12 Best Articles This Week for Writers 2/18/2011

After the Sale

• 10 Tips for Effective Book Covers [There Are No Rules] Learn how to stand out at first glance.
• Your Author Photo: Posing Tips [QueryTracker.net] Look skinnier and more natural in all your photos!
• How It Feels To Have Your Book Out There In The World [The Creative Penn] WONDERFUL, honest post from the wonderful @thecreativepenn.
• How Slow Can You Go? [Jennifer Represents...] Even after the sale, the pace can be glacial.
• Excellent Online Learning Opportunities (Free + Paid) [There Are No Rules] Education on author marketing and e-publishing.
• Marketing Or Selling: What’s The Difference And Why Do I Like To Do One And Not The Other? [www.publetariat.com] Defining yourself in the age of self-publishing.
• How to promote on Twitter (or why I went pink for LIAR SOCIETY) [Dancing with Dragons is Hard on Your Shoes.] Great example of smart book promotion.

Book Reviews

• 10 Awesome YA novels from Down Under! Part II [YA Highway] More great books for your TBR pile.
• THE LIAR SOCIETY by Lisa & Laura Roecker [Writer on the Side] A must, must read.
• Cloaked by Alex Flinn [Writer Musings] Spotlights a common writing issue. Do you have this in your WIP?
• Tantalizing Future YA Releases! Covers you continue to amaze me... [/- LA FEMME READERS -/] OMG, SO many amazing books coming out!
• The City of Fallen Angels Chapter Hunt is On [Cassandra Clare's Blog] Ready for the big reveal?
• POSSESSION by Elana Johnson [ROOTS IN MYTH] A book as AWESOME as Elana!
• Book Review: Soul Stalker (Timeless, #2) by Laura Kreitzer [/- LA FEMME READERS -/] Tighter writing than the 1st book lets you enjoy the story without the distraction of unnecessary scenes.
• Review of: Tomorrow's Guardian [Young Adult Books Reviewed] "A new twist on time travel you have to read to believe."
• First Line Blogfest... [Southern Princess]Great idea. And wonderful writing.

Congrats!

Sarah Jio, Author | Facebook [Sarah Jio] Congrats to @SarahJio, whose VIOLETS OF MARCH is a Target "Emerging Author" pick for May.

Corrine Jackson [corrinejackson.com] A big congrats on a new sale!

Winners of Agent Pitch - Onto the next round [Market My Words] Congrats to the winners and honorables!

Contests

• Win an ARC of Drought by Pam Bachorz! [THE BOOK BUTTERFLY] Enter by 3/1/11.
• First Page and GIVEAWAY: Rival [First Page Panda] Must read! Enter by 3/2/11 for chance to win it.
• Giveaway time! [Where Fantasy and Love Take Flight] $50 gift card--enter by 2/24/11.
• Interview & Giveaway: Other Words for Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal [Confessions of a Bookaholic] Signed copy. Enter by 3/11/11.
• Young Adult Book Review: The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton and #Giveaway! Open Internationally, 3 winners [Candace's Book Blog] Enter by 2/28/11.
• Insanely Mega Elevensies Debut Giveaway [TerryLynnJohnson] Nine amazing books--enter by 3/18!
• Giveaway: The Devil's Kiss & Dark Goddess [WORD for Teens] Ends 2/19/11.
• 15 Original Sin ARCs up for grabs! [Personal Demons] Check out the giveaway from Tor.com.
• FAB ALERT and GIVEAWAY: Across the Universe by Beth Revis [Searching] Enter by 3/1/11.
• Valentine Treat & Giveaway: Owen from Purpose [Confessions of a Bookaholic] Enter by 3/7/11.
• Giveaway: Win The Light Series by Jennifer DeLucy [The Bibliophile's Journal] Enter by 2/24.
• Interview & Giveaway: Solid by Shelley Workinger [Confessions of a Bookaholic] Enter by 3/3 to win.
• Aspiring Writers of Kids and Young Adult books… [Ripping Ozzie Reads] Publisher offers manuscript competition. Enter 5/2 to 6/3/11.

