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Link Feast For Writers, vol. 42

This batch of links comes on Thursday again. I made this edition a little thicker as I will be on a blogging hiatus next week. Hubby is on a vacation so we’ll have family time.

Enjoy the links! Until March.

If You Have Time For Only One Thing

Create Your Personal Vision – You Can Do It If You Can See It by Cigdem Kobu

On Writing

Be the Watchdog For Your Own Rights by Susan Spann

The Most Important Quality in Best-Selling Authors by Jody Hedlund

Making Writing Resolutions That Stick by Gabriela Pereira

Turning Those Writing Resolutions Into Reality by Gabriela Pereira

The Hardest Writerly Truth of Them All by Chuck Wendig

How to Stick to Your Goals by Veronica Sicoe

Yoga For Writers by Raima Larter

Prewriting: The Trick to Preventing Writer’s Block by David Farland

Write In the Flush of the Moment to Free Up Flow by Sam Horn

How to Increase Concentration – The 5 Key Steps by Sulagna Dasgupta

Make Your Own MFA in Creative Writing: How to Build a DIY Creative Writing Curriculum by Chris Robley

8 Tips From Chuck Wendig on How to Read Like a Writer by Karen Woodward

Beyond the Basics: 5 Ways to Take Your Writing Further by Joanna Penn

How Do You Know Your Writing Is Getting Better? by Janice Hardy

Words From George R.R. Martin by Aderyn Wood

Analyzing What to Write by David Farland

Analyzing Your Novel’s Audience by David Farland (that elusive High Concept)

Audience Analysis, Part 2 by David Farland

Do We Stick With a Genre or Write What We Feel? by Julia Robb

Fate Core and Creation of Magical Worlds by Karen Woodward

On Writing the Non-Western Fantasy Setting by Miriam Forster

Writing Race in YA by Nicola K. Richardson

How to Raise the Stakes in Your First 50 Pages of Your Novel by Jeff Gerke

Can Story Themes Help Pantsers Write? by Jami Gold

Three Ways to Ground Readers In Your World by Janice Hardy

Spinach Scenes (And How to Deal With Them) by Leila Austin

Five Ways to Create Context In Your Story by Dr. John Yeoman

Voice Tips From Pros by Becca Puglisi

How to Revise For a Stronger Theme by Jami Gold

3 Ways to Compress Your Story Like Les Misérables by Joe Bunting

What Makes a Romance Novel Truly Romantic by Jody Hedlund

The Pride and Prejudice Beat Sheet by Marilyn Brant

Writing Historicals – How Accurate Must You Be? by Anne Cleeland

Writing a Feel Good Story by Karen Woodward

Writing Warm and Fuzzy by David Farland

Testosterone Fueled Fiction by David Farland

How to Write Short Story Characters by Karen Woodward

6 Ways to Stand Out At a Writer’s Conference by Barbara Santos

Book Marketing

Author Platform Starter Kit (72 page long PDF) by Dan Blank (AWESOME resource)

You, amplified (a poem about marketing) by Colleen Wainwright

Designing a Brand That Works – 6 Key Elements by Tea Silvestre

11 Tips For Creating a Remarkable Brand by Tea Silvestre

6 Places to Look Outside Your Business Niche for Creative Inspiration (& 3 Places Never To Look) by Abby Kerr

5 Goldenly Creative Ways to Tell Your Brand Story by Tea Silvestre

Taking Responsibility For Your Marketing Plan by David Farland

Building a Platform vs. Promoting a Book by Rachelle Gardner

Bigger Bang For Your Marketing Bucks by Tea Silvestre

Are You Neglecting This Important Book Sales Tool? 5 Steps to a Great Blurbs by Mark Edwards

10 Ways Proven to Draw Readers to Your Novel’s Website by Thomas Ummstattd

The Cheese Factor: Keep the “Cheesiness” Out of Your Author Website by Kerry Lonsdale

Build Your Mailing List! 5 Ideas That Really Work by Toni Tesori of DuoLit

Email Marketing For Authors: 6 Articles by Chris Robley

Teaching Your Fans to Shout Out For You by David Farland

Getting Book Reviews: Hit Me With Your Best Pitch by Kelly Jensen

How to Take a Good Author Photo by Chris Robley

5 Tips to Improve Your Amazon Author Central Page by Cat Rambo

Life in an Ottoman Harem by Colin Falconer (This is one of the most interesting book promotion posts I’ve ever seen. A great story)

