Welcome to the first Top Picks Thursday of 2021! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday and New Year celebration. Now back to our regular grind.
The beginning of a new year is often time for reflection and goal-setting. Nathan Bransford tells how to set meaningful goals, Lee Wind has 3 gifts you can give yourself for New Year’s, and Marissa Eigenbrood lists 5 New Year’s resolutions every author should make in 2021.
Looking back, Book Marks rounds up the award-winning novels of 2020.
Emily Temple compiles notable literary deaths in 2020, while 2021 starts off with screenwriter William Link’s death at age 97.
There has been a push for inclusion and diversity all over society in 2020, and the publishing world is no exception. Chad W. Post worries that the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster will make publishing less diverse, while Jim Milliot wonders if book biz diversity efforts are starting to kick in, and highlights Barnes & Noble’s founder’s $250,000 donation to Poets & Writers, which will be used to support Black and marginalized writers.
Scammers don’t take off for the holidays. Victoria Strauss warns of the return of vanity press mogul James Paul Amstell and of a sophisticated and spooky phishing scam that targets published writers.
CRAFT
For many writers, 2020 has been a creative void, or a painful slog. A lot of us have projects that have been lying untouched, and hopefully 2021 will improve and we can get back to them. Jeanne Kisacky shares strategies for restarting a cold project.
Sometimes one book can’t contain the whole story. Paula Munier has tips on writing a book series.
Unsure what people mean by flash fiction? Moriah Richard breaks down what is flash fiction.
A lot of large-scale craft elements have to work together to create a compelling story—theme, plot, character, etc. Katharine Grubb lists 8 must-haves for a great story, Stavros Halvatzis explains how to integrate plot and character, and Janice Hardy tackles point of view with an easy fix for a tighter point of view and writing from the antagonist’s point of view.
There are also myriad smaller craft elements we need to master to keep the reader engrossed. Randon Billings Noble shows how to render epiphanies in non-fiction without getting didactic, Robert Lee Brewer demystifies real vs. reel, Carla Hoch has what we need to know about knife fights, part 1, E.L. Skip Knox has the history of miners for fantasy writers, and Angela Ackerman says your character’s job may be more important than you think.
Productivity is an issue at the best of times, and this has not been the best of times. Maybe some of these tips and tricks will help those of us struggling to move forward with our projects. Katharine Grubb has suggestions for what to do when your story isn’t going anywhere, Louise Tondeur considers that your writer’s block may really be writer’s indecision, K.M. Weiland shares 7 writing lessons learned in 2020, Kris Maze compiles productivity hacks from best-selling authors, and Kelsey Allagood shares what Gandhi taught her about telling stories that mean something.
BUSINESS
Even though 2020 showed us the futility of trying to predict anything, Laurie McLean has 10 publishing predictions for 2021.
The good news: publishing saw upheaval in 2020, but “books are resilient”. As if to prove that, Ed Nawotka reports that Italians are reading more during the pandemic.
Indie publishing is certainly a viable option these days, but if you do it, do it right. Anne R. Allen highlights 5 signs of amateur self-published books, and Steven Spatz reminds all of us not to neglect the book’s back cover.
Those authors going the traditional route can find it helpful to look behind the scenes at an agent’s life. Janet Reid gives us her 2020 query and request stats, as well as 9 things that drive her crazy. Rachelle Gardner assuages fears by answering the question: do debut authors have a chance at getting published?
Once we’ve got the book, we need to spread the word. Mike O’Mary discusses using book promotion newsletters to increase sales, Stephanie Chandler walk us through how to setup automatic targeted Amazon ads, and Judith Briles destroys the myths of social media in 2021.
One social media platform on a lot of people’s minds this week was Twitter. Rachel Thompson shares the top 5 Twitter tips to powerfully market your books, Nate Hoffelder has tips on how to be a guest speaker on a Twitter chat, Rob Spillman talks about when your Twitter account gets stolen and there’s nothing you can do, and Pam Madel tells us how she landed a book deal via Twitter—unintentionally.
PODCASTS
On The Maris Review podcast with Maris Kreizman, Jess Walter discusses the challenge of the contemporary novelist.
Eddie Glaude’s The Quarantine Tapes podcast has a double header this week: Natasha Trethewey on public grief in poetry and memoir and Kiese Laymon saying precious writers have omission, not subtext.
The Creative Penn podcast with Joanna Penn ponders how to be a healthy writer in 2021, with Euan Lawson.
THE UNIQUE SHELF
Dana Isaacson tackles a perennial question: when are you a REAL writer?
Talk about a good distribution network. There are Little Free Libraries across all 7 continents.
Everything old is new again. Allie Esiri has lessons from Shakespeare: how to survive a pandemic with humor.
That’s all for this week’s Top Picks Thursday! We’ll see you next week for more links and tips!
The Author Chronicles 
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