Welcome to the March Writers’ Forum, a mix of book marketing information, writing craft help, publishing industry news, and how-to articles on indie publishing and more. I’ve bookmarked 30+ articles as the most helpful ones to share with other writers!

(If you’re here as more of a reader / fan and prefer not to get a bunch of writerly posts, please scroll down to the bottom … if you click the unsubscribe—you can adjust your preferences to just my regular Reading, Writing, & Roaming emails, which include bookish news and author interviews and behind-the-scenes info about the writing world along with an occasional travel story.)

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Authors Guild Expands “Human Authored” Certification Program

• How an AI-Generated Book Was Acquired by a Major Publisher . . .

• The Amazon A10 Update: 3 Things Every Indie Author Needs to Know

• Industry News Headlines — BookShop.org Fights Against Amazon, B&T Files for Bankruptcy, the Dial Books imprint closes, eBooks in Schools, Spotify Rolls Out Audiobook Charts

• Literary Agents and the Book-to-Screen Pipeline (Plus some books that would make great movies!)

• The State of Publishing in 2026

• Why Your Story Isn’t Enough to Get Traditionally Published

Authors Guild Expands “Human Authored” Certification Program

If you haven’t heard about Authors Guild’s “Human Authored” Certification Program yet, here’s your chance to see what it’s all about and how it works. It had been available already to Author Guild members and now is expanding (for a fee) to nonmembers. Obviously, it helps to show that your books were not created through AI-generation systems. Jane Friedman pens an equally important post on the subject in, My Concerns About the Authors Guild Human Authored Certification—and Their Comprehensive Response. Both are worth a read!

How an AI-Generated Book Was Acquired by a Major Publisher . . .

Continuing on the topic of AI-Generated Books, Brooke Warner dissects how a major publisher acquired an AI-generated book and how no one flagged it as problematic until very close to publication date. You’ve probably read a little about this already, but Warner’s analysis is spot on!

The Amazon A10 Update: 3 Things Every Indie Author Needs to Know

Amazon’s algorithm updated a while back and there’ve been a number of articles about what this means, what we should do etc… This Written Word Media podcast gives us three actionable steps that indie authors should take to navigate the ‘rules’ of this new algorithm focusing on your Amazon book page and driving traffic to this book page from outside sources. Listen here.

Industry News Headlines Worth Reading:

• The Fight Against Amazon with Bookshop.org

• Baker & Taylor Make Surprise Chapter 11 Filing

• Layoffs, Moves at Penguin Young Readers as Dial Imprint Shutters

• The Future of E-books in School Libraries

• Spotify is Rolling Out an Audiobook Chart

Literary Agents and the Book-to-Screen Pipeline (Plus some books that would make great movies!)

I don’t know how many scam emails I get that tell me my book would make a great movie … so many (big sigh), that I thought it’d be good to read about how this actually works!! Here Jane Friedman is in conversation with Jillian Davis about this process.

And, just for fun, this Kirkus article lists 20 Books That Need a Movie or TV Adapations. I’m most fascinated by the non-fiction titles on this list.

The State of Publishing in 2026

Most articles of this type were prediction-esque articles earlier in the year. Here Andrea Fleck-Nisbet dives into Opportunity, Adaptation and the Power of Independence. This is very focused on the indie published author!

Why Your Story Isn’t Enough to Get Traditionally Published

Okay, that headline sounds a bit depressing. Brooke Warner wrote this back in February, and I held on to it for an extra month, but I didn’t want to leave it ‘unshared.’ The subtitle of the article is “an honest look at the blunt measures the industry cares about,” and it focuses on marketing topics . . . “Do you have a strong hook? Do you have a meaningful author platform? and Can you articulate a specific audience.” Slightly squishy topics she agrees when you write fiction instead of nonfiction but still authors need to think about these questions before pitching!

21 Writing Tips You Should Know (including one you MUST follow)

B.A. Durham, for the Chicago Writers Association blog, gives us this handy list of writing tips . . . some are obvious but all are good reminders. See if you know them all. And can you guess the most important one . . . it is WRITE. ha ha

Be Frankestein: 5 Tips on Resurrecting a Dead Draft

Kirsten Kaschock pens this article for Writers Digest, advising us to tap into our inner mad scientist when we’re hoping to breathe some new life into an old draft. These are good exercises that help you take apart the story, finding the “crux of your tale” and then linking each section back to the skeleton you’ve identified. Fun to read, a little punny, and very smart!

Base Your Story Structure on Principles, Not Systems

I wasn’t sure what this title meant when I first saw Tiffany Yates Martin’s article, but in a nutshell she’s saying, that all the story structure systems we know (Hero’s Journey, Three-act structure, Save the Cat, Snowflake method etc.) have at their heart “an underlying set of story principles that help you create the experience you envision.” These all focus on advancing the plot and the character’s journey. What’s great are here examples of “principles in practice.”

Symbolism and Motifs

If you’re not a subscriber to Robb Grindstaff’s “A Writer’s Block,” I highly encourage you to do so. Some of his offerings are behind his paywall on Substack, but you should be able to click through and get this one for free. I thought this one on symbolism and motifs to be particularly helpful.

Genre as Delight, Not Dictator: How Learning about Genres Helps You Write Better

Andromeda Romano-Lax takes on this topic for Jane Friedman’s blog, detailing the key characteristics of certain literary genres. Knowing what’s expected of a genre clearly helps you write a better story that IS IN that genre. Her final point about developing a character’s ‘want’ is brilliant.

TROPES — The WisMissus Podcast main topic for March!

Along that same topic, my co-host T.K. Sheffield and I discuss the power of tropes (recurring storytelling conventions/themes/plots) as a structure for your novel!

Chosen One Stories: Is Your Hero Worthy of the Journey?

And continuing with the trope-y focus, Kristen Overman (the Good Story Company) walks us through how to make our heroes worthy of the quest we’re sending them on. She gives a list of characteristics they must have (trustworthiness / likeability and more), along with sharing some excellent examples of heroes we love from literature.

The Weirder, the Better: How to Write Nonfiction That Sells by Embracing the Odd Sides of Life

What a fun article from Zachary Petit for Writers Digest . . . basically encouraging us to plant our freak flag and then learn to harness it in your work!! Read it here.

Dialogue Tags

Using dialogue tags effectively is something that may writes struggle with even if they’re veteran storytellers. This article from Amy Wilson for the Good Story Company is a great reminder on how to do this with some flair and when to withhold those dang tags entirely. Good examples.

The query letter that got me 22 full requests

Hannah L. Ackerman shares her query letter blueprint, organizational process, and the letter that received 22 full requests. This is super interesting and helpful. There are some video links too along with the article.

5 Online Networking Tips for Authors

Debra Eckerling is an award winning author and podcaster. In this article for Writers Digest, she gives a precise action plan for networking with others online whether it is through social media or before and after virtual or in-person events. This is important information for any author as you build your network of folks in the business of writing and publishing and can lead to success in unexpected ways.

25 things I wish every writer knew about marketing

I’ve shared posts from Dan Blank before, and I truly look forward to his wisdom every week. Here he gives great tips about book marketing that are helpful to every author at any stage in their career.

I Hired a Book Publicity Firm for £1,800. Here’s What Went Wrong.

Kirsten Bell gives us the scoop over on Jane Friedman’s blog about what happened or actually what didn’t happen when she engaged a somewhat shady marketing firm. Her honest account is worth reading.

Author marketing scams version 2026: What to watch out for, how to keep your money

Much like the article above, there are some very sophisticated efforts out there that make it easy to part with your money thinking you’re dealing with a reputable actor. Here Sandra Beckwith unpacks some of the latest scams.

How to Use Podcast Guesting to Promote Your Nonfiction Book

Nonfiction authors are a logical fit with the podcast community as experts on their particular topic. Using the networks of established podcasts (with lots of fans/followers) is a great strategy for book promotion. Oona Metz gives the breakdown of when and how to reach out to podcasts to book guest appearances and also advises authors to “not be picky” and “be creative” in which podcasts you approach.

5 ways to make your book relevant to the media

A lot of fiction authors believe that they have nothing to offer beyond the news of their book release when approaching traditional media outlets (tv, radio, newspaper, magazine), but with a little creativity you can find the right hook that’ll make for interesting stories they’ll want to cover. Sandra Beckwith gives tips on how to take your areas of expertise and link them with a trending topic or even knowledge about the publishing process / industry. The article includes tips on organization and approach as well.

The Newsletter Market Is Crowded, But Most of Your Competition Is Easy to Beat

Super smart article from Jane Friedman (No surprise!) about newsletter strategy. Authors know they need a newsletter but she explains that it “has to be about something,” and “that it can’t be for everyone.” She also discusses paid newsletters and sponsorships or advertising, too. Read it here!

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! - Valerie

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What IS an imprint? An imprint is a trade name that you create for your independent publishing business.

Why you need an imprint name.

Credibility: You don’t want your independently published book to be immediately recognized as such. (The words Independently Published will appear by default—for instance—if you use the free ISBNs from Kindle Direct Publishing.) Even though the stigma of independent publishing has lessened, there’s no reason to advertise this fact for those who still have a bias against books produced in this manner.

Branding: It helps establish your brand. You likely plan to write more than one book and creating an imprint name will help you begin the branding process.

Portability: No matter what you choose as your imprint name, doing so will allow you to buy your own ISBNs, rather than use the free ones provided by a publishing platform. You will list your Imprint/Publisher name when you assign your ISBNs and when you enter your book’s identifying information at the time you upload content to whichever platform you’re using to publish. Owning your own ISBNs allows you to print your books wherever you like, meaning you can take this number with you if you decide that you’d rather have your book printed over at IngramSpark rather than KDP. Most publishers buy their ISBNs via Bowker.

How do I establish an imprint?

Choose a name and set it up as a business entity. (This business entity may vary depending on the advice of your accountant/ lawyer*.)

Make sure the name you have in mind is currently not in use.

1. Do a simple google search to see what pops up.

2. Check with your state’s database of registered companies. In my state the searchable database exists on the Department of Financial Institutions website; however, in other states it may be the Secretary of State’s office. You may wish to simply ‘do business as’ (DBA) the name you choose, but this step is particularly important if you plan to go one step further and register a corporation or Limited Liability Company (LLC) for your publishing business in your state. (See note below on business considerations.*)

3. Even if you’re not planning on trademarking a name/logo, you might want to see if it or a substantially similar name is in use by checking the US Trademark Database.

4. You may already have a website under your author name, but if you think that you will want to also have a website using this imprint name at any time in the future, you should check with one of the domain name seller websites to see if the imprint name you have in mind is already in use. It never hurts to acquire this domain name, even if you do not currently have plans to use it.

*NOTE ON BUSINESS CONSIDERATIONS: Personally, I like keeping my publishing business separate from my personal finances by establishing a sole proprietorship or a single member LLC under the name Lost Lake Press; however, your financial situation may require different considerations. Please consult your accountant or tax attorney for the best advice on how to set up your publishing business.

Where will people see my imprint name?

♦ In your governmental business filings, depending on how you set up your publishing business.
♦ In the databases used by retailers and book distributors (because you enter your imprint name when you assign the ISBN to one of your particular titles.)

♦ On your book’s copyright page.

♦ In your product details section on each online retailer. (Just scroll down on any book listed on Amazon and you’ll see the publisher name in that block of text that lists publication date and other info.)

♦ Possibly, on the spine of your print copies. If you choose to have a logo created for your imprint name, this is often what you will use on the spine of your books as a brand identifier rather than the words to save space.

Best of luck on your publishing adventure!
- Valerie

I began writing my first story very quietly. I didn’t tell many people I was attempting to write a book. Who knew if I could finish? Maybe it would be awful when I was done. I couldn’t stand the thought of people asking me how it was going if it wasn’t going well or if I decided to abandon the project completely.

I would have loved to have some straightforward guidance on how to get started (and keep going), so I’m glad to share my top tips to help you complete your first draft.

1. Decide what you want to write. Who will be your readers?

You probably have the germ of an idea already bouncing around in your head. Maybe it is a fictional story or maybe it is nonfiction. Either way, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

What do I want to write? Writing is hard and frustrating at times, you need to make sure you’re writing something you’re passionate about to keep you going.

Who will read this book? It’s never too early to think about the audience your book will appeal to.

If what you want to write doesn’t seem to have an audience, and your goal is (eventually) to sell books, you might want to rethink your idea.

As a first step this is very important. Who wants to put in 12 months of writing only to realize that there’s no market for a vampire space alien futuristic wartime romantic suspense story. (If this story theme actually exists, I PROMISE to give you a shout out—please email me!)

2. Read a lot in your genre.

You must familiarize yourself with the type of book you’re planning to write. What’s popular? What’s missing? Ask yourself if your idea is similar enough to fit in with the others and appeal to the fans of this genre but also different enough to gain interest and stand out a little bit?

I was once on a panel at a writing conference, when a beginning writer who was having difficulty with her story plot mentioned that she never reads. Whaaat?!

You can’t do that and expect to be successful with your writing—that goes for nonfiction, too.

3. Refine your story idea or nonfiction book topic/Plotting vs. pantsing

With a firm grasp of the types of stories in your genre, you can refine your story’s plot or nonfiction book topic.

With a nonfiction book proposal there’s a set guide of material you pull together including a table of contents and sample chapters, so you are required to provide an outline. However, for fiction writing, you must decide how much plot you’re comfortable creating in advance. I used to be a firm pantser . . . writing by the seat of my pants with a general idea of my plot, allowing things to unfold as my writing progressed. However, I am now a light plotter. I like to have a framework of the major plot points in the story, as well as a firm grasp on character traits, before beginning a story. I find that this helps me write faster and requires less rewriting than in the past when I may have written myself into a corner or two and needed to backtrack.

4. Create a writing schedule and stick to it.

Writing takes discipline. I don’t like the advice that makes you feel like a failure if you don’t write every single day. Not every schedule can accommodate that. However, I do think you need to set a schedule and stick with it. Put it on a calendar and block it out. Don’t make apologies for taking time to do something you want to do.

Simply say, I am busy then, when invariably a request comes in that will interrupt your writing time. Except for emergencies, be vigilant about protecting your writing time.

I need this reminder every so often myself.

5. Invest in your new adventure:

Professional Writing Association Memberships – There are many genre-specific writing associations with membership benefits that include writing craft assistance and networking opportunities from sci-fi, to mystery, to romance and more.

Conferences – can be a great place to learn about the craft of writing and the business of publishing. (They’re also some of the best places to network with other folks like yourself. I promise you’ll make writing friends!)

Courses – Just like conferences, there are an abundance of in-person and online writing courses. Check out your local university or community college.

Software – Many people love using writing software like Scrivener. I do just fine with Microsoft Word. Others prefer writing by hand. (Just remember if you like to write by hand, eventually, you’ll have to get that manuscript into a digital format.)

Writing Craft Books – There are many excellent books on writing. Here are a few of my favorites and those that are often recommended by published authors.

6. Find your tribe . . . critique groups

Joining professional writing associations and attending conferences can allow to meet so many other writers. Here’s where you can find a core group of people to review your writing and give advice as you work your way toward completion of your rough draft.

I write in the children’s market and was lucky enough that through my membership in the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) I found my spot in a critique group, which has been instrumental to my writing for almost a decade.

Even your local library may have a writing group that you can join. Check out the offerings there, too.

7. Keep going . . . finish that rough draft

Don’t be too hard on yourself, if you find that you’ve completely neglected your writing schedule, because LIFE has gotten in the way. Just get back in that chair and pick up where you left off.

For most first-time authors, writing a rough draft of a novel can take up to a year (or more). Many people, of course, write much faster.

The rough draft of my first novel took about 12 months to complete, however, book three in that same series took four months to write—in part because I was following a fairly tight outline. More recently, I was able to write a book in that same series in just 47 writing sessions over the course of 90 days.

Once I have a rough draft finished, I often let it sit for a few months to marinate before I go back to do my first round of edits. I find that by having fresh eyes (so to speak) makes me see flaws I might not have picked up on immediately after writing that chapter or section.

Of course, these are just the first steps to getting that rough draft completed. We could talk about specific writing craft areas like subplots, the art of great dialogue, character building, setting and more. Additionally, there are many tips on how to edit your manuscript. But for now, it’s enough to just get moving on writing your first chapter. The rest will come!

Good Luck and Happy Writing, Valerie

Welcome to the February Writers’ Forum, a mix of book marketing information, writing craft help, publishing industry news, and how-to articles on indie publishing and more. I’ve bookmarked more than 40 articles as the most helpful ones to share with other writers, even though I’ve been gone nearly the entire month on some awesome trips that included Sedona, AZ and the Galapagos Islands! (I’ll put up travel posts on those soon!!)

(If you’re here as more of a reader / fan and prefer not to get a bunch of writerly posts, please scroll down to the bottom … if you click the unsubscribe—you can adjust your preferences to just my regular Reading, Writing, & Roaming emails, which include bookish news and author interviews and behind-the-scenes info about the writing world.)

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• 28 weird, whimsical, and wild holidays for March book promotion fun

• “Novelist” Boasts That Using AI She Can Churn Out a New Book in 45 Minutes

• Why some books become blockbusters overnight

• New author interview series — THE ASIDE: Conversations with authors just off the page

• List of Book Fairs and Festivals by State

• The Dick Click by Jacquelyn Mitchard

• Publishing Myth: Is Self-Publishing the Easy Way Out

• Why Someone Else’s Book Isn’t Your Bad News

• Jeff Bezos is Not Good for Books

28 weird, whimsical, and wild holidays for March book promotion fun

Ongoing thanks to Sandra Beckwith for putting these fun calendars together! Here’s the one for March!! Watch out on March 20 — extreterrestrial abductions day!

“Novelist” Boasts That Using AI She Can Churn Out a New Book in 45 Minutes

This was the story of the month in my opinion . . . it was talked about in many publications and on social media. Here Frank Landymore unpacks “author” Coral Hart’s AI story generation for Futurism.com. The quick summary is that this author using 21 different pen names has churned out “more than 200 romance novels in one year using Anthropic’s Claude AI, selling about 50,000 copies and earning in the six figures.”

Why some books become blockbusters overnight

Emma Loffhagen looks at how some books are enjoying a '“second, more powerful life” long after their original publication date. She examines what “unites them and whether there’s a formula for this type of success.” The takeaway here is that these aren’t “miraculous accidents,” but the result of an “increasingly deliberate machinery” with bookshops playing a crucial role.

New author interview series — THE ASIDE: Conversations with authors just off the page

I’ve started a new author interview series—this time on video. Check out the first two episodes of The Aside: Conversations with Authors Just off the Page. Episode one features Jeannée Sacken and episode two features Carl Vonderau.

List of Book Fairs and Festivals by State

This list compiled by Writer’s Digest isn’t all inclusive, but it’s a good start if you’re looking for book fairs and festivals in your state. See it here.

The Dick Click by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Don’t be put off by the title . . . this is a brilliant piece by the brilliant author, Jacquelyn Mitchard, about how women’s fiction is “sometimes unfairly and stupidly disrespected because, indeed, it is about real life.” I consider this a must read. And once you head over to that article, be sure to follow her!

Publishing Myth: Is Self-Publishing the Easy Way Out

In this quick 4-minute video Mary Kole explains why self-publishing is clearly not the ‘easy way out.’

Why Someone Else’s Book Isn’t Your Bad News

I’ve got two articles back-to-back here from Brooke Warner . . . the first one is about that catastrophic feeling an author gets when a new book is released that’s eerily similar to their unpublished tome. Warner offers “perspective and a reality check” to put your worries to rest.

Jeff Bezos is Not Good for Books

In Warner’s second featured article in this forum, she gives us her take on “Amazon’s price fixing, extraction, and the slow strangling of the publishing ecosystem along with how to resist.” While I might not agree on every level here, this is a thorough analysis going back to the beginning of Amazon. She does carve out a little grace for Amazon as related to the self-publishing author community, but she makes good points here, too. Very much worth the read!

And in a related podcast … Joe Biel (no relation—at least I don’t believe so) “shares why Microcosm Publishing stopped selling on Amazon and why that’s not as scary as it may sound.”

February brought us a ton of writing craft articles. I didn’t want to pare these down, so here are all 14! I’ve grouped a few by topic.

5 Universal Writing Exercises for Prose and Poetry

I really appreciated these exercises compiled by BA Durham for the Chicago Writer’s Association blog. I find this kind of thing helpful when I feel stuck on my work in progress and need to exercise my writing brain in a different way. See if you find them helpful!

The Muse Who Wouldn’t Pick a Lane: Writing Across Genres

Since I tend to do this . . . write in multiple genres . . . I had to see what Michelle M. Pillow (the author of 100+ books) had to say on this topic. She explains how initially the push back came from the marketing department because they didn’t know what shelf a book fit on. She goes on to discuss how she understands how her large backlist across multiple genres may make it hard for a reader to know where to start, and acknowledges that using a pen name is a valid option. Interesting read!

Why Choice—Not Talent—Drives Great Stories

Kristen Lamb poses that great storytelling is all about choice . . . about our characters’ agency and raising the stakes through the tough choices they have to make. She encourages us to avoid the predictable in our plotting, explaining that the predictable gives the reader a reason to pause and place the dreaded bookmark! I love how she parallels fictional choices with our real life choices and why people gravitate to fiction in the first place, saying “life and fiction is about sticky compromise.”

7 Common Character Arc Problems and How to Fix Them

Sarah Branson has compiled this list for Writer’s Digest and is she ever right! My favorites are that the “character learns a lesson without any consequences” or that “the character changes in the final chapter with no buildup.” We’ve all read books that have done that. Another point she makes is that writers need to identify the emotional wound of their character and let that shape the character’s arc. Good stuff—read it here.

BUILDING SUSPENSE . . . 3 different articles:

• The 7.5 Ways to Use Real-World Expertise to Build Authentic Suspense by Kristine Delano for Writer’s Digest — an interesting look at how Kristine uses her Wall Street experience to up the tension in her novels. I think this is translatable to other areas of expertise. See what you think!

• Literary Alchemy: The Ticking Clock by Chrissy Hicks for Killer Nashville — an examination of how to use a ticking clock as narrative device to heighten tension and urgency!