Craft of Writing

• Tip Thursday: Tips from the Masters [Angels and Demons and Portals. Oh My!] Ten things best-selling authors recommend to make your writer stronger.
• Goals versus Need [Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers] GREAT: Tie a plot goal to an emotional need to a higher good for an emotional story with thematic significance.
• Finding my core. [Jade hears voices] AWESOME: Find out what the core of your novel is. Be willing to change everything but that.
• Building Our Protagonist [Mystery Writing is Murder] Great links (thx for including us!) plus questions and perspectives on creating your protag.
• Prologues: Not as Evil as You Think [The Other Side of the Story] Pros, cons, and valid reasons for using them.
• Write What You Know [Paranormal Point of View] LOVE: How do readers become invested in my story if they can't put aside reason enough to fully immerse?
• Grammar of Old and New Worlds [The League of Extraordinary Writers] Great things to think about for any character with dialect or other language issues.
• T3 - Challenging Your Character's Inner Lies [The Character Therapist] And great ways to tie then to your plot!
• Guest Post: Sarah C. Campbell on Connecting Nonfiction to the Curriculum [CYNSATIONS] Find how your book fits into curriculum and develop additional tie-in meterials.
• 10 Questions for your Characters [It's a Mystery] Excellent list to help you build 3-D characters.
• OMG! You can totally see her double spaces. [Creepy Query Girl] Love this. I DO feel the claustrophobia!
• 10 Percent Uncontrolled [Words from the Woods] Do your characters make conscious decisions that create problems as often as they clear them up?
• Enriching Your Story [Seeing Creative] Check the different main plot layers and subplot layers. (Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook)
• Are You Overusing Passive Verbs? [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] Great reminder that active verbs foster engagement and connection.
• Writer's Wednesday: Can you Plot Without Voice? [Oasis for YA] Chicken vs. egg = voice (character) vs. plot. Opinions?
• When the Words Won’t Flow: Four Tools to Try [Cheryl's Musings] Engage the senses. Play the movie. Have the conversation. Try on a different point of view.
• Symbolism Thesaurus Entry: Religion [The Bookshelf Muse] LOVE: Let the story's tone decide if one strong symbol or several smaller ones work best.
• Rejection or Learning From Those First Line Mistakes-l [TheWriteGame] Five reasons your first line may not work.
• Lovable and Admirable Characters [Denise Jaden] Pick too of these five extremes to create a winner?
• That elusive voice [Alexandra Sokoloff] Truly GREAT article about defining, teaching, and learning voice in fiction.
• Agent and Editor Panels [Chocolate for Inspiration] Invaluable recap and tips presented in easy bullets. Excellent.
• Character Clues [Mystery Writing is Murder] Excellent points and examples for revealing character traits.
• The 3 Integral Components of a Story’s Beginning [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] LOVE: Character. Action. Setting. (Hitler invaded Poland.)
• Lessons from Sex and the City 2 [Julie Musil] Five craft tips writers need to keep in mind.
• Quote of The Week: John Gardner (on Endings) [Ingrid's Notes] LOVE this quote!
• Writing from the Place: TEN WAYS TO MAKE ROMANCE SIZZLE IN A MANUSCRIPT [ROOTS IN MYTH] Great for anyone writing a love interest.
• Descriptive Passages, Part III: Action [Magical Words] Like description, action sequences should also reinforce character, backstory, narrative, etc.
• Synopsis Part 2 [GENREALITY] The synopsis is a tool that helps the agent or editor make a decision, but the book clinches the deal.
• Simple Writing Tip [Rose Cooper] Write aloud to catch dialogue flow, typos, pacing and inconsistencies.
• Hook, Line, and Sinker: How to Hook Readers and Reel Them In [*Lynnette Labelle* @Chatterbox Chitchat] $25 course runs 4/4-4/30.
• What makes a good sex scene? [Books] It captures the complexity or beauty or ugliness of the real thing.
• Weeding through the Mess: How to Make Sense of Your First Draft [How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book] Six easy steps to rising and falling action!
• Worksheets for Writing a Novel in 30 Days [There Are No Rules] The best tools from Writer's Digest.
• A is for Amateur, B for Bathtub [Words and Such] Two great writing tips, and how to remember them.
• Setting Thesaurus Entry: City Transit (train) [The Bookshelf Muse] Another great entry. And so true about the foot & body odor...
• If You Build it, They Will Read: Plotting With Layers [The Other Side of the Story] How to use layers to craft a well-constructed story that keeps readers interested.
• Using Fear To Create A Dystopian World [The League of Extraordinary Writers] Decide what YOU couldn't live without, then don't let your characters have it.
• Setting By Example: Crusie/Mayer [edittorrent] Example of thorough yet incredibly efficient scene-setting.
• Character Habits and Identifiers [Mystery Writing is Murder] Help to remind your readers about who's who.
• Symbolism Thesaurus Entry: Mystery [The Bookshelf Muse] How does Angela do these so well so consistently?
• Gender Bending: Writing a Different Gender Than Your Own [The Other Side of the Story] Five tips to make it easier.
• Blast from the Past: Got Micro-Tension? [Sisters in Scribe] The three main components and how to get them into your fiction.
• Phrase Frequency Counter for Writers [GalleyCat] Excellent tool! Even more useful than Wordle!
• Scenes–what are they in novels, and how do you write them? [Let The Words Flow] From transitioning to ending on a hook. Good stuff!
• Wait—Who Said That? Keeping Your Speakers Straight [The Other Side of the Story] Five tips to make dialogue more readable.