(Self-)Publishing

Think Like a Publisher 2013: Return on Investment by Dean Wesley Smith

Are Self-Pub Books the New Slush Pile? by Rachelle Gardner

Query Letters: Author Meagan Spooner and Agent Josh Adams discuss SKYLARK by Stephanie Kuehn

Ebook Parts by J.A. Konrath

Using a Variety of eBook Price Points to Build an Indie ePublishing Empire by D.D. Scott

2013 YA Cover Trends, Part 1 by Kelly Jensen

2013 YA Cover Trends by Kelly Jensen

2013 YA Cover Trends, Part 3 by Kelly Jensen

Blogging

How to Find Your Message and Stand Out by Justin Dixon

Blog For Your Right People by Abby Kerr

17 Ways to Turn Your Blog Readers Into Loyal Fans by Tea Silvestre

7 Surprising Things About Blogging by Victoria Mixon

Blogging Tips: 3 Fast Fixes by Angela Ackerman

The Science of Storytelling: 6 Ways to Write More Persuasive Stories by Gregory Ciotti

How Do You Feel About Re-Posting Old Blog Posts? by Janice Hardy

Social Media

Where’s the Line Between Spamming and Sharing by Jami Gold

The Brave New World of Social Media – Love Never Needs Updating by Kristen Lamb

12 Social Media Mistakes For Authors to Avoid by Anne R. Allen

Quick-Start Pinterest Tips by Stormy Sweitzer

Books, Reading and Pinterest by Kelly Jensen

YA Authors on Pinterest by Kristen Hubbard

LinkedIn—Making The Most of Your Six Seconds by Jenny Hansen

Collected Wisdom

Writing Resources by Gene Lempp

Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig

Deep Stuff

Date a Girl Who Reads by Rosemarie Urquico (I’ll definately give this spiel to my kids when they’re older 🙂 )

Why Do We Read? by David Farland

How to Be Creative When Your Brain Doesn’t Want to Play by Gary Korisko

The Story of a Boy Who Went to Prison by Shannon Lell

Beauty of a Woman Blogfest: Do Breasts Define the Female? by Jenny Hansen

Beauty of a Woman Blogfest: What Would You Trade to Look Young Forever by Marcy Kennedy

An 18-Minute Plan Managing Your Day by Peter Bregman

18 Minutes Free Resources by Peter Bregman

Smile At Your Unfinished List by Jonathan Mead

Fun Stuff

The Best Stuff Revealed in the Game of Thrones Season 2 Blu-Ray Set by Chris Lough

“As You Wish…” Eight Unabashedly Romantic SF/F Love Stories by Ryan Britt and Emily Asher-Perrin

The 5 Soapiest Romances in the Star Wars Expanded Universe by Natalie Zutter

Explore a Living Map of Ankh-Morpork by Stubby the Rocket

10 SFF Book Series So Addictive Tou Never Want Them to End by Charlie Jane Anders

10 Fantasy Book Series That Could Replace Harry Potter at the Movies by Charlie Jane Anders

2012 Nebula Award Finalists Announced (Tor.com)

Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia by Rachel Swirsky (Nebula Award Nominated Short Story)

Fiction Affliction: February Releases In Urban Fantasy by Suzanne Johnson

Fiction Affliction: February Releases in Fantasy by Suzanne Johnson

Fiction Affliction: Genre Benders For February by Suzanne Johnson

Creating a Sub-Genre by Accident: Georgette Heyer’s The Corinthian by Mari Ness

Posted by Reetta Raitanen on Feb 22, 2013 in Writer Wednesday | 3 comments

Link Feast For Writers, vol. 41

Writing blogs are a great way to learn about the craft and marketing our work. Enjoy the posts I’ve hoarded, some older, some recent.