• Heart-Racing Scenes: What Do Suspense and Sex Scenes Have in Common? by R. K. Harrington (also for Writer’s Digest.) This article is a fun comparison between suspense scenes and sex scenes. . . she explains how these two types of scenes are shorter with evocative elements and well-rooted point of view.

The 7 Rules of Picking Names for Fictional Characters

One of my favorite things about writing fiction is naming my characters! In this Writer’s Digest article from Elizabeth Sims, you’ll learn seven rules for picking names for fictional characters … some of these seem like common sense, like say the name aloud, get the era right, check root meanings, BUT I’d never realized that in most crime fiction the villain rarely has a middle name or initial. The reasoning? The more specific you are the more likely that there’s someone with the same name who might sue you. Read the rest of the tips here.

Memoir Writing Assistance from Jane Friedman’s Blog

• Finding the Right Tone for Your Memoir by Stephanie Mitchell talks about setting the mood of your memoir with the tone you select — formal / informal, optimistic / wry etc. — but what’s key here is her advice that the tone doesn’t have to match the content. A sad memoir doesn’t have to have a dark tone, for example. She asserts that when they don’t match the combination can create something great!

• What is a Memoir’s Essential Question and Why Do You Need One? by Lisa Cooper Ellison explains that while “all books are answers to questions the writer has posed,” the author of memoir needs to go further. “Readers may not care what you’ve gone through, they need to know what’s in it for them.” She writes that the “great essential question bridges the gap by addressing something your readers care about, even if they’ve never experienced it.”

The Big Mistake that Keeps Writers from Finishing a Novel

Zena Ryder addresses how critical feedback at the first-draft stage can derail a writer’s momentum when what they (we) really need at that point is “motivation, accountability, companionship, and permission to write badly so long as we persist.”

The Power of Saying No: Reclaiming Mental Space as a Writer

This article from Deanna Martinez-Bey encourages us to let go of the “Hustle Mentality” in order to protect our creative energy and time. Good read!

Copyright for Authors: 5 Essential Things You Should Know

Lauren Emerson, writing for the BookBub Partners blog, gives great advice about getting your work copyrighted. A lot of this you might already know, be she goes further and says that you might also consider trademark protection for your author or pen name, or even your series title. Her fifth tip is to make sure you have ownership over other content created for you like book covers, audio recordings and more.

10 Facts Writers Need to Know to Stay Safe from Scammers

While this isn’t exactly a pre-launch task or tip, it’s at this stage as you’re putting yourself and your work out there as an author that you’ll start being on the radar of these scammers. Anne R. Allen’s advice is updated for the latest scams.

KDP Dashboard Explained: What to Watch and What to Ignore

Harsini Fernando’s article for Written Word Media is a nifty tour of the KDP dashboard, along with the most important metrics to pay attention to. Check it out here.

Bookshop.org Teams with Draft2Digital

If you have your ebooks available via the Draft2Digital platform, you now have the oportunity to sell those ebooks through Bookshop.org. Ed Nawotka’s article for Publishers Weekly gives all the details.

The state of book publicity now: a Q&A between Derek Krissoff and Carrie Olivia Adams

This is a fascinating (albeit slightly befuddling) look at book publicity from a traditional publishing perspective, largely lamenting the shrinking availability of dedicated review coverage in mainstream newspapers and magazines. But even with this focus, the Q&A reveals that these reviews rarely moved the needle on book sales and that each publicity campaign has become increasingly book specific “relying on topic-specific media, including columnists, newsletters, podcasts, and influencers.” (Cue my forehead palm slap or perhaps an eyeroll . . . this is what indie authors have been doing already for ages.)

Are you guilty of these author press kit blunders?

Sandra Beckwith has your back … check out this list of author press kit mistakes and make sure you’re not doing any of them. I’m guilty of #2 . . . oops! Essential list…bookmark this.

The Most Loved Social Media Apps by Country

Just for kicks, I’m including this here . . . are you curious which social media platforms are the most popular in various countries where you sell your books?

How the TikTok Algorithm Works

I guess TikTok is here to stay? Are you curious how it works? I know I am. Read the algorithm info here.

I’m Now on TikTok — thanks to T.K. Sheffield — my podcast co-host

The first two WisMissus’ Podcast episodes of 2026 are me trying to set up my TikTok account and post my first videos. I feel like this should have been easier. And — T.K. Sheffield has the patience of a saint. Seriously! So I’m not sure if these fall into the helpful or comedic category — maybe a little of both. Click on these links to watch: Episode 1 / Episode 2

ALL ABOUT ADVERTISING . . .

BookBub vs. Amazon vs. Facebook Ads: Authors Weigh In — this is a summary of the BookBub survey from authors on the platforms they use and the results they’re achieving.

What’s Working for Indie Authors on BookBub (with Examples!) - Lauren Aldrich compiled this selection to showcase indie author success with BookBub!

15 Ways to Sell Preorder Books You Need to See - while not all of this methods are true digital advertising, they do all involve outreach of one type or another to bump up those preorders.

Two Quick Updates on Book Review Websites

• Goodreads Launches a DNF (Did not finish) Shelf - from BookRiot

• Ingram Launches a Covered* - a new competitor to NetGalley digital review services.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! - Valerie

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Welcome to the first Writers’ Forum of 2026! This marks the beginning of the 10th year of this monthly feature—I can hardly believe that!! As always, the Writers’ Forum is a mix of book marketing information, writing craft help, publishing industry news, and how-to articles on indie publishing and more. These are the articles that I’ve bookmarked this month as the most helpful ones to share with other writers.

(If you’re here as more of a reader / fan and prefer not to get a bunch of writerly posts, please scroll down to the bottom … if you click the unsubscribe—you can adjust your preferences to just my regular Reading, Writing, & Roaming emails.)

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• How to Get Organized in 2026: Growing Your Author Business

• 9 Go-To Self-Publishing News Sources for Authors

• Jane Friedman’s 2025 Year in Review

• Was 2025 a Tangible Year? (My year in review.)

• Top Ten Publishing Trends to Watch in 2026

• Print Book Sales Rose Slightly in 2025

• 10 Reasons We Write (and Publish) Our Stories

• An Independent Publisher Bestsellers List

• More on DRM for KDP authors

• What If Slowing Down Sold More Books?

• Why Advertising Doesn’t Work for Books / & My Analysis on Why it Does!

How to Get Organized in 2026: Growing Your Author Business

If you’re already feeling overwhelmed by how much you’re managing in the first few weeks of the year, this article is the most important one to read. Harshini Fernando for Written Word Media has a stellar organizational framework to follow to keep you moving forward! My favorite suggestions are weekly brain dumps and time blocking!

9 Go-To Self-Publishing News Sources for Authors

AJ Yee over on BookBub’s Partner Blog compiles a list of resources every indie published author should bookmark — wait — let me amend that — EVERY AUTHOR - no matter how you publish should bookmark these resources. You’ll notice that I feature articles here in the Forum from many of these sites.

Jane Friedman’s 2025 Year in Review

Friedman’s advice is always top notch and I highly suggest that you subscribe to her content! Her 2025 year in review gives us the biggest news (Anthropic Settlement), biggest unresolved issue (TikTok ownership), biggest failure and more. She also lists her most popular articles for the year with links.

Was 2025 a Tangible Year? (My year in review.)

I know I’m not as popular as Jane Friedman, but if you’re curious about my year in review . . . I unpack successes / failures and where I’m headed in 2026.

Top Ten Publishing Trends to Watch in 2026

I never miss an article with a headline like that . . . so what crystal-ball wisdom does the Chanticleer blog share? This is a slightly technological list focusing on things like AI becoming part of our core infrastructure, more immersive digital reading experiences, a focus on sustainable publishing, audio and voice-led storytelling growth and much, much more.

Print Book Sales Rose Slightly in 2025

Publishers Weekly dissects print book sales for the past year. Key takeaways are that Rebecca Yarros’ books had a huge impact on the romantasy category, adult nonfiction “remains the industry’s largest segment by a wide margin,” “children’s fiction had a mild rebound,” and for “adult fiction, after two years of declines, sales of graphic novels bounced back,” and “science fiction category sales were up 22.1%.” And those are just the highlights, read the full article for all the stats.

10 Reasons We Write (and Publish) Our Stories

I bookmark nearly every article that Brooke Warner writes! This month was no different. Here she sorts books into different categories by “why the author wrote the book.” This is a tremendous list of great books to add to your reading list. The categories detailed start with “to help someone else” and “to add to the literary canon,” and then move on to “advocate for a cause,” “to be remembered,” “to normalize or destigmatize,” and more. Read it here.

An Independent Press Bestsellers List

Did you now that the Independent Publishers Caucus now presents the Independent Press Top 40 bestsellers each week as represented at independent bookstores across the U.S.? This is in partnership with the American Booksellers Association. Check out the list for the week ending January 22 here.

More on DRM for KDP authors

I know we covered this last month — the digital rights management changes on KDP — but if you missed it and you have published ebooks/Kindle through KDP, please tke the time to watch this short 6-minute video to educate yourself.

What If Slowing Down Sold More Books?

Susan Friedmann throws out this eye-catching headline, suggesting that there’s “a smarter way to turn visibility into credibility and demand.” For tired authors out there, being given permission to slow down feels like a real gift. Her main suggestion is that we must “pause to clarify who the book is truly for, name the one problem it solves, choose fewer marketing paths—resisting the urge to chase noise.” Basically, the system reward clarity not volume! This is particularly geared to nonfiction authors.

Why Advertising Doesn’t Work for Books / & My Contrary Reaction

Okay, I hesitated to include this one here because I was baffled by the assertion this article made and then wrote a comment to the effect on the original post that I find that ads do sell books, but you have to carefully approach ad targeting. I wasn’t the only one. But what happened next was that the author of the article was frustrated by these comments and pointed out she was only talking about traditionally published books and not indie books … which further baffled me, because selling a book to readers doesn’t really change because of where it originates. Tactics are tactics . . . and if we really want to unpack why traditional publishing houses don’t have the fortitude to pursue some of the same advertising methods with as much vigor as indie authors do—then that’s a fine discussion—BUT it doesn’t mean that the method is flawed. It just means that the management of the advertising is perhaps not as skilled as it ought to be. Hmmmm. I feel a longer post is coming in my future. But head on over to the original article “Why Advertising Doesn’t Work for Books,” and see if you agree or disagree. (All comments welcome — yes, that was snark!)

Here are six excellent writing-craft articles from Jane Friedman, Writer’s Digest and the Killer Nashville Magazine:

In “Please Allow Your Characters Moments of Happiness” Lesley Krueger reflects on how “hitting pause at well-chosen points” in either fiction or nonfiction to allow your character a moment of happiness “can add immeasurably to a piece of writing.” Key examples are noted.

Barbara Josselsohn teaches us “How to Choose the Best POV in Fiction” for our work, depending on whether we want the narrator to be visible to the reader or invisible. Great examples from books we’re likely familiar with to help illustrate the different ‘feel’ each POV brings to the story.

In “Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn: Use Stress Responses to Strengthen Your Scenes” Sarah Brinley shows us how “the nervous system is a character in every high-stakes scene.” This is brilliant!

Chris Berg and Paul James Smith tackle “Crafting Ethical and Moral Dilemmas in Crime Fiction.” They do a great job pointing out some of the common dilemmas like Justice vs. Law, Loyalty vs. Duty, Greater Good vs. Personal Cost, and Truth vs. Harm and help us “build choices with real consequences” that will resonate with your reader.

One of my favorite writing craft advisors, C.S. Lakin, presents “Crafting Cinematic Action by Scene Segmenting.” Her tutorial has us beginning with the basic elements of the scene—the who, what, when, where, and why. Then she has us zooming in on the scene frame by frame as well as pulling back to view the full scene—her main point is “to not mistake motion for action.” This is somewhat intricate scene dissection, but super helpful.

In “The Crucial Ingredient Your Story May Be Missing,” Tiffany Yates Martin focuses on creating story cohesion by carefully focusing on how the story’s stakes drive the character and how the character then drives the plot. It makes great sense when you read through her samples of how this can go wrong and what it looks like when it is done right!

How to Be a Writer in 10 Simple Steps

This is a charming, humorous look at what ‘makes’ a writer from Susan Wiggs for Writer’s Digest. Enjoy.

Productivity Hacks to Write Faster Than Ever

Also from Writer’s Digest, this article from Paula Rizzo may be just what you need to start out 2026 strong. She focuses on using what has worked before, finding accountability and support systems, time management (that actually works), and more. Read it here.

Writers and Artists Need a Way to Label AI Use: Here’s What That Could Look Like

Dave Malone pens a very intriguing article for Jane Friedman’s blog that discusses how AI-use disclosures might be categorized or worded. Interesting.

What happens when family and friends don’t support your writing?

The ever-wise Dan Blank provides some clarity for the disappointment authors feel when their work isn’t supported in the way they expect by the people in their lives. I would imagine we’ve all felt this way at one point or another. Read Dan’s suggestions here.

Inside Hybrid Publishing: Finding a Home for My Debut Novel

Kehinde Winful shares her journey through hybrid publishing, from the Booklife blog at Publishers Weekly.

Comps Can Clinch Your Query

Lisa Levy (for Jane Friedman’s blog) explains the difference between primary comps and secondary comps and how to avoid using “the most popular” comp and where to find the perfect ones for your book. Read it here.

10 Book Proposal Writing Goals for 2026

Hey nonfiction writers, this one is for you. Debra Eckerling walks you through 10 book proposal writing goals from something as simple (ha ha) as naming your book to the more complex ‘define your audience and writing your overview.’ Great list if you’re working on a new nonfiction book.

A Quick, Worthwhile Tour of Ingram

So you think you know how Ingram works? Yeah, I thought I did, too. Thanks to Brooke Warner, I now understand the difference between “distribution and fulfillment” and got a glimpse into the “infrastructure author are rarely taught to see.”

How to Give Your Website a Refreshing Reboot

As someone who builds (and refreshes) websites for other authors, I always love a good infographic on the topic. Check this one out and see if your website needs a redo. (pssst — I can help!)

Book marketing goals: How high will you take your book this year?

My favorite book marketing pro, Sandra Beckwith, walks us through goal setting (clear outcomes) using popular frameworks (SMART / OKRs) along with marketing goal examples. Read her smart advice here—no pun intended. :)

The Pros and Cons of Launching a Book without a Publicist

Heather Sweeney walks through the decision of hiring a publicist or not . . . good analysis of the cost vs benefits.

Watch for These 2026 Social Media Trends

Okay—super important post here—from Lacy Phillips for Jane Friedman’s blog. If you’re very active on social media the use of fewer links, the ability on some platforms for users to customize their feeds, the uptick of Pinterest and the downturn of LinkedIn will matter to you. But for many of us, the key takeaways here is that Instagram is limiting the use of hashtags to just five and longer form video and YouTube are on the rise. Read it here.

Why you need an audience waiting for your book

Oh, this one is good!! This is all about building your own personal audience / platform to help support your book sales—mostly through newsletter/email list. The timeline Sandra Beckwith shares insid this article is GOLD. Bookmark this one.

Video camera shy? Try these expert tips from a top social media pro

Key tips here for getting camera ready for recording videos from Amy Rogers Nazarov. Best tip … look at the camera lens not at your image on the screen, so that you maintain good ‘eye’ contact with the viewer. Great tips!! (And if you’re really not feeling the whole video thing — you need to read The Struggle is Reel: Marketing without Social Media by Blair Glaser.)

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! - Valerie

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Welcome to the last Writers’ Forum of 2025! As always, the Writers’ Forum is a mix of book marketing information, writing craft help, publishing industry news, and how-to articles on indie publishing and more.

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Digital Rights Management and the New KIndle eBook Download Options

• Introducing: Free Reads from BookBub

• 2025 Indie Author Survey Results

• Ultimate Holiday Gift List for Writers (there’s still time)

• Goodreads Choice Awards Winners

• 2026 Literary Calendar

• 10 Fun Terms from Merriam-Webster’s Newly Updated Collegiate Dictionary

• Kindle’s New Gen AI-Powered “Ask This Book” Feature

• The Retailer That’s Eating Us

Digital Rights Management and the New Kindle eBook Download Options

If you have books uploaded to Kindle via the KDP dashboard, you received an email this week explaining that starting on January 20 readers would be able to download the epub and/or the PDF file of Kindle books they purchase if the books are DRM-free titles. This will not apply to previous DRM-free titles, but you can opt in to making this available if you so choose to books already published. If you need any explanation on what Digital Rights Management means, click here. Tech Crunch has an analysis of this policy change, and here’s my advice:

Previously, I tended to not check DRM (making my titles DRM free) that way if someone downloaded a file for their kindle, they’d (presumably) only be able to read it on their app, but making it easy enough from them to (perhaps) put it on more than one device etc.. Then they shifted from mobi to epub files and those files I suppose can already be downloaded and used in pirate-like ways, but you still have to wrangle with the file and such, so I continued to keep my books DRM free.

I think this new policy opens authors up to higher potential for piracy, so I’m going to put DRM on all my books moving forward. And I think, just to be safe, I’ll go back and put DRM on all my previously DRM free books (even though these instructions seem like we don’t HAVE to do that to keep the books from having that extra download feature.)

Introducing: Free Reads from BookBub

This is cool . . . and I just snagged one of these Free Reads deals for book 1 in my Circle of Nine series, so I’ll report back on results in mid-January. BookBub explains, “Free Reads is a new way for us to feature more free deals and help more authors than ever get their books into the hands of BookBub’s most voracious readers.”

2025 Indie Author Survey Results

Written Word Media’s survey results are in with 1346 respondents, 96% of whom are already published. The survey covers publication method, author goals, incomes, genres, formats, types of marketing and more. Interesting insights … read it here.

Ultimate Holiday Gift List for Writers (there’s still time)

Here’s a great list of gifts for the writer in your life (or yourself!) from Build Book Buzz. And in our latest podcast, T.K. Sheffield and I discuss some great gift ideas as well at about 28:40. (Links to fav gifts are listed in the show notes.)

Goodreads Choice Awards Winners

Do you vote for books in the Goodreads Readers’ Choice Awards? Here are the winners.

2026 Literary Calendar

Thank you Sandra Beckwith for this fun 2026 calendar of literary events . . . bookmark this to help you with your social media content planning this year.

10 Fun Terms from Merriam-Webster’s Newly Updated Collegiate Dictionary

It’s that time of year again . . . here’s a quick sampling of what’s been added: adulting * amirite (NOT a new mineral ha ha) * dad joke * fanfic * fluffernutter * free solo * non-rhotic * petrichor * side-eye. Click here for the official definition of any of these from Peter Sokolowski, writing for Writer’s Digest.

Kindle’s New Gen AI-Powered “Ask This Book” Feature Raises Rights Concerns

Oh, boy, here we go again. This new feature is described Amazon this way: “For our endlessly curious readers, Ask this Book will let you highlight any passage of text while reading a book and get spoiler-free answers to questions about things like a character’s motive or the significance of a scene.” Critics point out that this is “in-effect an in-book chatbot.” And at the moment, we don’t have the ability to opt out of this as rights holders. Learn more on the Writer Beware blog.

The Retailer That’s Eating Us

And just to share some more ‘love’ (ha ha) for Amazon, Brook Warner shares “what 4 Amazon book-specific case studies elucidate about who benefits and who suffers in their ever-growing marketplace.” This article focuses on erroneous ‘temporarily out of stock messages,’ the frustration when our book’s buy box is taken over by a third-party seller, delayed shipping notifications, or the ‘only 1 left in stock - order soon’ message. Interesting read as always!

Prologues That Work and Why

Do you remember your early writing advice that you should not use a prologue? Here Maryka Biaggio gives us eight ways prologues can be used for the good of the story, by providing foreshadowing, background info, character motivation and more. I like that we’re given ‘permission’ to utilize prologues!!

Crafting Ethical and Moral Dilemmas in Crime Fiction

As I delve more into mystery and crime fiction writing, I’m drawn to craft articles like this one from Chris Berg and Paul James Smith (writing for Jane Friedman’s blog). They discuss building the perfect dilemma, describing it as a “collision of imperatives: follow one, and you sacrifice another.” They also describe the core “ethical battles at the heart of thrillers: justice vs. law, loyalty vs. duty, greater good vs. personal cost, truth vs harm.” Great article!

Five Keys to Creating Believable Villains: How to Build Realistic Antagonists

Author Venita Bonds gives us five ways to create believable villains in this article for Killer Nashville. I love layered antagonists and these keys speak exactly to that. She talks about showing the humanity and vulnerability of villains along with their justification and backstory. She goes on to discuss how important a villain’s body language is to making them a believable “bad guy,” and how your secondary character’s reactions increase this believability factor. An excellent article for reference if you’re crafting some nifty villains.

The Case for Shrinking Your Novel

Again from Jane Friedman’s blog, Amy L. Bernstein gives fab advice on how to cut words from your manuscript. These are great reminders and they all go back to the essential question of whether a scene is serving the story and is essential to the plot. Even in imperative scenes, she asks us to look for too much introspection, narration, and wordiness. Good tips.

Why Your Memoir Feels Like Rambling (and How to Fix It)

I love this focus on structure for memoir writing … Wendy Dale is the author of “The Memoir Engineering System: How to Make Your First Draft Your Final Draft.” One of her key points feels obvious, but is that your memoir is constructed of scenes connected by transitions . . . and these transitions are used to make the point of “why the next scene is relevant to what has happened already.” Dale provides some excellent examples to keep you on track.

Unconventional Writing

A short 9-minute video about writing a book that doesn’t “lend itself easily to categorization.” Is your book a bit different, this video might be what you need.

To Start You of Right in 2026:

• 15 Things a Writer Should Never Do - by Zachary Petit for Writer’s Digest

  This article lists out ways to chart your own path, how to be kind, how to take and receive advice and more.

• How to Organize Your Writing - by Amy Wilson (the Good Story Company)

  Geared toward the beginning writer, this article encourages you to set up systems from the get-go to keep you on track with your resources / work product.

• 5 Steps to Reclaim Your Relationship with Writing - by GG Renee Hill for Writer’s Digest: Are you a veteran writer who is struggling with keeping on track and achieving goals due to challenges in your life, then the questions asked in this article might help put you back on track. Thoughtprovoking!

