How Nick Thacker Is Rewriting the Publishing Rulebook

The Thriller Writer Says Traditional Publishing Is Broken. He’s Got Plans to Fix It. When someone called Nick Thacker’s novels “airplane books” early on in his career, he took the term and ran with it.  The description was meant to be an insult—as in his books were the kind you buy at an airport to […]

Indie Authors Weigh In on Whether Some Books Should Have Trigger Warnings

Author Mariel Pomeroy left a cautionary message for readers of her debut novel that is hard to miss. It’s printed on its own page in the front of the book just after the copyright. She also included it in the book’s product description and in her social media posts advertising the novel. A general statement […]

Writing with Chronic Illness: One Author’s Advice for Finding Balance

Five years ago, author L.J. Stanton’s future took a dramatic shift. An equestrian for much of her life, she’d earned an equine sciences degree in college and was training horses and teaching riding lessons for a living. Then she was diagnosed with two genetic disorders: Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). “I […]

A Journalist’s Guide to the Perfect Press Release

When it comes to press releases, I’ve worked on both sides of the writing desk. I’ve stared at the same blank page that other authors—or editorial interns, in my case—have tried to craft into an interest-grabbing announcement, just like I’ve sorted through stacks of those announcements in my email inbox to find the ones worth […]

Writing with Chronic Illness: Creative Ways to Keep Creating

Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on chronic illnesses. Early estimates indicate anywhere from 5 to 80 percent of people experience lasting symptoms after contracting COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://cdc.gov). They join the approximately 51.8 percent of people in the US who live with a […]

A True ‘Slice of Life’ Story: How to Make Memoirs that Mean Something

In his essay titled “The Narrative Idea,” David Halberstam has a simple piece of advice for writers who want to succeed at their craft: “The idea is vital.” His words, published in 2007 in the book Telling True Stories, were directed toward narrative journalists, but they apply to some extent across every genre, whether fiction […]

Three Essential Arcs for Crafting Strong Characters and Shaping Your Story

A character death. A final goodbye. A heartfelt reunion. The end of a journey. It doesn’t necessarily matter the specific plot points that elicit the emotion nor is genre or artistic medium all that important. But scroll through recommendations on BookTok or consider the moments from a favorite series that have stuck with you the […]

Indie publishing powerhouses join forces

Draft2Digital is acquiring Smashwords later this year. Here’s what that means for their authors. The shocking news heard ’round the world Tuesday might just be the start of an indie publishing revolution—that is, if Mark Coker and Kris Austin have anything to say about it.  Early last week, the duo surprised authors and publishers alike […]

Make Some Noise: What—And How—Indie Authors Gain From A Growing Audiobook Industry

Sometimes the best books are the ones we don’t read.  That’s not necessarily referring to those books we leave languishing in our to-be-read piles though those deserve plenty of love and recognition as well. No, there’s just something nostalgic about having a story told to you rather than reading it yourself. Perhaps it’s the memories […]