If You Have Time For Only One Thing

Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing: Enjoy the Best of Both Worlds – Interview with C.J. Lyons by Jane Friedman

On Writing

Feeling Overwhelmed? Eat That Frog by Kristen Lamb

Organizing: Eat Dessert First! | Dialogue is War | Make Readers Click On Buy by Randy Ingermansson (eZine PDF)

Why You Get Nothing Done When You Have a Lot On Your Plate by Shanna Mann

5 Quick Tips to Write More by Kathy Steffen

Writing Goals Sheet by Gabriela Pereira at DIY MFA

Enemies of the Art, Part 7 – Failure to Focus by Kristen Lamb

8 Tips For Finding Motivation to Write by Karen Woodward

Closing the Gap: Moving from Notebook to Story by Susan Jackson Rodgers

Dwight V. Swain on How to Write a Novel by Karen Woodward

“In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you” – Mortimer J. Adler

How to Write a Character From Start to Finish by Jeff Gerke

Tags, Traits and Tells by Karen Woodward

The Table Theory of Characterization by Ryan Howse (uses Firefly as an example <3)

The Elementary Life of a Sidekick by Alex Bledshoe

How to Build a Story World Based on a Character by Jeno Marz

Roleplaying Games, Writing and Creation of Magic Systems by Karen Woodward

The Inciting Incident/Call to Action (Key Story Elements) by Alexandra Sokoloff

How to Add Jeopardy to Your Story Before the Main Conflict Starts? by Roz Morris

37 Ways to Keep Readers’ Pulses Racing—and Keep Them Reading by Jordan McCollum

Theme Me Up: How to Develop Your Theme by Janice Hardy

Alternative Ways to Describe Character Reactions by Janice Hardy

Good Writing: Using the Senses by Karen Woodward

A Short Course in Line Editing by Michelle Seaton

Analyzing Story Structure by Karen Woodward

Top Ten Romantic Movies by Alexandra Sokoloff

5 Techniques to Spice Up Your Writing by Jon Morrow

The Terrible Addiction by Annie Laurie Cechini

Book Marketing

“Marketing is just telling the right story to the right people.” – C.J. Lyons

Learn Your Craft, Dummy – No, I’m Not Talking About Writing by Edward Robertson

Why Even a Novelist Should Know How to Write Strong Copy by Dana Sitar

The 5 Phases of Microbusiness Brand Development by Abby Kerr

Your Secret Sauce: 9 Steps to Creating an Addicting Brand by Tea Silvestre

The Marketing Rule of 7 by Tea Silvestre

The Author With the Biggest Mailing List Wins by David Gaughran

3 Steps to Building Your Street Team by C.J. Lyons

5 Ways to Market Your Romance Novel by Tim Grahl

4 Great Examples of Author Websites by Caitlin Muir (AuthorMedia)

Are You Making This HUGE Book Marketing Mistake? by Shannon at DuoLit

How to Sell eBooks by J.A. Konrath

Your Amazon Author Central Page by Bufo Calvin

(Self-)Publishing

SWOT Your Way to a Sustainable Writing Business by Vickie Taylor

Why Writing Is a Business and How to Win At It by Nick Thacker

Recipe For a Successful Synopsis by Jami Gold

Checklist: The 6 Essentials For Submitting Your Novel to Agents by Brian A. Klems

5 Things I’ve Learned From Self-Publishing by James Calbraith

THING 2. Sucessful Seduction and the Naked Truth: Rethink Cover Design for a Small, Small World by Elle Lothlorien

Why and How to Use Multimedia to Enchance Your eBooks by Harry Guinness

What I’d Like to See from eBooksellers in 2013: A Holiday Wishlist by Edward Robertson (Great analysis of strenghts and weaknesses of Amazon, Nook etc.)

What About the Needs of the Reader? by Elizabeth S. Craig

Why Children Hold The Key To Your Future As An Author by Jonathan Gunson

Blogging

How Not To Show Up Like an A-List Blogger by Charlie Gilkey

Quirky Much? How Your Oddities, Flaws and Peculiar Habits Help You Build a Stronger Brand by Tea Silvestre

How to Create an Agile Content Marketing Strategy (and Stay Sane Doing It) by Pamela Wilson

Your Signature Dish: How to Create a Program That Sizzles by Tea Silvestre

5 Silly Ways You’re Sabotaging Your Blog without Even Realizing It by Tommy Walker

Experiences That Make Readers Excited to Spread Your Message by Danny Iny

Why Guru Strategies for Blog Growth DON’T WORK… and What Does! by Danny Iny

Wordalicious – How to Choose the Tastiest Words For Your Message by Tea Silvestre