Editing Articles from Writer’s Digest’s: Commas & Changes to Chicago Manual of Style

• Who doesn’t need a little comma help? I know I appreciated reading (yet again) the 10 Most Important Comma Usage Rules. Do you know them all already??

• The updates are are in. Are you curious about the 5 Changes That Matter from the Chicago Manual of Style? These cover capitalization of prepositions in titles, the initial word The in titles of periodicals, indigenous languages/sources, singular “they,” and place of publication in citations.

The Current State of Hybrid Publishing: A&A with David Wilk

Neat interview . . . with Jane Friedman asking questions of David Wilk, founder of hybrid publisher Easton Studio Press. Read it here.

Audible Royalty Changes: What Authors Need to Know

More to learn . . . do you have audiobooks? Then you need to read about Audible’s new model in this article from Kindlepreneur’s Kevin J. Duncan . . . there’s a nifty key-takeaway box to help digest the details quickly. The main point is that the “new royalty model blends credits, subscription revenue, and Audible Plus listening into one shared pool.” AND that this new system is option for now.

Edelweiss Price Hike Roils Industry

This pricing change may not matter to you at all unless you have an account with Edelweiss—the review service provider, but there’s definitely some unhappiness as these price hikes hit publishers. Read it here.

65 Metrics for Social Media Success

I think ‘why’ we use social media can get a little fuzzy at times, and that’s why I really like Social Media Today’s infographic that ties your social media goal with the “key metrics” you need to watch to see if you’re achieving it. Nice graphic to help you plot your path in 2026.

The Best BookBub Ads of 2025

I always love the best of articles from the BookBub Partners blog . . . if you’re thinking of trying BookBub ads in 2026, you definitely want to read this article to see what’s been working well.

11 Clever Ideas for Promoting Sequels or Later-Series Books

If you’re a series writer, then you know that promoting books further into the series can get a bit tricky. AJ Yee for the BookBub Partners blog has some great ideas to help you out. I’ve done many of these, but next up on my list is to create a digital boxed set. If you have a sequel coming out in 2026, bookmark this article to reference later!

Announcing Digital eBook Signing: Connect with Readers in a Whole New Way

So this is interesting — Book Funnel has created a way for authors to sign readers’ ebooks. If that has you scratching your head, then you need to read this article — because this is a pretty cool feature. I’m rather loving this idea!! Maybe it IS time for me to get a Book Funnel account.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!! - Valerie

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Happy Thanksgiving Week! You’re getting the Forum a wee bit early this month, because I’m anticipating by Friday morning we’ll all be in a carb / sugar induced haze and/or spending time with family! As always, the Writers’ Forum is a mix of book marketing information, writing craft help, publishing industry news, and how-to articles on indie publishing and more.

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• The Power of Not Caring (Strategically)

• 3 common book marketing tactics that are useless (self-centered edition)

• Update on those flattering AI book marketing scams

• Surviving the agent hunt or going directly to editors

• The Appeal of Genre Smashing for Readers and Writers

• In Defense of Drudgery - Maggie Stiefvater

The Power of Not Caring (Strategically)

This article from Mary Kole’s Thriving Writers Newsletter was a great look at how obsessiveness over every sales’ report, every review, every index that tells you how well your book is doing is unhealthy . . . as is getting burned out and completely disengaging. “The sweet spot—and this is the real trick—is knowing when to care. When to zoom out and play the long game, and when to zoom in and just write the next thing.” If you’re at the point of craving balance, this article is for you.

3 common book marketing tactics that are useless (self-centered edition)

Sandra Beckwith, one of my favorite book marketing gurus, gives us a look at some bad, rather presumptuous, book marketing tactics that do not work . . . posting in 3rd person, assuming people consume information from the same sources, and more. Make sure you’re not doing these things here.

Update on those flattering AI book marketing scams

Anne R. Allen’s posts begins with the line that these AI book marketing scam emails are proliferating like tribbles, which made me laugh but also nod knowingly (early Star Trek reference for those of you who don’t know what that means.) It’s gotten ridiculous how many of these are filling up my email inbox each day. Check out Anne’s post here. And here’s my recent article on the same topic:

Surviving the agent hunt or going directly to editors

Brooke Warner’s Substack publication, Writerly Things, is one of my favorite reads. Her advice is very much on point for the publishing industry and always worth sharing. She recently penned two articles that go well together:

How to Shop Your Manuscript without Losing Yourself (Guidelines for writers who might be tempted to put agents on pedestals or treat their books like their babies.) and … Why Most Aspiring Writers Should Forego Querying Agents (Best Practices for Pitching Your Work Directly to Editors)

The Appeal of Genre Smashing for Readers and Writers

Do you have a great novel idea but worry about pursuing it because it smashes two genres together and you’re not sure what shelf it will ‘live’ on? (Yes, I know that feeling — ha ha.) Then… you’ll want to read this Writers Digest article from James Zwerneman. He explains what is appealing about this approach and gives excellent examples!

In Defense of Drudgery - Maggie Stiefvater

Are you a fan of Maggie Stiefvater’s books? If you are, definitely subscribe to her Substack publication, Telltale Crumbs from Maggie Stiefvater. I consider her recent post a must-read because she talks candidly about how the ability to suffer through the tedium of ‘practicing’ skills is the key to success. (She explains it much more eloquently than my clunky summary sentence.) Read it here.

What Makes Character Voice Memorable: Emotion

I think one of the most elusive writing craft areas to teach is ‘voice.’ This article from Jordan Rosenfeld from Jane Friedman’s blog the guidance on voice is an excellent exploration of how your character’s expression of emotion is essential to building their ‘voice.’ I’m bookmarking this one for when I’m writing my next book.

Writing Scenes with Your Senses

Wendy B. Correa’s article for Writer’s Digest provides help on how to make your scenes richer with some detailed writing exercises. Read it here.

How to Nail a Plot Twist (Without Confusing Your Readers)

I’ve really been enjoying the Write City posts from B.A. Durham at the Chicago Writers’ Association. In this short post, you get a 5 point list that’ll help you with those twisty bits.

The Balance Between Romance and Romantic Suspense

Now, I haven’t written in this genre yet, but never say never—which is why I’m sometimes drawn to this type of advice (outside of my current focus.) But I’ll bet there are plenty of readers here who do write romantic suspense. “Here, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Colleen Coble discusses balancing romance and romantic suspense.” This is an interesting analysis where she explains at the beginning of her career she used a 50/50 balance but is now closer to 80 suspense to 20 romance—and better yet—she explains WHY!

Writing Flashbacks

I’m sure I’ve covered this with tips from someone before, but here this topic is again — mostly because it is a bit tricky to get right. Rhiannon Richardson gives good advice for the Good Story Company blog on how to keep your reader oriented properly at the same time you maintain active voice within the flashback. Read it here.

Two Memoir-Related Articles from Writer’s Digest

In The Parent Trap: Writing Responsibly About Your Child, “Writer Abby Alten Schwartz explores the complex ethical issues authors face when writing about their children and shares advice from other parent memoirists.”

And in 5 Tips for Figuring Out the Structure of Your Memoir, Renee Gilbert first explains the eight types of memoir structure. This is a great little list to reference, so be sure to bookmark it if you’re planning a memoir. She then gives tips to figure out which one is going to be the right fit for your type of memoir.

Before You Say Yes: What Writers Need to Know About Anthology Offers

Matty Dalrymple and Mark Leslie Lefebvre, writing for Jane Friedman’s blog, help us out with anthology offers. I feel like anthologies are becoming more and more popular, so it’s likely that at some point in your writing career you may end up being a contributing author.

9 Ways Self-Publishing Changed My Life (and Will Change Yours Too)

In this article from Writer’s Digest, Kim Catanzarite “lays out everything you can expect to change in your life when you self-publish your novel.” What I find interesting is that most of this OUGHT to apply to publishing your novel traditionally, too, particularly in a publishing world where authors are expected to do most of their own marketing. Read it here.

What’s Changing at Amazon? How the A10 Algorithm Is Reshaping Book Visibility

We’ve talked about this for the past couple of months, but here’s another look at Amazon’s algorithm change from Adanna Moriarity on the Writers and Publishers Network—what IS NEW is the ‘what to do’ about it section. Find an actionable list of tasks to address these changes here.

What Are BISAC Codes and How to Use Them

Yes, this is a publishing 101 kind of thing — BUT it is never a bad idea to throw in a quick definition of something like this. See if you’re right in your understanding of BISACs here.

Book Marketing Requires Patience

Sandra Beckwith’s article was a fun read (they usually are!). I agree with her advice that we need to be more patient with our book marketing. She points out that we are mistakenly obsessed with the launch phase when we should be more focused on long-tail marketing techniques. Read it here.

Book Marketing 101: How (and Why!) to Reach the Right Readers

AJ Yee, writing for the BookBub Partners Blog, teaches us how to narrow and define our target audience with some brilliant in-depth steps. Seriously—I haven’t seen this good of a tutorial on the topic before. Bookmark this one for sure!

Work Smarter, Not Harder

In this episode of the WisMissus Podcast, T.K. Sheffield and I cover the ways you can repurpose content you’ve already created to add to your author revenue, along with the potential to create companion products related to your bookish/writerly content.

Using Your Author Website as a Storytelling Tool: Design Tips to Captivate Readers

Author Alison Gieschen shares practical ways “to build a webite that reflects your voice, inspires curiosity, and keeps readers coming back for more.” She points out that this is the place where you can immerse you readers into the world you’ve created.

22 Ways to Grow Your Author Email List

Again from AJ Yee for the BookBub Partners Blog, I definitely found new ways to pull people onto the subscriber list that I hadn’t thought of before. See if any of these fit with your goals / plans.

BookBub Ad Strategies — Two Approaches

Because BookBub is typically thought of as a platform for heavily discounted books, I was very interested in author Matthew J. Holmes’ article, How I Use BookBub Ads to Sell Full-Price Books. They key takeaway here is how he uses bidding strategies so he’s not paying too much per click.

In BookBub Ads Strategies for Any New Release Goal, Audrey Derobert helps us plan an ad strategy that focuses increased exposure or increased engagement or achieving positive ROI.

How to hit your old author targets on Facebook

If you advertise on Facebook, you’ll have noticed that starting January 16 many of your advertising targets will be a thing of the past. Even now, it is has been difficult to use these expiring audiences. For the brief few weeks left, David Gaughran has a quick video that shows you how to keep using these targets until they retire them. Watch the video here.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

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Today, so far, I’ve received 5 (and there’ll be at least that many or more again throughout the day). What’s in today’s initial batch: 3 from “individuals” (aka AI bots) promising promotional opportunities, one from someone supposedly running the Arlington Book Club, and one pretending to be bestselling author Karen McManus. Let’s unpack this shady business . . .

BOOK PROMOTION PROMISES

These are mostly the type I get. Their overt flattery of my book (as if they read it) and vague promises are enticing to the untrained eye. (Please know AI is writing these!)

I actually did a little research and replied to one to see how much their promo package would cost. It started at $3500 and with a back and forth with me playing along but saying that was too much and the ‘promoter’ continuing to offer lower prices with the final message quoting something like $500. This all started with an AI-bot-generated email, and I have no idea if there was EVER a real person at the other end of this conversation. Ugh!!

Author Bill Ried did the same thing. Here’s his story (way funnier than mine):

My very convincing AI correspondent wanted me to pay through an app. I checked it and found I would have to register, after agreeing to the terms of service. This was linked to 22 agreements. I told Ms. AI I would not wade through these and she agreed I’d use PayPal instead, and she gave me an email address to use—that was not her name. I also said I would send her a two-page contract, for which I needed her street address.

She was very nervous about privacy—although she knew who I was and where I lived, but she eventually gave me an address. This was close to where I live but the suite number started with 45, which seemed off in a neighborhood with no 45-story buildings. So, I walked by and found the address was a Mail Drop.

I told her again I needed her actual street address, and she finally gave in and gave me an address—in Seattle. This again seemed odd, so I ran it through Google Maps. It was the Seattle Public Library!

I called her out once more on this, again after agonizing she said she decide she could trust me and gave me an address 10 blocks south of my apartment. I walked down and found the address was the long-standing address of Kalustyans, maybe the best spice store in the world, but it did have a few apartments upstairs.

So, I decided to go forward and wrote in the address and forwarded the contract, but said I had one more question: “What is the historical significance of your building?” She replied that she had lived in the neighborhood for years, but the building had no historical significance. I wrote back “Wrong. We’re done.” (The building not only houses Kalustyans, but according to the plaque on the outside wall, was where Chester Arthur took his oath of office after James Garfield was assassinated.)

If there’s any bright side to any of this, the early ones I received actually had some interesting ideas for what Goodreads lists my books should be on. (I copied those!! Ha ha!)

Photo evidence of a few below (including the very professional-looking one Peg Brantley received.)

BOOK CLUB OFFERS (FOR A FEE)

Now, the book club offers are trickier—because these are designed to – well – trick you. These look legit, even more legit than the promo ones. Many of these are real book clubs that exist, but the offer that’s coming to you isn’t really from the book club. Also, many are just newly created scam book clubs that DON’T really exist. Initially, there’s no cost mentioned for this opportunity, but if you reply—you’ll be given a dollar amount for your book to be “read.” There’s an offer for how many reviews to expect etc. So, the AI system is smart enough to offer some “fictional” benefit for the cost.

FAMOUS AUTHORS ARE NOT REACHING OUT TO YOU

No—Kristin Hannah did not just email you. (I actually did get a fake Kristin Hannah email last week, but I deleted it, so no screen shot of that one.) No matter how much we’d want this to be true, famous authors are not randomly emailing new / indie / midlist / relatively unknown authors. This is where AI completely goes off the rails—if you’ve been around this business for any length of time, you know how busy these folks are—and if they WANTED to reach out to you, they wouldn’t do it from an email that’s something like: FAMOUSAUTHORNAME3723@gmail.com

Here’s the one from fake Karen McManus (along with the image I pulled from her website addressing this problem.)

WHAT TO DO?

• Enjoy your daily game of email whack-a-mole with your favorite hot or cold beverage.

• If in doubt, check the email address (these are all coming from easy to create gmail / hotmail addresses. Not actual domain names of companies.) You can block these if you want to go through that extra step—but be warned—it’s not like that’s going to stop them. They’ll just create a new email.

• If STILL in doubt—because they appear to reference a real company. I’d warn you to just continue to the delete button. However, if you want to check it out further, navigate independently to that site in your browser and see if it’s likely that they would employ a ‘cold call’ email strategy. (Check their staff listings – see if emails match -- BE A SLEUTH.)

• No matter what — don’t book anything or send any money via the communications that come from these emails!

• Only book promo services through companies that you’ve thoroughly checked out: those that have been used by other authors successfully, those that are recommended by groups like IBPA, the Alliance for Independent Authors (ALLi), or Authors Guild. Check scam alerts, like this one from Authors Guild, or subscribe to updates from Writer Beware.

And, just to have a little fun with this, please share in the comments the most ridiculous scam you’ve been targeted with — we need to stick together to navigate these tricky waters!!

Happy Halloween! We’ve obviously hit the end of October! (AND once again . . . I’m kind of thinking “how did that happen so quickly??”) I originally amassed nearly 50 articles to share with you, but I’ve whittled it down to the 40 most important / interesting / helpful items. This Forum is always a mix of book marketing information, writing craft help, publishing industry news, and how-to articles on indie publishing and more.

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Ongoing info about the Anthropic Settlement (multiple articles) and more on the Class Action Suit against Open AI

• 30 Books Being Adapted for the Screen

• Do Free Book Promos Work Anymore?

• Who Will Fill the Gap Left by Baker & Taylor’s Shut Down?

• What Does a Writer Actually Do? — A 500+ Author Survey

• The Great Author Central Lock Out

• We’re in a Book Affordability Crisis

There are multiple articles and summaries of the Anthropic Settlement case—where $1.5 billion in damages are set to be paid to authors and publishers for the unauthorized use of books to train AI. Here are the latest.

• Judge Gives Preliminary Approval to Anthropic Settlement - Jim Milliot for Publishers Weekly (Sept 26, 2025)

• Two summaries of the entire case: Writer Beware’s Summary from September 26 / Author Guild’s Summary from October 2

Plus, there’s another case worth paying attention to . . . that one is against OpenAI’s ChatGPT as detailed in this article by Jim Milliot for Publishers Weekly from October 28: Author’s Class action Lawsuit Against Open AI Moves Ahead.

30 Books Being Adapted for the Screen

This is a fun list compiled by Kirkus of book to move adaptations we can look forward to. Are any of your favorites on this list?

Do Free Book Promos Work Anymore?

Oh, this is awesome . . . Bridget E. Baker gives a real by-the-numbers look at whether free book promos are worth pursuing. The take away here is that this is a strategy that should only be employed if you have a series. Read it here from BookBub.

Who Will Fill the Gap Left by Baker & Taylor’s Shut Down?

First, if you didn’t hear the news that Baker & Taylor (the USA’s largest library wholesaler) is shutting down, then you’ll want to start with this article by Jim Milliot at Publishers Weekly. The next article (also by Milliot for PW) details how libraries are looking to fill the gap left by Baker & Taylor’s departure with some wholesalers like Ingram Content Group and Bookazine “ramping up their operations to take over parts of B&T’s business.” Additionally, Barnes and Noble has announced that they are also expanding into this space with their &Classwork e-commerce portal.

What Does a Writer Actually Do? — A 500+ Author Survey

Audrey Derobert sums up this BookBub Partners survey of more than 500 authors on how they approach their writing career, what kind of marketing they do, what sort of work they outsource and more. Interesting stats for sure, but it’s always good to see how others are making things work in their writing world. Read it here.

The Great Author Central Lock Out

I hadn’t heard of this happening until I saw the article from Penny Sansevieri. Have you been locked out of your Amazon Author Central account? I sure hope not! But here are the tips to fix any issues you may be having.

We’re in a Book Affordability Crisis

Compared to a lot of things, I still believe that books are a very reasonably priced entertainment, but I did find the comparison of book pricing between previous years and 2025’s costs quite interesting, although I found R. Nassor’s assertion that we’re in a book affordability crisis tenuous at best. Yes, the cost of print books has gone up, but the alternatives available — ebooks or ebooks through subscription models like Kindle Unlimited — do offer a lower cost entry point to read many titles. I’m not sure why there’s the hang up on whether you ‘own’ the book forever, especially when we’re talking about mass market paperbacks, which are hardly collectors’ items. Maybe I’m just being ornery. See what you think in the article on Book Riot here.

12 Ways Not to Start a Novel vs. 25 Ways to Start a Story

I had to laugh when I realized I bookmarked two articles with the opposite approaches on the same topic. I wondered if they would contradict each other. The good news is that they don’t! 12 Ways Not to Start a Novel by Anne R. Allen tells us not to use dreams, alarm clocks, travel, funerals/death, personal introductions and more. Solid advice for sure—although, ahem, I’m pretty sure that I have a ‘grandmother’ clock chiming in the first line of one of my books. In 25 Ways to Start a Story from Writers Digest we don’t read general plotting advice. Instead, we’re treated to story prompts—also fun, particularly if you’re in need of a little writing exercise or two (or 25.)

Ditch the Oldest Rule in Writing

B.A. Durham from the Chicago Writers Association gives us five reasons why “write what you know” is terrible advice, and I agree with him!! He says it stifles the imagination and discourages personal and artistic growth amongst other things. I like this approach a lot!!

Pacing for Emotional Impact in Fiction: Building Tension and Release in a Novel

I love bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne’s tips for managing pacing in your novels. In her article for Writers Digest she advises authors to “vary sentence and scene lengths and strategize where to place scene and chapter breaks.” Additionally, she advises how to “mix fast and slow scenes and withhold key details to maintain mystery, keeping readers invested with the gradual reveal.” These are great tips!

The Recipe for Fantasy World Building

Do you write fantasy stories? This is an excellent podcast where Marisa Churchill presents her “Recipe for Fantasy World Building” in conversation with Mary Kole.

How to Turn Your Family Folklore into Historical Fiction

Now, this is intriguing! Melora Fern shares her three-step process for taking facts from her family background to create a framework for her fictionalized stories. These are the types of novels that might say “based on true events.” I like the idea of this a lot, and now it’s pushed me to think more about stories from my family’s past that could make for the great beginnings of a story.

How to Write Intimate Scenes Without the Cringe

I’ve never been able to figure this one out, so — of course — I had to read these tips from Natali Simmonds for Writer’s Digest. She first walks us through whether you need sex in your book and if so — how much? She goes on to address writing intimate scenes for different audiences and meeting those expectations as well as the pacing of these scenes. Helpful tips for sure, but for now I think I’ll just keep fading everything to black. (ha ha)

How to Write a Book in Microsoft Word (2025 Tutorial for Authors)

If you like to use Word for your writing, check out this short ten-minute video tutorial from Kindlepreneur.com.

Best Book Editing Software for Authors in 2025

The BookBaby blog compares SudoWrite, Claude Pro, Grammerly, Fictionary, ProWirtingAid, and the Hemingway Editor. Helpful summary of each editing program along with costs and pros/cons.

Estate Planning for Authors and Creatives

I wasn’t sure what section to place this article in—but I definitely wanted to include it. Brenda W. Clough for Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association gives advice on how NOT to leave a mess for our heirs when it comes to our intellectual property management. It’s a little complicated but a necessity to address. I’m adding it to my to-do list.

Why Every Author Still Needs a Website in 2025 (And How to Make Yours a Reader Magnet)

Harshini Fernando from Written Word Media first explains that websites are essential as your digital business card, putting you in control of the content. He then lists what every author website needs along with instructions on getting it right. If you’re not employing a website designer (and maybe even if you are), his website checklist along with things to avoid is super helpful. Read it here.

Search is Changing: Here’s How Authors Can Benefit

You may have noticed that Google is presenting the way authors and their books appear in search results. This article from Rick Burnes for the BookBub Partners Blog sees the changes as both an a challenge and an opportunity. He carefully presents the old way search worked and the new way results are being presented and, most importantly, gives authors tips for making sure we’re adapting to these changes to remain at the top of search results. Super important article— bookmark this!

5 Ways to Improve Your Digital Presence

And in a somewhat related article/infographic, Barb Drozdowich gives tips to improve how well you’re represented in the online /digital world. The short infographic is good for an overview, but there’s a longer article that’s worth reading, too.

