Writer's Block? How to Get Your Novel Unstuck

We’ve all been there. When we started off with this brilliant story idea we just simply knew this was the one. This story we would finish. This time would be different. *insert screeching breaks* (pun intended) Then we hit a wall. We simply can’t seem to move forward no matter how hard we try. We …

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Mastering Conflict—Hook Readers & Never Let Them Go

We should strive to never ever leave a logical spot to slip in a bookmark. No, we want to torture our readers and keep them up all night and sleep-deprived. We do this with conflict.

Want to Sell More Books? Give Consumers What They WANT

Consumers and business models have all changed drastically in the past ten years. This demands that we as authors change as well. There were many elements we never had to think about twenty years ago. It was an agent/editor’s job to think about the consumer climate and whether or not our book would be something …

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Ads are NOT a Brand and Promotion is NOT Platform—Understanding the Difference

Very often when I write about brand and platform, writers assume I am talking about promotion and marketing (ads) and that is not only a false assumption, it can be a fatal one. When we hop onto Twitter or Facebook and are barraged with book spam, a big reason it annoys us (though not the …

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The Problem with Pen Names

When I first became a writer, one of my favorite activities was dreaming what my pen name would be. I’d even practice signing it so that, you know, I didn’t accidentally scribble Kristen Lamb in my runaway best-selling book at my glamorous book signing. Don’t judge me. Y’all did it too 😛 . Before anyone …

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