5 Elevator Pitch Tips For Your Blog by Amy Lynn Andrews

What Happens If You Stop Blogging? by Annabel Candy

Social Media

Digital Sheep Get Slaughtered – Being Safe On Social Media by Kristen Lamb

Feeling Overwhelmed With Social Media? Social Media Can Make Us Crazy–Part 2 by Kristen Lamb

Promoting Your Book on Facebook and Twitter Is a Total Waste of Time by Mary W. Walters (the antithesis)

How to Use Twitter to Develop and Promote Your Zone of Genius by Justine Musk

7 Splendid Articles on Using Goodreads As an Author by Iain Broome

Collected Wisdom

Writing Resources by Gene Lempp

Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig

Deep Stuff

Show Up In a Different Way by Charlie Gilkey

The One Thing You Must Do To Achieve Break-Through Results by Michael Hyatt

Restock Your Happiness Well by Ginger Calem

“People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” – Dalai Lama

Do We Have the Right to Judge Other People? by Marcy Kennedy

The Truth About Constipation and Life by Shannon Lell

Note to Self: Don’t Get Organized by Gretchen Rubin

Library Love: The Sexy Librarian And Our Collective Imagination by Stephanie Bonjack

Defeating the Great Depression by Sarah Hoyt

23 Science Books That Are So Exciting They Read Like Genre Fiction by Annalee Newitz (great material for all writers with a dystopian bend)

Fun Stuff

What Kind of a Book Reader Are You? A Diagnostics Guide by Jen Doll (Thanks for the link, Jenny Hansen!)

Incredibly Weird Photos of People With Their Pets (Mommy Has a Potty Mouth)

Movie Spoilers: Who exactly is Peter Dinklage playing in X-Men: Days of Future Past? (and other cool tidbits) by Alasdair Wilkins

The 12 Most Horrifically Bad Dates in All of Science Fiction and Fantasy by Meredith Woerner

The 7 Greatest Bromances in Space by Rob Bricken (fear not, no slash here)

Trailer Frenzy: A Creepy Near Future Book About Government Experiments on Teenagers by Annalee Newitz

Posted by Reetta Raitanen on Feb 14, 2013 in Writer Wednesday | 6 comments

Link Feast For Writers, vol. 40

This week’s Link Feast comes on Thursday since my and my kids have been sick as dogs for the past week. I haven’t been able to start compiling the old links I promised. But I hope you don’t mind mostly fresh links instead 🙂

I was surprised by how fast I could whip this up. Having a steady system, and no time to get side tracked and get perfectionist helped.

If you have a preference of what kind of links would be useful to you right now, please let me to know in the comments.

If You Have Time For Only One Thing

Book Marketing for Shy Authors by Laura Pepper Wu

On Writing

Redefining the Writing Conference by Kristen Lamb (Join the first WANACon)

6 Steps to Launching a Dream by Andy Traub

Who’s On Your Team? by Jael McHenry

What to Do When Our Families Don’t Support Our Writing by Jody Hedlund

Creating Your Literary Ecosystem: The 10 Elements of a Successful Writing Career by Chris Robley

How To Write More And Create A Daily Writing Habit (4:55 min video) by Joanna Penn

“Do a Costanza” with Your Book’s Competition by Lynne Klippel (Do some comparative analysis before committing to writing the book. You need a fresh angle to the genre/plot/type.)

Sacred Silence – Why You and Your Book Require It by Lynne Klippel

Success: Is It Happening to You, Only You Don’t Realize It by Angela Ackerman

Lessons Learned From the Original Star Wars Trilogy to Up Your Writing Game by Lydia Sharp

The Football of Story by Art Holcomb

Authors vs. Characters: Can Our Morals Be Different by Jami Gold

3 Things You Need to Know Before Writing a Female Protagonist by Veronica Sicoe

Character Development – Distinguishing Secondary Characters From Each Others by Elizabeth S. Craig

Sleeps With Monsters: Where Are the Older Women? by Liz Bourke

How to Use Stereotypes In Your Writing by Veronica Sicoe

Key Story Elements: Opening Image by Alexandra Sokoloff

The Man (Or Woman) In the Mirror by Donald Maass

The Rule of Three by Alexandra Sokoloff

Revision: Shrunken Manuscript Technique by Darcy Pattison

Revision: Shrunken Manuscript vs. Spreadsheet Plotting by Darcy Pattison

Common Structural Problems by Stuart Horwitz

Rewriting: The Genre Pass by Alexandra Sokoloff

Five Rules For Choosing and Using Beta Readers by Lexi Ryan

Book Marketing

Got Platform? by Lynne Klippel

Why You Should Google Yourself: It’s Not Vain – It’s Good Business by Anne R. Allen

