Link Feast For Writers, vol. 10

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.

On Writing

Scenes Must Grab Interest & Move Story Forward by Lori Devoti

Scene Structure: Goal, Conflict & Disaster by Lori Devoti

Blurb Critique by a Marketing Goddess by Edie Ramer

10 Secrets To Better Fiction by Bob Mayer

How Janet Evanovich Storyboards by Zanchary Petit at Writer’s Digest

How To Create Distinctive Character Voices by L.B. Gale

What Avengers Teaches Us About Heroes by Sarah Hoyt

I Wanna Be Evil (aka How To Do Antagonist Well) by Sarah Hoyt

The Hero’s Journey by Cornell De Ville

Paranormal Romantic Writer’s Pop Quiz by Lynn Viehl (sadly the examples here are from real books, some even bestselling series)

Tools For Developing Characters: Must-Haves For Your Writing Bookshelf by Kathy Steffen

Recipe For a Best Selling Book by Laura Miller at salon.com

13 Most Common Errors On Novel’s First Page by Catherine Rankovic

Editing For People Who Hate Editing by Rachel Aaron

What’s In A Name – Choosing The Right Book Title by Sarah Baughman at Write It Sideways

Fun & Inexpensive Ideas For Writing Retreats by Sherrinda Ketchersid at The Writers Alley

10 Secret Killers That Destroy Your Personal Productivity by Dries Cronje

The Comfort Zone Is For Pets, Not Professionals by Kristen Lamb

 

Your Author Platform

Why It’s So Stinking Hard To Sell Books by Stephanie Chandler (Average person reads only 7 books a year)

Why It’s So Stinking Hard To Sell Books – Part 2 (A Reader should have heard of you or your book about 6-8 times before buying)

Who Are The Big 6 & What Does Indie Really Mean? Answers To Not-So-Dumb Questions You Were Afraid To Ask by Anne R. Allen

Catherine Ryan Howard (author of Mousetrapped) shares her great tips for marketing books

Every Author Has A Unique Marketing Voice & Approach by Jane Friedman at Writer Unboxed

Marrying Marketing & Writing Goals by Monica Valentinelli

Tips on Setting Your Marketing Priorities by Michele Linn

The Number One Reason Why Marketing Tactics Fail by Monica Valentinelli

3 Steps To An Effective Social Media Strategy by Amy Porterfield at Social Media Examiner

Send Newsletters, Not “Me Me Me Letters” by Rob Eagan

8 Elements of Effective Newsletters by Rob Eagan

What Makes Word Of Mouth Work – Part 1 by Rob Eagan at Writer’s Digest

What Makes Word of Mouth Work – Part 2 by Rob Eagan at Writer’s Digest

10 Ways To Sell Books At Amazon by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Using Wattpad To Market Your Books by Edie Ramer

Wattpad Marketing Success Stories by Edie Ramer

Recommended Marketing Tools by Big Brand Systems

Cover Design Tips From Pros by Ruth Harris (Pros share the stock photo services they use)

14 Tips For Good eBook Cover Design by C.L. Smith

What Do I Need An Agent For Again by Gemma Holliday

Earn More Money With A Book: 10 Business Models For Non-Fiction Authors by Stephanie Chandler

4 Important Marketing Actions To Take On Amazon As Soon As Your Book Is Published by Stephanie Chandler

 

Blogging

An Original Blog Idea Is Overrated by Henneke Duistermaat

21 Warning Signs You Chose The Wrong Blog Topic by Jon Morrow

7 Dumbest Mistakes With a New Blog by Jon Morrow

Why Posting Every Day Is a Silly Strategy (And What To Do Instead) by Dries Cronje

How To Make Your Blog Writing Real by Brian Clark at Copyblogger

Spice Up Boring Blog Posts Into Delicious Content by Brian Gardner

How To Improve Your Website Trust Factor by Chris Garrett

A Popular YA Blogger Turned Out To Be a Plagiarist (at Gossamer Obsessions)

From Blogger To Book Author: The 4 Step Guide by Jeff Goins

How To Plan Your Blog Posts For A Year In Advance by Laura Roeder at Content Marketing Institute

Write An Article In 20 Minutes by Jim Estill at Copyblogger

How To Host A Blog Event & Why You Should by Lori Devoti

7 Free Places To Submit Your Website by Fred Campos

Blogging Tips A-Z: Networking by Annabel Candy at Successful Blogging

Stephen King’s 20 Tips For Becoming A Better Blog Writer by Jon Morrow
Social Media

Finding Your Voice In Social Media by C. Hope Clark

20 Ways To Build Your Audience In Twitter by Stephanie Chandler

Frequency and Timing of Twitter Posts by Fred Campos

8 Ways To Get More ReTweets by Brian Gardner

25 Ways To Gain More Likes On Your Facebook Fan Page – Part 1 by Fred Campos

Pinterest For Writers by Beth Gwazdosky

5 Tips To Increase Interest On Your Books On Pinterest by Fred Campos

How Pinterest Can Increase Traffic For Your Blog by Brian Gardner

Get More Viral Traffic From Pinterest With This Simple Strategy

 

