Fifteen years ago, I wrote a children’s book to teach the seven continents to my second-grade students who could not imagine a world outside of their own community. Amy’s Travels became the first children’s picture book to teach all seven continents. Based on the true story of my college suitemate Amy, the example of Latina…
Writing Short Stories: 5 Authors on The Craft of Short Story Writing – K.T. Mehra | Guest Post
There is magic in a great short story. Short stories can capture your imagination like nothing else, and in as short a time as your morning coffee break. How do you write a great short story that moves someone in just a few pages? We’ve gathered 5 world-famous authors on just that! Here’s 5 authors…
How to Write a Strong Female Character the Right Way – Jennifer Jacksons | Guest Post
Over the past decades, the term “strong female characters” has become a buzzword in the literary world. Strong female characters basically refer to those women in books, poems, and other works of literature who possess strong qualities and convictions. They are the female characters that women in real life ought to idolize. For the past…
Writing and Reading for Pleasure (July 2020): Douglas Burcham
Douglas Burcham writes another (maybe last) post in his “Writing and Reading for Pleasure” series. 1.0 Introduction On 1st June 2020 I celebrated being a writer for ten years. Writing is not a short-term activity. The first three years – a million words of draft modern fantasy fiction and then five years of not…
5 Tips on Writing for Children | Guest Post
Writing for children is not as easy as it seems. Compared to adults, children are more difficult to please, and their literary taste are harder to satisfy. When writing for children, it is always necessary to strike a balance between being amusing but not bewildering; reflective but not condescending; and distinct but not complex. If you…
The Half-Life of Published Works is Shrinking. Here’s What Publishers Need to Do – Paul Perry | Guest Post
Less than two minutes. That’s how long the average user spends on a website consuming content that interests them. The old days of publishing are long gone. Captive audiences no longer subscribe to a few news outlets, spending hours consuming one or more newspapers or magazines in their entirety over morning coffee. These days, people graze…
Ages of Bestselling Authors – Francesca Bjorkegren | Guest Post
In The Book, a small publishing house, has undertaken research on the age of New York Times bestselling authors when they published their first bestseller. From this, they have created an interactive index to look at, in a new way, how old each bestselling author was when they published their very first bestselling work of…
Do Traditional Publishers Hate Self-Published Authors? – Joseph McLean | Guest Post
As far as sticking points go in the literary world, publishing tops the list of controversies. Why? Well, to put it mildly, some authors simply want to be able to publish their works, or self-publish as it’s commonly called, while others hold the notion that literary works have to follow the ‘normal’ or traditional route…
Self-Publish or Not: Advice from a Traditional Publisher – Joseph McLean | Guest Post
Only a couple of decades ago, book publishing used to be a long and challenging process. But the situation has changed drastically thanks to the rise of digital technologies, so now almost anyone can choose to publish a book on his/her own. Self-publishing has become a major trend in the literary universe. The latest studies…
6 Reasons Why Your Book Isn’t Getting Published – Paige Wheeler | Guest Post
So, you’ve finished your manuscript. Congratulations! If you want to publish your book through the traditional channels, that means you’re going to need to start looking for an agent or submitting your book to publishers, (but if you want to get published by one of the five major publishers, you’ll need to get an agent).…