If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
John Green's YA novel The Fault in Our Stars is currently #16 at Amazon and the guy is a promotional genius. So how does he use his fame? To attack independent authors and tilt at windmills.
Crunching numbers in a cubicle eight hours a day was driving me mad. Literally driving me mad. I began to write in earnest. At first it was just a journal for my own sanity, I had to make sense of the life I had been living.
These are arguably, and I stress the word arguably, the top 10 character names in fiction. In fact, when I discussed this list with my husband he thought there was more than one name that should be removed from the list. I kept them on anyway.
Weiner isn't just expert at giving her reading public what it wants, she's a master at creating controversy and making headlines by attacking noted authors in the news. It's a canny strategy guaranteed to boost her already high public profile. Midlist authors, take note.
When you start publishing, nobody prepares you for the weird experience of being praised in person by a stranger. The moment is both heartening and a bit embarrassing, even when you're an extrovert.
As we approach Memorial Day, most Americans are conscious of honoring those who have served in the military, so nearly all of us could name the three largest branches -- the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy. Very few, however, would think to include the Merchant Marine.
Buy other authors' books when you go to their events. Even if you aren't going to read it. Even if you are going to give it away. Even if you aren't interested. Not just for the author but for the bookstore. It's karma and just plain good manners.
A couple months ago, I had the surreal experience of walking into a Manhattan Barnes & Noble and finding my second novel, Timekeeper, on the Teen New Releases shelf along with Kirsten Smith's second book, Trinkets.
Social media is sexy, but the real power of your relationship with your fans is in email newsletters. The people on your mailing list are your "Super Fans." They are the ones who have given you permission to show up in their inbox. That invitation is very valuable.
With The Selection sequel The Elite currently on the New York Times bestseller list, Kiera Cass is an author to be reckoned with.
If an artist is not necessarily someone who is lonely, starving and unstable, then what does an artist look like? The new portrait of a profitable, successful artist includes creating and showing, but also travel, community, teaching, authoring, serving and changing the world. And this is one such case.
Going through my first Kickstarter campaign, I learned a lot that I wanted to share with others considering this route to crowdfund a novel or writing project:
Some authors, begging for attention, even go overboard and live too much of their lives in social media, recording every twitch of consciousness as if the fate of publishing depended on it. Their neediness -- however disguised -- is epic and sometimes pathetic.
Military members and families are not cultural aberrants looking for a cold niche in which to hide. We are not cold timid souls whose lack of emotion leads us to a military life scrubbed of feeling. The experiences of our lives, much like yours, are inextricably tied to our emotions.
I've come to understand that language impacts thought, and vice versa. Without owning the word "no," and all the other language under what I like to think of as the "No Umbrella," I was denying myself the conviction and power that comes with it.
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THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANEby Neil Gaiman
Published on June 18th, 2013
THE FARAWAY NEARBYby Rebecca Solnit
Published on June 13th, 2013
YOU ARE ONE OF THEMby Elliott Holt
Published on May 30th, 2013
AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOEDby Khaled Hosseini
