I have to admit right off the bat—I prefer books. I like having all the information I need between the covers of something I can hold in my hands and refer to frequently. I’m learning to appreciate blogs as long as I don’t have to look for something specific. For instance, if I want help understanding pricing strategies, I prefer David Gaughran’s books over an internet search. Even if they are “outdated,” as I was told earlier, they give me a starting point. From there, I can at least know what I’m looking for when I have to turn to the internet.
That being said, I do have some favorite blogs. Here’s my short list:
KM Weiland’s stellar Helping Writers Become Authors
Writer Unboxed, a collaborative blog that includes agent Donald Maass (and you know I’m a fan)
AuthorCulture, another collaborative blog that is still one of my favorites—never mind that I’m one of founders/collaborators.
Daily Writing Tips for editing/grammar help
The Creative Penn for just about everything
C. Hope Clark’s Funds for Writers, which provides a great list of ways to get paid—contests, grants, etc. Also love Hope’s informative blog of the same name.
JaneFriedman.com holds a wealth of information covering every aspect of the business.
Self-Published Author by Bowker, definitely one of my new faves pertaining to marketing and promotion techniques.
I’m sure I’m leaving some out. These days I focus less on the how-tos of writing and direct more attention to the how-tos of marketing and what they’re calling authorpreneurship. Whether we publish independently or traditionally, the burden of marketing our books lands primarily on our shoulders, so learning tips and techniques is vital. The same can be said about the indie’s responsibility for pricing, launching new books, and keeping books that are already published up in the rankings.
Do you have favorites? Please share!
Thank you for the links! Out of all the websites mentioned here, I only knew The Creative Penn.
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The Penn is a popular blog–and for good reason. I hope you find the others useful too!
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Excellent list of informational sites, some I know, some new – will check them out.
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Glad to help!
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Great stuff! For any of your followers who may write children’s books (anything from board books to YA) KidLit411 is a FABULOUS site with just about everything you might need. http://www.kidlit411.com/
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Terrific tip, Joanne! Thanks!
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Thanks so much! Edie Melson’a blog, The Write Conversation is also an excellent site for writers!
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I’m familiar with Edie’s blog. Should’ve mentioned it. I love her column in Southern Writers Magazine!
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Thank you for this list, Linda. (and thank you Emme!) I also can’t start the day off with a dose of http://www.NovelRocket and http://www.WritersintheStorm.
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Both good blogs. Thanks for the shout-out, Edie!
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Hi, Linda! I love posts like this because it’s fun to see recommendations for writers’ websites. Edie Melson’s blog is one of my must-reads, as is Susan May Warren’s My Book Therapy site.(http://www.mbt.academy/). I wouldn’t be published without everything I’ve learned from MBT.
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I’ve always wished I could be more active with MBT, but I can’t seem to stay awake. Isn’t that awful?! Thanks for including it, Beth!
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Thanks for the shout out! I second all of these, although I have to admit I also prefer books.
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And you publish some of the best in the how-to category! Excited for your new one!
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I love these suggestions! I’m a big fan of The Write Conversation, too. 🙂 And The Kill Zone Blog for thriller/mystery writers. I’m looking forward to checking out all the ones you listed!
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Oh, The Kill Zone! Definitely a good one! I like it even though I don’t write in that genre.
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A good, informative post, Linda!
I’ll add New Writers Interface by Mary Rosenblum http://www.newwritersinterface.com/blog. Mary has been a writer, writing teacher, editor and writing coach since the 1980s. She has been published in magazines, has had novels published by the big NY publishers (that was pretty much all there was when she started) and she has self-published books as well. She stays on top of the industry to be of the most help to the authors she coaches and authors in general.
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Thanks for the tip, Pearl!
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Yes I do, get ready here they come:
http://theeditorsblog.net/
http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com
http://terribleminds.com
http://www.writersdigest.com
https://www.standoutbooks.com/
http://blog.janicehardy.com
http://www.darcypattison.com/
http://io9.gizmodo.com/
http://www.fictionfactor.com/
http://www.writing-world.com
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/
http://christian.fictionfactor.com/articles/ (This has an insane amount of articles with tips that are gold that can be applied to any kind of book.)
https://mattmoorewrites.com/
http://www.thewritingsite.org
http://blog.nathanbransford.com
https://kayedacus.com/
http://writerunboxed.com/
http://www.anovelwritingsite.com/
http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/
http://writersrelief.com/blog/
https://www.writingforward.com/
http://www.novel-writing-help.com/
http://hollylisle.com/
I’m out of time for now, If you want me to share more just remind me I stopped in my book marks folder named: Writing Tips 5:
It’s an endless search for me as soon as I learn a a new writing term I’m to the search engines and study that for a couple of days. So many more sites get bookmarked. I’ve got so many I had to export my bookmarks to my desktop and start over as they were slowing down my browser.
I don’t have a problem. Nope.
*cough*
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I recognize most of those, good sites all. I have no idea how you keep up with so many.I have my few go-to favorites, but beyond those, I can’t see reading that many. And, after a while, they all start to sound the same.
Thanks for the list. That was a lot of work to get them all here and linked!
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