Skip to main content

Prologue at Your Own Risk: When to Use Them and How to Make Them Work

Author: Laura Resnick

Prologue at Your Own Risk: When to Use Them and How to Make Them Work

  A prologue is an introduction to a literary work that comes before the main narrative of the story. Its purpose is to provide information to the reader that is not readily apparent in the first chapter. Simple, right? Anyone who has been writing novels for a while can tell you that the debate on prologues is fierce. Many of us writers refuse to include them, while the rest of us adore them in moderation. A quick Google search will reveal that the prevailing belief is a varying percentage...

craft, self-editing, tutorials, Writing

Continue reading

Marketing Your Book with Key Phrases

How to find the phrases that sell your books Anyone who’s paid attention to advertising and marketing can tell you that the right phrases and words get a reaction from consumers. And that definitely goes for the marketing of your books. So how can you find the phrases and words that work for you and sell your unique books to your unique audience? What’s the point of your marketing? Marketing is communicating the value of a product, service, or brand, according to Wikipedia. Basically, if you want...

branding, business, editor advice, language, Marketing, promotion, Publishing, readers, sales, tutorials, Writing

Continue reading

Beyond Goodreads: Exploring The Storygraph and Fable for Readers and Authors

If you’re a professional author, chances are you’ve had a love-hate relationship with Goodreads. Maybe it’s the clunky interface. Maybe it’s the Wild West of one-star ratings. Or maybe it’s just the nagging feeling that your beautifully crafted book deserves a little more …  sparkle. The good news? New kids on the block—The StoryGraph and Fable—are offering fresh alternatives that are built with both readers and authors in mind. In this article, we’ll explore what these platforms do differently,...

business, Discovery, Marketing, promotion, readers, social media

Continue reading

Author photo

Feeling Stagnated in Your Author Career? You’re Not Alone

Over the last year or so, I have encountered a ton of writing and publishing professionals, including editors, journalists, and authors, who are feeling, well, a bit stuck. And I felt stagnated myself despite having made several big changes in my life. Things change all the time, and the future of publishing and authorship is full of uncertainty. It ebbs and flows with market changes, industry changes, and now AI. But really, that’s just one more thing, right? Navigating all of this is situation...

career, creativity, goals, habits, mental road blocks, self care, writer psychology, Writing

Continue reading

Freshening Up Our Backlists

You can never read the same story twice. Some of us complain about returning to earlier favorites only to find they’ve been rendered unreadable by visits from an imaginary being called “the Suck Fairy.” The Suck Fairy brings to our attention the unfortunate assumptions our favorite authors made as they created their fictional worlds: the racism implicit in Tarzan’s superiority over Black Africans, the antisemitism running rampant through Georgette Heyer’s invented version of Regency England, and...

business, characterization, craft, DEI, language, self-editing, tutorials, Writing

Continue reading

Mindset and Momentum: How Writers Can Use CBT Tools to Overcome Challenges

As writers, we face the constant struggle of rejection, self-doubt, creative blocks and, let’s face it, isolation from hours spent alone. Unless, of course, we include keeping company with our imaginary friends. In my work as a life coach, I’ve discovered two helpful tools for when the mental grind of being a writer takes a toll on clients. Behavioral Activation and the ABC Model are part of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT is a widely used psychological approach that helps individuals...

behavior, mental health, mental road blocks, new habits, self care, Tools, tutorials, writer psychology

Continue reading