Welcome to the final links roundup of summer! Hard to believe that this is the end of August. We wish all of you a safe and happy Labor Day!
Where do you stand in the print vs. ebook debate? Six authors weigh in on print vs. ebook.
Joy N. Hensley takes us behind the scenes to see how books are printed.
What Wattpad has done for teen girls. And for those budding authors on Wattpad, here is inspiration in the form of 25 authors who wrote great books before they turned 25.
Outspoken Jennifer Weiner explains why she’s waging war on literary sonbbery.
CRAFT
Writing is a skill we acquire over time. Jami Gold discusses how writing changes our brains, and how the expert writer’s brain differs from a novice.
If you are a scriptwriter, here is some expert advice from Fiona Grant of the Dench Arnold Agency on how to get your script noticed.
The reader is the other half of the book equation. It is up to the author to make sure we deal with reader expectations by giving jacket copy and opening scenes that are true to the book. Diana Hurwitz emphasizes this as she talks about the correct use of prologue and epilogue.
Characters connect the reader to your story. Angela Ackerman shows us how to give our characters emotional pull, Darcy Pattison tells us how to create evergreen characters who live on after the book is read, K.M. Weiland explores the impact character, and Melissa McPhail has 4 steps to the ultimate compelling villain.
Mooderino reminds us that dramatic action is more than doing stuff, K.M. Weiland explains how to use back story to keep your readers reading, and Kristen Lamb shares 3 simple ways to improve your writing and increase sales.
Details matter to the reader. Jade Varden explains commas and names, Chuck Wendig enlightens us about metaphor, and Fiona Quinn gives us the specifics of medical examiners jobs (via Dr. Judy Melinek) and what your heroines need to wear to make kicking butt work right.
We’ve all dealt with a great scene in our heads that we just can’t get down on paper. Janalyn Voigt discusses dealing with the gap between what you imagine and what you write. A lot of that gap can be fixed in editing, and Janice Hardy describes how kids’ games can make revision fun.
Life throws a lot of things at us as we try to write. Jen Matera tells us how to juggle creativity, career, and family, Tanner Christensen says we can avoid burnout with just two rest breaks a day, and Abra of The California Mom has 5 steps to courting the Muse.
We live in a world drowning in often-conflicting advice—so who do you listen to? C.S. Lakin shares words of advice from famous authors that are just wrong.
BUSINESS
Amazon has given the pre-order option to its KDP authors, further narrowing the gap between indie and traditional. Terry Odell discusses what getting the pre-order button means to indie authors.
Marketing is something necessary yet often overwhelming. John Kremer tells us how to market our book in 1 hour a day, while Joanna Penn shares 7 ways to use visual images in your marketing.
Three tools needed for marketing are a bio, a website, and an email list. Betty Ming Liu shows us how to write a bio for any need, Paula Krapf talks about choosing a domain name for your website, Brian Dean tells us how to increase email list conversions easily, and Andreas Ramos gives us steps to cleaning up and combining multiple email newsletter lists.
Social media is vital to marketing these days. Julie Deneen has put together a beginner’s guide to Google+ to help us along.
But in-person marketing still happens. Randy Susan Meyers gives us hints for better bookstore events and other presentations.
Many authors blog to help raise our online profile. Nina Amir tells us how to create a blog plan for any book, and Joe Bunting lists 10 steps to writing a blog post your readers care about.
THE UNIQUE SHELF
As writers, we love good reviews and cry over bad reviews. Maria Popova take a look at the art of the humorous Amazon review.
Check out this map of London showing Virginia Woolf’s residences from childhood until later in life.
Happy Birthday to Christopher Robin, son of Winnie-the-Pooh author A.A. Milne, who was born this week in 1920.
That’s all for this week! Have a safe and fun Labor Day weekend.
The Author Chronicles 
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