Category: Guest Posts

I was recently asked to describe the road to publication. The immediate things that came to mind – often confusing, constantly changing, wholly different than anything I’d done before – made me realize that navigating the road to publication is actually quite like…driving in New Jersey. There are a million different routes to take – with a million other people traveling all of them – and any given day could find you either moving at break-neck speed or stuck at a dead-stop. And, also like in Jersey, sometimes you have to turn right to turn left – you have to go in the complete opposite direction you want to in order to get to where you need to be. Continue reading “Shelley Workinger on the Road to Publication”

I suppose you could say that I’ve been doing research all my life – as any writer should. After all, the essential, endless curiosity that drives us to ask ‘what if’ and then ‘what happens next’ has to start somewhere. It starts in those questions, but it’s based in what we’ve learned and know.

Part of every child’s education is spent exploring ancient gods and goddesses, particularly the Greek and Roman. They fascinated me just as they fascinate most children, especially their excesses – Percy Jackson’s popularity is no coincidence. Continue reading “Valerie Douglas on the Importance of Research”

Nine years ago I started writing knowing absolutely nothing about the craft or the industry. Even though I had been an avid reader since grade school, I was totally oblivious as to how my favorite authors created the tales that kept me mesmerized for endless hours.

Thanks to a job layoff in 2002, it didn’t take long for writing to become an obsession. I wrote eight to ten hours a day. In the ensuing months and years, I read everything I could get my hands on about the craft and trolled the Internet for up-to-date information on the publishing industry. Continue reading “Publish or Perish: by Special Guest, Author Chicki Brown”

What Every Well Dressed Author Should Know About Scams by Ey Wade

1. Scams, like dogs pooping on the sidewalk, happen. 2. Either you walk around it or right in.

Okay, I may not be an expert, but I am a writer who at one time stepped in and fell head first into a pile of….scam. Scams are everywhere from signing with unscrupulous agents, entering contests, to finding a publishing company. The funny thing is you never smell the problem until you step in it.

I would like to share an experience. My first mistake was in choosing what I believed to be a legitimate agent. He didn’t charge me money and we had a contract, two characteristics of a good agent. The problem I later found out was the agent was as much a newbie in publication as I was. In my ignorance (I’ll blame it on the fact I was a single parent in dire need of funds) I listened to his advice and was directed away from an editor at Ballantine (Stupid, I know, right.) because I didn’t do my research into the company. I had no idea who Ballantine was and when Publish America was put in front of me with all accolades, I ran to them. Needless to say, that is a nail in my brain I cannot remove. What I did do, after much drama with a company called Publish America, was demand my contract and rights be returned and I am now on my own as an Indie Author. Continue reading “Special Guest, Author Ey Wade Talks About Scams”