From Our Blog
Yay for YA! A Look at Young Adult Fiction
“Teenagers. Everything is so apocalyptic.” —Kami Garcia
Author Kami Garcia hit the nail on the dramatic head with that line from her novel Beautiful Creatures. We can all relate to it because each of us was a teenager once. Our teen selves still live inside us. The proof? How much we tend to like the music from our teenage years (still love Bon Jovi) and how often we share memes that fit our sp…
After a recent interview with my author friend, she proudly shows me the covers for the next four books in her Christian romance series. My marketer’s eye immediately sees that the designs mimic each other too closely and aren’t distinguishable from one another. Their muddy color palette won’t pop against competitive titles, especially as a thumbnail online.
Wanting to support her success, I pr…
As I turned to face the thousands of options lining my library’s shelves, I asked my librarian, “How do you pick which books to read?” I hoped that she might tip me off to a trade journal or confirm the importance of word-of-mouth recommendations.
Her neck blushed pink before she paused and leaned toward me. “To be honest? I read books based on their covers.”
A nervous laugh seemed to indicate …
The Power of Image-Making for Fiction Writing
Poet. Journal writer. Image-maker. These are just a few of the creative guises I slipped into as I embarked on an inward journey in search of my newest set of fictional characters.
What I hungered to discover was what is truthful and powerful in my own world view. Once I unearthed that profound truth, I wanted to know how best I could weave it into a story through memorable characters.
With thi…
Game On!
Many novelists are discovering the rewards of writing for games, whether game-ifying their own concepts or as staff or freelance writers for established gaming properties. In 2022, an estimated 3.2 billion people worldwide played games, and the average age of a gamer is 31. Led by video games and mobile gaming, the gaming industry aims for total earnings around $300 billion for this fiscal year…
A Deep Dive into Fantasy Fiction
Finding the exact origins of the fantasy genre can be as elusive as defining its boundaries in today’s marketplace.
While it was once an add-on to the realms of science fiction and horror, the popularity of fantasy fiction, with all its variations, continues to grow. Oprahdaily.com touted 2022 as a “spectacular year for fantasy fiction.” A January 2023 Publishers Weekly article noted that adult…