Category: Authors

  • Author Newsletters

    Author Newsletters

    Author newsletters are crucial, whether you’re an indie author or not. But for Indies, your newsletter could make or break your business. This blog, Fiction Notes, has been going since 2008 (Yes! 10 years of archives! So search for topics!) My approach to author newsletters has been to sign up folks to get new blog…

  • Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2018

    Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2018

    Bologna Book Fair: A Illustrator’s View Guest post by Leslie Helakoski If you’re a writer or illustrator of children’s books, you may have heard about the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF on Facebook) that takes place each spring in Bologna, Italy. It is the largest children’s book fair in the world. Over 1,000 exhibitors and…

  • Pen Names: Do You Need One?

    Pen Names: Do You Need One?

    When, if ever, do you need a pen name? Why would you want one? Do pen names give you privacy and are they worth the bother? Privacy One main reason that people want to use a pen name is privacy. They don’t want to be recognized in person or online as an author. You might…

  • Book Notes: The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle

    Book Notes: The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle

    One thing that I harp about is the use of great sensory details. When a story is specific, it comes alive. Janet Fox does an amazing job of choosing the exactly right details in her story, The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle. She chooses details that create a mood and pull on your emotions. A…

  • Book Notes: The War that Saved My Life

    Narrators come in different shapes and sizes, and levels of trust. Katherine Patterson said that the everything the narrator said in Jacob Have I Loved was “tinged with green.” In other words, her unreliable narrator was jealous of her sister. Nothing she said could be taken as truth, especially when talking about her sister. The…

  • Book Notes: American Girls

    This is a new feature where I highlight a book for some reason. It’s just my opinion of a book I’ve been reading. American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Life of Girls is the tale of contemporary girls and their love/hate relationship with social media. Author Nancy Jo Sales is a journalist who took…