She Writes

Sarah Glazer takes a second look at her reaction to an experiment.

I’m still not sure if I like novelist Ali Smith’s Artful. It has been marketed as a writing breakthrough, "refusing to be tied down to either fiction or the essay form," according to the Amazon description. Or as I would describe it-- a story framed around a literary art appreciation lecture. 

At first Smith’s writing feels like traditional fiction. This Scottish-born writer is the author…

I first "met" today's guest author, Amy Sue Nathan, when she interviewed me for her blog, Women's Fiction Writers. I was on a layover at a packed, noisy airport, standing in a coffee line as we spoke by phone, but Amy somehow made that impossible interview so good that Ballantine bound it into The Four Ms. Bradwells paperback. We met in person at the Tribune Lit Fest a couple months later, and what struck me there, too, was her determination. She was writing a novel, The Glass Wives. And now here it is--just out yesterday from St. Martin's Press! RT Book Reviews calls it "a poignant reflection of forgiveness and the complicated definition of family," and says, "the plot and characters are heart-warming and the ending is inspiring and thought-provoking.”  -…

So many choices…so few guidelines or clear answers. How’s an author to choose?

With the proliferation of publishing options—traditional publishing, self-publishing, partner publishing, package publishing, e-books, p-books, and so on‑-many authors find themselves stymied by which route is best for them and their writing. Even more confusingly, there is increasing discussion of hybrid models, involving choosing one route for some work (for example, publishing a novel traditionally) and another path for other writing (publishing short stories via the Kindle Singles program.)  How do you decide the best path(s) to publication for you?

First, take the time to read up on the different choices available to you. There’s an abundance of information online, and setting aside an hour a day to cruise…

Inspired by Dane Golden's guest post on YouTube videos, I have begun a new series of YouTube videos, the second of which answers the question "Should all authors (published or not) blog?" Check out the video below for my answer. Also, one announcement: Litquake, San Francisco's literary conference, is introducing Digi.lit, a one-day digital publishing conference that will take place from 9-5 on June 29 in San Francisco. I'll be speaking on a panel titled Author Branding and Marketing from 10-11:30 a.m. I hope to see some of you there!