the business and craft of writing
Now that I’ve wiped the tears from my eyes, I can finally put together a post on this beautiful book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
For those of you new to the Book Club, we discuss best-selling novels from a writer’s perspective to see what makes them tick. As in the last Book Club discussion, I’ll pose some questions under the following headings:
For Valentine’s Day the Crafty Writer has asked Texan romance novelist Pollyanna Williamson (aka Tambra Kendall and Kelia Greer) to tell us a bit more about writing for this genre. And if you’re more interested in how much the flower industry generates than sighing over the roses, perhaps these figures will turn you on:
Do we have your attention? Good. Now over to Polly: Continue reading ‘Romance fiction: more than just sex’
Alex Gazzola is an author and journalist specialising in food, nutrition and health, with a particular focus on food intolerance, food allergy, digestion and digestive orders. Continue reading ‘A health writer coughs up’
It’s a well-worn theme on the Crafty Writer that it’s difficult to earn a living as a writer, but we don’t want you to give up in despair. So we’ve asked top copywriter Gill D’Achada, creative director of Mustard Seed Marketing and Advertising, to tell you about one way writers can make money: through copywriting… Continue reading ‘Getting Started in Copywriting 1′
American author Marvin Wilson has released his second novel, Owen Fiddler, as an E-book and is currently on a whirlwind cyber book tour. Being a bit of an e-book skeptic, I was so intrigued by his in-your-face and innovative promotion tactics that I decided to find out a bit more about the project: Continue reading ‘An e-book story’
It’s a new year, so time for a new initiative: the Crafty Writer’s Book Club. Unlike most other book clubs or reading groups, this will focus on learning the business and craft of writing.
At the beginning of each month we will nominate a book to read from the current bestsellers’ lists, then, at the end of the month we will discuss the book and see how the author put together a top-selling product. We will look at creative writing techniques such as plotting, characterisation, style and structure and see what we can learn, as well as considering the book’s genre and market placement. Although I will be leading the discussions, my hope is that you all will be willing to contribute and that we can learn from each other’s views on what makes (or does not make) the book tick. If you have not already done so, you may want to work through my free Introduction to Creative Writing course, which will give you a foundation from which to start commenting. Continue reading ‘Crafty Writer’s Book Club Launch’
As a British-based writer I’m aware that the majority of my posts to this site are a bit Anglocentric. So whenever I come across something of benefit to my North American readers I get excited. I’ve just started subscribing to a market listing www.absolutemarkets.com which gives an up-to-date overview of some of the more unusual US and international markets. There is a subscription fee, but in my opinion it’s worth it. However, be warned, many market listings out there are not worth the cyber-paper they’re written on. Only sign up to ones that other people recommend and never have a rolling stop order.
Without wanting to get the year off to a depressing start, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to post this link about authors’ earnings from The Times.
In summary:
Welcome to the third in The Crafty Writer’s short introduction to blogging for writers. Hopefully by now you have some idea of what you want to write about, and have successfully set up your blog. Today we’re going to look at:
Ready? Let’s get started. Continue reading ‘Beginner Blogging for Writers: part 3′
Hello again! I’m assuming since you’ve come back, you’re either a sucker for punishment, or you’ve decided to find out a bit more about how to get started blogging. As promised last week then, let’s get stuck in. Today I want to look at:
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