Fun Links for Writers

I’m having an AWESOME time this week hanging out with two of my best writer friends and writing and brainstorming! Woo-hoo!! So I thought I’d give you guys some of the links I’ve been finding over the last week or two. Hope you find one or more of them useful.

I’ve been sent so many different links over the last few months to posts on The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing, or WG2E as it’s affectionately known, that I needed to make sure you’re aware of this web site. You know I’m on a self-publishing journey, and if you are, this is a site you need to check out. There is so much information here that I actually find myself a bit intimidated when I wander around. If you’re a regular, I’d love it if you left a comment about the best way for a writer new to the site to get the most benefit from it. If you’re easily intimidated by information overload, do what I did and just subscribe to the posts so they come in your email Inbox. Easy and done.

Interested in making your own book cover? Or maybe a banner or other picture for your web site? Check out this step by step post on making book covers in PowerPoint. I took one of those free Apple Store classes on using Keynote (the Apple competitor to PowerPoint) and I was astounded at all the things I could do graphically! I think I’m going to take this article on how to play around in PowerPoint and use what I learned about Keynote to do some playing. Hmm…when do I have time for playing? (Note to self: add “playing” to my To Do list.)

Sue Grimshaw, former romance book buyer for Borders and current acquiring editor at Loveswept, talks about promotion on Writers in the Storm. Loveswept is a digital imprint so Sue is actively seeking ways to connect with digital readers. Join in the conversation in the comments section. And subscribe to Writers in the Storm, if you haven’t. They have massive amounts of craft and other writerly information on their blog every week. Lots of great writers there.

Luke Flanagan, a dear friend of John’s and mine, is blogging about his journey to self-publish his children’s book. NOT epublishing, but a real live book. Luke wrote it, illustrated it (he worked with John on Happy Feet 2), and used Pozible.com to raise the money to get the book printed. I find the whole thing exciting and inspiring! And I’m happy to say that our own personal copy of the book will be flying in from Australia soon. Yay! (It better be autographed, Luke!)

Many of you know I’m writing a superhero romantic comedy. (The first short stories in my universe come out this summer, the first novel early next year.) Shonna sent me this great link to Superhero Nation. I’m happy as a pig in mud! Woo-hoo!! Thanks, Shonna! I totally can’t wait to waste a whole day “researching” on this site!

I’ve only had a chance to skim this article so far, but Dissecting Pages for Mood looks like a great post on how a writer adds mood to her/his stories. And there’s color-coded highlighting! Who doesn’t love that?

Are you writing a story that requires you to plant clues and misdirect the reader? This short post by Kara Lennox might help you. It might also cause you to throw out all your red lipsticks!

I just found this web site on Friday, Indies Unlimited. I have barely gotten past the home page, but it looks like it could be a great site for self-publishers – and probably other writers, too.

If you’re interested in self-publishing, you’ve probably heard about John Locke and how he sold 1 million ebooks in five months. Here is another interesting article about him.

Here’s an article by Bob Mayer on what if/when e-royalty rates go down. And here is a NY Times article on the government’s involvement in ebook pricing.

My friend Dwight sent me this link by Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, talking about description versus action. Donald seems to be a fan, like me, of describe it enough for the reader to see it in their imagination, and get on with the story! (My emphasis. )

I mentioned this a while back – there is a Self-Publishers Online Conference coming up in May. The dates and major speakers are posted here and, thanks to James Byrd of S.P.O.C., I can tell you the prices. There is a standard pass, giving you access to the conference and the recordings, for $97. The premium pass gives you that access plus several TBD bonus items for $147. After May 1, the prices go up to $127 and $199. Sounds like it could be great! (And if anyone knows of any conferences or classes for publishers, I’d love to know more about them. I need to learn more about how to be a good publisher, especially since I only have one client and I want her to be happy and stick around. )

And finally, before I totally overwhelm you with links to click, here is my latest reader-must-have – the Albatros bookmark. Check it out, it’s so cool! If only I had a checking account balance that wouldn’t notice if I bought some for my birthday.

Hope you enjoy some or all of these links. Now that I’ve written them down here and know I won’t lose them, I can close some of the 52 open tabs on my web browswer. Whew!