Columns

20 Mind Destroying Secrets about Ghostwriting

March 12th, 2020

Images via Jimmy Chan & fotografierende You might not like this article if you still believe every successful author writes his or her own books. Most of you know better. Some of you may even know people who ghostwrite. You may know people who have used ghostwriters, but you may or may not be aware of who they are.

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Spring Cleaning For Writers

March 11th, 2020

Ah, spring. Nothing like sweating under your coat one day and freezing your junk off the next. Pollen in your nostrils, flu in your eyes. It’s really the perfect preparation for the worst time of year: summer, the suckiest season of all the sucky seasons. Don’t fight me on this.

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How to Get Paid as a Freelancer

March 10th, 2020

Original image via uglykittens.crew Okay, so you're a freelancer. I feel your pain! I've been doing the freelance thing for a dozen years. I started writing for blogs that didn't pay and worked my way up to what you're currently reading, as well as places like Publishers Weekly and NPR. I've learned a lot along the way, especially in terms of getting paid. I will give you some pointers below. Some are more serious than others, but all of them will be useful to you.

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Can One-Star Reviews Still Convince Readers to Buy Books?

March 9th, 2020

Photo by Alan Baxter I notice a lot of discussions centered around the importance of reviews. Are they or aren’t they? One author told me they don’t ever read reviews of any kind about any book, especially reviews of their own books, and they are not convinced they’re of any importance or have any impact on a book’s sale-ability. That might be true for that author, but personally I don't think it's an accurate assessment of reviews in general. 

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12 Tools Every Self-Published Author Should Have in Their Toolkit

March 6th, 2020

Header via Unsplash These days, it’s easier than ever to publish a book. The ability to do so is literally at the fingertips of anyone with a computer and internet connection. That being said, building a career as a self-published author takes a lot more than just writing a book and uploading it to Amazon.

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Celebrate Women In Horror All Year Long With Season-Specific Reading

March 5th, 2020

Women in Horror Month (or WiHM) came to a close on February 29th, and that means we'll be due to talk about the ladies of fright again on February 1st, 2021.  Or, let's just keep talking about them now, on into March, then April, then May, June, July, and so on. I'd go so far as to say we should just talk about women horror authors all year round.

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Throwing Your Own AWP

March 4th, 2020

Original image by Andrew Neil I’ve gone to AWP for 5 years in a row and tabled at the last 4 of them. It’s one of the largest gatherings of small presses, universities, and magazines. It’s an event where people will come to your table and ask: do you have poetry? It’s a beautiful thing. I love this conference. 

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A Brief History of Invisible Men in Literature

March 3rd, 2020

No, not your absent father. No, not your spouse when you’re looking for someone to sweep out the garage with you. I’m talking men who are not visible because of some accident, experiment, magic, or science. Although I guess your father could be absent because of an accident... You know what? Let’s leave the topic of runaway fathers alone. Let’s focus on a different set of jerks: invisible men in literature.

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Read Across America to Celebrate Literacy and Dr. Seuss

March 2nd, 2020

I will read all through Montana I will read across Alaska I will read in New York City I will read in Mississippi I will read way down in Texas And throughout the state of Kansas I will read from California All the way to North Dakota I will read tucked up in Main And from the sea down through the plains I will read out in the mountains Then find my way back to Wisconsin I will read in the middle of the country Now will everybody join me?

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EMMA. is a Charming, Self-Aware Adaptation of Jane Austen's Work

February 28th, 2020

As I walked down a New York City street toward the Angelika Film Center & Cafe in the cold of winter, my friend and I chatted about our expectations for EMMA., the new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, directed by Autumn de Wilde and starring Anya Taylor-Joy. “It’s definitely trying to do something,” we concluded. “It’s got a vibe.” We just couldn’t figure out what that something was, and more importantly, whether we would like it.

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