The WisMissus Podcast! In this episode we cover post-launch marketing, specifically diving into:

• Social Media efforts

• Advertising on BookBub, Facebook, and Amazon

• Promo Stacking

• Library and bookstore efforts and more!

• How award contests can fit into your marketing plan

The Momentum Method: Smart Book Marketing Strategies for Self-Published Authors

Harshini Fernando for Written Word Media has another great checklist of items to help you improve your book’s visibility and sales. I especially like the comparison between promos and paid advertising with the examples of each. I agree with his final assertion that marketing is a marathon not a flash sale. If you’re struggling with a marketing plan for your book, this is a good place to start.

The Secret Places Your Readers Hang Out—And Why Most Authors Never Look There

I’m like - wait - what? Where ARE my readers hanging out?? A few of these tips from Susan Friedmann I certainly knew and employ on a regular basis but there were some that made me say—of course, why didn’t I think of that? The obvious ones were social media groups on Facebook and LinkedIn as well as Podcasts—these work well for both fiction and nonfiction. But for nonfiction, in particular, Industry or Association Newsletters or Course Communities & Masterminds can be very good spots to be visible with the expertise you’ve written on. And if you’re headed onto the speaking circuit, corporate or nonprofit partnerships can result in the bulk purchase of your book. Read it here.

Amazon Verified Purchase Reviews: Fact vs Fiction

Every so often, I repeat an article like this because it seems like myths resurface just to confuse everyone. Read the real rules here. (Thanks Sandra Beckwith for running this again.)

BookTok for book marketing: Here’s how to decide if it’s a must or a maybe

I need this article and I’ve already pretty much determined that I need to learn BookTok, even though I don’t relish the thought of learning a new platform. See if this ought to be on your to-do list by reading Sandra Beckwith’s wise analysis here.

Facebook to Remove the Option to Allow Public Followers on Personal Profiles

This Social Media Today article is from late 2024 BUT it appears that it’s only been in the last few months that Facebook started to enact this change. I’m not sure why they ever allowed public followers on personal profiles in the first place . . . most of us were just cued into the idea that we had ‘friends’ on our personal profiles and ‘followers’ on our professional / business / author pages. So this might not be a b ig deal to you, but it’s worth the quick read of this article so you can see how to switch your personal profile to professional mode to keep these ‘followers.’

Instagram Tips from Barb Drozdowich at Bakerview Consulting

• How to Create a Strong Instagram Bio (do you need to update yours?)

• Instagram Shares Tips on How to Grow Your Following with these easy to follow, actionable steps.

Why Pinterest Works for Me as an Author, and Tips for You

Melissa Bourbon shares her Pinterest marketing strategies that quickly made that platform the top source of most of her website traffic. The best take away here is to use Pinterest as another spot to promote your lead magnate to grow your email list. Lots of great details here that might work well for you, too. And if you’re a little confused as to how Pinterest works, Barb Drozdowich has you covered with this nifty infographic.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

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What a month . . . the biggest news, of course, is the Anthropic Settlement . . . that had just come out when the August Forum was compiled. (There’s a lot more on that below!) There’s also a look at publishing/book trends, a wrap up from the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference, the latest on scams targeting authors and more.

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• What Authors Need to Know About the $1.5 Billon Anthropic Settlement (multiple articles.)

• Flattering Emails Are All an AI Scam

• Writers’ Digest Annual Conference Recap

• Best Websites for Writers & 20 Podcasts for Authors

• How Publishing Has Changed Since 2015

• Publishing Trends: Tropes Readers Are Loving

• Collective and Co-op Publishers Find Strength in Numbers

• Indie Presses Provide a Haven for Midlist Authors

• Middle Grade is Down but Never Out

There are so many articles about the Anthropic Settlement and the situation is evolving. Listed below are articles starting in late August up until a September 17 article. The judge’s delay was in part to address an equitable split of funds between publishers and authors amongst others. These are all worth the read if you’re catching up on this news:

• AI Trained on Your Books? What the Bartz v. Anthropic Lawsuit Means for Authors - Kindlepreneur.com (August 28)

• Anthropic agrees to pay $1.5 billion to settle author class action - Reuter’s (Sept 5)

• What the Anthropic Settlement Means for Authors - Brooke Warner (Sept. 7)

• Judge Delays Preliminary Approval in Anthropic Copyright Settlement - Publishers’ Weekl (Sept. 9)

• What Authors Need to Know About the $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement - Author’s Guild (Sept. 17)

Flattering Emails are all an AI Scam

I, personally, get at least five emails per day offering wonderful promotion opportunities from folks who have accurately summarized my books. It seems as though they’ve really loved it and want to help me make it a success. HA! NOT SO FAST! Turns out these are AI-generated summaries and the offerings are scammy, as Ann R. Allen describes in her recent post.

I replied to one just to see what the cost would be and the promo packages STARTED at $3500. When I replied that it was too much for me, then the price went down. I declined again, and the price went down again. Rinse. Repeat.

Writers’ Digest Annual Conference Recap

This was a really fun way to present a conference recap with illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Bob Eckstein. Click here for the full recap. The sessions range from self-editing to media tips along with some great podcasts and interviews.

Best Websites for Writers & 20 Podcasts for Authors

It’s time for the Writer’s Digest list of the best 101 websites for writers. The list is split into sites on creativity, best live-streams & podcasts, writing advice, agents, genre specific, news & resources and more! And the Bookbub Partners Blog just updated their list of the best Podcasts for Authors on Writing, Publishing and Book Marketing.

How Publishing Has Changed Since 2015

Jane Friedman made this article free for everyone to celebrate her 10th anniversary. (The article was originally published in her paid newsletter THE BOTTOM LINE.) This is a really interesting article about the last 10 years of publishing!

PUBLISHING TRENDS

The final four featured articles are all about publishing trends—from the tropes readers are loving to alternative publishing paths and the state of the middle grade market. These were all so good, that I wanted them in this top section.

In Bookbub Trend Watch: Tropes Readers Are Loving Maya Lieberman examines the popularity of certain tropes in the current market. She specifically looks at frontier romance and time travel romance for the romance market along with cozy fantasy, humorous-quirky mysteries, archaeological adventure and more.

Collective and Co-op Publishers Find Strength in Numbers

I’ve been hearing more and more about author collectives and co-ops, so this article from Publishers Weekly caught my eye. Key takeaway is that by banding together to share resources and strengths these entities emerge stronger and more competitive in the market. Interesting read.

Also from Publishers Weekly, Indie Presses Provide a Haven for Midlist Authors examines how midlist authors are either being turned away or defecting from large publishing houses in favor of smaller, indie presses where they’ve found a more hospitable environment.

And because I write middle grade novels, Middle Grade is Down but Never Out was of particular interest. It’s good to know that while there is perhaps a momentary lull, there’s still optimism in the industry for books targeted to this age range.

What Does It Mean to Have a Compelling Voice in Your Story?

Tiffany Yates Martin takes on the elusive yet every important topic of voice in this article for Jane Friedman’s blog where she defines voice and helps guide you through finding it in your own stories. Really smart article.

Writing the Opening Line

Rhiannon Richardson gives us great tips on getting over the angst of writing the perfect first line. We all know how important that line is, which can often paralyze our writing ability. Richardson suggests different approaches from writing whatever gets the story rolling (you can go back and fix it later to looking at other book’s first lines to provide inspiration. Mainly, she says, “don’t over think it.” Read it here.

How to Reconnect with a Draft You No Longer Want to Write

I think most of us, if we’ve been writing long enough, have had a moment where we look at the manuscript we’ve been working on and we realize we’re far less enthusiastic than we were at the beginning. Anne F Hag, writing for Jane Friedman’s blog, has some excellent tips for getting your writing moving again—dependent on the initial problem that has you stalled. She identifies the problems like general burn-out, fear/doubt, outgrowing your initial draft, general boredom and gives solid advice on what to do for each.

The Evolution of a Book Cover

In this Jungle Red Writers post from Jenn McKinlay takes us on her book cover design journey for her upcoming May 2026 release, The Summer Share. It’s fun to watch the metamorphosis.

Anthology Editing: Advice and Insights from Those Who’ve Been There

I don’t know how many of you will be in the position to edit an anthology, but I thought this was an interesting look at the process, and perhaps there are some tidbits to be gleaned for other types of projects that need to be organized/ handled in similar ways.

The WisMissus Podcast - Pre-Launch Marketing & Book Launch Concerns

In our multi-part book launch series, we’re now on to the marketing topic—starting off with what to do in the weeks leading up to and including your launch.

How Long Should I Wait Before I Self-Publish?

Now, that headline just plain annoyed me. WHY? Because many authors are turning to indie publishing as a FIRST choice rather than some consolation prize type of decision. That being said…the article by Darcy Pattinson for Indie Kids Books rightly focuses on this being a decision on which business model to choose and lists pros/cons of each type of publishing: traditional vs self or indie publishing.

Navigating Author Branding Across Multiple Genres

In her article for Writer’s Digest Heidi Herman talks about how she broke the rule that if you plan to write across multiple genres then you need multiple pen names. She acknowledges that “created a branding problem that muddied marketing,” but that she cued in on the unifying factor behind all of her writing—passion. That every book she wrote was about something she cares about deeply, and she was able to turn that into the foundation of her brand. Interesting read if you plan to genre hop with your own creative work.

3 Publicity Mistakes Debut Authors Make (and How to Avoid Them)

Oooh, these are good! Yes, again, from Jane Friedman’s blog we have Shanetta McDonald’s succinct list that warns us not to rely too much on our publisher, not to overlook local media opportunities, and not to stop too soon with our publicity efforts. See the details behind these tips here.

How to build a killer book publicity media list

I like this list a lot, too. I get this question from clients who are unsure where to start to build their media contact lists. Bookmark these solid tips on where to look and how to organize a media list from Sandra Beckwith.

60 Examples of Hooks for Books

These are really fun to read. Check out these hooks for books in many different genres. This is a great jumping off point if you’re trying to craft your own hook.

An Indie Author’s Guide to Diversifying Income Streams

Well, yes, please—I’d love to learn how to diversify my income stream! Harshini Fernando, writing for Written Word Media, helps us think through multiple ways to do this from offering different formats of our books to repurposing other content to creating merchandise and more. Excellent tutorial for getting the most out of the work you’ve already created and leveraging what you’ve learned along the way.

And in a related article, Step into the spotlight: How to transform your book into speaking opportunities by Stephanie Chandler explores how to develop speaking topics from the knowledge you’ve gained from your writing projects. This is a smart tutorial!

Vibes Can’t Make a Book, but They Can Help Find Readers

So, this is interesting . . . there’s an increasing focus in book marketing or on social media about the feel a book gives — it’s vibe — and in this article by Penny Zang for Writer’s Digest she explains how “vibes” can be used to connect the right readers with your book. She says, “While “vibes” may seem like fluff at first glance, it can simply be a shorthand or a signal that points readers in the direction of a reading experience they crave.” She goes on to explain how you can use this summary of the atmosphere of the story to draw in readers searching for that particular mood. Interesting!

And in a related article from Sandra Beckwith—her first suggestion is to “give your book a personality,” which is akin to the vibe description above. Read the rest of “3 powerful things authors can do now to find their ideal readers” for the other two tips.

Pros & Cons of Book Giveaways: 27 Authors Weigh In

Considering a book giveaway? Read this first!! Interesting to hear directly from authors on what works best.

Instagram vs TikTok [Infographic]

Barb Drozdowich has a neat little graphic that shows you the difference between in Instagram and TikTok stats and advantages and disadvantages. Learn more here.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

Subscribe now

Welcome to the end of August, and to the end of our mental summer calendar, even though the official end of summer isn’t until September 20 or so. Personally, now that I no longer have kids in school I rather prefer thinking of summer extending nicely to that September date.

You’d think August would be a slower month for bookish things, what with us fitting in all of our last summer hurrahs; however, that’s not the case. This month there’s quite a lot of publishing industry news and writing craft help!

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• YA is Dead, Long Live YA: Inside the Teen Fiction Comeback you Didn’t See Coming

• Middle Grade is Quietly Having a Moment - Here’s What Editors Are Actually Buying

• Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action

• The Self-Publishing Stigma

• Literary Criticism vs. Book Consumerism

• The Anti-Book Ban Laws Passed in 2025

• How Cuts to Library Budgets Will Impact Publishers

YA is Dead, Long Live YA: Inside the Teen Fiction Comeback you Didn’t See Coming

Great news for ‘us’ YA writers. Current trends are romance and all it’s sub-genres, fantasy (getting darker), genre mash-ups “like X meets Y with a twist of Z,” and “BookTok is driving real acquisitions.” Mary Kole also details what’s missing—perhaps you’re writing that very thing. Read more here.

Middle Grade is Quietly Having a Moment - Here’s What Editors Are Actually Buying

Mary Kole has her eye on the market and gives us this savvy analysis of the middle grade market . . . she says this is what’s hot right now, “ghosts, monsters, and haunted vibes — adventure + emotional metaphor magic - soft worldbuilding over hardcore systems. If you write middle grade, you’ll want to read the rest here.

Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action

Okay big news — if you’ve been following this class-action lawsuit over Anthropic’s AI training data, it appears there’s a huge settlement nearly ready to announce. “US District Judge William Alsup confirmed that Anthropic and the authors believe they have a settlement in principle and will file a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement by September 5.” This is the largest copyright class action suit of all time that started with just three authors but allowed up to “7 million claimants to join based on the large number of books Anthropic may have illegally downloaded to train its AI models. Read more in this Ars Technica article.

The Self-Publishing Stigma

I’m including this here, because even though I thought we’d moved beyond any self-publishing stigma — clearly some of the bias still exists. Here are 5 myths debunked in this article from the Chicago Writers Association blog . . . from indie books not being as good to the indie books not making as much money and more. Read it here.

Literary Criticism vs. Book Consumerism

Thoughtful post from Kathleen Schmidt on how literary criticism isn’t relied on as much for readers’ book choices as other resources like social media or listicles in magazines or even direct from author newsletters.

The Anti-Book Ban Laws Passed in 2025

With so many articles about states banning books, it was nice to see this one from Kelly Jensen at BookRiot listing the opposite — laws passing ANTI-book banning bills.

How Cuts to Library Budgets Will Impact Publishers

When DOGE cuts resulted in a “funding freeze at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the agency responsible for distributing federal funding to public libraries and museums, it forced libraries to draft 2026 budgets without being able to rely on much of the bedrock grant funding that sustains them.” This Publishers Weekly article from Karen Fischer relays from publishers how they think this will impact their library sales. It isn’t pretty.

A fab grouping of 12 articles to help with some aspect of writing craft or editing!

My Transformation to a Plotter by Elise Hart Kipness

A fun look at Elise’s transformation from pantser to plotter from the Jungle Red Writers . . . this sort of mimics my transformation, which is probably why I was so amused by it.

Rev up your inciting incident with the Enneagram

What an interesting application of the Enneagram . . . from the Author Stack publication. Claire Taylor explains that “the function of the inciting incident is to move your protagonist from a place of security into a place of massive insecurity. This interrupts the equilibrium of your protagonist’s world in a way that is undeniable to them, launching them into action as they attempt to restore the world around them to something familiar.” But she also says that not every inciting incident works well for every type of character and that’s where the Enneagram comes in . . . logging the nine core fears of each personality type. This is super interesting and valuable if you have the patience to do the work.

How to Use the Four Levels of Conflict to Strengthen Your Story

Angela Ackerman helps us avoid “the cardinal sin of storytelling—skimping on conflict” with her advice on a story’s central conflict but also conflicts on the micro and macro level as well as internal conflicts. I don’t think I’ve seen this explained this way before and rather love how much this is going to help me with my plotting! Check it out here and see if you agree.

How to Pair Your Book’s Beginning and Ending to Satisfy Readers

You’ve noticed it and enjoyed it when reading or watching movies— I can guarantee that, BUT do you make sure to include it in your own stories? . . . Mirroring some aspect of a story’s beginning at the end is so satisfying—Suzy Vadori for the Writers Helping Writers blog teaches some ways to do this with a repeated setting or a line of dialogue or even the appearance and reappearance of an object with importance to the story. Very cool!

Readers Are Fascinated by Truth in Fiction—and It Matters

Penny Haw writes this interesting post for Jane Friedman’s blog dissecting how fiction almost always has true things in it—which is why it resonates with readers. Whether it’s personality traits drawn from real people or real places used in a fictitious way, those are the elements that help stories ring true for us. Interesting read!

How to Turn Real Family Stories Into Compelling Historical Fiction

Along the same lines, here’s another article from Jane Friedman’s blog discussing truth in fiction … Lindsay Marie Morris explores how interesting it is to take real family history and use it in a fictionalized story.

The Activist Memoir: How to Write for Change

I’ve always believed that one of the key functions of story is to educate and inspire (as well as entertain). Stories are often the first way someone learns about a specific issue and then is moved to do more, so this article was right up my alley. Stephanie Mitchell takes the topic further though by offering suggestions to authors on how they can find moments in their memoirs that they can go deeper to really make their point.

The Power of Dialogue: More Than Just Spoken Words

I haven’t featured a good dialogue tutorial in a while and this C.S. Lakin article is very thorough and it needs to be because dialogue can make or break your novel!

Mining for Theme in Children’s Books

Susan Fletcher writes for Jane Friedman’s blog with this interesting dive into theme. I often find theme is hard to pin down ‘thing’ in my writing. And I love that Susan offers the advice that I’ve come to live by — I don’t think overly much about theme in the beginning, but I look for it later when the book is done. (Does that seem backwards? Perhaps. But it works.) She suggest that in children’s novels you find your themes by looking for repetition of ideas or recurring obsessions in the story.

The 5 Types of Scene Endings Every Writer Must Master

I was like . . . wait . . . there are only 5? So of course, I had to read this one and bookmark it for you all. It all make sense when you read this article from K.M. Weiland. The scene endings are all referenced in whether the character gets what they want/need . . . so the scene endings are like this Yes; No; Yes, but; No, but; No, and . . . isn’t that brilliant. Read it here.

Developmental Editor and Former Literary Agent, Mary Kole Shares Her Top Revision Strategies

Mary Kole is the guest on the David Gywn’s “Thriller 101” podcast, in which she shares her top revision strategies . . . this is a nice less than 30-minute chunk of helpfulness.

7+ Best Grammarly Alternatives for Writers in 2025

Do you need a grammerly alternative? If so, here’s the list you want to look at — curated by Dave Chesson on Kindlepreneur.com. I’m quite partial to Hemingway myself.

The Business Advice All Writers Need to Hear

Kate Tilton on the BookBub partners blog poses the five questions you should ask yourself whenever starting a new business or marketing strategy. They start with asking if someone has done this before and how similar your situation is to theirs and moves on to can you afford to lose this money if this doesn’t work and more. Really solid decision-making advice.

What to do 3 years before your book launch

Most of us would say that three years before a book comes out we wouldn’t be ready for a to-do list, but Dan Blank provides a different kind of list here . . . encouraging writers to own their journey by calling themselves writers, to practice talking about their writing succinctly, and to learn about the industry among other things. Please read the full article for the entire bit of advice, he’s so, so right.

How Being a Good Literary Citizen Leads to Stronger Book Launches

Julie Liddell Whitehead details how the connections she’d built over years paid off during her book launch in a big way. Being supportive of others matters—and not everyone will be in a position to pay you back, but many will!

Author Promotion Versus Book Promotion: Why You Need Both

Orlando Ortega-Medina writes a smart post for Jane Friedman’s blog on the difference between author promotion and book promotion . . . and the main take away is that book promotion is the sprint but author promotion is the marathon. His article goes deeper into the tactics for both. Read it here.

Want more of the right readers? Be yourself

Sandra Beckwith from Build Book Buzz challenges us by asking if we’re being our authentic selves online? Don’t overthink it — just be yourself and trust that you’ll attract exactly the right kind of readers who will love your content. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use smart tactics with how you reach out to your followers—just always put your own spin on things.

Find Your Ideal Readers by Attending a Genre Convention

Nichelle Seely pens this article about Left Coast Crime, which I attended. Her advice works for attending any sort of book or literary type conference. Great advice for how to make the most of the experience.

21 Basic SEO Tasks All Business Owners and Marketers Should Learn

If all SEO conversations sound like the wonky talking of the parents from the Peanuts, then this is exactly what you need—a clear infographic to present SEO in manageable bites. Enjoy!

Why I Finally Built an Author Website for My Pen Name

Do you write in two (or more) distinctly different genres with a pen name? Then this article is for you. I totally understand the angst at the workload of keeping up two websites, but sometimes it IS the best decision!

Afraid to email your readers? How to write emails without feeling spammy

I love Philip Duncan’s blog post! I’m often coaching clients that sending out email newsletters to fans is a good thing not a pushy thing, but sometimes it hard to get over that hurdle. This article will help you frame this task in a different light— think “connection not promotion.”

How to Build a Reader Funnel That Turns Casual Readers into Superfans

And on a similar note, Harshini Fernando helps us craft an awesome reader funnel experience that helps create those super fans who can’t wait for your next newsletter to hit their email inbox. Great ideas for reader magnet offers in this article as well.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

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Yes, it’s the first week of August . . . no longer July to be sure. Last week was too busy for me to get the Forum compiled for you by the last day of the month, and I decided sending it out on a Monday was a far better idea than it popping into your inbox on a summer weekend.

What has had me so busy? (Thanks for asking!)

This past Thursday, at the Books & Beer book club that I emcee, I had the pleasure of meeting author David Ellis. We read his most recent release, The Best Lies. And wow — what a great book. He’s a fascinating and skilled writer. If you haven’t read any of his books, you need to grab one now—you’ll be so glad you did. He has co-authored a number of them with James Patterson, too.

You may know that in addition to my own writing, I help other authors with their book launches and promotion and marketing. I am lucky to be working with a great group of client authors with book launches coming up soon. Their work ranges from middle grade and young adult fiction to cozy culinary mystery to women’s fiction. And those are just the launches, I have another ten or so clients who are actively advertising on Facebook and Amazon along with other clients who are at the editing or publishing path decision stage with their manuscripts. As you can imagine, this keeps me on my toes (in the best way)!

