Author to Author Resources:
One of the best things about being a writer is the way we help and support each other. The following is a list of resources for authors that we have found helpful. If you have one to recommend–even your own–contact us.
Grammar, Editing, and Style
- Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tricks: When in doubt, check her out!
- Books on Writing: Are they helpful?: Justin Sloan shares a few of his favorite how to write (better) resources.
Social Media
- In 9 Twitter Basics You May Not Know Rachel Thompson outlines the Twitter perks and ethics for authors
- Help! No One is Seeing My Facebook Page Updates!: This is the first in a four-part series in which Anne Chaconas discusses changes in Facebook fan page algorithms and how authors can make the most of them.
- Why Should You Bother Sharing Content on Social Media? Beth Urban shares 6 reasons why social media can help you build your audience.
- Market Your Books in 30 Minutes a Day presents four remedies to “getting lost in the vortex of social media time suck.”
Platform Building
- Non-Fiction Author’s Association (NFAA) is a community for authors to connect, exchange ideas, and learn about book promotion opportunities. The NFAA offers great webinars and the NonFiction Authors Conference.
- How to prepare for Author Interviews: Stephanie Chandler gives 7 tips for preparing for an interview.
Promotion & Book Marketing
- 7 Things You Can Do to Promote Your Book As Soon As You Finish the First Draft: Sandra Beckwith gives advice on how to promote before you’re published.
- Checklist: How to Organize Your Book Marketing: An exhaustive checklist of marketing tactics.
- Book Marketing Is a Marathon: How to Catch Your Second Wind by Stephanie Chandler gives a plethora of ideas about re-energizing your marketing campaign.
- How to Get Your Book Reviewed: Blogging specialist Molly Greene gives down to earth advice and examples.
Weighing the Publishing Options
Getting Published: Consider a Small Publishing House: Laura Hedgecock explains how a small house fit her needs and niche.
Website and Blog Advice for Authors
Images
Website Optimization: Are You Sizing Images Correctly? by Molly Green explains why image size is important to website speed and visitor experience and how to size your images correctly.
Abigail Carter lists some useful tools for creating original, eye-catching graphics. (Laura agrees that Canva takes the top spot.
Headlines
The Savvy Writers’ 5 Tips to Gain Readers with Great Headlines explains the basics and gives some templates.
The Advanced Marketing Institute’s Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer lets you try out and tweak your post titles.
SEO-Search Engine Optimization
The following articles explain how to help people find you by increasing your ranking with Google and other search engines.
- Writing for SEO: Does it Ruin Good Writing? by our own Laura Hedgecock
- Easy SEO Tricks that Won’t Change Your Style by Laura Hedgecock
- How to Write for SEO Without Sounding Like You’re Writing for SEO and Why You Should by Joyce Grace