Top Picks Thursday 07-11-2013

Congratulations to friend of the blog Jon McGoran on the release of his thriller DRIFT!

Kristen McLean examines the future of digital content—and it isn’t in ereaders.

For those authors who still want a paper product, Roz Morris explores how indie authors can get into bookstores.

August Wainwright lists 50 best sites for indie and self-published authors, but there is good advice for all authors here. If you are pressed for time, Andrea Mack explains the value of listening to writing podcasts and lists some of her favorites.

And for a lot of fun, check out how to write the sound of things: the Onomatopoeia Dictionary (thanks to Donna Galanti for sharing the link with us!).

CRAFT

Your first line is so important in hooking the reader—especially if the reader is an agent or publisher. Lynnette Labelle takes some examples submitted by her blog readers and explains why the sentences do or don’t hook.

Jami Gold gives pantsers a way to cope with plot chaos while still staying to true to their writing process: beat sheets for pantsers.

If you have a scene that’s falling flat, maybe you’re making this common mistake: having your scene focus on what ISN’T happening. K.M. Weiland explains how to fix this error.

Characters often walk into our minds unannounced and fully formed. Victoria Grefer finds that there is a certain character type she avoids writing. We also know that our characters need to sometimes make bad decisions and mistakes. K.M. Weiland describes how to limit your main character’s choices so he doesn’t do the sensible thing without making your character look like an idiot. And if you have a dual POV book, Janice Hardy tackles the all-too-common problem of what happens when one POV is better than the other.

Emotion is at the heart of all of our writing. Rachelle Gardner explores understanding emotion in life and in fiction, and Ryan Casey shares the secret of writing effective sad scenes.

While many kinds of editing are required to make a good book, Jody Hedlund shares the  most important kind of edit every book needs.

Dealing with the Muse is never easy. Roz Morris examines why literary novels take so long to write, while Margaret Grant writes a poetic post about trying to decide how to best use her magical early morning hours.

Creativity is essential to our writing life. Anais Nin explains how emotional excess is essential to writing and creativity, while Andrea Wren lists 5 writing habits that could destroy your creativity.

Creativity is not enough to be a successful author. Kristin Lamb explores the 5 traits of the successful author.

BUSINESS

The Penguin-Random House merger and a shakeup at HarperCollins has led to radical changes in the UK and US publishing worlds. Boris Kachka takes a closer look at what publishing loses every time there is a merger. Julie Bosman looks at the road ahead for Barnes & Noble.

Scott Berkun discusses if you should self-publish your first book. Arthur Crandon warns that publishing “free” can cost you a lot if you aren’t savvy. If you do self-publish, Orna Ross explains all the rights self-published authors have that can be exploited (it’s good information for traditional authors to note, too, so you can know if your agent is getting all they can out of your book for you).

Getting an agent can be hard. Keeping one can sometimes be harder. If you’re looking for an agent, check out Katelyn Detweiler of Jull Grinberg Literary. Meanwhile, Kevin Hanrahan learned the hard way that sometimes your first agent isn’t the right agent for you.

Marketing can drive you crazy. Joanna Penn lays out 10 honest questions to ask yourself about your marketing, and explains how to optimize metadata to increase sales. Sometimes, you try what worked for others and it doesn’t work for you. What’s that about? Kimanzi Constable shares the one question most authors don’t ask when planning their marketing strategy—and it makes all the difference in the world.

Teen Librarian Toolbox returns with “How to Tumblr, Part 2” for those of us who are Tumblr-challenged. On a different platform, Jane Friedman revisits the question: does Twitter make sense for most writers?

THE UNIQUE SHELF

Do you sometimes feel that craft talk can be boring? Well, here’s the Hero’s Journey explained by puppets.

Finally, if you’ve ever had an embarrassing typo, you understand how important a single letter can be in a word. Jeff Wysaski brings us the covers of books with one letter missing.

That’s it for us this week! Stay cool and enjoy midsummer