AND—yes, there’s more!—My new book releases tomorrow! Circle of Nine: Mercy in the Mist (book 4 in the series), was the book I wrote in 47 days (learn more about that here), and then edited in approximately an additional 47 days.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The danger was supposed to be over.
The sacred treasures are safe.
The enemies banished to the Otherworld.

But Brigit Quinn’s dreams tell a different story.

The condemned return to haunt her sleep—pleading, accusing, refusing to be forgotten. Something is still wrong, even if the rest of the Circle of Nine insists the threat has passed.

When anonymous warnings surface and the police begin asking questions about the missing, Brigit’s visions intensify, blurring the line between dream and prophecy. The Circle is unraveling. Shadows are gathering.

To restore what’s been broken, Brigit knows they must return to the Otherworld and seek answers from the immortal Elders—knowing that to question them is to risk everything.

PURCHASE LINK

So even with all that going, I managed to bookmark a nice bundle of helpful and interesting articles throughout July. Lots of great writing craft advice as well as author life posts you may find particularly helpful.

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Silence: The New Rejection That’s Expanding in Insidious Ways

• Independent Publishers Are Fed Up with Barnes & Noble

• Carla Hayden - The Librarian of Congress - Talks Firing on ‘PBS NewsHour’

• Counterfeit Books on Amazon / Should I Worry About Piracy?

• 29 lighthearted, quirky, and unconventional August book promotion occasions

• I Won a Writing Award. Does It Matter?

Silence: The New Rejection That’s Expanding in Insidious Ways

Jacqueline Salmon’s post for Jane Friedman’s blog resonated with me in a way that had me nodding my head . . . her post discusses not only the ‘no answer means no’ side of things, but the expanding lack of response even when further pages have been requested by an agent. What is that? This is NOT okay. Recently, I followed the disappointed discussion on a thread inside a membership group I belong to about the appalling lack of response to ANY of the authors who had submitted to editors who had been faculty at an event. (The authors in attendance are then allowed to submit directly to these editors even if unagented.) Now, these editors had been paid for their time to be faculty at the event and, as is usual, the faculty agreement is that they will take submissions from the attendees. (It’s WHY authors often sign up for these events—to gain access to an editor.) Crickets. THIS IS NOT OKAY!

Independent Publishers Are Fed Up with Barnes & Noble

Jim Milliott, writing for Publishers Weekly, tells us of growing discontent from independent publishers—small and midsize houses—who are having their lists increasingly ignored by the powers that be at Barnes & Noble. The article goes on to get into the nitty gritty of the B&N strategy that had them cutting their inventory lists by about 20%. Interesting read, even if it doesn’t pertain to your publishing path directly.

Carla Hayden - The Librarian of Congress - Talks Firing on ‘PBS NewsHour’

Highly insightful summary (from the Kirkus Review website) of the PBS interview with Carla Hayden. The link to the full interview is included in this article.

Counterfeit Books on Amazon / Should I Worry About Piracy?

Brooke Warner (from She Writes Press) has a disturbing article on Substack about counterfeit books . . . not just pirated books . . . but book content being lifted from one book and repackaged by another person and put up for sale. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about as authors. Warner talks through what ought to be done to stop this from happening as well. Find this smart read here.

On a similar, related note . . . how much SHOULD we worry about book piracy? If found this article by Robin Phillips from Author Help Uk to be refreshing in the sense that perhaps we DON’T need to worry about piracy as much as we thought we should. (Phew — I was happy for some good news.)

29 lighthearted, quirky, and unconventional August book promotion occasions

Finally . . . a fun article. Love these calendars from Sandra Beckwith at Build Book Buzz. See what might work for your books this month!

I Won a Writing Award. Does It Matter?

If you’ve been following along with my posts lately, I’ll bet you thought this article was about me!! ha ha — NOPE! Turns out, Eleanor Vincent wrote a great post about awards for Jane Friedman’s blog this month—with a smart discussion about award wins. (The conclusion is YES they matter, but for reasons beyond what you might think.) AND if you missed my video about what my recent award wins mean to me, you can find that here:

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS

Quick list here on AI articles of interest . . . unless someone emails me and says, “Please keep these articles on AI coming.” This is likely the last month I’ll bookmark these as a separate topic area.

• Meta Wins AI Copyright Case, But Judge Writes Roadmap for Authors’ Revenge - by Ed Nawotka for Publishers Weekly

• Not That Kind of Transformation: AI, Fair Use, and Relating Back - by Terry Hart for Copyhype.com

• Podcast: What the First AI Copyright Ruling Means for Authors - from ALLi Director Orna Ross

Whoa — in this section there are 11 articles to help with some aspect of writing craft and another 4 focused on writing life and grit and procrastination and more.

Plot, Character, or Situation: Your Story’s Entry Point Determines Next Steps

Heather Garbo’s article for Jane Friedman’s blog kicks off the writing craft section this month. Does this sound familiar with the way you approach each new story—is it usually with one of these three? Good guidance for each type of story entry point and how to take that inspiration and finesse it fully to make your writing (and editing) easier.

How to Find the Heart of Your Story

Rachel Toalson frames this article in an acrostic manner with each letter of the word HEART guiding her advice on finding the ‘heart’ of your story . . . a good article to read if you’re at the point of trying to present the themes in your book to others. She walks through Hurt, Emotional Truth, Arc, Return, and Test.

The Secret to Writing Witty Characters (Without Trying So Hard)

I think it’s hard to write witty characters, so I was glad for K.M. Weiland’s advice on the topic on the Helping Writers Become Authors website. She says the secret is to “put the emphasis on the character” initially rather than on the witty banter.

The Villain Is the Hero of Their Own Story

I thought that headline was brilliant. It sure frames things in a different way, doesn’t it. Debbie Burke (writing for Jane Friedman’s blog) compares and contrasts the hero’s journey with the villain’s journey in a way that I’ve not seen before. Super helpful! (She has a book out entitled The Villain’s Journey.)

How POV Affects Character Inner Life

Tiffany Yates Martin always has smart advice and this article for Jane Friedman’s blog is no exception . . . super examples to understand the power of both indirect and direct point of view as well as how we write the inner narrative of our characters. So very smart!! Bookmark this to come back to when you’re in your next editing phase.

Multiple Points of View by Jenn McKinlay

And speaking of POV, I’m including this post by Jenn McKinlay of the Jungle Red Writers just for fun. She asks the other “Reds” about writing multiple points of view and whether they like reading those kinds of stories, too.

How to Find Symbols in Your Settings

Becca Puglisi (co-author of The Emotion Thesaurus and others) pens this article for the Writers Helping Writers website on using objects to represent greater themes in your story (symbolism). I love doing this in my own books, and I’m guessing a lot of you do, too. But this article is worth a read to make you think about how you incorporate symbolism into your story building.

10 Most Important Comma Usage Rules

I never turn down some quick comma help . . . see if you know all of these rules from Matthew Adams at Writer’s Digest. (Transitional commas? . . . I feel like I mess this up frequently.)

Writing Young Adult Characters

This short video from Mary Kole of the Good Story Company about writing young adult characters is brilliant!

Breaking Boundaries: YA Authors Crossing Over into Adult Fiction

Fascinating article about fiction’s fluid boundaries, particularly for the YA cross over to adult. One of my favorite authors, Maggie Stiefvater is quoted, and I always think she’s brilliant. (from Joanne O’Sullivan for Publishers Weekly)

Quality Matters More Than Quantity

This article from Johnny B. Truant annoyed me so much! The basic point here is that he’s being supportive of ‘artisan’ authors in comparison to the ‘rapid release’ author who is more focused on making money from their writing work. But he rather insults the authors in the latter category by insinuating that their work is not ‘quality.’ See if you agree here.

WRITING LIFE: Writers’ Grit, Beating Procrastination, and Writing Through Challenging Times . . . a good grouping of articles if you need some commiseration and help with motivation.

• The Secret to a Writing Career May Boil Down to Sheer Grit by Amy L. Bernstein for Jane Friedman’s blog

• Three Hidden Reasons Writers Procrastinate by Amy L. Story for the Writers Helping Writers website

• Freedom Fighters: Harness the Power of Motivation and Discipline to Beat Procrastination by Mary Lynn Cloghesy and Jason Schembri for the Killer Nashville magazine

• Writing Through Challenging Times by Tracy Shawn for the Women Writers, Women Books website

How to Subtitle Your Book to Encourage Sales

Penny Sansevieri gives us good tips for what you can and can’t do with your book’s subtitle (particular within the Amazon rules.) Subtitles are often long-ish for certain genres of fiction ebooks and are packed full with keywords in a weird sort of run-on sentence to hopefully make that book pop up in more searches. Sansevieri doesn’t talk about that much, instead focusing on what makes a good subtitle that’s informative.

Every Part of a Book, Explained (With 15+ Examples)

I’m quite certain that I’ve featured this article from Dave Chesson’s Kindlepreneur website in the past, but it is updated and has a fabulous checklist that will help you create the interior of your book for indie pub authors. Another article you might want to check out comes from the Booklinker blog, and gives you 11 Ways to Optimize Your Book’s Backmatter.

Amazon Book Keyword Rules Explained (2025 Update)

And while we’re at it—let’s throw in the KDP Keyword rules’ update. Kindlepreneur.com has the best description of the changes that impact how you select these important keyword phrases.

Why Every Author Needs a Brand (and why it’s not as pretentious as it might sound)

Brand strategist Maria Saracen explains the concept of branding for authors on the Build Book Buzz website. At its most basic, we should be thinking of our author brand as our ‘packaging.’ This is a well-organized, detailed tutorial on the subject.

What the Amazon Algorithm Changes for Authors Mean for Book Marketing

Anytime I see an article like this, my stomach sort of drops because Amazon can do pretty much what it wants and we’re stuck rolling with the changes and adjusting our strategies. The most recent change is summed up that Amazon is giving more emphasis or a priority to external traffic to your book listing than it would say to internal traffic that comes from Amazon ads and general browsing on Amazon by a reader. There’s a bit more to it than that, but Penny Sansevieri explains it well here.

TikTok Demographics for Authors (and the latest BookTok Scandal)

So TikTok is not gone, and if you’re still interested in learning more about the platform, here’s a nifty look at the TikTok demographics authors ought to be concerned with.

And in its normal entertaining way, BookTok continues to be the epicenter of a series of writing world scandals. NBC News has the scoop on that here.

Pinterest Is My Best-Kept Author Marketing Secret

Melissa Bourbon details how she uses Pinterest as a key component of her book marketing. I use Pinterest in much the same way, but I’ve grown lazy in the past 12 months with this platform and this article has encouraged me to get back to feeding things to Pinterest. The key thing, Bourbon points out, is to think of Pinterest as a search engine rather than a social media platform.

14 BookBub Myths Busted

Oh, these are really good! I’ve heard a few of these and even believed them, so I’m glad the folks over at BookBub are setting the record straight. Learn more here.

Why Email is the Best Marketing Channel for Authors

I’m always telling authors they should not neglect setting up a way to capture emails from fans / followers on their websites. Why? Because it’s the one communication channel that you control 100%—unlike social media. In this post by Carlyn Robertson for the BookBub Partners Blog she gives other reasons (beyond ownership) for why email marketing is best.

Dan Blank Posted about How He’s Using AI for Marketing . . . see link below:

The Creative Shift by Dan Blank

How I'm using AI for marketing with writers

Today I’m going to discuss the ways I’m using AI in helping writers share and market their writing and books. My goals are two-fold…

Read more

10 months ago · 75 likes · 61 comments · Dan Blank

17 Ways to Promote Special Edition Books (with Examples!)

I really want to create some special-edition books with the sprayed edges (spredges) and beautiful covers. If you already have some of these lovelies, here are great ideas for how to promote them. Lots of fun video reveals in the examples.

NetGalley Launches Consumer Marketing Platform, Booktrovert

This is super interesting … NetGalley has launched “a consumer-facing marketing platform and website offering e-book giveaways, reader activities, promotional and preorder campaigns, book sales, and more.” I like it’s witty name — Booktrovert. To me it sounds like a competitor to Goodreads. I’m going to keep an eye on this one and report back. Read the Publishers Weekly article here or go directly to the Booktrovert website here.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

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June’s been an incredible month! I’m nearly finished with all the pre-publishing tasks for book 4 in my Circle of Nine series, but more importantly, my husband and I welcomed a second grandson to the family! Busy times here for sure. Add to that all the gardening chore and it’s been A LOT to manage.

Even so, I managed to bookmark a nice bundle of helpful and interesting articles this month. There’s more of a slant toward publishing news and marketing help with just a couple on writing craft his month.

(If you’re a new subscriber, welcome!! The Writers’ Forum email is the most popular of my monthly offerings; however, if you’re here more as a reader feel free to curate which content you get from me. Here’s how—scroll down and click the unsubscribe button, you’ll then get the option to deselect the writing/publishing information and only receive the main newsletter — Reading, Writing, & Roaming.)

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Print Royalty Rate and Paperback Printing Cost Changes on KDP

• Reese Witherspoon is Starting a Podcast for her Book Club

• Are em dashes really a sign of AI writing?

• Amazon Kills Hourly Ranking Updates

• Typos In and On Published Books

• How Indie Authors Are Doing in 2025: Mid-Year Survey Results

• The NEA Has Turned Its Back on Books—Now What?

Print Royalty Rate and Paperback Printing Cost Changes on KDP

If you use the KDP dashboard, you’ve probably noticed the nice message at the top that warns of royalty rate and printing cost changes. Here’s the quick take: For print books priced at less than $9.99 the royalty rate is going to decrease on these from 60% to 50%. And the print cost change — surprise surprise — isn’t an increase. For color printing in some marketplaces there’ll be a reduction in costs. You can see the info in more detail here.

Reese Witherspoon is Starting a Podcast for her Book Club

I took notice when this Book Riot article popped up announcing a weekly podcast called Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club. It won’t be hosted by Witherspoon though. Danielle Robay will be the host. She’ll be joined by “celebrities, authors, and ‘tastemakers.’ Learn more here.

Grammar Girl Takes on the em-Dash AI Claim

As a user (probably an over user) of the em-dash, I was pleased to listen to this episode from the Grammar Girl as she takes on the false claim that AI writing can be identifieid by its use of the lovely em-dash. Listen here.

Amazon Kills Hourly Ranking Updates

Alrighty — this is BAD news. And it’s a little crazy that everyone has been scrambling to figure out what the heck is wrong over on Amazon when they’re running a big promo stack and they can see the sales or downloads and the ranking IS NOT moving AT ALL. Well, turns out, Amazon quietly made some changes. The Self-Publishing with Dale Podcast has the scoop.

Typos In and On Published Books

This is every author / publisher’s nightmare . . . Brook Warner details an egregious error on a recent release by a big 5 publishing house. On the spine of the book it should have read: Actress of a Certain Age — but the “r” was left out of certain. Yikes. This is a fun look at typos—yes, they happen—but we hate that they do. (Especially, if we were the on in charge of finding them.) Stay vigilant!

How Indie Authors Are Doing in 2025: Mid-Year Survey Results

Written Word Media has again checked in on “Author Sentiment” in this mid-year survey summarized by Harishini Fernando. There’s cautious optimism about the market overall. The marketing tactics area is interesting as is the comment section.

The NEA Has Turned Its Back on Books—Now What?

Although I think this headline gives a slant to what has really happened at the NEA, this is a good article by Daniel Yadin detailing the termination of NEA literary grants in this article for Publishers Weekly in the amount of $1.2 million that thad been promised to “51 independent presses and literary organizations.” Some of this was to cover projects that have already been completed, leaving these organizations with surprising shortfalls. Here in the Midwest, Milkweed Editions out of Minneapolis said that “its canceled $50,000 grant was set to underwrite the publication of seven titles.” Read more here.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS

Quick list here on AI articles of interest:

• Google’s AI search features are killing traffic to publishers by Rebecca Bellan for TechCrunch

• The AI Accusation Heard ‘Round BookTok: You Thought It Was AI, But It Was Just Strategy - by Mary Kole / Good Story Company

• AI Policies for Libraries - Some Observations - by David Lee King

The Power of Connotation in Picture Books

Oh, this is fun! Word choice is so important and even more so in works that have lower word counts. Chelsea Tornetto unpacks the connotation of words as it relates to picture books in this article for Jane Friedman’s blog.

10 Ways to Embrace Critical Feedback About Your Writing

Receiving criticism is hard, but it’s a necessary part of the writing process. B.A. Durham for the Chicago Writers Association gives helpful tips on how to embrace criticism to make our writing better.

Writing Propaganda You Should Stop Believing

The subtitle of this article from Mary Kole is “Ten Lies Writers Believe When Publishing Feels Impossible.” You might laugh at some of these, but I guarantee you’ve heard them and you might even have used them yourself. I know I have. Read them here.

15 Ways to Protect Your Writing Time

It’s a struggle to protect that writing time, so I’m always looking for helpful hints to keep to a schedule. B.A. Durham suggests creating routines around your writing time, blocking it off on the ‘family’ schedule, finding the right place to write, knowing when you’re at your best to tackle writing, and more.

When to Let Go: Recognize the Point of Diminishing Returns in Revision

I’m thinking of the song from Frozen . . . Let it go, let it go. ha ha! But it’s true, we could revise forever, but at some point you’ve got to be done. Seth Harwood teaches us how to get out of the ‘revision trap’ in his article for Jane Friedman’s blog.

Social Media Infographics from Barb Drozdowich / Bakerview Consulting

Here are the smart social media infographics Barb offered us this month:

• Social Media Tips for Introverts

• 30 Engaging Hooks for Instagram Reels

• How the Instagram Algorithm Works

Indie Author Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

Kelly McDaniel gives great promotion ideas that don’t have to cost a bundle on the Written Word Media site. This is a great promotion/marketing basics checklist that covers in-person events, swag, newsletters and a ton of smart branding. Are you doing these things well?

My children’s book sales are down 28% - by Darcy Pattison

Darcy Pattison gives a transparent account of her book sales trends and dives into what she does to troubleshoot poor sales. I know a lot of authors are feeling this right now, and perhaps what Darcy’s learned can help you, too. The one thing she mentions that’s a growing worry is with AI replacing the regular Google search as noted in an article in this Forum, is it now time to start AI Optimization for Book Discovery? Probably! We’ll dive into that more in future Forums.

7 Ways to Repurpose Your Book’s Content to Earn Even More Money

Sandra Beckwith is a master PR strategist and this article helps you make the most of content you’ve already created. Many of these suggestions work best for nonfiction book content; however, with a little brainstorming I think you can come up with topics/themes in your fiction book that might make these work for you. Read it here.

Book Bundling Strategies You May Not Have Tried (Plus Examples)

I’m now at the jumping off point to create a boxed set of my ebooks with the first three in my Circle of Nine series, so I gravitated to this article. AJ YEE has some smart ideas here . . . while we’ve all probably thought of bundling books in a series, what about combining series? Or what about create a boxed set of the first books in multiple series? Or group together a collection of standalone books? Or collaborate with other authors? Check out all the examples here.

5 Mistakes Authors Make When Running eBook Promotions (and How to Fix Them)

Promo stacking is a common strategy to gain new readers, but it’s easy to make mistakes with these. Written Word Media helps us avoid some mistakes with this list but also encourages authors to go beyond ‘just’ booking the promo and actively promote the freebie or reduced price book to audiences via ads and newsletters, too.

How to Build a Book Marketing Stack Without Hiring Consultants (or Losing Your Mind)

Without making a statement about whether it’s ethical to use AI for marketing assistance, there’s a lot of things AI can do for authors quickly that support book marketing tasks. The Author Stack publication created A Practical Guide to Book Marketing in the Age of AI.

36 Authors Using Pinterest for Book Marketing & Inspiration

I love pinterest and have used to promote my books and author assistance for years. See how Pinterest might work for you in these examples compiled for the BookBub Partners Blog.

14 Creative Hooks That Drive More Ad Clicks — BookBub

If you’re interested in BookBub advertising, this article is a must read with 14 examples taken from successful BookBub ads . . . everything from showing the discounted price and including a review quote to pointing out new releases or popular tropes. You KNOW these, you’ve seen them at work, but it’s so nice to have them compile din one spot to use for your own book advertising.

6 types of Submission Comments BookBub Editors Love to See

So you know how there’s that spot for entering more information when you apply for a BookBub featured deal? Here’s the ‘stuff’ the BookBub editors want you to include there. Super hack—bookmark this article for use later.

Shelf Talkers 101: Catching the Eye of New Readers

You know those little (often handwritten) notes that sit in front of a book on a shelf at a store? Those are called shelf talkers. Usually, I see that they’ve been created by store staff explaining why they love the book. I never really thought about creating them as a part of my overall book marketing campaign. This article from Chanticleer Book Reviews gives great ideas for what to put on a shelf talker to make it useful for bookstores that carry your titles.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

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Wow—May went super fast! Cannot believe it’s time for the Writers’ Forum again. I bookmarked so many articles this month . . . there’s an incredible selection of writing craft help and and some super advice on book marketing and promotion.

And a personal update: the draft of Circle of Nine: Mercy in the Mist has gone through a couple rounds of edits and is off to my beta readers. I fixed a few scenes and rewrote the ending, and with those changes I am now quite pleased with the draft. Hope my early readers like it!! (I’ll write a longer post soon about the editing process!)

(If you’re a new subscriber, welcome!! The Writers’ Forum email is the most popular of my monthly offerings; however, if you’re here more as a reader feel free to curate which content you get from me. Here’s how—scroll down and click the unsubscribe button, you’ll then get the option to deselect the writing/publishing information and only receive the main newsletter — Reading, Writing, & Roaming.)

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• It May Be Too Late for Rural Libraries to Weather the IMLS Storm

• How Authors are Thinking About AI (1200+ Authors Surveyed)

• Authors Discuss Book about Biden on “Morning Joe”

• Reimagining Your Competitors as Collaborators

• Jungle Red Writers: Let’s Talk Spredges

It May Be Too Late for Rural Libraries to Weather the IMLS Storm

Karen Fischer for Publishers Weekly details how the cuts and freezes at the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services is devastating to libraries in small, rural communities across the nation. Living in a small rural community, I personally know how important my local library is as a meeting space and resource. I’m sure many of know how your own library is being impacted and can relate to this. The article includes good details on how this funding is essential to library function.

