By Jenny Zimmer Thinking of penning your life story? Excellent decision! But before you dive headfirst into the ordeal, are you sure you know the do’s and don’ts of writing one? I’m certain just the thought of your life enclosed in the pages of a bestseller is exciting, but don’t rush into the process just yet. There’s a lot to learn, and you’ve luckily stumbled upon the right article. Let’s start then! 1. Read More Memoirs: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut ..read more

25 years is an anniversary worth celebrating. And this year, Foreword Reviews, the premier magazine for reviews of independently published books, is doing just that. Since 1998 when Foreword Reviews was first established, the magazine now: Reaches 36,000 booksellers and librarians annually Sees 300,000 readers perusing reviews online each year Has published more than 30,000 long-form book reviews The goal of Foreword is to help librarians and booksellers find trusted reviews of independently published books for their shelves. By giving indies the spotlight, the company aims to encourage div ..read more

Person typing on a laptop (DALL-E image) By Alexandria Brown Well, you’ve done it! You’ve either started writing or just finished writing your novel and you’re looking for its home in a literary agent’s or publisher’s arms. But, before you start sending queries to every lit agent or publisher in existence, there are a few things you need to know! One: Complete Your Manuscript There are times when authors get so excited about their fiction concept that they start querying before it’s finished. Agents and publishers are 99% sure to reject a manuscript if it’s not fully complete. The only genre t ..read more

By Matt Cost I am an author who once owned a mystery bookshop. It was called The Coffee Dog Mystery Bookstore, named after my chocolate lab of the time. I also work very closely with my publisher in marketing and promoting my books. And I read. One could say that I have seen the business of books from every angle. For me, people coming into my bookstore fell into two camps. People looking to browse and find something to entertain, and those with a particular book in mind. For the browsers, it was essential to be very knowledgeable about the books filling the shelves in my store and have the a ..read more

It should have been an otherwise uneventful Sunday morning for Charleston attorney Noah Parks. Perhaps a trip to the beach or a run with his new Australian Shepherd, Austin. But with a cryptic voicemail, everything changes. A client has vanished, leaving nothing behind as a clue to where he may be. Neither his family, friends, nor neighbors are able to provide help. Turning to his friend Emmett Gabriel, Charleston’s newest police detective, Parks can only watch as what started with a simple voicemail takes on a sinister life of its own. Parks soon finds himself entangled in an affair that spa ..read more

There’s been a lot of buzz lately around using AI to generate content, whether it’s written, images, videos, or something else. I decided to try it out, and see if I could use these tools to help me with my own content creation. The three I’ve experimented with so far are: ChatGPT DALL-E 2 Dubb The results were pretty interesting. I think they have the potential to be a good starting point, but not as something I could regularly use to generate content (and post as is). Since I Know Dino is my main focus these days, I experimented with dinosaur content. Here’s how it went: ChatGPT For ChatGP ..read more

It’s March 2034, six months after D.C. police detective Jen Lu and Chandler, her sentient bio-computer and wannabe tough guy implanted in her brain, cracked the mystery of Eden. The climate crisis is hitting harder than ever: a mega-hurricane has devastated the eco-system and waves of refugees pour into Washington, D.C. Environmental lawyer and media darling Patty Garcia dies in a bizarre accident on a golf course. Of the seven billion people on the planet, only Jen thinks she was murdered. After all, Garcia just won a court case for massive climate change reparations to be paid out by oil ..read more

Smoke curls from what’s left of the beautiful family home on the edge of the woods. The heat is unbearable as she descends the stairs to the basement, past a set of bicycles––two big, one small. That’s when she sees three little white bones in the cracked earth at her feet, turning her blood to ice… When firefighters tackling a blazing house in a quiet suburb of Pine Valley, California discover human remains, Detective Katie Scott races to 717 Maple Street. She calls a halt to the excavations the moment she sees the full number and size of the bones; someone has buri ..read more

Though Meta may not be as highly valued as it was, Facebook ads can still be a powerful tool to promote your products, such as books and podcasts. Define Your Target Audience The key is to find your target audience. Start by figuring out who your ideal reader or ideal listener is. What are their interests? Where do they like to hang out (do they spend time on Facebook)? Next, figure out what message would resonate most with your ideal reader or ideal listener. Is your book or podcast educational or entertaining? Is it for professionals, or students, or someone else? As an aside, some people h ..read more

Sometimes, writing content can feel overwhelming. It helps to have a framework in mind, and to plan ahead of time so you know the content you create will reach your audience. Here are some tips: Write content that people trust. Figure out what answers your audience is searching for (via search terms and predicting search engine rankings), and provide them with well-researched content. Know your audience, and figure out ahead of time how they’ll find your content. Doing the research ahead of time may lead to your content being featured as a snippet in Google’s search. It helps to find keywords ..read more