Helping authors to make their stories shine … Editing Services for fiction and memoir
This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kate Forster, best-selling novelist (women’s fiction and young adult romance) and founder of The Ladybirds—Women Who Write Helping Other Women Who Write, a support network for female writers on Facebook, now over 1,500 members strong. Kate charmed me with her honesty, grounded approach and a genuine … Continue reading Kate Forster, Novelist and Founder of Ladybirds
This post is for my long-suffering non-writer friends who have endured my detailed explanations about the book publishing process. It is also for my writer friends who want to show their circle why they still haven’t published their book or why it took so long to get there. In brief, the process is: write and … Continue reading The Book Publishing Flowchart
Over one million new titles are released each year in the US alone. Authors strive to make their books stand out by attending book launches, book clubs, book readings and other functions. They also aim to get book reviews on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads, as that improves the visibility of their books. Here’s how to help your favorite authors. Continue reading How to Write a Book Review
Last week, I discussed websites and blogs for writers. This week, my focus is on social media. Beyond personal use, authors can use social media to promote their writing and to connect with the writing community. There are a myriad of different apps available, each with a slightly different focus, so where should you start? … Continue reading A Beginner’s Guide to Social Media for Writers
Tweets, blogs, posts, comments … social media can become overwhelming. But writers, whether they like it or not, are in the business of book sales, and few businesses can thrive without an online presence. Social media apps are more than a means to connect with friends, they’re a valuable marketing tool. I’ve heard unpublished writers … Continue reading A Beginner’s Guide to Websites and Blogs for Writers
It’s important to understand the difference between an agent and a publisher. The publisher edits, produces and distributes the book. An agent finds a publisher and manages the author’s career. Some authors deal directly with their publisher (more common in Australia than the USA or UK), but many prefer to have a middleman. Continue reading Five Reasons to Sign With a Literary Agent
One of the reasons I started a blog was that the protagonist in my novel was a blogger, so I needed first-hand experience. Eight months in, what have I learnt? Did I describe her experience accurately? What will I change as a result? Followers. I made my fictional blogger an overnight sensation, but in real … Continue reading Real Versus Fictional Blogs
I’m a writer. I love words. But before I was a writer, I was an engineer, so I also love numbers. The typical word count for a novel is around 80,000. Non-novelists often baulk at the idea of writing that many words, and no question, it’s a mammoth task. To make it more manageable, I … Continue reading Engineering the Story—How to Write a Novel in 80 Days
I’m a city girl, born and bred, but this year, Barto and I bought a country retreat near Mansfield, the township gateway to the Victorian high country. Our house is two and a half hours from Melbourne and a fifteen-minute drive from Mansfield—secluded, but not isolated. Perched on a hill, it overlooks Lake Eildon and … Continue reading Alone at Mansfield
A fun post today. Last week at writer’s group, we did an exercise in which we had to respond to the following prompt in 20 minutes. The police arrive at your door with a search warrant. There is something in the house that they cannot see, that nobody can ever see. This is my (slightly edited) … Continue reading Short Fiction: The Search Warrant
Brightside Story Studio 