Critiquing

• Revision--Shannon Style (Part Three: Critiques) [Shannon Whitney Messenger] Critique partners, process, beta readers, and chocolate covered Twizzlers.

Inspiration

• SCBWI Vlog [Ramblings of a Drifting Mind] And quick summary if you prefer the written word.
• What I Learned About Writing a Second Novel [Guide to Literary Agents] Great: The best agents have an uncanny ability to see into the heart of a story.
• Making It Your Business: Setting Goals [Magical Words] Goals and how they fit into your writing mission statement.
• Highlights From NY SCWBI Conference, Part One [Write-Brained] A post to bring back memories. Awesome conference!
• The Answer is In the Work [iggi & gabi] LOVE this: "The true goal to strive for is to love doing the work." @SaraZarr
• The Care And Feeding of a Writer - Perseverance [The Blood-Red Pencil] Seven great tips to keep you going.
• Reading to Escape [Sisters in Scribe] LOVE: Someone is going to find your characters as real as you do.
• Interview with Helene Boudreau [Miss Snark's First Victim] Fantastic interview from a wonderful author!
• Why crap people make crap writers [James Killick's Blog] Writing isn't just about words. To become a better writer, you have to become a better person.
• 5 tips for squashing self-doubt demons [Don't pet me, I'm writing] LOVE THIS: Compensate for what sucks.
• How to Beat the Fear of Being a One-Book Wonder [Author, Jody Hedlund] Five things to help you write the next book.
• Creativity, Success, and Following Your Own Path [Caroline by line] Seven wonderful posts on the creative process.
• How a light bubl can make you more creative [Time to Write] Seriously? The human brain is so amazing!
• 6 Techniques for Using Music to Help Our Muse [Jami Gold, Paranormal Author] Love: Train your brain to know listening-to-music time as work time.
• Trust Your Demon [Book Dreaming] Love this quote about taking big risks in writing.
• 8 Signs Your Writing Is Stuck in a Rut - and Why You Should Care [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] On laziness and fear--and how to get past them.
• SCBWI SAN DIEGO CONFERENCE OVERVIEW [Jill Corcoran Books] Red hot from the fabulous Natalie Fischer!
• The Fine Art of Conquering Impatience [The Bookshelf Muse] Three things you can do to take it out of the equation.
• 14 Ways to Love What Your Manuscript Loves [A. Victoria Mixon, Editor] Great post: You will never get it all down in words.
• 7 Things I’ve Learned So Far, by Leslie Tentler [Guide to Literary Agents] Don't let your inner critic psych you out.

