminist therapy.  The feminist aspect is  important for DV (domestic violence, a catchall term for relationship violence) because it does not blame the survivor (note the use of the word survivor rather than victim); in fact, it looks at how society cultivates violence against women via things like the popular media, attitudes that women should be subservient, court systems that don't provide adequate consequences for batterers, and so on.

2. Are there any books or websites you could recommend for more information dealing with therapy post break-up?

Getting a sense of the feminist theories and approaches that make therapy for DV unique will be a big help.
3. Since there is a new love interest in the MC's life, would he be involved in any sessions? 

No. Definitely not, unless, say, they're ready to get married and wanted to do some premarital counseling. Even then, I'd want them to see a separate therapist for the couples therapy. In fact, if a client asked the therapist if she could involve her new boyfriend, the therapist might want to explore what makes her want to bring him into therapy. The therapist's response would vary based on what she said, but without any extra information (as I write this), s/he might wonder about your MC's confidence in her independence and ability to function without a man.  Not in a blaming way, but s/he might want to work with her even more on autonomy, recognizing her unique strengths, and feeling (and behaving) as if she is equal in a relationship.

4. Is there a way for him to learn how to be there for her, or is that something that is never considered?

Absolutely, there are things he can do, and he'd be a keeper if he really tried to do these things!

Many people believe DV is rooted in sexism, so fighting sexism in himself and the people around him would be huge.

A man who has feminist attitudes can be a great support. I should probably clarify -- a lot of people feel like "feminist" is a bad word. Like many people, until I was exposed to feminist therapy and truly began to understand what feminism meant, I bought into the stereotype that feminists are militaristic man-haters. Though certainly some fall into that category, they are the exception rather than the norm.  All feminism is is the belief that women should have equal rights and opportunities.
The nice thing is that younger men often do have more feminist attitudes than older men. Overall a supportive man would believe that what had been done to your character was wrong and that she didn't deserve it and doesn't deserve any blame for it. He wouldn't push her around, smother her, or breathe down her neck -- he'd trust that she is a capable human being.  

Other attitudes that are much more subtle are things like avoiding assumptions of male privilege.  For example, he doesn't assume he should be the one who drives, even when they're taking his car. He can open doors and be nice, but he's not seizing control of things just because he's male. 

He wouldn't put up with sexist jokes and overt exploitation of women -- ie he's not going to endorse pornography that shows women saying "no" when they "really" mean yes. He's not going to see shoving yiour character against the wall or pinning her down as sexy.  (Don't get me wrong, perfectly healthy couples can play at things like that if they've agreed to it and have safety words in place -- but something like this would probably scare someone who's been abused.  So he'd need to be sensitive to things like that.)  

He would need to leave room for her opinions, and respect them even if he disagrees with them.  (He can disagree openly, but he doesn't try to intimidate her into anything, or blame her if, say, she chooses a movie he
doesn't like.)

I don't know how old your characters are or if they're sexually active, but if she was raped, that's definitely something to address in therapy.  He would really need to respect her boundaries and he'd want to make sure she knew it was okay to ask him to stop if she got scared or uneasy.


 5. From what I've read, girls who've experienced relationship abuse may have posttraumatic stress disorder after it's over. Do you have any other resources you'd recommend?

An absolutely fantastic book on PTSD is Aphrodite Matsakis' I Can't Get Over It: A Handbook for Trauma Survivors.


If you have a psychology in writing question, feel free to fill out my Q&A form!

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD's book, THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behavior helps writers avoid common misconceptions and inaccuracies and "get the psych right" in their stories. You can learn more about The Writer's Guide to Psychology, check out Dr. K's blog on Psychology Today, or follow her on Facebook

Monday, December 10, 2012

The New QueryTracker - Progress Report

The new version of QueryTracker is almost ready, and should be released sometime between Christmas and New Years. With any luck, downtime should only be a few hours. When the time comes, I'll post a notice on the main site, giving everyone at least 24 hours warning before the site goes down for the upgrade.

When designing the new QueryTracker, there were a few key things I wanted to achieve:

  • Make it run faster.
  • Make it more convenient to enter query data.
  • Make it easier to work with folders and multiple projects.
  • Expand the backend making it possible to add some new (and still secret) capabilities in the future.
  • Don't change the user interface too much. (No one likes too much change.)

I hope I've achieved these goals. We'll soon find out. Watch the sneak peak video and let me know what you think.

But there are a few things that won't be included in the new version. The biggest of these are the groups. Groups, if you haven't used them, are a place where QT members can interact with each other. The idea was that they would eventually replace the old QT forum. But they never really took off, and the forum keeps growing. Obviously, people prefer the forum and I'm not one to argue, so the groups will be retired. It just doesn't make sense to keep them both.

If you're not a member of the forum, please go to QueryTracker.net/forum and sign up.

If you volunteered to be a beta tester, I'm a little behind schedule, but I'll be contacting you soon with instructions on how to access the beta system. If you haven't signed up to beta test, there's still time if you're interested. Volunteer here.




Friday, December 7, 2012

Publishing Pulse: Friday, December 7, 2012

This Week at Query Tracker

The profiles of several agents were updated this week. Please make sure you double-check every agent's website or Publisher's Marketplace page before querying.

You can see the publisher updates list here. 

Ready to write your own success story?

If you're a QueryTracker member (membership is free) you can view the database of more than 1200 agent and publisher profiles. Premium Members can be notified whenever an agent or publisher is added or updates their profile, in addition to receiving access to several other enviable features.

Self-Publishing

Simon & Schuster have joined with Author Solutions to form a new self-publishing program called Archway Publishing. Some writers wonder if it's ethical. Some writers are pretty confident it isn't.

Those writers believe that money should always flow to the writer. Speaking of which, happy holdidays from Kindle Direct Publishing-- KDP Select authors are getting a little bonus this year.

Resources

Need to rebrand yourself? Sometimes, a writer reaches a point where a change in brand is needed--perhaps when making the huge jump to published author. Here's an article that may be useful in rebranding social media profiles.

Here's a handy reference of publishing terms (so you know what the heck folks are talking about on the forum.) Read this list and you'll be talking like a pro in no time at all.

The Twitter Feed

Whenever I'm in the mood for a little research, current events or plain old diversion, Twitter.com is my resort. (Sometimes it's my last, too. I lose track of time there.) Here are some of the interesting Tweets I came across this week:

EMC Corporation@EMCcorp
How do you digitize 90,000 anncient books, documents & papyrus texts? via
 
JudithBriles@AuthorU
Top tips for to their podcast when doing TV and radio.

GalleyCat@GalleyCat
NaNoWriMo writers produced 3.2 billion words in a single month, 200 million more than last year

Tools of Change@toc
Join us for Author (R)evolution Day on 2/12 and learn how to succeed in today's shifting landscape

Have a great weekend, everyone!



 

Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer who resides in the heart of the Pennsylvania coal region, where she keeps the book jacket for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" in a frame over her desk. She is a tremendous fan of Jane Lebak's QTB author bio. Visit Ash's blog at www.ash-krafton.blogspot.com for news on her urban fantasy "Bleeding Hearts: Book One of the Demimonde" (Pink Narcissus Press 2012).