Link Feast for Writers, vol. 29
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
Want To Be Read 100 Years From Now? Here’s How by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
On Writing
“We are more afraid of our light than our darkness”
– Marianne Williamson
10 Tips to Help You Finish Your Novel and/or ‘Win’ NaNoWriMo by Jenny Hansen
What’s Your Writing Personality by K.M. Weiland
Build Your Reading List by Gabriela Pereira
Use These 2 Crazy Notions and Never Lose Your Motivation to Write by Krissy Brady
(What is your dream goal as a writer? What do you want to achieve during your author career? Does it fire you up?)
The Biggest Problem Facing the Beginning Novelist – And 6 Tips for Avoiding It by Anne R. Allen
Music as Writing Inspiration by Fae Rowan
The Risk and Reward of “Writing What You Know” by Natalie Sypolt
Is Your Idea Good Enough? by Jacob Krueger
Combine Many Awesome Ideas Into One Brilliant Novel by Carrie Vaughn
When Bad Ideas Sabotage Killer Concepts by Larry Brooks
Wait – That Can Happen?? by Katie Mills
(Be careful about how much information you share online about a partially done manuscript, especially blurbs and queries)
Transformational Journeys: Working With Archetypes by Robin LaFevers
Creating the Perfect Villain by Jacob Kruger (5 min video)
Using Pinch Points to Increase Narrative Drive by Karen Woodward
Flirting 101: Bust a Move by Angela Ackerman
Writer’s Roadmap: Using Excel to Keep Your Novel Organized by Laura Drake
2 Ways Your Brain Is Wired to Undermine Your Story and What To Do About It by Lisa Cron
What Type of Edit Does Your Book Need by Marcy Kennedy
Checklist For a Good and Helpful Critique by Kathy Steffen
Series vs. Stand-Alone: What Should We Work On Next by Jami Gold
Series or a Stand-Alone? How To Decide by Deborah Raney
How To Write a Kick Ass Series by Carrie Vaughn
What’s the Difference Between Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy by Karen Woodward
The Kids Are All Right: Greg van Eekhout and Carrie Vaughn on YA and MG by Myke Cole
Bacon, Booze and Books: What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank by Krista D. Ball (a writers’ guide, a cookbook, and a history of food all rolled into one)
Your Author Platform
Do You Really Need To Brand Yourself to Sell Stuff? by Mars Dorian
Why Settle For Your Reader’s Wallet When You Can Get Into Her PANTS by Kristen Lamb (hilarious post)
Using Technology to Sell Books: Quick Response Codes (QR Codes) by Karen Woodward
Micromoney As a Much-Needed Pat on the Back by Carrie Vaughn
How To Earn a Living As a Self-Published Author by Karen Woodward
The Gangnam Style to Becoming a Writing Rockstar by Carol Tice
(You don’t have to be outrageous but you need to do something special and different to be memorable. What’s your thing?)
Which Is the Best Social Media For Connecting With Readers by Jody Hedlund
A Painless Way To Use Social Media to Build an Evangelist Filled Fan Base by Tracy Atkins at Duolit
The Perfect Landing Page: Inside the Mind Episode 6 by Tommy Walker (7:17 min video)
Are Blog Tours Losing Their Promotional Power? by Katie Mills
10 Marketing Techniques That Annoy Readers by Jon Gibbs
7 Ways Authors Can Market Without Internet by Jody Hedlund
Being Influencer Isn’t Just About Getting a Free Book by Jody Hedlund
How Bestseller Lists Work by Tim Ferriss
D. D. Scott’s Indie Epublishing Strategic Planning – Part One
A Business Plan For Self-Published Authors – Part 1 by Denise Grover Swank
A Business Plan For Self-Published Authors – Part 2 by Denise Grover Swank
A Business Plan For Self-Published Authors – Part 3 by Denise Grover Swank
Start Your eBook Promotion on Your Amazon Book Page by Gordon Kessler
Many successful authors like Joanna Penn and C.J. Lyons also offer writing courses or guides. Have you ever considered turning your knowledge into a product? (Like a course, an eBook or a podcast) If so, this might help.
