Reply to a bad review
firstwriter.com – Thursday August 20, 2015
In the years that we've been publishing our Writers' Handbook and other titles we've been pleased to get a lot of good reviews: previous editions score averages of four stars on Amazon, and an amazing 70% of reviewers for our 2015 edition gave it the maximum score: five out of five. Customers have called it "excellent", a "wonderful book" and "a must have for writers" – but, inevitably, amongst the generally positive reviews there are also the occasional negative ones. This is only to be expected, of course – you can't please all of the people all of the time – but it can be frustrating when the criticism comes not from a fault with the book, but a customer's misunderstanding of the intent. This isn't the customer's fault, of course – it identifies that, in that instance, we've failed to adequately communicate the reasons for the choices that have been made.
Science Reveals the Advantage Writers Have Over the Rest of Us
mic.com – Tuesday August 18, 2015
Science has good news for people who write: The consequences of putting pen to paper go beyond hand cramps and furrowed eyebrows.
Study after study has linked the act of writing to myriad mental and physical health benefits, including elevated mood and emotional well-being, decreased stress, an improved ability to deal with trauma and even physical healing.
50 Shades of self-publishers: Fame and fortune through publishing yourself online
express.co.uk – Sunday August 16, 2015
Once dismissed as vanity books, the success of EL James has paved the way for a new generation of novelists who have found fame and fortune after publishing themselves online.
If You Want to Be a Writer Then Write!
huffingtonpost.co.uk – Saturday August 15, 2015
I don't usually read Good Housekeeping, but a GH story featuring Gone Girl novelist Gillian Flynn featured on my Facebook timeline today and I had a look. Flynn was describing how redundancy from her magazine journalism job was the kick she needed to really get focused on her writing.
Some tips on approaching an agent
By Andrew Lownie
Literary Agent, The Andrew Lownie Literary Agency Ltd
firstwriter.com – Friday February 20, 2015
Our thanks to Andrew Lownie, named by Publishers Marketplace as the top selling agent worldwide, for providing this advice on how best to present yourself to an agent. This article is taken from The firstwriter.com Writers' Handbook 2015, available through Amazon, Amazon UK, and other outlets all over the world.
Using social media to promote your writing
By M. Goldman and J.M. Johnson
Editor-In-Chief and Marketing Specialist, Freeditorial
firstwriter.com – Saturday December 20, 2014
No one knows for sure if new writers have it easier than older generations, or the opposite! With the availability of self-promotion tools, a new challenge arises: Gone are the days when the writer’s “only job” was to write a good book. Now, you, the writer, are also responsible for creating some of the publicity for yourself. Sadly, even a great piece of work might be rejected because the writer has no online presence. If you are intimidated by the world of online self-marketing, don’t be! Start with the following tips and you will be ahead of most debutant writers!
Up for a challenge?
By Bruce Harris
Author, and Editor of the Writing Short Fiction website
firstwriter.com – Saturday December 20, 2014
This is for people who are making plans for a brand new year, and especially people who have decided that in 2015, they are going to stop making unfulfilled promises to themselves for some unspecified time in the future and actually give writing fiction a go. Savvy enough to already know that getting a first novel into print without a publication record is well nigh impossible, they decide that short fiction is the necessary first step.
Write with an editorial eye
By Marcella Simmons
Editor/Publisher, Cahaba River Literary Journal
firstwriter.com – Thursday November 20, 2014
Before I even start telling you what you should do to become a better writer, let me tell you a story about my latest book project first, and why what I am about to say is so important. A writer needs to have an editorial eye, that sixth sense, that expertise to make that story, article or book as error-free as possible before submitting to any publisher. For one, no-one knows that work of art better than the writer. It takes more than once, more than twice, even more than ten times sometimes to produce a manuscript that is 100 per cent free of errors, typos, misspelled words, and unfinished sentences or paragraphs.
Subject matters
By Bruce Harris
Author, and Editor of the Writing Short Fiction website
firstwriter.com – Monday October 20, 2014
Once the decision to write has been made, the next step is to decide what to write about. For many people, unfortunately, this first hurdle is the one they stumble over so badly that they never get back up. For others, the choice is obvious; with particular interests and experience in one of the prominent genres such as sports, science, historical or crime writing, they can immediately make use of their professional lives in their fiction writing. Genre writing has limitations and restrictions of its own, and many people who have taken the decision to write will be reluctant to be pushed so severely in an unnecessarily narrow direction from the start.
Thematic writing: a method
By Bruce Harris
Author, and Editor of the Writing Short Fiction website
firstwriter.com – Wednesday August 20, 2014
Writing to themes can be seen as an interesting discipline or a frustrating restriction. It is more popular with magazine editors than it is with competition organisers, probably mostly because the former want to keep the submissions to manageable levels, while the latter want as many entries as possible to increase revenue.
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