How Authors are Thinking about AI (Survey of 1,200+ Authors)

BookBub conducted a survey of its author partners recently, asking authors for their opinions on AI. Key takeaways include a nearly even split in those who use generative AI to assist with “writing, marketing or other aspects of their work as an author” versus those who say they don’t use and don’t plan to in the future. Ethical concerns are the main reason why authors aren’t using AI. Authors who ARE using generative AI are “applying it to a wide range of uses.” The highest percentage of uses reported are for research, marketing content, outlining or ploting, and editing and proofreading. Overall, really interesting information in how authors are using AI and why others are not using it at all. Read it here.

Authors Discuss Book About Biden on “Morning Joe”

Have you gotten your copy of “Original Sin” yet? My husband is currently reading this—and I plan to after he’s done. If you’re curious, perhaps this short bit from Michael Schaub for Kirkus Reviews might interest you. The book’s authors, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson were treated to some tough questions from “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough. Click here to access the 22 minute video.

Reimagining Your Competitors as Collaborators

Hanna Kjeldbjerg’s article for Jane Friedman’s blog is really refreshing. While I think authors are always generous with their time to aid other authors when they can, this is a neat set of tips for interacting and collaborating with authors with whom you share a reader audience.

Jungle Red Writers: Let’s Talk Spredges

Okay — mainly the reason I’m including this article, is that it’s so much fun to say the word SPREDGES, which is referring to sprayed edges on books. Author Jenn McKinlay discusses the beautiful books we’re seeing these days with sprayed edges. You’ll want to check out the pretty pictures she includes in the article. Do you want sprayed edges on your books? I know I do!

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS

I’m not sure if I’ll continue with this AI section or not . . . if you’re loving this coverage, please drop a quick note to me. Otherwise, I might discontinue this. For now, here are the articles that I read this month on the ongoing AI cases and new takes on AI in the publishing world.

• Judge in Meta case warns AI could ‘obliterate’ market for original works - by Blake Brittain for Reuters

• Publishers Prepare for Battle with Big Tech Over AI - by Jim Milliot for Publishers Weekly

• Audible’s AI narration sounds impressive, but I’d rather hear the story told by a human - by Eric Hal Schwartz for MSN

• The Hidden Costs of AI Copyediting Tools: An Editor’s Review by Ariane Peveto for Jane Friedman’s blog (Comparison of AI editing software / systems and their cost as well as concerns about loss of voice when relying overly much on these tools.)

For Nonfiction Writers — Two Articles from Jane Friedman’s Blog

• Borrow From Fiction’s Toolbox to Elevate Your Nonfiction Book by Amy L. Bernstein

Super article that gives five “hallmarks of fiction” that are adaptable to nonfiction . . . these include the basics of telling a story like character, suspense, conflict, and the ‘arc of change’ — which can be used in nonfiction if applied properly to build momentum and keep the reader engaged.

• It’s a Book, Not a Slide Deck: Avoiding Fast-Content Habits in Nonfiction by Dinah Laprairie

I had to laugh when I read that headline, because lately I’ve noticed how I’ve started skimming content, looking for the bullet points to assess quickly whether I’m going to read something or not. Yikes! This article advises restraint in the use of things like “lists, headings, multiple type styles or single-line paragraphs,” which might be good for online content but ought to be used sparingly for book-length nonfiction.

You’re Misusing These Writing Tips (and It’s Hurting Your Story)

Lovely seven-minute video from Reedsy with a little bit of a different take on “show, don’t tell,” “kill your darlings,” and “write what you know.”

Immersive Interiority: How to Collapse Narrative Distance to Get Emotion on the Page

Alex Van Tol taps into how simple language shifts can bring the reader into the scene versus feeling like their watching it, providing neat examples for before and after with scene snippet rewrites on Grief, Regret, and Anxiety. I love this kind of article because they illustrate so well how to put the tips to work. Read it here.

10 Timeless Writing and Publishing Tips I Learned from Romance Authors

Article provided from Kobowritinglife by Catherine of HEA Canada . . . fun writing tips that include craft and strategy for writing life and more.

5 Ways to Write a Likeable Character (and fix unlikable ones)

Okay — first, I copied that headline directly from the piece for the Write City Blog and it includes both likeable and likable . . . which are both perfectly good spellings of that word but likeable is more common in British English. (Just thought I’d point that out.) Anyhoo . . . this article presents good tips on making your character(s) relatable!

POV Bright Spots and Blind Spots

Erin Halden writes on this topic for Jane Friedman’s blog and I really like how she dissects the pros and cons of each point of view option between first person, third person limited, and third person omniscient. Good Stuff! Read it here.

Onomatopoeia Odyssey by Vivian Li

This one’s just for fun . . . How do animals sound across languages? Did you ever think about this? I sure didn’t.

Sensitivity Reading in Speculative Fiction: Why It Matters More Than You Think

My initial thought was that it might be hard to find a dragon shifter or perhaps a sparkly vampire to read a manuscript to make sure that no mistakes were made in representing these communities — BUT that’s not the point of this article by Karen A. Parker for Jane Friedman. Parker does delve into appropriation versus inspiration that may be taken from mythologies and cultural customs and used in speculative fiction. To what extent is this okay? She gives us tools for finding these blind spots in our own work and talks about how she asks a lot of questions of the writers she works with about the world they’re building and the language they’re using. Thoughtful piece that’s definitely worth reading even if you don’t write speculative fiction.

Three Great Articles/Guides from the Kindlepreneur Website:

• How to Get a Book Published in 2025: Go-To Guide for Authors

If you are new to the publishing world, this is a great guide to start with.

• KDP Print on Demand launches Endure font that saves paper

This is interesting . . . the templates available from KDP that authors can download now include the option of using the Endure font, which is said to reduce total page count by roughly 20% without sacrificing readability.

• Book Cover Images: An Author’s Guide to Using Stock Photos

Excellent article covering the copyright concerns that you want to be sure to avoid when using stock photos to create your covers.

How to Add Your Reviews to a Second Edition Book on KDP

Author Tracey S. Phillips has been sharing her indie publishing journey with short videos each week. In this video, she discusses how she recently got the rights back for a book that was traditionally published previously. And as she put this book up on KDP she went through a specific process to make sure the reviews from the first edition of the book transferred over to her new edition. Watch her short video and read the list of steps for the review transfer process here.

Do You Really Need IngramSpark?

Whoa - what now? I’ve never really considered this question, but David Wogahn has over on Jane Friedman’s blog. He presents a very thorough analysis of book pricing and distribution and makes a valid case for bypassing IngramSpark in certain situations. See what you think of his points here.

Social Media Infographics from Barb Drozdowich / Bakerview Consulting

I’m a firm believer that we often absorb information better when it’s presented in an infographic form, which is why I like to include these smart bits from Barb. Here’s this month’s offerings:

• The Social Media Funnel Explained (from awareness to conversion/sale)

• How to Keep Your Social Media Marketing Strategy on Track (task checklist)

• 5 Ways to Improve Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts in 2025 (fiction authors can use LinkedIn effectively!)

• 38 Instagram Content Ideas

How to Create a Book Marketing Plan That Actually Works

Kevin J. Duncan creates this guide for Kindlepreneur.com . . . great guide that includes pre-marketing prep, strategies that work, along with a timeline structure. This is a super framework . . . and that’s saying a lot because I do book marketing for other authors.

How Much Does Book Publicity Cost?

Kathleen Schmidt / Publishing Confidential talks all things publicity and details the cost of subscription and other tools she uses in her book promotion business. Interesting look at the expense involved. She then goes on to detail the cost of hiring a publicist and talks about her own fees. (Which makes me realize I’m grossly undercharging compared to others in the industry.) I will take issue with something she notes as FACT … when it’s simply not true. She asserts: Ads rarely sell books. (I have good luck with both Meta ads and Amazon ads for clients. It IS true that the recipe is always different and sometimes ads don’t work for a particular book, but I hate blanket statements like that—particularly coming from an industry pro, because people are relying on her for solid information.) Interesting read nonetheless.

Authors, boost reader engagement with these 8 proven strategies

David Lewis offers this guest blog on the Build Book Buzz site . . . with a pretty nifty list of 8 ways to get more engagement with your readers . . . my favorites are run giveaways, collaborate with influencers, and encourage interaction by writing posts that prompt discussion or ask for answers back from the audience. For instance, today I read a post by a fellow author who shared a baby picture of herself and asked the rest of us to do the same . . . which many of us did, thus elevating the visibility of that post. Read the full list of 8 tips here.

The Rules of Engagement (or how to survive online as an author, person, and semi-aware being)

I’m a big fan of author Victoria Aveyard and her recent post on Substack caught my eye. She details HER rules of engagement for her interactions online. If you’re struggling for how handle your approach to your online ‘life,’ perhaps Victoria’s guidelines will speak to you and assist you in finding clarity in these spaces.

How to Hype a New Release as a Traditionally Published Author

This article by AJ Yee for BookBub focuses on Mia P. Manansala’s launch of “Murder and Mamon,” however, I think these tips work equally well for indie authors, too. All of these are fun ways to celebrate a new book with your reader community, but I think perhaps the most unique and potentially highly effective tip is to review similar books on a platform like BookBub which shows that recommendation then publicly … this definitely builds goodwill with those authors but it also reaches the readers of those authors if they’re looking at those reviews. Read all 14 tips here.

Why You Must Have a Press Release That Announces Your Book

Sandra Beckwith over at Build Book Buzz is one of my go-to gurus in the book publicity space. Here she explains how your press release is a “multi-purpose tool” that you will use for so many purposes beyond traditional media outreach — think podcasts and speaking engagements to name just two. I also love her tip to check out what the big publishers are sending out to the press.

How BookBub’s Featured Deal Selection Process Works

Does it feel like a mystery how a book gets chosen for the elusive featured deals? Here the BookBub Editors explain it all!

How to Maximize Your Podcast Guest Opportunity

So, you’ve been booked as a guest on a podcast or two or three …. here’s some great advice from podcast hosts / producers on how to make the most of this opportunity. I think my favorite line is from Dustin Riechmann of the 7-Figure Leap podcast who says, “Don’t treat the podcast interview as book promotion. Position your book as a valuable byproduct of your expertise.” (Great advice for nonfiction writers.) And for those who write fiction OR nonfiction—I love the advice to repurpose the interview in many different ways with short clips and quotes.

Why Every Author Needs an Email List (and How to Build Yours with Confidence)

Ricci Wolman writes this important advice for the Written Word Media blog . . . and I wholeheartedly agree. Every author needs to have their own email list of fans / subscribers / readers. WHY?? Because we don’t own the access to the followers / audiences we’ve built on social media platforms. This is the only reliable audience we 100% control the access to. This is a good step-by-step for how to get started. The article talks briefly about reader magnets — this is the thing that you offer — the incentive gift — to new subscribers. For a more in-depth look at that, read Rick Burnes post from the BookBub Partners Blog: 6 Types of Reader Magnets to Attract New Email Subscribers.

How to Write a Powerful “About the Author’ Page

From Build Book Buzz, Sonya Matejko gives tips on how to make your biography stand out. She uses some super examples to illustrate her points. It’s making me want to rewrite my biography now. Check it out here.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

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Spring is here in Wisconsin! Even if I can’t get outside every day, at least I can open the windows and enjoy a nice breeze while I work.

This month there were lots of articles to share with you as usual, including a good batch of writing craft and book marketing tips.

(If you’re a new subscriber, welcome!! The Writers’ Forum email is the most popular of my monthly offerings; however, if you’re here more as a reader feel free to curate which content you get from me. Here’s how—scroll down and click the unsubscribe button, you’ll then get the option to deselect the writing/publishing information and only receive the main newsletter — Reading, Writing, & Roaming.)

And, on a personal note, the draft of Circle of Nine: Mercy in the Mist is done! It came in at 77,752 words (although that’ll likely reduce during the editing process.) This took me 47 writing days and approximately 130 hours. I jumped into a serious writing schedule on January 19th . . . and obviously since that was more than 90 days ago, you can see that I took a few breaks. Even so, this is the fastest I’ve ever written. Now, on to editing!

And on to the Forum . . .

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Scandal-hit creative writing website NaNoWriMo to close after 20 years

• Jungle Red Writers: Are You Brave?

• Self-Publishing Assistance Is Becoming Threatened

• The State of Book Publicity

• 19 Apps and Tools Authors Cannot Live Without

• AI Made Me Want to Trademark My Name

Scandal-hit creative writing website NaNoWriMo to close after 20 years

Ella Creamer details how National Novel Writing Month is calling it quits in this article for The Guardian, after battling a number of issues in the past few years. Most recently, in 2024 they were “widely criticized over a statement supporting the use of artificial intelligence in creative writing,” in which they stated that “categorical condemnation of artificial intelligence has classist and ableist undertones.”

Jungle Red Writers: Are You Brave?

The seven authors who comprise the Jungle Red writers blog daily, and I was particularly appreciative of this recent one entitled, “Are You Brave?” that began with Lucy Burdette’s take on the topic and goes on to offer each Jungle Red Writer the chance to weigh on the topic of bravery in their unique ways. Very fun read.

Self-Publishing Assistance Is Becoming Threatened

I read this article from Anne Carley for Jane Friedman’s blog with great interest as a number of the complications she talks about are things I navigate weekly as I help other authors on their independent /self publishing journeys. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to aid other authors due to checks and double authentication etc. on the main platforms KDP and Ingram Spark. (For authors who are currently working with me, the conversations go something like this . . . “Send the code to me when you get it.” “Did you get it yet.” “Oops, looks like that code times out.” “Let’s try again.”)

I like her suggestion that these types of platforms ought to enable a system of “authorized representatives.” Read more here.

The State of Book Publicity

Kathleen Schmidt’s “Publishing Confidential” Substack newsletter is a great resource. Her expertise is mainly focused on traditionally published books, so that’s important to remember when you read her take on the industry. In the article about Book Publicity, she talks about how pursuing reviews — presuming highly sought but elusive editorial reviews — may not be the best use of time/money, because the “book review space is so fleeting.” And she gives additional advice or acknowledgement that book lists receive more engagement and that the book publicity industry is taking its cues from what’s working on /with social media. All true. But when I read articles like this that mention shifting tactics to things that indie authors have been doing well for years it kind of makes me sigh. Read the full article here.

19 Apps and Tools Authors Cannot Live Without

Sandra Beckwith lists her favorite apps and tools from Book Brush to Canva to Vellum and more . . . if you’re looking for tools you can rely on this is a great list to bookmark.

AI Made Me Want to Trademark My Name

Yup — you read that headline right. Teri Case gives us the play-by-play for trademarking her name, and I have to say it makes SO MUCH SENSE. We now live in an age where AI makes it too easy for someone / anyone to publish books with your author name on them. And it can be hard to get these taken down. When this happened to Jane Friedman last year, she initially had an issue with getting the books falsely using her name removed because her name was not a registered US trademark. So you can see trademarking your name would help protect your author brand.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS

Politicians Assert U.S. Constitution Mandates Protecting Creativity

The Publishers Weekly article by Ed Nawotka details the discussions about the “existential threat AI is to creative professions, including writers and musicians,” at a recent day-long forum that includes publishing industry leaders and elected officials and the importance of copyright protections creative work. Read more here.

AAP Files Amicus Brief in Meta AI Copyright Case

The Association of American Publishers file the brief in support of “authors in their class action lawsuit against Meta for copyright infringement related to its AI training. Last month we detailed the case as it unfolded along with the database created to allow authors to see if their work had been used for Meta AI training. Read more about the brief here in the Publishers Weekly article.

Bad Advice Writers Get from Unhelpful Friends

Anne R. Allen lists 10 pieced of unhelpful advice that new writers often get from friends. Seasoned authors will read this and laugh! But I remember hearing some of this advice back in the day! I’m curious how many of these 10 you may have been told.

Timely Yet Timeless: Crafting Nonfiction That Outlasts Current Events

Nicole Pope’s article for Jane Friedman’s blog is a big help for nonfiction writers as she addresses Timely vs Timeless. We know timely books on certain topics will be well read for awhile, but how do you craft a timeless perspective on a topic? She gives tips like providing “cool-headed analysis” and “broader perspectives” and “fresh angles.” But most of all she encourages nonfiction authors to “explore scenarios and offer solutions,” keeping in mind that not all nonfiction manuscripts “are destined to become timeless classics.” Great read for the nonfiction authors in the audience.

The Subtle Art of Subtext

I love this writing craft help from B.A. Durham or Chicago Writers Association as he describes “subtext as ‘show, don’t tell’ with an agenda.” That made me laugh, but it made sense . . . does that resonate with you? He gives tips on how to be subtle and avoid annoying the reader with heavy-handed description. But there’s a balance to be had because you don’t want to be too vague either. He tweaks some simple writing prompts to help us work through the art of subtext. I really want to try some of these. Read more here.

More Than Setting: Centering Nature in Your Fiction

I love to read books that have nature as the setting, but to an extent as to where that outdoor setting almost becomes a character—often where it becomes the abstract antagonist or obstacle that the main character is facing. The article examines this from a number of other ways that the story interacts with this setting from the choices the character makes, the transformation the character undergoes as it relates to the natural world, and the point that the reader may take away from the story. Fun read from Erin Radniecki for Jane Friedman.

How to Write a Good Ending from Mary Kole at the Good Story Company

I love these short video tutorials from Mary Kole — this one is 13 minutes long.

Use Subtle Character Development Hints to Bring your Story to LIFE

This is from the desk of Dena Weigel for the Canticleer Review website—an audio version of the article is also available. She examines how the tiniest of character details revealed by the author pull together a broader understanding of a character’s psyche through great examples drawn from books you probably know well including “micro-expressions, body language, vocal cues, word choice, habits/mannerisms and their reactions to others.” Read it here.

Beyond the Accent: Writing Speech Patterns Authentically

I’m fresh off a rough draft sprint that included a lot of Irish accents and some historical speech patterns as well, so this is something I’m going to double check carefully in my edit. That’s perhaps why this particular article caught my . . . also from the Jane Friedman blog, Elle Jauffret walks us through the “power and pitfalls of accented speech,” also addressing how to responsibly use and represent speech impediments. Overall, she’s giving advice to “use restraint, study real speech patterns, focus on cadence and word choice, and more.”

Quality Counts: Steps to Elevate your Self-Published Book

I’m always encouraging indie authors to make sure they’ve created the very best book they can. I assert that a properly produced indie book should be indistinquishable from a traditionally published book. This list a great checklist from Sandra Beckwith to make sure you achieve that level of excellence for your self-published book.

How to Write an Author Biography

Short video from Kindlepreneur.com that will help you write your author bio or edit your current one. Check it out!

How to Budget for Your Book Launch

I get this question frequently — how much will it cost to produce and market my book? The answer to that question is usually “that depends.” What can you do yourself and what will you need to hire someone to do for you? This article by Joel Pitney gives you the basic framework to start thinking about your publishing budget.

Selling Kindle Books International: What to Know in 2025 to Sell Your Books Worldwide

Also from Kindlepreneur.com . . . Here’s an inside look as to how Amazon/ KDP handles the international Amazon marketplaces. A lot of this you can’t manipulate country by country, but it doesn’t hurt to know how this works behind the scenes. Read more here.

How I Sell More Books at Live Events

Ben Wolf details how he sold almost $60,000 of books at 40+ live events last year. Now, it’s important to note he has written a lot of books, and that’s always the best advice for authors—write more books! But, this is a somewhat atypical approach to bookselling. Read more about his interesting journey and his advice that might help you do the same thing.

SOCIAL MEDIA INFOGRAPHICS: You all know how much I love a great infographic. Here are three really awesome ones you won’t want to miss from Barb Drozdowich at Bakerview Consulting.

Tips to Successfully Target Your Marketing at Different Generations Using Online Reviews

This infographic really helps you understand the relationship with reviews that each generation has. Check out your book’s target market behavior and you can see how important reviews are to their purchasing decisions.

How to Choose the Best Colors for Your Social Media Graphics

How often do you think about the psychology behind the colors you’re putting into your social media graphics? If you answer — never — now here’s your chance!

The Ultimate Social Media Marketing Checklist

If you’re ever wondering what you’re doing on social media — why you’re there — what’s your strategy for spending time on these platforms — how to make it easier, THEN you might like to look at this checklist.

19 Authors Show You How to Make Time for Marketing Your Book

These 19 authors show their tips and tricks for making marketing work for you. Here’s their best advice! Some of my favorites are block out time, outsource work (if you can), and capture ideas when they come to you.

Free Promotions: The Secret Psychological Impact of Zero Cost

Ferol Vernon writes this article for Written Word Media. It’s been a while since I’ve seen an article discussing the value of offering a book for free. . . except for series, we’ve sort of gravitated to the .99 book when offering a discount. But it’s interesting to unpack the psychological effect of a free offering . . . eliminates a person’s risk aversion, the limited-time nature instills the fear of missing out, and more. Interesting information!

8 Ideas to Get More Value from Your Backlist Books

Carlyn Robertson writing for the BookBub Partners Blog helps us re-energize interest in our backlist with these savvy tips which include rebranding (new covers), running price promotions, create boxed sets, publish in new formats (perhaps you haven’t yet created audiobooks or what about those special pretty print editions?), experiment with your distribution and more.

BookBub Offers Author Websites

I recently took a look at the BookBub Author Website feature which is currently in beta. My initial reaction is that it offers a decent professional option for a new author for a very low price. Definitely worth looking at if you’re leaning toward using something like Wix. Not sure how it will compare in the long run to fully customized websites like you might get with wordpress. Check it out here.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

Subscribe now

Wow - so much has happened this month. Tons of publishing news and information to help you write, publish, and promote your work. I started with 53 bookmarked articles and whittled it down to 44-ish.

(If you’re a new subscriber, welcome!! The Writers’ Forum email is the most popular of my monthly offerings; however, if you’re here more as a reader feel free to curate which content you get from me. Here’s how—scroll down and click the unsubscribe button, you’ll then get the option to deselect the writing/publishing information and only receive the main newsletter — Reading, Writing, & Roaming.)

Personal Note — if you’re curious: Work continues on my new book Circle of Nine: Mercy in the Mist —ooh, I’m getting there. One or two more really solid weeks of writing should do it for the rough draft. PHEW!! I’m sweating this one. Way too many distractions with travel, conferences, and stuff like my kitchen getting gutted for a remodel starting on Monday. (I may do some before, during, and after pictures on that just for fun!)

