Every member of my book club has decided to list our top 25 novels of all time, and in the spirit of that disclosure, I decided to make mine public here at Bookfox. A list of the most important books is like a horoscope reading of your soul. Give me someone’s list, and I’ll tell […]
I did not read as many books as I would have liked this year, but I still read 70. That’s a dip from last year’s total of 100, but in my defense, I did midwife a number of books of other authors through developmental editing and publishing. I also finished editing my own novel, which […]
Guest Post by Lynsey Patterson While writing is a private act, at some point most writers want to make it public. But some writers struggle with the act of sharing their work with the world. Many writers have no idea of where to start when it comes to self-promotion. Writers do what they do best […]
Guest post by Said Shaiye Mary Karr, in THE ART OF MEMOIR, once wrote: “If you think writing a memoir can replace therapy, stop writing and go get therapy.” So I stopped writing and went to therapy. Then I realized therapy wouldn’t be enough. So how did I overcome years of serious addiction and begin […]
Guest post by Lizeth De La Luz Congratulations! You are ready to hit a new milestone in your writing career: crafting your author bio. Whether you are submitting to a magazine, contest, agent, publishing house, or finishing up you About You section on your website, your author bio will always be one of the most important things […]
If you’re a traveling bookworm, Jane Austen’s England will bring the characters and settings in her famous novels to life as you follow her own life story. One of England’s greatest and most celebrated novelists, Jane Austen was born in the late 18th century and grew up in Hampshire in the early 19th century. The […]
I’ve seen a lot of beta reading questions around the internet, and they’re mostly bad. You don’t want to give the same set of questions to every beta reader. It’s best if you hand-select questions for each reader based on what you know about them. For instance, the questions you want to ask a casual […]
It’s incredibly difficult to find beta readers. It’s almost easier to find an editor, because the relationship is transactional. Money = reading + advice. But with a beta reader, you’re asking someone to commit 5 – 10 hours of their life to your brain and story. For free. That’s a huge commitment, and you have […]
I learned about Tertulia, the book recommendation app, from the New York Times article. So I decided to try it out. When I downloaded the app, it said there was a waiting list (uh, oh). But when I signed up, I immediately got an invite (although it went to my spam folder, so I didn’t […]
1. Present Tense This is the default tense of nearly all beginning writers. The trouble is that few established authors use it. It’s more of an exception than the rule. So when you write your book in present tense, it’s like you’re marking it with a giant stamp that screams to every agent, publishers, and […]
