Here’s the latest collection of articles that caught my eye over the last week or so. Enjoy!

Writing (general)

Even More New Year Resolutions for Writers
Keith Cronin at Writer Unboxed with the *best* list of resolutions for 2015. Really good article that’s thought provoking, especially when it comes to how (and in what) we compare ourselves to other writers. Nothing earth shattering, but I found myself nodding a lot as a read. Worth it for all of us who doubt ourselves.

The Ultimate List of Writing Apps for iPad to Mobilize Your Creativity
Joe Warnimont with a short review of apps that can help convert your iPad into a useful authorial tool. Personally, I adore my iPad but I don’t try to write on it. I hate the onscreen keyboard and without a wireless keyboard, it would drive me nuts. But if I have to carry around the keyboard as well as the iPad, I might as well just have a laptop and be done with it. But for those of you less grumbly than me about Apple’s limitations, there may be something here you’d like to try.

Getting Started With Scrivener
James Scott Bell at the Kill Zone with some tips on Scrivener and a ‘how I use it’ account.  I converted to Scrivener earlier this year and I love it to death, even if I do put the whole text into Word at the end to make the text spiffy. Best writer’s aide ever. After the quill pen and parchment, of course.

 

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Writing (skills)

Crossing Words Off Your List: Making the Most of Editing “What Not to Use” Lists
Janice Hardy on self editing out filler words and noise, that get between you and a clean, concise, strong draft.

The Spit Shine: Things to Check Before You Submit
An older article referenced by Hardy, above, with handy dandy lists of rogue words to watch out for.
Self Editing Tips – Development Edits
Obviously this is the week for people talking about techniques for editing your work. This is an insightful article from KJ Charles which has some good tips to follow, good questions to ask yourself as you work through the content edit – not the nitty gritty colons/commas/spelling sort of edit, but looking at characterisation, pacing and plotting. Very good article.

Self Editing Tips: Line edits
The second article from KJ Charles, following on the one linked to above. This time the technical edits to look for: PoV, speech tags etc.

 

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Marketing for Writers

Social Media Monday—How Facebook Changes for 2015 Could Affect Authors
Edie Melson with a review of the changes FB is introducing to charge businesses for promotion (not new) but excellent – if depressing – post on how the trickle down will start affecting writers.

Social Media Monday—Basic Social Media Strategies for 2015
A follow-up from Edie Melson with ideas for how to diversify your social media promotions.

How I Gave Away Over 2,000 Books on Kindle in 3 Days Without Any Prep Work
Author DJ Gelner over at his blog, on his strategy for using a free book for raising his profile. Some useful tips on linking to other promotional sites etc. with some advice on how to leverage the giveaway into a sales boost. An interesting read.

Spam, self-promotion, and the thin, jellyfish-covered line between
A short piece from Seanan Maguire about crossing the line between promotion and spamming. It is short, and doesn’t offer tips for avoiding spamming, but it did speak to me. There are several people on my FB friends lists whose posts in various groups I belong to go straight into the trash. I can bear one or two posts about your new book and the reception it’s getting. I can’t bear two or three an hour for weeks where you add each new review on top of all the old ones and send the whole lot out again. And again. And again. So as I’m winding up for two book releases early next year, this was a salutary reminder to aim for moderation.

Facebook for Authors
A very good post by writer Jane Friedman over at her blog, on how to build the right kind of presence on Facebook. Bear in mind Edie Melson’s posts though (above).

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Publishing

One Year: No Regrets
Brenna Aubrey on her decision to refuse (and I quote) ‘multiple’ offers from traditional publishing and go indie. Apart from goggling at her earnings (wow, we should all be so successful), I thought her long list of learning points was interesting.

Hi! Can We Talk About Self-Publishing?
Doucette at the Huffington Post on his own experience of the freedom that self-pubbing has brought him. He’s more prolific than me, is all.

The Copyright Naughty List
A reminder from Susan Spann at Writers In The Storm of what to watch for in copyright terms as we blog – quotes, images, even recipes…

What The Hell’s Happening With Kindle Unlimited?
The inimitable Chuck Wendig on some intriguing developments at Kindle Unlimited and Amazon’s decision to inject some cash into it to ensure authors get a little more in payment. A whole 3 cents more, apparently. His article reinforces my decision to wield bargepoles to keep KU at a distance.