On to the Forum . . .

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• The Mel Robbins ‘Let Them’ Controversy

• Social Media for Authors in 2025: Data from 850+ Authors

• The Book Business Prepares for Tariff Turmoil

• 17 Best Alternatives to Amazon for Buying Books Online

• Amazon Book Sales — what’s working and what’s not

• The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books Problem

• 5 changes you need to know in the new Chicago Manual of Style

• Spotify Launches Program to Publish Audiobooks

The Mel Robbins ‘Let Them’ Controversy

Have you caught up with this story? Quick summary: Self-help, motivational guru Mel Robbins published a book called the Let Them Theory, something she states she discovered but was based on author Cassie Phillips’ poem Let Them and the resulting movement around that phrase derived from the poem. The Sage Words publication on Substack does the best job of summarizing the whole issue.

And in a related article about protecting your ideas or sharing them, Anne Janzer pens a piece for Jane Friedman’s blog on the pros and cons of talking about your book ideas before you’re ready to publish in Dodging the Scarcity Trap.

Social Media for Authors in 2025: Data from 850+ Authors

The BookBub Partners blog surveyed more than 850 authors about their social media use and here are the results . . . interesting to note that over 78% reported using at least one platform at least weekly. Read here for the other interesting stats.

The Book Business Prepares for Tariff Turmoil

Yes, the publishing industry is about to be hit hard by tariffs. Mostly, the concern is for books printed in China where costs (even with previous tariffs) were low enough to make it a better deal for printing. Although there are books printed in Mexico and Canada as well—and that is also bad news for the industry. And if you consider that much of the paper used by US-based printers comes from Canada, it’s obvious that’s going to create cost increases as well. Read a thorough analysis in this Publishers Weekly article.

17 Best Alternatives to Amazon for Buying Books Online

Yes, everyone’s ticked off at Amazon (again) … so where else can you buy books (beyond the obvious places like Barnes & Noble)? Find out here.

Amazon Book Sales — what’s working and what’s not

But please consider that many authors (me included) rely on Amazon to provide the biggest royalty payments. If you’re curious (as an author) about what’s working and not working right now to generate sales via Amazon, listen to this episode of the podcast “Write the Damn Book Already” with Dave Chesson joining the host Elizabeth Lyons.

The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books Problem

Everyone in the book publishing industry is talking about the article in The Atlantic (no NOT the one about the top secret military Signal chat)— rather the one about Meta using a vast library of pirated books to train its AI model. The article (by Alex Reisner) includes a search database to see if your books are included. To read the whole article you’ll need to subscribe with a free trial but the search function is included in the top lines before you’re required to subscribe. Access it here.

5 changes you need to know in the new Chicago Manual of Style

Just in case you’re a devotee of these kinds of things — and as authors, I’m assuming you are — check out the updates in the Chicago Manual of Style here.

Spotify Launches Program to Publish Audiobooks from Independent Authors

This is actually kind of cool sounding, but I haven’t read the fine print. Authors can submit short form fiction 10,000 to 20,000 words for production as audiobooks. If chosen, Spotify will pay the author an advance and royalties and cover the cost of production. They’re mainly looking for mystery/thriller, sci-fi/fantasy, and romance. Read more here.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS

(So many articles this month. . . I’m providing them in list format.)

Are AI Writing Detectors Getting Better? - by Jonathan Bailey for Plagiarism Today

From Slush to Success: The Role of AI in Modern Literary Agencies - published by MyPoolitzer (the creator of a software designed to aid agents with their slush piles)

Agents Wary After MyPoolitzer Launches AI-Assisted Submissions Management Software at Frankfurt Book Fair - by Matilda Battersby for The Bookseller

Eleven Labs Launches Publishing Platform for AI-Generated Audiobooks - by Ed Nawotka for Publishers Weekly

A Video Tutorial on How KDP’s Virtual Voice Works - on the SelfPublish YouTube Channel

Microsoft Offers Authors $5000 to Train AI on Their Books - from the Decoder Website

Who and What the DMCA Protects - by Jonathan Bailey for Plagiarism Today (NOTE: DMCA = Digital Millenium Copyright Act

Developing Voice

This is an interesting article by B.A. Durham for the Write City Blog (Chicago Writers Assoc.). We don’t often see articles about developing ‘voice’ — I think because it is something that’s incredibly hard to teach, but we know when we don’t have it right. I appreciate the thoughtful approach here.

The next two articles come from guest posts to Jane Friedman’s blog. (You can see why I always recommend subscribing to this publication.)

No Twists for Twists Sake: Earn Your Ending

Kathleen Barber gives ten techniques for how to make your ending satisfying for the reader . . . this is basically a how-to for NOT creating an ending that feels like it came out of the blue. We want readers to get to that last bit and think ‘of course, I should have realized “x” was the villain’ because there were enough clues along so the reader doesn’t feel cheated. This is trickier than it sounds. I’ve employed nearly all 10 of these to some extent. I’m dying to write a full-on unreliable narrator suspense story though.

Three Little Words That Will Unlock Your Revision

Oh, this is fun!! Monica Cox gives us a helpful phrase to add as we’re revising each major scene in our manuscripts . . . instead of ‘and then,’ she suggests we use the prompt ‘because of that’…. I never thought of this, but she’s so right in that using ‘because of that’ we’re giving greater agency to our characters and propelling the action of the story forward. Read it here.

How Do We Know When a Book is Ready?

Sassafras Patterdale (and I dearly hope that is their given name and not a pename—because that’s just super!) writes for Booklife on the conundrum indie authors face about knowing if a book is ready as there’s no editor giving the go-ahead. The article details getting feedback but also not chasing perfection. A delicate balance indeed!

ProWriting Aid’s New Manuscript Analysis Feature

Continuing on with — how do you know if you’re book is ready question — ProWriting Aid now has a whole manuscript analysis feature. Kevin J. Duncan reviews it for the Kindlepreneur website here.

Designing a Bestselling Book Cover - Good Story Company Podcast

Join Casey Moses in conversation with Mary Kole in this podcast on cover design.

The 15+ Parts of a Book (from cover to cover)

I love this post from Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur listing the parts of a book . . . even for authors who have published before, check out this list and see if there’s anything you’ve been forgetting to include. Access article here.

How to Upload a Book to Amazon (KDP) Step-by-Step Video

This tutorial (updated for 2025) is a thorough assist if you’ve never uploaded a book to the KDP platform on Amazon. Watch it here.

Book Vault Now Has Boxed Sets and Slip Case Options for Print Books

This is going to be great news to series writers who have been waiting for an option from this company to do physical boxed sets with slip cases. Nice!! Not sure on the cost though—but you can read more here.

REVIEW TOPICS

Book Blurbs - Endorsements

“A major book publisher announced a change. The industry freaked out.” Have you read about Simon & Schuster’s decision to no longer seek out book blurbs for their forthcoming titles? Also, author Rebecca Makkai has decided to take a hiatus from blurbing when she assessed how much time it was taking her to read these manuscript—more than she was allotting to her own reading/writing efforts. Interesting topic—read it here in a Vox article by Constance Brady.

Editorial Reviews … How to Make the Most of this Area on your Amazon Sales Page

I love this article from Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur — he employs heat map strategy which shows where potential shoppers’ gazes go on that important sales page real estate. He gives tips on how to optimize the editorial review area with this info in mind. Great stuff!

Embrace the Eccentric: 27 Fun April Holidays to Use for Book Promotion

I always enjoy reading these options provided by Sandra Beckwith, even if I don’t use a ton of them. Which ones might work for your book? Check them out here. (I’m kind of loving ‘name yourself day’ but I have no idea how to celebrate ‘eight-track tape day’ as those are long gone from my possession—wait, did I even have any of those or was I completely a cassette teen? I remember my brother had a case of eight track tapes in his car. ha ha

The Silent Bestseller: How Some Self-Published Books Thrive Without Viral Marketing

Janee’ Butterfield gives excellent tips on how to get your indie published book noticed . . . most important take-away in my opinion is choosing competitive categories on Amazon for your book placement. But I also love that she references the long game you can play with promotions for indie published titles. Read on for all her great tips.

The A.B.U.N.D.A.N.C.E. Book Marketing Method: How to Promote Your Nonfiction Book with an Abundance Mindset

I’ve just discovered Susan Friedman’s wisdom and love this ABUNDANCE marketing mindset. You’re probably already doing some of these steps (like A = Always lead with value) . . . and while she states this is for nonfiction books, I think it works equally well for fiction titles. I love the spirit of generosity that permeates this methodology—although I already thing writers are some of the most generous people out there in terms of sharing wisdom.

Why Cheap Promo is No Bargain: One Unusually Prolific Example

Oooh, another scammy scam to watch out for highlighted by the wonderful Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware. Have you gotten an email offering you reasonably priced promotions that won’t do a thing to bring visibility to your book? Perhaps like this one? I highly that authors should subscribe directly to Writer Beware to stay in the ‘know’ on the ever-changing scam world.

Marketing to Libraries

The Good Story Company has a wonderful step-by-step tutorial for approaching libraries. I was surprised by one tidbit—which was—ask before you donate. Read on for the reasoning behind that as well.

AUTHOR WEBSITES

If You Don’t Define and Present Yourself Online, Others Will Do It for You

This headline from Michelle Tamara Cutler’s article for Jane Friedman’s gives the exact reason why you need a website! Good notes overall for approaching an initial website design as well as updating an existing one.

13 Author Websites that Look Great on Mobile Devices

Rick Burnes shows us some stellar websites well optimized for mobile devices in his BookBub blog posts— however, my question is — shouldn’t all websites be well-optimized for mobile? Always check that yours looks good on smaller screens!! There’s no reason for clunky mobile website these days.

Blogging is Still a Great Way to Reach Readers

Anne R. Allen’s article on blogging is a great reminder on why blogging can and does work for authors. She gives great tips on how to make blogging work for you — key takeaways: employ guest blog posts to grow your audience, stick to a consistent schedule, be positive and more!

Barb Drozdowich at Bakerview Consulting is back!! I’ve missed these fabulous infographics about social media and more. So glad she’s feeling well enough to share these great resources with us!

• The Top 5 Strategies for Promoting a Book on Social Media (I love the tip “make your content both predictable and unpredictable.” )

• The role of social media platforms in news dissemination

• Social Media Spring Cleaning (Yup - gotta do it!)

How to Pitch Your Book to Local Media: 7 Tips from a PR Expert

Kourtney Jason writes a very interesting article for the BookBub Partner blog . . . this is not just a how-to on local media pitching, it also includes tips on crafting your hook and thinking outside the box. . . this is something I often brainstorm with my clients for gaining traction with local media.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

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Getting Past the Block  - By Anne Louise Bannon

I’m not doing well right now. Let’s just say that my life has gotten unusually stressful. It’s not fun, but that’s how life is sometimes.

The worst of it is, I can’t write. My book had already stalled, but I knew I’d get my plot together. Except that things went boom, and now I’m facing The Dreaded Writer’s Block.

I’m not flipping out, terrified that I’ll never write again or anything like that. The Block, like my situation, is only temporary. At least, I’m mostly sure it’s only temporary. Oh, lord, I hope it’s only temporary.

It’s thoughts like that which make The Block so miserable to deal with. And they are completely normal and inevitable. So how to deal with them? I think one must simply accept that they are there. That negative thinking in the face of The Block is actually normal. Pretending that things in my life are going along smoothly and wonderfully will not change the reality that life sometimes sucks. But there are things I can do that can (and hopefully will) mitigate some of the suckiness.

I’m sewing a lot right now. Making clothes is one of those things I do anyway, so working on a few outfits helps create a sense of normality. In fact, I ramped things up. I’m trying to recreate a vest I had many long years ago by doing some creative stitching that, under normal circumstances, I would not have bothered with because normally, I have more interesting ways to make myself cuckoo. And the stitching process (making a bunch of diamond shapes on some corduroy fabric) has come out pretty nice.

But that’s Tip Number One – when faced with The Block, try doing something else creative rather than your usual writing. Maybe it’s playing an instrument. Maybe it’s throwing pots (in the clay stage on a wheel). Or gardening. Or whatever. The point is to exercise your creativity in other ways than trying to put words together into coherent sentences and paragraphs, etc. Although if you want to beat up on innocent crockery, that’s up to you. I’m not going to judge. Who knows? Maybe you’ll get a statue out of the shards.

Tip Number Two is to give yourself permission to fail. Admittedly, perfectionism is not why I’m facing The Dreaded Block at the moment. But I have read that trying to make sure everything is perfect triggers a significant amount of Writer’s Block. It has also stopped me in my sewing any number of times. Costume designers helped me understand how to get past this with my clothes – namely the three-foot rule. Well, these designers were working on stage productions, but the idea was the same. Any mistake that does not show within a given distance (10 feet, three feet, whatever you’re dealing with) should not be worried about. I choose three feet because if you’re within three feet of me, we’d darned well better be on the sort of terms where you will not think ill of me if my topstitching isn’t perfect. And, trust me, my topstitching usually isn’t.

Giving myself permission to fail also helps me correct things when they need correcting – like an awkward sentence or a neckline that needs re-doing because the experiment I was trying was not as successful as I wanted. It also takes a lot of the pressure off. If I don’t have to be perfect, then I don’t have to get all stressed out over each and every little word or sentence. Or seam or topstitching. I can correct things or let them go. I’ll still be good enough.

You’ll note that I am writing here when I just wrote above that I can’t write. Well, yes. I have a deadline. This post needed to be with my friend posting it by a certain date. Period.

I recognize that deadlines are one of those triggers that can cause bad cases of The Dreaded Block, so feel free to ignore this tip if you’re a person who gets triggered. Me? Deadlines get me going like nothing else. It’s got to be done, so it will be done. End of sentence. Deadlines can be a godsend if you’re up against The Block.

As to whether or not any of this worked, we’ll have to see. But, dang, the decorative stitching came out. Why not my next book? Not to mention that while I was doing all that stitching, a few ideas meandered my way.

The Dreaded Writer’s Block sucks. On the other hand, I’ve got some cute new clothes to wear.

ABOUT ANNE

I’m an author and journalist who wrote my first novel at age 15. My journalistic work has appeared in Ladies’ Home Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Wines and Vines, Seamwork, and in newspapers across the country. I was a TV critic for over 15 years, founded the YourFamilyViewer blog, and created the OddBallGrape.com wine education blog with my husband, Michael Holland. I am the co-author of Howdunit: Book of Poisons, with Serita Stevens, as well as author of the Freddie and Kathy mystery series, set in the 1920s,  the Operation Quickline series and the Old Los Angeles series, set in the 1870s. My husband and I live in Southern California with an assortment of critters. You can catch up with my adventures on my website at: AnneLouiseBannon.com

The Operation Quickline Series

The adventures of Lisa Wycherly and Sid Hackbirn as members of the ultra-top-secret organization Operation Quickline. They have a thing for each other, but it's not easy when their values don't mesh.

About Paths not Taken, book 13 in this series:

There’s still time to change the road you’re on . . . When the head of Operation Quickline, the ultra-secret organization that Lisa Wycherly and Sid Hackbirn work for, sets up a sting at the resort belonging to Lisa’s parents, Lisa and Sid are fit to be tied. But telling Dale O’Connor no is not possible.

Summer hire Dusty Simpson is the target, and Sid and Lisa reluctantly take on surveilling him while working the same jobs they had as teens. Sid’s working the restaurant at Wycherly’s Family Resort. Lisa is head of housekeeping. Even their son Nick is hired to bus tables. But then an old nemesis shows up, and the sting becomes nothing like what Sid and Lisa thought. The nemesis is killed and it looks like a trap was set for Dusty. Not to mention that a computer disk with critical data has disappeared.

With her academic career in a questionable state, Nick awash in adolescent angst, and her father getting too close to her secret double life, Lisa can’t help pondering her life choices.

Learn more about the series ...

I’m taking a little break in Spain this week with my husband. We started the trip on the island of Mallorca and then continued on to Valencia. Today as you receive this, we’re in Madrid and heading to the airport to travel home. We love the hospitality in Spain and there’s so much to see and do. (They’re very nice when I use my mediocre Spanish, too. After all, I desperately need the practice.) And the food, wow . . . la comida es maravillosa! I’ll write a more detailed post in the coming days.

Work continues on my new book Circle of Nine: Mercy in the Mist. (Perhaps not as much as I would have liked while traveling—but you can only do so much!!)

Recently, my debut mystery / suspense novel, BEYOND THE CEMETERY GATE, was named a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards . . . this is a contest in the UK that has readers rate the books they enjoyed most. (As this book is technically considered young adult with the protagonist being 16 . . . it was teens who read it and gave it a finalist slot.) That means a lot to know the book is resonating with my target age group. (But what’s also fun is that a lot of people in my age group . . . a teeny —ahem— bit older than teenagers are enjoying the book, too.) This coming week I kick off a month-long virtual book tour with Partners in Crime for this title, too. I’ll share fun posts that these bloggers put up as I’m able. (Pssst — there’s a gift card giveaway you might like to enter.)

And back to my original purpose for this email — The February Writers’ Forum. I thought the pace of articles might taper off a little from January, but that hasn’t happened. Here are the best (which = what I feel are the most interesting & important) articles coming from the publishing industry and writing craft/life and book marketing pros.

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Selling Books Direct — Insights from 500+ authors

• Well $#!+: A Bleeping History of Symbol Swearing in Books

• How Best Seller Lists Work: What Indie Authors Need to Know

• Reframing Hybrid vs Traditional Publishing

• Amazon is closing a Kindle loophole that makes it easy to remove DRM

Selling Books Direct: Insights from 500+ authors

If you’re selling your books direct to readers via your website or your considering jumping into that process, this is a treasure of information from Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur.com. His survey of 547 authors who sell direct lets you in on successful strategies as well as key info like the average author selling direct has 10+ titles in their catalog and makes $1,000+ per month. The top genres for direct selling are non-fiction, romance, historical fiction, and sci-fi fantasy. In terms of tactics, strong email lists were essential to the success stories and the ecommerce platform used by the majority of authors was Woocommerce for Wordpress, pulling ahead of Shopify. This is just a small amount of the info provided from this survey. Read it here.

Well $#!+: A Bleeping History of Symbol Swearing in Books

I couldn’t resist including this Medium article from Sandra Wendel that explains what substituting symbols for swear words is called . . . did you know it is a Grawlix? You have to be a member of Medium to read the full article, but you can see the first bit plus the definition at this link without subscribing.

How Best-Seller Lists Work: What Indie Authors Need to Know

One would assume that bestseller lists mean that a book has sold the most copies in a designated time frame, right? Well…. it’s just a little bit more complicated than that. Harshini Fernando with Written Word Media gives us the details, including the history of these lists and how indie authors can employ strategies that can aid in attaining Amazon bestseller status.

Reframing Hybrid vs. Traditional Publishing

Brooke Warner from She Writes Press has such a fabulous Substack publication, explaining how hybrid publishing fits into the bigger publishing picture and why authors might choose that path to publication. In her most recent article, she talks further about the difference between hybrid publishing and traditional publishing. This is a focus largely on distribution of books and she touches on where the indie print-on-demand systems fit into the overall model, too. So if you’re looking to educate yourself a bit more on this topic, this article is for you. (She Writes Press has also been in the news as it is part of the newly formed The Book Stable Group, a truly interesting collaboration of publishing industry pros.)

AND the most recent WisMissus podcast episode also defined what Hybrid Publishing is and what it isn’t.

Amazon is closing a Kindle loophole that makes it easy to remove DRM

There’s been a lot of confusing information out there on Amazon’s recent change (Feb 26) for how Kindle files are downloaded / transferred. This article helps demystify the update.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS (wow - just one article this month.)

The U.S. Copyright Office now has a section on their website entitle Copyright and AI. There will eventually be three sections, being posted as they are published. As of today, there are two—one entitled “Digital Replicas” and the other “Copyrightability.”

Expect the Creative Process to Be Uneven and Messy

Anne Carley writes an insightful piece for Jane Friedman’s blog with tips to help us through the rough, messy patches of the creative process. I really appreciate her ‘trust the process’ approach. Read it here.

Tips for Writing Theme

Amy Holland at the Good Story Company helps us figure out what our stories are really all about. I always find the question of theme elusive and I find it offputting when people talk about their themes in a high-minded kind of way, particularly before their book is finished. So when I read Amy’s quote I was nodding in agreement. She says, “It’s helpful to think of writing theme as developing the emotional core of your story ... and it’s hard to be sure of what that emotional core is until you’ve typed The End.” Great tips on identifying the themes in your completed stories.

Are We Too “Domesticated” to Write Great Stories?

Kristen Lamb has a good point … she always does . . . when she wonders if perhaps as writers we don’t have enough worldly perspective to write well some of the plots we undertake. She acknowledges we’re often taught to write what we know—but what if we’re writing outside our own experiences? Do we have enough to draw from in our human experience arsenal to make things believable? Experience indeed informs perspective—read it here. (And her scorpion story is terrifying—I have a similar tarantula story, but maybe it doesn’t count because it was just one! eeew!)

Someone is Publishing My Idea!

Here’s some great advice for Mary Kole if you’ve just realized that the fab idea you’ve been working on now seems eerily similar to something you’ve just read about getting a deal or is soon-to-be published. Great advice that will calm your nerves.

Scene and Structure: The Wave Technique

Okay — this is cool. I’ve never heard of this Wave Technique for writing scenes until I read this post by Susan DeFreitas for Jane Friedman’s blog. Now I have to go back and read a few of my scenes to see if I do this. Check it out here.

5 Questions to Ask Before Adding Subplot

On the Writers in the Storm blog, Janice Hardy identifies these great questions about subplots. Have you ever been at that point, wondering if you should add in a subplot or not? Keep this cheat sheet handy with the questions you should ask before you do—important things like will this make the story better or just longer?—will it raise the stakes?

Turn Your Short Pieces into a Finished Nonfiction Book

And speaking of theme. . . which we were doing a few articles ago if you’re reading this forum in order. . . do you have a bunch of essays, blog posts, flash fiction pieces, poems and more? Lara Lillibridge guides us through sorting these pieces by theme, type, length and more to help us see if we can create cohesive collections that’d have an interesting flow or rhythm perfect for publication.