The Teaching Sells 20-Step Process for Building an Online Business (PFD) [Available this week only]
Blogging
High Concept Blogging: Achieving Bloggy Goodness In Record Time by Jenny Hansen
How To Prevent Content Creation Burnout by Brancica Underwood
The Problem With Blogging Only When You Have Something To Say by Sarah Arrow
The Death of the How To Article by Tommy Walker
3 Great Ways To Say Thank You to Your Blog Community by Danny Brown
3 Things Bloggers Should Do To Promote Their Posts But Don’t by Alice Elliott
Why Your Blog Commenting Has No Results by Brancica Underwood
Social Media
When Social Media Becomes a Time Suck by Jody Hedlund
The 3 Phases of Social Media Strategy by Srini Rao (I’ve posted the link before but this is worth re-reading)
Social Media and (Self-Imposed) Guidelines by Elana Johnson
Adding Your eBook to Goodreads by Tamara Ward
Facebook vs. Twitter: Where the Readers Are by Roni Loren
How To Tweet So People Will Listen by Nina Badzin
Simple Tricks to Improve Your Facebook Engagement [Infograpgic] by Francisco Rosales
Collected Wisdom
Blog Treasures by Gene Lempp
Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig
Friday Features by Yesenia Vargas
Deep Stuff
Lazy and Found by Shannon Lell (I can totally relate save for the pot part)
“With this much horse crap, there’s bound to be a pony around here somewhere!”
– Naomi at Ittybiz
Is This the End of the Story? by Naomi at Ittybiz (an inspiring pep talk no matter what you are doing)
Strong Evidence That Humanity Is Capable of Preventing Global Environmental Disaster by Annalee Newitz
(really interesting article on how humanity eradicated slavery and has greatly reduced wars)
Fun Stuff
Happy 10th Anniversary Firefly! “No Power In The Verse Can Stop Me” Music Video
Designing From Bones: The Underworld by Gene Lempp
Designing From Bones: Unearthing Merlin’s Bones by Gene Lempp
Doctor Kitty Solves All Your Love Problems by Carrie Vaughn (Urban Fantasy short story)
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About Reetta
I'm a Finnish fantasy / urban fantasy writer who loves reading, roleplaying and all things medieval. 
Another fantastic link fest, Reeta. Thanks for all this hard work!
Debra Eve recently posted..How Bram Stoker Handled A Soul-Sucking Boss + Annual Dracula Giveaway
I freaking love these feasts!!! Thanks for including the links from More Cowbell and Writers In The Storm – we all felt very loved.
p.s. You are not helping my NaNoWriMo efforts AT ALL. I have like 12 tabs open right now. 🙂
Jenny Hansen recently posted..The Bag Whore Goes Commando! (The Sad Tale of The Blue Papier-Mache Thong)
My pleasure, Jenny. And sorry 😛 But if you can valiantly resist the temptation to browse right away, links are a great reward for fulfilling your word goal.
Merci beaucoup, Debra. And a Bram Stoker post! *rushes off to read*
Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s blogs are the best! Especially her business posts – a must-read for me every Thursday.
And the blog titled “Wait – that can Happen?” I’m O_o at the thought that someone would actually steal another writer’s ideas (as if I don’t have enough of my own). Scary! Especially since I posted the Next Big Thing yesterday.
I had to use some restraint and stop after reading four or five of these, because it’s almost 9pm and I still have to get my NaNo words in. Thanks again for finding and sharing all this good stuff!
Jennette Marie Powell recently posted..WANA Wednesday, the Next Big Thing, and ROW80 update
Kristine and her husband Dean Wesley Smith have been involved with publishing for over 20 years so they have a perspective not many in the field do.
And yeah, idea theft is a scary and sad prospect. I have so many ideas of my own too that I don’t see the need to use someone else’s. But there is a whole business of coming up with high concept ideas and hiring a writer to write the book when the company retains copyrights. For example the Vampire Diaries series started like that.
But if you want to share what you write, it might be best to do it as publicly as possible so you timestamp the ideas, and can later prove it was your idea first. Of course concepts are not finished stories and they can’t be copyrighted. Still, you can get some moral satisfaction from everyone knowing you were the original thinker.
This is an amazing list and I was only able to read about 1/3 of them. Thanks!
Julie Hedlund recently posted..National I Love to Write Day
Thanks for reading, Julie 🙂