Issues

• Scientists Date Unreadable Manuscript [GalleyCat] Mysterious book in unknown language is 25 years older than the Guttenberg Bible.
• For Ebooks, An ISBN Dilemma [www.publetariat.com] Without a way to identify “books” as they are published, information and creativity could be orphaned.
• What is Copyright and What Does it Do? [iggi & gabi] The breakdown in layman's terms. Excellent!
• Femmes Fatales and Deadly Men [The Publication Follies of Alexandra Shostak] FABULOUS: All I am saying is this: women deserve to value themselves in the same way men do.
• Updated Predictions for Authors [GENREALITY] LOVE: Writers have focused on getting an agent, book contract, etc., but what you really want are readers.
• Survive Your Writing or Editing Career [The Blood-Red Pencil] Tips for keeping your hands, back, and shoulders healthy.
• Could Your eBooks & Digital Writings Survive an Electromagnetic Pulse Attack? [GalleyCat] WOW! e-book libraries, manuscripts! Oh, the implications.
• Editor Margaret K. McElderry Has Died [GalleyCat] An enormous loss for children's publishing!
• How Free Chocolates Can Help Bookstores [GalleyCat] Could/should bookstores plug-in to customers' GoodReads or Facebook pages?
• The fate of the world lies in my hands. Be very afraid. [Personal Demons] How big do the stakes have to be for YA?
• 28 Days of Teens & Tech #16: What’s Happening? [YALSA] Should educators and teens connect via social media?
• Adult Hardcover Sales Rose 23% in December But Slipped 5% for Calendar Year [GalleyCat] And annual e-book sales up 164.4 percent.
• Margaret Atwood on Changes in Publishing [Cynical, Ornery, Sublime, Lush . . .] LOVE this: Authors as the "dead moose" of publishing.
• Borders Releases List of 200 Stores to Be Closed [GalleyCat] The list plus links about the human cost and bankruptcy.
• The mess at Borders [Janet Reid, Literary Agent] Janet Reid points us to the John Mutter piece on how Borders got here.
• Barnes & Noble Writes Open Letter to Amazon Affiliates [GalleyCat] Battle of the behemoths--and B&N sides with the little guys.
• Graduation [Glass Cases] Wonderful post about issues to address in YA lit and teen shows.
• The Pressure To Jump In Too Soon [Author, Jody Hedlund] How new writers can avoid burnout.
• Wild Wild West? [Confessions From Suite 500] Apps & ebooks have forced us to change the way we think about books & publishing.

Just for Smiles

• Have A Dance Break [Myra McEntire] Great idea! And not just while waiting for @MyraMcEntire to return.
• The Huffing & Puffing Post [PassiveAggressiveNotes.com] OMG, I laughed so hard. I want the bumpersticker version.
• Don't do this in your book [Coffey. Tea. And Literary.] About starting with a bang.
• 6 EXOTIC PLACES TO MEET YOUR MANUSCRIPT: Valentine's Day Edition [Grab a Pen] Six locales to jumpstart your imagination.