Preparing Your Hardware and Software for 2025

Housekeeping. Housekeeping. The Chanticleer blog gives us a good checklist for computer and software health.

Choosing the Best Print-on-Demand Service for Self-Publishing (My hint . . . do both! More on that below.)

This is the first article I think I’ve read from SelfPublishingwithDale.com — but it probably won’t be the last. His updated information on both the IngramSpark platform and the KDP Publishing platform is worth a read. My only critique is that he shows the pricing structure as if you’re ordering both a paperback and a hardcover from each company and then shipping them to your home together. There are really decent calculators inside both systems that can give you this information before you make final pricing decisions etc.. AND here’s my big HINT . . . you really should use both IngramSpark (to fulfill everyone’s orders but Amazon’s) and KDP Print for the books Amazon shoppers order. It’ll give you the highest royalties if you do that.

Boost Your Book’s Visibility with These 4 Publicity Article Idea Tips

From Sandra Beckwith we have more excellent advice on how to come up with the hook and pitch that will give you some media attention for your book /book’s topic(s) along with some cool examples that show you her tips in action.

How to do an author newsletter swap

Again from my favorite book publicity guru Sandra Beckwith, we have a reprise on how newsletter swaps work for authors. I haven’t done one of these in ages, but if you may want to add this to your arsenal.

BookBub Featured Deal Reader Review Requirements—MYTHS DEBUNKED!

Thanks to BookBub Featured Deals’ Editor Lauren Aldrich we now have some inside info on how a book's reviews are factored into whether a featured deal is offered. Interestingly enough it’s not all about review quantity. They take the time to check review quality as well. And one main point is that a lot of this is about timing and the amount of space available to offer a featured deal . . . so if you’re up against a book with far more reviews than you have, you might not get the offer if all other things are equal. Please read this article in full if you’re considering submitting for a featured deal. And remember, you’re allowed to resubmit after 30 days if you get declined.

No Clear Readership, No Clear Sales

Jane Friedman pens this article for the Book Life Blog and, as always, offers smart advice—this time on identifying your ideal reader. This is the most important beginning step to make sure you’re targeting the right audiences with your book. She gives you a list of questions to ask yourself that will help you focus in on that ideal reader profile. Things like — “Who are your readers’ main pop culture icons? Who do they listen to for advice? Whom do they follow? Who are their heroes?” Access this smart guide here.

How Strategic Book Marketing Turned a Debut Romance into a Global Success

Turning any debut book into a global success is a tough task—but to do so in a category as crowded as romance?? Monica Saigal’s interview about “A Kiss in Kashmir” is a must read, even if you don’t write in this genre. It’s really cool how she “leveraged authentic partnerships” to make this work and that included a focus on book clubs—but what’s equally important is what didn’t work well for her. Every book often requires a different approach — a different recipe if you will — but there are gems here that we can all learn from.

How to Plan a Marketable Fiction Series

Wait — we’re supposed to PLAN our book series in advance. Cue the laugh track. But seriously, even if we didn’t start out to write a series (like me initially) and end up writing one anyway, these strategies are important ones. Ines Johnson from the BookBub Partners Blog offers tips drawn from television using the example of each book in the series being an individual episode of show with a satisfying conclusion and each season being the series with the bigger story arc. This is an interesting way to help plan a satisfying series that will appeal to the expectations of your readers.

6 Tips to Engage Your Readers with Author Follow (on Amazon)

You know that little follow button you see on Amazon under your author name? See Nora Roberts’ profile above. If this is news to you and you don’t ask people to follow you on Amazon, check out the how-to article here. Your followers will get emails from Amazon when you have a new book coming out. Yay - free publicity.

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

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Yes, it’s Monday and no it’s not the last day of January . . . Life was being life last week, and I was tired and did NOT get this Writers’ Forum organized in time to send it out Friday morning. I’ve been writing nearly every day, working hard to hit my due date for book 4 in my Circle of Nine series …. and I ‘think’?? I have a title: Circle of Nine: Mercy in the Mist. At the very least, it is my working title. Seriously though, when I'm in full writing mode, I sometimes don’t even notice it’s gotten dark out and perhaps I should cook some dinner. So that’s where my head’s been.

This past week we also had a fab visit to Books & Beer by the amazingly talented author Tracy Clark. That’s the in-person and online book club that I host at our local brew pub. We have so much fun!

Plus, I’ve been working with my awesome author clients on lots of Amazon and Facebook ads, website redesigns, book development and launch plans! In the middle of all that, I also should be working on marketing my own books . . . that’s the thing that I need to refocus on. (AND yes, I am a book publicity and marketing pro—but you know how that goes—your own ‘stuff’ often takes a back seat to client projects!) However, there was progress made on that front as well . . . I’ve received and promoted my Educator’s Guide for my middle grade novel, HAVEN, to make it easier for teachers to use my book in the classroom. And I wrote the guest posts for my upcoming virtual book tour with Partners in Crime for my mystery / suspense novel, BEYOND THE CEMETERY GATE. Looking forward to that very much!

So, you can see why I’m a little fatigued.

But I’m also excited to bring you a MASSIVE — but well curated (ha/ha) — Writers’ Forum. January is always big because there’s just so much NEWS and articles looking forward to what’s up for 2025 for the publishing industry. So without further ado . . .

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Publishing Trends 2024 and 2025 Predictions

• Have you heard about fossil words?

• Book Banning in the News (the good and the bad)

• Neil Gaiman accused of sexual assault

• How to Get Organized in 2025: Growing your Author Business Without Losing Your Mind

Publishing Trends 2024 and 2025 Predictions

The December Writers’ Forum had a few publishing industry year-in-review type posts, and here’s the last one of that type from Jane Friedman. In My 2024 Year-End Review: Most Notable Publishing Industry Developments, the key takeaways are the way self-published authors and traditional publishers are forging partnerships, how AI licensing has come to a big five publisher, Spotify’s successful entry into the audiobook marketing, and an update on the “startup of the year,” Authors Equity.

Emma Boyer at Written Word Media gives us The Top 10 Publishing Trends for 2025 — a must-read for any authors! Of the ten, I was very interested in print-on-demand is being used (at times) by traditional publishers, how AI tools are becoming more mainstream, along with how authors are building loyal audiences and focusing on email marketing and more! (Good stuff you need to know!)

Audrey Derobert compiled Publishing Leaders Share 9 Bold Predictions for 2025 and Beyond for the BookBub Partners Blog. Key takeaways from industry pros include how digital formats will continue to grow in popularity with some interesting stats on library ebook borrowing, how the rise of AI in publishing will require the development of a legal framework to govern its use along with other AI predictions, how personal connection and authenticity will drive growth in author communities and fan bases and much more. Also a must-read to stay in tune with what’s happening.

Fossil Word List

I forget who nudged me in the direction of this wiki-page on Fossil Words, but I’m loving this list, and I’m not sure if I’m mortified or proud that I’ve recently used a few of these in my current manuscript. (Hopefully just in the historical sections? ha ha!)

Book Banning in the News

Are we tired of this yet? Yes, probably. But should we stay informed about what’s happening? Yes, we should! Good news—from the ALA: Arkansas Book-Banning Law Declared Unconstitutional. Bad news—from KEUR 90.1 Radio, Utah students can no longer bring personal copies of banned books to school. And here’s the list of the 15 books banned state wide in Utah.

Mag Details Sexual Assault Charges Against Gaiman

Michael Schaub for Kirkus Reviews summarized the accusations against Gaiman, including a link to the original story on Vulture.com.

How to Get Organized in 2025: Growing Your Author Business Without Losing Your Mind

I’ve been increasingly impressed with the quality of articles coming from Written Word Media, including this one by Ferol Vernon who gives great tips on organizing your author business. These include focusing on systems, goal setting, and tracking progress to stay accountable. While these tips don’t seem revolutionary, it’s the actionable lists he includes that are fabulous aids to get you on the right path.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS

Using AI as your author assistant: Why it’s ethical, efficient, and essential

Sandra Beckwith and her Build Book Buzz posts are often featured in the Forum for her straightforward author marketing advice. This is a really interesting piece about how AI services/assistance can supplement your efforts as an author in a way that’s ethical. I find this a clear example of how we’re evolving in our AI discussion from “nope - no way” to “wait - let me learn more” to possibly? “how did I ever do this work with the AI assist.” I’m curious what other authors think. Let me know!!

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved the use of pirated books to train AI: Court Filing

Catch up on this news on msn.com in the article by Enacy Mapakame. Seems like Zuckerberg has some explaining to do. Read it here.

Don’t Write Every Day: 3 Things to Do Instead to Finish Your Book

Wait, what? Throwing the wisdom of ‘write every day’ out the window feels wrong but slightly freeing … learn what Allison Williams has to say about this unconventional approach in her article for Jane Friedman’s blog. She discusses that it’s important to choose the project and schedule that works for you—and having an accountability partner doesn’t hurt!

A year of conversations with writers from Dan Blank

In this truly marvelous post, Dan Blank looks back on the moments, milestones, and connections that truly matter . . . but that description doesn’t do this article justice. One of the key questions he asks his clients — creators just like us — is “when in your life did you feel most alive?” So this is a lovely read that takes us from that question to the weighing of risks and the outcomes of taking risks. Read it here and please take a moment to follow Dan’s substack!

40 Good Ideas for Books to Get You Inspired

The Good Story Company’s Rhiannon Richardson gives us this epic brainstorming list of 40 ideas to help jumpstart your next story, divided by character, plot, theme, and setting. These are super fun—read ‘em here.

How to Start Writing a Book (when you’re a beginner) in 4 Steps

A helpful how-to for new writers from Kevin J. Duncan on the Kindlepreneur.com. (One of my favorite places for great tools and advice.) I love that he starts with validate your idea (asking yourself—Is there a market for this kind of book?), he is also a fan of at least some sort of outlining and choosing the right software to write before you get to it—the writing.

In our first podcast episode of the year, T.K. Sheffield and I talk about how to get started as well—we’re focusing on the indie publishing journey, but this advice is great for any writer no matter the path you’re planning on pursuing.

How to Find Your Memoir’s Narrative Arc (There May Be More Than One)

I love the way Bonny Reichert openly discusses her ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ strategy when it came to being asked about her narrative arc while penning her own memoir. It’s sometimes hard to pin down your themes and what your book is truly about—memoir makes this doubly difficult because it’s YOUR LIFE!! This advice is worth a read for all writers (fiction as well.) The best quote—Bonny says, “A memoir is not the story of your life, but a story from your life.”

Ways to Hook A Reader

I love these short videos from Mary Kole at the Good Story Company. In this 6 minute video you’ll get Mary’s take on hooking the reader—and we all know how important it is to get that right!

How to Name Characters in a Fantasy Novel

I think that this article appealed to me because I’m in the midst of naming so many new characters for my fantasy series—which is one of my FAVORITE things to do. In Fantasy writing, you have (perhaps) more freedom to be creative, but also might want to keep your cast of characters unified in interesting ways. See if this advice helps!

Manuscript Length

Is it time for a refresher on Manuscript Length?? Why not. Here’s a quick 7 minute video from Mary Kole (again!!) on ideal manuscript lengths/ranges for different genres. Book mark this advice for future reference.

Writing a Second Edition

Florence Wetzel (for Readerviews.com) gives us the ins/outs of creating a second edition of a previously published book: why you might want to do it—what it entails from unpublishing the first edition—getting a new ISBN and more. It’s a chore to be sure, but if you need to update content in an older book, take the time to read this to see if you definitely need to call it a second edition or not. And whether you’re publishing something for the first time or republishing, you might like to reference this article from the Author Help website on ISBNs and Barcodes.

Should You Hire a Professional Designer for Your Book Interior?

Freelance book designer Andrea Reider gives this handy list of considerations in a post for Jane Friedman’s blog. I’ve outsourced my formatting in the past, but I’m now using Atticus software to do my own. I love doing it, but it is time consuming and one more thing I had to learn.

Key Book Publishing Paths 2025-26 from Jane Friedman & A Hybrid Publisher’s Rebuttal

Jane Friedman’s popular Key Book Publishing Path document shouldn’t be controversial; however, there are some complicated views on what hybrid publishing is and isn’t. Brooke Warner from She Writes Press noted that this Key Book Publishing Path doc has expanded because pathways to publishing are more complex than ever. Mainly she takes issue with the Jane’s statement that “sometimes there isn’t a difference between hybrid publishers and services provides”—and explains where she feels Jane gets things wrong about the hybrid publishing experience. Both the publishing path document and Warner’s rebuttal are must reads for anyone in the publishing world.

Karma’s a Bitch: The Law Catches Up with PageTurner Press and Media

Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware has our backs! Here she details the scam practices of PageTurner Press and what’s being done about it.

Going Indie

You may have seen this article from Cynthia Swanson on Book Life’s website about how she’s forging a new path as an indie author after having been successfully traditionally published but then ran into a series of setbacks due to staff changes, editorial decisions, covid, and more—eventually leading her to indie publish. Fascinating story!

Advice on Writing for Competitions

B.A. Durham from the Chicago Writers Association gives excellent tips on how to make writing competitions work for you. I’m including this in the marketing area of the Forum because most of these competitions have entry fees, and I include this expense in my author marketing budget because the reason you enter these contests is for greater visibility — which is essentially a publicity/marketing activity/goal.

The Ultimate Guide to Getting Your Book Picked by Reader Book Clubs

This is a super helpful cheat sheet from Sandra Beckwith for authors looking to be a featured read at book clubs. She addresses key things like ‘what makes your book worthy of a book club’, but I think the best part is the list on where to find book clubs you can approach with your title. Check it out here.

More Marketing Advice!

Author Victoria Jayne’s article 13 Fiction Book Marketing Tips from an Experienced Novelist is worth a read. These are great tips—and I (mostly) agree with all of them. She doesn’t like the idea of first-time authors using advertising—like FB or Amazon to market their books. While there are reasons that an author with just one book out (particularly one that shares royalties with a publisher) might not have success with ads, many do. And here’s another post with wonderful advice from Sandra Beckwith. In 3 Author Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2025 and How to Thrive she pinpoints more than 3 super easy things you can fix (if you’re doing them). . . for instance, have you ever put up a social media post about your book without a purchase link??? Yup—we’ve probably all done that!

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope this information is helpful to your writing life and career!! Happy Writing!! - Valerie

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FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Why Swifties Are Disappointed in Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Book

• UK Writers’ Union is Calling for the Acknowledgement of Ghost Writers

• The 2025 Literary Calendar to Help Plan your Social Media

• The 50 Biggest Literary Stories of 2024

• US Writers—many of us need to file this Beneficial Ownership Info form with the IRS before the end of the year.

• Best Book Lists (including my own) and Writerly Gift Guides

Why Swifties Are Disappointed in Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Book

Ouch! I can see why some of the criticisms of this book are valid and others perhaps not so much from this article by Alex Gonzales for Newsweek. Pictures that are blurry are not okay—but the complaints about Swift’s verbatim quotes from the stage not being edited for grammatical correctness seem a little snooty (IMO)! Read it here.

UK Writers’ Union is Calling for the Acknowledgement of Ghost Writers

The Society of Authors (the largest writers union in the UK) is “calling on celebrities and the publishing industry to properly acknowledge the writers behind celebrity books, particularly those aimed at children.” I love this—and often European countries lead the way on some of these efforts, so I will be watching to see if this jumps across the pond to the US. Read the article from The Guardian here.

2025 Literary Calendar

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Thanks to Sandra Beckwith for giving us this calendar of “180 opportunities for embracing reading and writing.”

The 50 Biggest Literary Stories of 2024

LitHub’s list is rather centered on traditionally published books, but it is still worth a browse through to see if any stories catch your eye.

Lithub.com/the-50-biggest-literary-stories-of-2024

Beneficial Ownership Information Filing

If you’re a US writer who does business under an entity name (like and LLC or a sub-chapter S-corp), you’re required to file this Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) form. Kevin J. Duncan writes an easy-to-follow article for the Kindlepreneur website describing the whole thing. I just did this myself the other day and it was super easy online.

Fox Cities Book Festival Ends 17-Year Run

For those of us in Wisconsin, this is sad news. The Fox Cities Book Festival has ended its long run after 17 years— however, the libraries in the area are picking up the baton and will continue similar bookish programming. Read all about it here.

BEST OF LISTS ….

My Favorite Reads of 2024 . . . it sure was hard to pick just a few favorite books.

The Goodreads Choice Award Winners of 2024

The Best Historical Fiction of Winter (by Jessica Mulberry for the BookBub blog)

Publishers Weekly Holiday Gift Guide

60 Gifts for Writers that Your Creative Friends Will Love (from Reedsy)

And — T.K. Sheffield and I sum up our Angels and Assets with our ‘best of’ lists of 2024 in our final podcast of the year.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS

Google Sucks Now

Robert J. Sawyer writes an important piece about how the google search results are now completely tainted by the AI summaries that now appear at the top of the search page. Summaries that are often just plain wrong …. read more here.

Study of ChatGPT Citations Makes Dismal Reading for Publishers

You may have heard of how ChatGPT has been proven to get citations wrong even going so far as to INVENT citations for information it provides to user inquiries. This Columbia University study found that there were “numerous instances where content was inaccurately cited by ChatGPT.” There’s a lot more to know about this situation if you care to dive in here.

To Whom Does the World Belong? The Battle Over Copyright in the Age of ChatGPT

Alexander Hartler, writing for Boston Review, examines the copyright issues over AI input (what gets fed into large language learning models) and AI output (text produced by ChatGPT). Excellent intellectual analysis.

Create Compelling Suspense and Tension No Matter What’s Happening in Your Story by Tiffany Yates Martin for Jane Friedman’s Blog

This article tackles how to ceate tension in ‘quieter’ stories. How you can “keep tension strong without scenes of overt tension and suspense.” Smart tips.

Getting Rid of Crutch Words

We all do it — ugh — the dreaded repetitive crutch words that need to be edited out of our stories!! Elizabeth S. Craig writes a succinct article on how to identify these pesky little beasts.

Self Care for Writers During the Holidays

Kristen Overman gives tips on how writers can continue to find time for their projects during the busy holiday season when we’re pulled in too many directions. Read it here.

The problem circling sustainable productivity (that nobody's talking about)

Do you feel like you’re on a never-ending treadmill of content creation, project completion, and a huge list of other tasks? The advice is typically — slow down, focus on quality over quantity — be more mindful in what projects you take on — practice sustainable productivity. But Russell Nohelty of Authorstack directly confronts the issue that when you slow down your income suffers . . . then what? Great read as we head into the new year (perhaps with new goals on sustainable productivity ha/ha.)

52 Weeks of Fiction Creativity with Mary Kole

Check out this free course Mary Kole is offering on Fiction Inspiration throughout 2025. Read more here.

Book Scams on Amazon: What Authors Need to Know & Beware

This article didn’t fit neatly into any of the forum categories so I plunked it here as you definitely need to be aware of these types of scams before you launch your book(s). Jason Hamilton recently updated the information in this article on the Kindlepreneur website.

21 Ways Authors Use Reader Magnets to Grow Subscribers

Rick Burnes helps out with this article on the BookBub Partners blog. As you get closer to your launch date you should have a system to collect email subscribers so you can communicate with your dedicated audience. One way to get subscribers is to offer excellent reader magnets—these are free gifts of some sort that entice someone to part with their email address. These are super ideas—my favorites are bonus content (chapters / extended epilogues) or an entirely free book or novella—read the rest here.

Demystifying SEO: Your Pathway to Potential Readers in the Digital Age

Also, as you head toward publication date, you want your online author presence to be firmly established—this includes a website. And…that website has to be properly optimized for SEO. And… (ha / ha) SEO is confusing, right?? I think this article from Chanticleer’s Book Review / Award Website is very helpful.

Top 10 Book Marketing Articles from BookBub in 2024

AJ Yee from the BookBub Partners blog presents a nice summary of 10 marketing articles that were the most popular ones on that blog in 2024. I’ve featured some of those in earlier forums already, but this is a great way to bookmark them in one place! MY favorites are authors weighing in on which advertising platform works best (Facebook, BookBub, or Amazon), how to know when a book cover is killing your sales, and pros & cons of book giveaways. Read them all here.

The ultimate roundup: 15 most popular book marketing articles of 2024

Sandra Beckwith also shares the 15 most popular articles from her blog this year … my favorites were on creating A+ content and how to use publicity to boost your author brand. Read them all here.

Authors: Think Twice Before Paying to Exhibit at Industry Book Fairs

Jane Friedman’s warning article is an important read. I think many new authors are enticed by the allure of these book fairs, when in reality they’ll do little to boost sales while costing a ton.

82 Top Book Awards for Authors in 2024

This list form Scott Lorenz and Westwind Communications may be the most comprehensive list of book awards I’ve every seen compiled. Many are genre specific, so not all will be applicable to your books, but still a treasure trove of information.

Direct Sales Strategies We Love from 35 Authors

Authors selling their books directly from their websites is one of the biggest/newest trends in indie publishing. There’s a lot to learn about how to do this and AJ Yee from the BookBub Partners blog has 16 outstanding examples of what authors are doing right.

The Best BookBub Ads of 2024

Also from BookBub is this summary of their best ads of 2024. If you’re planning to add BookBub ads to your marketing efforts in 2024, this is a great place to start. You might as well see what’s working for other authors to help you create the best ad images possible. See them here.

Facebook Ads for Authors from David Gaughran

I’ve long encouraged indie authors to subscribe directly to David Gaughran’s helpful posts/tutorials. Recently, he updated Facebook ad information in a series that teaches us how to turn off all the AI options that the Facebook ads system front loads into our ad creation process. (Many of these seemingly helpful AI aids are actually not all that helpful and our ads are seeing better results without these interventions.) Even if you think you know everything there is to know about Facebook ads—this info is worth a read through.

FAQ: How to create a QR code, and why you need one

QR Codes are our friends — Nate Hoffelder tells you why and teaches you how to create one.

Book Funnel Announces Universal Book Links

Until now the only universal book link system was through Books2Read, a partner with Draft2Digital. I use that system and have loved it for it’s simplicity and the way it neatens up the book pages on my website. But now, Book Funnel has an option to create universal links, too.

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