Collected Wisdom

Blog Treasures by Gene Lempp (May 26th)

Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig (May 27th)

Friday Features by Yesenia Vargas (May 25th) (her link collection blew me away & I feature some here)

Writing on the Ether by Porter Anderson (May 24th)

Build Your World: 10 Resources by Lynn Viehl

Writing Hero: Martha Alderson (aka The Plot Whisperer) [Must See Links]

10 Must Have Templates For Content Creators

 

Deep Stuff

8 Reasons Paper Books Will Become an Endangered Species by Marcy Kennedy

Safeguard Your Files by Lynn Viehl

Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren’t Translatable Into English by Pamela Haag at Think Big

What Advice Would You Give To a Kid Choosing a Future Career? by Sarah Hoyt

Those Who Can’t Create by Sarah Hoyt

Find Out The Price Of Your Desire & Commit To Paying It by Johnny B. Truant

Half An Ass Does You No Good by Emma Burcart

If you love history of Scotland, this post by Emmie Mears is for you:

Who’s different, Rob Roy’s wife Mary, William Wallace’s wife Murron or Merida from Pixar’s Brave?

 

Fun Stuff

Nebula Awards Winners (tor.com) – Aka the Best of Fantasy This Year (you can read the short stories awarded through the links)

Romantic Comedy Movie Generator by Fabio Bueno

The Brain Of The Beginning Blogger (Infographic)

How To See What a Blog Is About At Glance by Lynn Viehl

Eau d’Olde Book (a fascinating video) by Lynn Viehl

What If Famous Authors Had Written Advertising Slogans by Lynn Viehl

Would you be surprised by this loo? (Huffington Post)

Link Feast Vol. 2

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.

 

On Writing

Pantsing writer Gini Koch shares her writing process.

Story Structure 101 – The Index Card Method by Alexandra Sokoloff

Diane Chamberlain’s photos of her index card wall

Story Elements Checklist by Alexandra Sokoloff (seriously, I could have filled this post with just her stuff)

Hence, I highly recommend Alexandra Sokoloff’s Screenwriting Tricks For Authors (Kindle version) that costs only 2,99$. It’s a collection of her blog posts and has a huge page count. Some information is repeated but all of it is good. There are also lots of examples from movies.

Are you asking and answering the right story questions? by Janice Hardy

13 screenwriting tips from Sherlock Holmes (the first movie)

10 tips to bypass cliche and melodrama by Peter Selgin

3 ways to keep the book’s tone consistent by Brian A. Klems

Anger: 5 Shades of Seeing Red by Lisa Hall-Wilson

Naming your characters by Carra Copelin

Finding your writing style by Brad Beauregard

How to build your support network by Cathy at Rock Your Writing

Marcy Kennedy nails down one of the most important themes of The Hunger Games.

 

Your Author Platform

We read (insert your name here) because… by Larry Brooks

April Platform Challenge by Robert Lee Brewer (Define yourself. Who you are now, what are you currently doing and have done)

22 Ways To Create Compelling Content When You Don’t Have a Clue (fun infograph)

5 Ways To Write A Blog Post Without A Number In It’s Title by Judy Dunn

Goodreads Advertising results and tips by Lindsay Buroker

Why won’t men read books written by women? by Tess Gerritsen

 Gender issues in publishing. Using initials as a female thriller author by Joanna Penn

If you are a woman, have you ever considered using your initials instead of your first name?

 

Social Media – Pinterest special

13 Pinterest Things Writers Should Know by Rachelle Gardner (she was sceptic at first)

Marcia Richards gives 16 reasons why Pinterest is worth your time.

10 Tips For Authors Using Pinterest by Rachelle Gardner

Mom Creative’s 10 Tips For Using Pinterest Well

Facts & figures about how popular Pinterest really is & how to get your Pin It button for your browser

Copyblogger’s advice on Pinterest

What do you think of Pinterest? If you’re there, please share your user name in the comments and I’ll follow you 🙂 You can find my Pinterest boards here.

 

Collected Wisdom

Blog Treasures  (31st of March) by Gene Lempp

Twitterific (1st of April) by Elizabeth S. Craig

Writing on the Ether (29th of March) by Porter Anderson (Pottermore is the big topic this time)

Advice for writers by Robert Lee Brewer

Jenny Hansen’s CrackleSauce, links that rocked her March

 

Fun Stuff

Best April Fool’s Day Hoaxes by Colin Falconer

 If famous authors had written Twilight

Boyfriend of a week: Alexander Skarsgard/Eric Northman by Roni Loren

Chrush of the month: Chris Hemsworth/Thor by Tameri Etherton