If you are an aspiring writer, you need to check out Holly Lisle's new writing course, How To Think Sideways: Career Survival School for Writers. It is a six-month class offered entirely online, and it covers an immense range of material. One of the students even referred to it as "grad school for writers", and I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment. The course is perfect not just for novelists but for screenwriters as well.
I can't recommend this course highly enough. There is nothing else out there like it. It will change the way you think about writing, and it will change how you think about yourself as a writer. It is incredibly motivating. The lessons are interesting and thought-provoking, and the techniques are practical and useful no matter your writing style. There's something for everyone. The sheer volume of information offered in this class could fill a library of how-to books about writing, publishing, and marketing.
Here are a few of the things you'll [click to read more]
Finding a publisher for your novel or non-fiction book can be a daunting process, often marked by one rejection letter after another. It can take months or even years to secure a contract with a publisher. With the advent of print-on-demand publishing, a new crop of companies has emerged to provide instant self-publishing services to writers who do not wish to go through the process of finding a traditional publisher.
Through print-on-demand publishing, a writer can pay the POD publisher a fee to publish his or her book. The POD publisher accepts a manuscript from the writer in a file format such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect and then uses that file to create a digital copy of the book. Whenever someone orders the book (whether it is the writer, a bookstore, or a retail customer placing the order), the POD company prints exactly enough copies to fill that order.
POD companies do not stock copies of the writer's book in a warehouse to fulfill orders. Instead, the digital printing technology allows them to print copies only as needed. Unlike traditional publishing, in which print runs of smaller quantities are cost prohibitive, a POD publisher can print only one copy at a time without incurring any additional expenses.
The print-on-demand publishing method has its advantages and disadvantages, but in my view as a novelist, the disadvantages outweigh [click to read more]
