Author’s Corner: Generating Ideas

Generating Ideas One of the most common questions a published author is asked is “Where do you get your story ideas? New writers sometimes think ideas are just supposed to pop into an author’s head … or else they use some secret formula. But fully-formed story ideas don’t do that - not usually, anyway. Nor do most established authors have some magic formula. The truth is they probably already have more great ideas than they could ever write. Every how-to book on writing will tell you … [Read more...]

Edit Yourself

One of the most stressful aspects for any writer can be the editing process. How can you possibly be expected to take the pages and pages of material you have poured your heart into and trim it down to the average 20,000-word manuscript? It’s like asking a mother to choose her favorite child. Thankfully, the answer is surprisingly simply: Hire a good editor. Now you might be worried that an editor is going to completely change your creation and leave you with barely a resemblance of what you … [Read more...]

Take a Number

You’ve written your book, made sure you haven’t stepped on any trademarked toes, and have decided to copyright your masterpiece. Now, there’s just one more piece of the publishing puzzle to consider: Should you get an ISBN? What is an ISBN anyway? An International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a 13-digit number that uniquely indentifies your book or eBook. Similar to how a barcode works in a retail store. This allows for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, … [Read more...]

Get Your Rights in Writing

Thanks to the rise of self publishing, everyday folks can become the next John Grisham. But unlike the literary legends that line our bookshelves, most novice writers don’t have big publishing houses backing their endevors, which means it’s up to the author to take care of all the fine print. A big part of that is making sure your work is protected so that you retain creative control and don’t lose out on any potential profits made from your hard work. In our three-part series, we’ll take a … [Read more...]