Fears That Stop You From Marketing Your Book – And How to Overcome Them by Lynne Klippel

50 Shades of… Book Buyers by Lynne Klippel

Filling a Need and Finding Your Niche by L. Diane Wolfe

When Your Book Does Not Fit: How to Ensure Your Book Delivers for Your Ideal Readers by Lynne Klippel

Using the Before, During and After Technique to Market Your Book by Lynne Klippel

10 Things to Write to Help You Rock Your Book Launch by Dana Sitar

How to Promote Your Book (When You’re Scared Out of Your Mind) by Toni at DuoLit

Get Incoming Links to Your Author Website by Dana Lynn Smith

Top 10 Ways to Promote a Virtual Book Tour by Dana Lynn Smith

The Book News Media Wants by Brian Feinblum

5 Great Author Interview Practices by Chris Robley

(Self-)Publishing

How eBook Readers Shop And The Importance Of Sampling by Joanna Penn

Self-Publishing: Prioritizing Fast, Cheap and Good by Jami Gold

Do You Judge Books by Their Covers? by Jami Gold

Blogging

Is It Finally Time For You to Step Up? by Sonia Simone (A prime example of the power of a story)

Why Some Blogs Make Me Cranky by Sharla Rae

The Art of Being Interesting by Jonathan Morrow

Forget About Lenght and Focus on Value by Danny Iny

The 3 Essentials of Breakthrough Content Marketing by Sonia Simone

The 7 Facets of Confident Writing by Greg Narayan

The Perfect Blogging Output Level by Greg Narayan

7 Libraries Of Sensational Photographs You Can Use For Free by Jonathan Gunson

Social Media

How to Find Readers on Twitter by Jonathan Gunson

How to Promote Your Books on Pinterest by Lindsay Buroker

64 Google+ Content Strategies by Maria Peagler

Collected Wisdom

Writing Resources by Gene Lempp

Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig

Friday Features by Yesenia Vargas

Deep Stuff

10 Ways to Foster a Love of Reading by Jody Hedlund

12 Cognitive Biases That Prevent You Being Rational by George Dvorsky

Read to Lead: How to Digest Books Above Your “Level” by Ryan Holiday

Surviving Transition: Impulse Power by Gene Lempp

Fun Stuff

33 People Who Will Make You Feel Better About Your Dance Moves by Benny Johnson

Two Men Get a Glimpse Into What Childbirth Feels Like (Video) by Devan McGuinness

Fiction Into Reality: Why We Borrow From What We Love by Emily Asher-Perrin

10 Greatest Prison Breaks in Science Fiction and Fantasy by Charlie Jane Anders

5 Reasons We Still Love the Fifth Element by Brian Salisbury

30 Insanely Easy Ways to Improve Your Kitchen by Alanna Okun

Posted by Reetta Raitanen on Feb 8, 2013 in Writer Wednesday | 6 comments

Link Feast For Writers, vol. 39

Writing blogs are a great way to learn about the craft and marketing our work. Enjoy the posts I’ve hoarded, some older, some recent.

Note: Starting from next week, I’ll gather together all the links from the previous Feasts. So for few weeks, you can expect old links that are the best advice I’ve ever read about the topic.

If You Have Time For Only One Thing

58 Tips for Transforming Your Blog and Dazzling Your Readers by Marya Jan

On Writing

Amazon Bestselling Author Theresa Ragan says: “Write!”

Enemies of ther Art, Part 2: Psychic Vampires by Kristen Lamb

Enemies of the Art, Part 3: F.E.A.R. by Kristen Lamb

9 Tips For Finishing That Novel by Anna Staniszewski

Super Hero Nation’s Writing Post Index (dozens of excellent posts)

Make Your Writer’s Bookshelf Work For You by Jenny Hansen

How Much Do You Understand About Your Writing Process by Janice Hardy

3 Vs of Fiction: Vision by Darcy Pattison

3 Vs of Fiction: Voice by Darcy Pattison