Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Want Readers to Review Your Book?

To write a fair, objective and thorough review, I recommend you include as many of the following as you feel appropriate:

1.     Your familiarity with the author’s work. Have your read other books by this author? Are you a fan of this author’s work? Is this the first of hers you’ve read? This tells the readers what you know of this author’s work and gives your review credibility.

via romancingthegenres.blogspot.com.au

The easiest way to get book reviews is to write reviews for others -- reviews of the books you love.

Should you write snarky reviews?

No. For many reasons. The primary reason is: why did you read a book you don't love? The world's full of books. Life's too short to waste on horrid books. And yes, you should read all the books you review, right to the end. How else can you write a review?

Here's another reason: payback. Think about it... ;-)

Writing a Book? Write a Series

So, here's Jannine's #1 tip for writing a series and not making yourself crazy in the process. PLAN AHEAD! Last spring it occurred to me that some authors were doing very well with series, so I decided to write one. Being a fairly organized person, I created a strategy.

via rosesofprose.blogspot.com.au

If you want your books to sell, writing a series can be a wonderful strategy.

Yet Another Journaling App

In addition to your main journal, you can, say, write a journal about your food adventures, maintain a separate journal about your pet cat, and have another specifically about your trip to London. And if you wish to copy an entry in one journal to another, you can just tap and hold it to “rejournal” it.

via appadvice.com

I'm a sucker for journaling apps, and Narrato looks beautiful.

Will People Pay You to Write Your Book?

In most instances, reward-based crowdfunding is a better fit for book publishing than investment crowdfunding. Book projects tend to have fairly straightforward reward tiers, like a copy of the book for a moderate pledge or a digital version for a smaller contribution.

via www.crowdsourcing.org

Kickstarter's all the rage for creative projects. Will people pay you to write the book of your dreams?

Want to Write a Book? 250 Years Later, You're Lucky

The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy was first published in 1747 and went on to appear in 20 editions before the century was out. It remained in print until 1843 – and indeed facsimile copies are still available on Amazon. You can even get it as a free e-book via Google here

via blog.mikerendell.com

A lovely article about Hannah Glasse: what a woman.

Read this article, and if you're writing a book, think about how lucky you are to be writing today, and not over 250 years ago.

Can't Write? Cluster

Write a nucleus word or phrase on a clean piece of paper. I usually choose a word that I consider, loosely, to be my topic. For example, if I'm writing a Mother's Day essay, "mother" would be a good nucleus word. If I'm writing an annual report for a client I might choose "service" or "business" or even a phrase like “improving our image." The nucleus word's purpose is to trigger associations. Emotionally charged words like "love," "loss," or "envy" are extremely effective, as are prepositions: "around," "beyond," "over," and so forth.

via www.meadecomm.com

If you're stuck in a writing project, cluster.

Don't think about it at all, just keep clustering words until you find your inspiration again. You will -- this technique always works.

Everyday Expressions From Poetry

From Geoffrey Chaucer to Robert Southey, poets throughout history have preserved this age-old motif of birds as “harbingers of doom,” manifesting itself in the grim metaphor of chickens coming home to roost. Like the phrase you reap what you sow – stemming from the biblical saying, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” from Galatians VI – the notion of karmic retribution, or bad deeds coming back to haunt their originator, is reflected in what is most recognizably termed poetic justice. 

via blog.oxforddictionaries.com

Fascinating...