Self-Editing

• If you try sometimes... you get what you need [The Publication Follies of Alexandra Shostak] FANTASTIC: If you've revised something too closely for too long, emotions of characters start to blur into steps in the plot equation and stop being the raw, chaotic and random things they are.
• The joy of editing [Musings of a Penniless Writer] Four basic rules of self-editing.
• No Pain, No Gain: Killing Your Darlings [The Other Side of the Story] No matter how good the line or the scene, if it doesn't work for the overall story it hurts that story
• How to Survive the Revision Process [iggi & gabi] LOVE: Revision is where you add the strategic elements of your story.
• How to Break Up With Your Writing [A. Victoria Mixon, Editor] Three tips to make revisions more palatable.
• 50 Things Your Manuscript Is Judged On [Falling Leaflets] BEST list of ms evaluation questions I've ever seen.
• Self-Editing Part 2: Writing Style [NouveauWriter] Excellent points on passive voice, qualifiers, wordiness and more.

Social Media

• How to Help Google Find Your Site [Author Marketing Experts, Inc. » BLOG] Ten tips that really work.
• The Unspoken Rules of Publishing: Twitter [Let The Words Flow] Twitter as high school. And how it can be wonderful.
• The Power of Social Networking [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Great note about connections in publishing.
• How to Meaningfully Grow Traffic to Your Site/Blog [There Are No Rules] Juicy explanations and examples.
• Seven Tips to Grow Your Mailing List [Blue Rose Girls] Want to stay in touch with readers? Potential readers?

To Market

• The Truth about Writing Contests [Jami Gold, Paranormal Author] And submissions. Sometimes you've done nothing wrong. It just isn't love at first sight.
• Best Literary Journals in Los Angeles [GalleyCat] Great list to help you build some writing cred.
• Question from a Writer - Paranormals [Babbles from Scott Eagan] A paranormal needs to be real and believable, unique enough not to sound like...
• Synopsis Example: ''A History of Violence'' (Thriller) [Guide to Literary Agents] Love these examples. So helpful!
• When You're Missing the Mark [Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent] Once you get an agent, it could still be a long time until... you find the perfect match.
• How I Got My Agent: Jami Attenberg [Guide to Literary Agents] Great: You are entitled to work with someone who believes in you.
• Publishers That Accept Writers Without Agents: Boyd Mills Press [BubbleCow] Complete guidelines for unagented submissions.
• one fast way to instant rejection: Lie [Janet Reid, Literary Agent] The truth about requested material.
• February Premium Kit is "Find an Agent." Tons of Stuff for a Deep Discount. [Guide to Literary Agents] Nine great WD tools bundled together.
• Query Workshop [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Opportunity to get your query critiqued by BookEnds LLC!
• 5 Reasons You Might Be Hearing No [YA Highway] When querying, give yourself the best chance you can.
• Interview with Agent, SuzieTownsend [Dark Angel Fiction Writing] FABULOUS interview!
• Question from a Writer - Scott and paranormals [Babbles from Scott Eagan] Scott loves a paranormal that sucks him into the mystery of a world surrounding ours.

Other Weekly Round-Ups:

• Jane Friedman of Writer's Digest also does a wonderful list of best tweets of the previous week. 
• Alice Pope does a Wednesday Tweet Roundup for the SCBWI Children's Market Blog.
• Northern Colorado Writers do This Week in the Writing World every Friday.
• Jennifer Roland does a Writing Roundup on Fridays.
• Ricki Schultz does an "In the Blogosphere" post on Fridays where she lists posts she's stumbled across during the week.
• Elizabeth Craig has started posting a weekly list of all her helpful Twitter posts.
• And don't forget to check  Nathan Bransford's blog later this morning for his weekly recap of publishing news and information.
• Saturday Link Party [Forever Young] Jessica rounds up fun and interesting links.
• Stina Linddenblatt does a Cool Links Friday. This week, she caught a lot I wish we had on ours. I know what I'm doing for the next few minutes!
• DuoLit does a weekly list of links with some emphasis on self-publishing and marketing.
• YA Highway's Friday Road Trip hits the high points of the publishing industry, writing craft, submissions process, and other fun stuff.
• Cynthia Leitich Smith at Cynsations does a Cynsational author and book news review.

Did we miss anything? Anyone? Please leave a comment!

Happy reading and joyous writing,

Martina, Marissa, Clara, Cam and Cici