Link Feast For Writers, vol. 18
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.
(Next week I’ll be doing something different. The Feast is dedicated to setting/worldbuilding. It’s an area that touches many aspects of writing, like characters, plot ideas and theme)
If You Have Time For Just One Thing
Raise the Stakes by Kara Lennox
On Writing
Parenting Tips For Writers by Janet Fitch
Writer and Parent? Tips For Finding Your New Balance by John Scalzi
5 Ways Your Brain Sabotages Your Writing And What To Do About It by Kimberly Turner
How To Effectively Create More Time To Write by Krissy Brady
9 Productivity Tips For Writers by Joanna Penn
Books Like Mine by April Dávila
Write About What Makes You Angry by Alexandra Sokoloff
Evaluating Your Ideas by Jill Kemerer
Give Your Protagonist an Anomaly To Generate Interest by Bob Mayer
The Ideal Setting by Carrie Vaughn
Transition As Metaphor by Chris Rosales
Tips On Subtext – What It Really Is by Shannon Donnelly
Race in YA Lit by Sarah Ockler
Revision Checklist (PDF) by Jill Kemerer
20 Common Grammar Mistakes Almost Everyone Gets Wrong by Jon Gingerich
Naming Your Characters by Jodie Renner
In Praise of Ripening by Marcia Yudkin
7 Excellent Reasons To Enter Writing Contests by Tiffany Jansen
The Top Ten Query Mistakes by Rachelle Gardner
Query Letter Tips – Advice From Writer’s Digest’s Chuck Sambuchino by Jennifer Jensen
My Querying Journey by Lydia Kang
Your Author Platform
Your Clear Message: Get Your Potential Reader Curious Now by Beth Barany
What the Heck Is a Voice? by Abby Kerr (4 illuminating examples)
Illuminating Voices – Part 2 by Abby Kerr (8 more examples)
The Slap-Your-Head-Simple Secret for Selling More Books by Toni at Duolit
Social Media: Your Shadow Career by Porter Anderson (if you have time, read also the comments. They have good insights)
Extra Ether: Shadowy Platforms by Porter Anderson
Why Social Media Isn’t the Magic Bullet For Self-ePublished Authors by Ewan Morrison
One Page Marketing Plan – PDF (Pro Business Writer)
10 Steps To Mastering Your Book Marketing Plan by Laura Pepper Wu
How To Market a Kindle Book (a wiki post listing the steps. Pick & choose the steps that suit you)
What Is The Goal of Your Home Page? by Brad Shorr
Buzz Doesn’t Sell Books, Community Does – Interview with Penelope Trunk by Matt Gartland
7 Things You Can Do To Right Now To Improve Your Author Website by Laura Pepper Wu
Writers Can’t Do It Alone by M.K. McClintock (3 sites helping authors & readers to connect)
Measuring Your Reach by Liz Schulte
A Book Launch Is an Investment in a Long-Term Career by Cynthia Morris
7 Deadly Email List Building Mistakes by Robert Middleton
Image Desperation: The Kiss of Death For a Self-Publishing Author (Book Cover Express)
(A Rabbit-Trailed) Book Rewiew: Michael Hyatt’s Platform by Ann Lynn Andrews
Blogging
Is Blogging a Waste of Time For Writers? by April Dávila (Why do you blog?)
