Welcome to the last Top Picks Thursday of July! Summer time can drain you with constant activities, or it can refresh you with a break from the daily slog—which applies to you?
Fae Rowan discusses how to use the summer to charge your writing battery.
Writers often hear that entering contests can be good for our careers, but how do you know which to enter? Agent Janet Reid tells us how to evaluate contests.
Lindsay Detwiler shares the many ways to support an author without spending a dime.
Todd Martens talks to Joss Whedon, Neil Gaiman and more about creators, fans, and death threats in the Age of Entitlement.
Renae De Liz looks at how to de-objectify women in comics.
CRAFT
Every writer struggles with similar ideas and problems—that’s why knowing other writers is so valuable. It makes you feel less alone when we face these things together. J. Todd Scott has 3 things he stopped doing that got him writing again, Florence Osmund shares 4 truths and 4 myths every new novelist should know, and Jami Gold tackles the age-old dilemma of what to write next.
When we sit down to write, we are all searching for our unique writer’s voice. Just what is that, and how do we find it? Roz Morris & Joanna Penn explore how to find your author voice, and Jennifer Louden lists 5 ways to develop a writer’s voice.
Once you are off and running, you’ve got to nail all the elements of your story. K.M. Weiland shows us the 4 places to find your best conflict, Melissa Donovan explains how to spot split infinitives, J.E. Fishman reveals 3 crucial elements of dialogue, and Zoe M. McCarthy explores flashbacks: when they’re not appropriate & tips for when they are.
At some point in the writing process, you will need feedback from other people. Melissa Flick tells us the difference between beta readers and ARC readers, Dawn Field helps delineate the kind of feedback to get from beta readers, and Kassan Warrad reminds us why we should care what others think.
BUSINESS
When you self-publish, all the design and marketing falls on you. Helen Sedwick looks at self-publishing companies through a legal lens, Helen Hollick discusses whether self-published authors should bother with blog hops, and Karen Myers shows how to go global with a self-published book.
Joel Friedlander shares a step-by-step book to guide self-published authors through designing their book with InDesign, David Kudler tells his experience with the NetGalley book review program, and Laurie Boris examines the pros and cons of using Smashwords.
No matter how you publish you should know the nuts and bolts about the business. Ash Krafton answers 7 questions about copyright, and Jennifer Malney looks at the fastest growing format in publishing: audiobooks.
When marketing your book, having a plan is key. Dan Blank lays out a Hobbit’s guide to launching your book, while Elizabeth S. Craig demystifies metadata tools.
Much of a writers’ marketing happens online. Karen Ball has keys for effective social media use, Kirsten Oliphant shows us how to grow our email list, and Barbara Morgenroth gives us Facebook ads that work.
THE UNIQUE SHELF
A good book never ends on the final page. Read 23 of J.K. Rowling’s biggest Harry Potter revelations.
We think of Roald Dahl as a children’s author, but check out Roald Dahl’s twisted, overlooked stories for adults.
We’ve all fantasized about being some rich and famous celebrity. However, Kit Steinkellner shows that eating breakfast like Zelda Fitzgerald is a terrible idea.
Caroline Lowbridge examines the strange things learned from Ladybird books.
Take a literary field trip to Flannery O’Connor’s farm Andalusia.
Nothing more common and unsurprising than cows, right? Think again. Jeff Sherwood traces the peculiar history of cows in the Oxford English Dictionary.
An eccentric collector leaves her vast Dick Whittington treasury to Guildhall Library.
Leonardo Da Vinci, artist and…physicist? A researcher discovers the first written evidence of the laws of friction in Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks.
That’s all for this week’s Top Picks Thursday! See you next week for the first August installment!
The Author Chronicles 
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