Writing a blurb Have you ever written a blurb for a book? Here’s how. Grab the reader’s attention The idea is to be engaging to the reader. Hence blurbs are short promotional pieces. They used to just be on the backs of books, but now they can be the copy you read on an Amazon […]
The Risks of Having a Community Without Management Is yours a community without management? The post is a riff on The Community Roundtable’s 5 Risks of Having A Community Without Management. The author comes up with five good ones: A Ghost Town Land of 1,000 Flowers Drama Central A Circling Storm A Clique Ghost Town Here’s […]
Social Media Marketing by Liana Evans Social Media Marketing by Liana Evans was a book that I might have read a little too late in the semester. In all fairness, I read this book toward the end of my first social media class at Quinnipiac (ICM 522). Hence it felt like I already knew a lot […]
Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff This is something of an updated review of Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff as, by the time I got to the ICM 522 Social Media Platforms class at Quinnipiac University, I had already read this seminal work. But no matter. Because this is still a terrific work […]
Working with a beta reader A beta reader is somewhat different from an editor. For one thing, beta reading is done for free. Beta Readers Beta readers are people who read over your work and evaluate it before it goes to a publisher. They might read for typos, spelling errors, grammatical issues, and punctuation problems, […]
Teasing Your Work Teasing is a subtle art. It is a lot like a fan dancer’s moves or a shy person’s come-on. Teasing should feel like a movie trailer because that is exactly what movie trailers do. Teasers are usually a bit longer than blurbs and are meant to generate excitement. They often end with […]
Why you can’t charge for fanfiction I enjoy fanfiction as much as, perhaps, the next person. But you still can never, ever charge for it. I implore you: don’t even try. But aren’t there exceptions? Yes, there are some. But first, let’s talk about why fan fiction is problematic. Issues with fanfiction For writers like […]
Starting a Twitter stream How do you go about starting a Twitter stream? Should you plunge right in, or hang back? Your Account You need a name! Let’s say you’ve taken my advice (or decided this on your own), and gone with an account just for writing. If you want a personal account, you make […]
Transitioning from fanfiction If you first wrote in someone else’s universe, and now you want to claim your own, you may be transitioning from fanfiction. Going from fan fiction writing to wholly original writing It’s more than just ‘filing off a few serial numbers’. How writing fanfiction can help you It teaches you how to […]
Scene Setting Scene setting is important to know. What is Scene Setting? Basic scene setting is a fundamental skill which every writer needs to perfect. Let’s look at some ways to do it. All the old familiar places When your story takes place during the present day, you’re in luck! You can get away without […]