Should Writers Blog About Writing? Some Answers by Yesenia Vargas
How To Find Your Passion by Amy Lynn Andrews
How To Find a Unique Angle in a Crowded Niche by Amy Lynn Andrews
Charles Darwin’s 12 Rules of Blogging Survival by Tom Treanor (Pick one and do that better than anyone)
10 Questions For Planning Out a Year of Blogging by Brandon Cox
How To Organize Your Blogging Time by Amy Lynn Andrews
7 Tips For a Balanced Blogger Life (Mom Advice)
9 Keys To Blogging Success From A-List Bloggers by Joel Friedlander
What Makes Readers Lose Interest in a Blog by Amy Lynn Andrews
10 Blogging Don’ts For Writers by Yesenia Vargas
105 Author Blog Prompts (Duolit)
Copywriting Essentials From A to Z by Ali Luke
Do the Wrong Thing: The Benefits of Unconventional Headlines by Ollin Morales
Long vs. Short posts (Pushing Social)
6 Tips For Creating a Good Call To Action by Amy Lynn Andrews
How To Make Your Blog a Pinterest Magnet (Mom Advice)
6 Ways To Recycle Your Old Content by Amy Lynn Andrews
How To Optimize Twitter Sharing On Your Blog by Amy Lynn Andrews
Why I Stopped Using Feedburner To Serve My Blog Subscribers by Jane Friedman
How Does Your Site Look On Mobile Devices? by Amy Lynn Andrews
Social Media
Where Should I Focus My Time? Tips For Social Media Use by Robert Lee Brewer
The 80/20 Rule: How To Promote Your Books On Social Networking Sites by Paula Margulies
10 Ways To Get More REAL Twitter Followers by Allison at Blog World
How To Embed Tweets & Ways To Use Them by Amy Lynn Andrews
The Ultimate Guide To Facebook Marketing by Andrea Vahl
How To Get a Vanity URL For Your Facebook Fan Page by Amy Lynn Andrews
Pinterest & Copyright by Amy Lynn Andrews (6 links with advice)
Writers, Why It’s Time To Renew Your Love Affair With Pinterest by Kristen Lamb
The Ultimate List of Pinterest Tips by Amy Lynn Andrews
Collected Wisdom
Twitterific by Elizabeth Spann Craig (August 5th)
Blog Treasures by Gene Lempp (August 4th)
Friday Features by Yesenia Vargas (August 3rd)
Fill Me In Friday by Roni Loren (August 3rd)
Deep Stuff
A Story of Balls & Work Life Balance by Jenny Hansen
How To Journal: 5 Tips For Capturing Your Best Ideas by Cheryl Craigie
6 Common Diets That Cramp Creativity by August McLaughlin
The Practice of Stillness by Michael Hyatt
Talking To Children About Death by Julie Glover (thank you Jenny Hansen)
The Fat Friend by Allie Sanders (also found via Jenny Hansen)
Lets Talk Sex by C.C. MacKenzie
Ecce Orcus! An Argument For Humanizing the Orc by Mordicai Knode
Fun Stuff
Eyecandy (Aleksd has gathered a wide variety of cool Pinterest boards)
Bookshelf Porn (brilliant bookshelves)
11 Geeky Wedding & Engagement Rings by Jill Harness at Mental Floss
6 Most Accidentally Erotic Images of the 2012 Olympics by Adam Tod Brown at cracked.com
100 Best-Ever YA Novels (npr.org)
10 Instances In Which History Meets Geekery by Rebecca Pahle at The Mary Sue
5 Ridiculous Gun Myths Everyone Believes Thanks To Movies by Robert Evans at cracked.com
A Timeline of Future Events (as mentioned in sci-fi books) by Jane Hu at The Awl
11 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- 8 Parenting Tips from Janet Fitch (Author of White Oleander) | Jenny Hansen's Blog - [...] Shout out to Reetta Raitanen: Huge thanks for including Janet’s post in your last “Links Feast!” [...]
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About Reetta
I'm a Finnish fantasy / urban fantasy writer who loves reading, roleplaying and all things medieval. 
Reetta,
OMG, it is a feast!! I have so many tabs open, I’m going to have to follow Janet Fitch’s advice and forget the cleaning. 🙂
Thanks for the feast, and many, many thanks for including Writers In the Storm’s post from Kara Lennox!
Jenny Hansen recently posted..A Story of Balls and Work-Life Balance…How Do You Prioritize?
Hah, thanks 😀 Cleaning is overrated. The dust bunnies come back with vengeance in no time. And Writers in the Storm is one the coolest joint writing blogs there is.
Thanks, Reetta! I posted on social media over there today. 🙂
Jenny Hansen recently posted..Who Cares for the Caregivers?
What a wonderful smorgasbord! Need to go to bed here in California, but can’t wait to dig into these resources. And thanks for mentioning Your Clear Message: Get Your Potential Reader Curious Now from the Writers Fun Zone blog.
Thanks for the visit and great blog, Beth 🙂
Wow, Reetta, this is quite a link-fest! I agree with Jenny above – I’ll have so many tabs open I won’t get any writing done today! Maybe I’ll just keep your blog up and open a few at a time.
Thanks so much for including me in such good company!
Jennifer Jensen (@jenjensen2) recently posted..Weather Droughts, Personal Droughts
I know the feeling of having dozens of tabs open at the same time. I do it after the other link collection posts 🙂 Having just one or two windows open at the same time is supposedly most efficient. But it feels so slow!
‘Feast’ is the perfect word for this post, Reetta. Thanks for the fantastic links and including mine. 🙂 Hope you’re having a super week.
August McLaughlin recently posted..Fearlessness and Frozen Peas: Takeaways From Anxiety
Thank you, August. The best thing about these links is that they’re calor free 😀
Always the best, Reetta! There are so many here I want to read. But then, it’s like that every week. I need another me to keep up! Thank you for finding all of these. You are amazing!
Debra Kristi recently posted..When You Need to Break Away…
My pleasure, Debra. I love browsing writing and marketing sites.