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When to Form a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)

Author: Laura Resnick

When to Form a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)

Writing a novel and determining how to publish it—whether through an agent, a publishing house or independently—is daunting enough, but should an author also create a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)? Michael Banner, founder of an LLC filing service and multi-published author of apocalyptic thrillers, answered with a resounding “Yes!” “Anybody who’s a professional should set up an entity immediately and not wait,” Banner said. “It’s a good thing for all small businesses to form an entity.” In...

assets, business, finance, legal, liability, money, organization, Publishing

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Writing Consistently ~ One Writer’s Journey to Stop Writing Faster and Write Smarter

Writing faster seems to be something that is dominating the conversation around writing lately. Like many of you I’ve been a working writer for 25 years and have had more than 100 books published. I’ve always been a “quick” writer compared to others. When I first started writing I heard comments about how I was “churning out books,” which made me try for one book to slow down my writing process. The thing was, I couldn’t. The story comes to me in a way that flows out of my fingers quickly. That’s...

craft, habits, mental road blocks, productivity, rituals, writer psychology, Writing

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We Need to Talk About COVID

As we enter our third year of the pandemic, writers of contemporary fiction face a dilemma: to write about the coronavirus or not.* In the past, diseases have formed a backbone for artistic storytelling—tuberculosis in La Bohème, for example, or AIDS in Angels in America—written while the maladies they discuss continued to spread uncontrolled. But are contemporary audiences ready to face stories about COVID? And if they are, what potential pitfalls await authors of those tales? Taking the market’s...

craft, market research, Publishing, society, Writing

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Social Media Mistakes

Marketing via social media can be an author’s full-time, unpaid job. Our publishers expect that we’ll do it well, consistently, in our author voice, making readers feel such a bond with us that of course they’ll buy our books, preferably by preorder or within the first week it’s out. A good portion of any marketing plan is based on the author doing more and more, and it can be exhausting. To have a consistent, popular online presence takes a keen sense of what resonates with readers. We’re constantly...

branding, habits, PR, professionalism, promotion, social media, Tools

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Selecting a Plot Structure that Works for You

Plot structures are not new. Everything from Greek tragedies to Shakespearean plays have been written in three- or four-act structures and their timing measured in beats. There are a ton of books and videos on the topic. Vonnegut shared his now famous “Shape of Stories” lecture. Bradbury, Harlan, Orson Scott Card, Kevin J. Anderson, and many others willingly share their own favorites and advice. Think of a few books that may come to mind immediately: Save the Cat by Blake Snyder and Save the Cat...

craft, plot, self-editing, tutorials, Writing

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Laws of Attraction ~ Writing Sexual Tension

Oh, sexual tension. What is it? Why do we need it? Is it that important? I’m going to explain it. I’ll explain that, too. And bite your tongue, yes it is! Encyclopedia.com gives us a clear and accurate definition, especially as pertaining to romance as “… often hidden or suppressed feelings of anticipation, excitement, attraction, and desire that may occur in relation to another person … a necessary part of the sexual flirtations, courtships, and sexual foreplay. In the context of the sexual,...

craft, self-editing, tutorials, Writing

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