How did you discover you wanted to be a writer? Books were my very favourite things when I was a little girl, which meant writers were my heroes. From about the age of seven onward I would announce to all and sundry that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. What did you do to actively pursue writing? (Joining RWAus, Mentorship etc) Joining RWAus was one of the best things I did for my writing—so much craft and industry information! I read an awful lot of how-to writing books, which was also a brilliant thing to do …
Author Spotlight – Melanie Milburne
How did you discover you wanted to be a writer? I wanted to be a writer from the age of five. I was fascinated by stories, both reading and writing them. I always got excited when there was a creative writing lesson at school. I never had any trouble thinking of things to write about. And I’m happy to report that even after all these years later, that hasn’t changed. What did you do to actively pursue writing? (Joining RWAus, Mentorship etc) I actively pursued writing by writing manuscript after manuscript, then I discovered RWA and joined. I am quite …
An Interview with our R*BY Nominees
Fiona Holden – Sweet Treats, 2nd place What book or author was your gateway into romance?This one is a bit of a hard one for me, as it was more like a series than a particular book that dragged me down the inescapable spiral of being a romance reader. As a teenager, I was a sucker for the ‘Sweet Dreams’ series and if the title or cover included a cowboy or a horse, it was a definite read. As an older teenager on the school bus a group of us sat on a small group of chairs reading out loud the …
Should a romance writer invest in a website?
Should a romance writer invest in a website? Yes. But not just any website. You want a website that’ll grow with you and your author career, making it one of the most important assets as part of your author platform. Here’s why… The top 3 reasons for a romance writer to invest in a website: 1. Basically, your author website is a marketing tool that shows you off to the masses in a noisy digital world. 2. It gives you credibility by showing the world you mean business! Especially when it comes to attracting publishers, book agents, and the media …
Want to set some author goals for 2023?
It’s that time of the year when authors reflect over the past year and start focusing on their future, making it the best time to start planning your author goals. WHAT ARE AUTHOR GOALS? Author goals list out your desires, helping you to work out the steps you’ll need to take towards achieving them. It’s where you map out a way to turn your dreams into realities. And it’s not that hard. DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF AUTHOR GOALS? According to some goal-setting geniuses, there are three types of goals. For an author we have: To achieve …
Creating A Monthly To-Do List For Romance Writers
Have you ever thought about creating a monthly To-Do list as a romance writer? I asked around and came up with the following 10 quick tips to help you with the month ahead… 1/- Ask yourself, what matters most to you as an author? Take five to ask yourself the above, and then what can you achieve this month? It’s all about knowing your author goals. While you’re thinking of the answers… From the book Your Author Goals >> 2/- Let’s begin with the worst first, by cleaning up your writing space. If you’re anything like me you’ll have paper, notes, …
Self-publishing is fun! And, you have all the power.
What power? Every decision is yours to make – that’s powerful. But with control comes responsibility. You must be a business that produces well-written, well-crafted, edited, beta-read, designed, proofed, beautiful books (in your genre), fabulous attention-grabbing covers and unputdownable blurbs. You will create ebooks and audiobooks (if you wish). You must register, print, price and distribute to your readers. How do you find those readers? You market through your author website, newsletter, social media, book signings, publications, word-of-mouth, promotions, swag, advertising and anything else. Of course, you will need to keep business records and accounts for the tax people. Then …
Building believable characters | Paula Roe
Give your work the best possible chance in the increasing tough world of publishing. Learn how to self-edit your work. Polish your work and present it to others at its very best.
Workshopping your Work – How to find out what readers think | Sarah Gates
Give your work the best possible chance in the increasing tough world of publishing. Learn how to self-edit your work. Polish your work and present it to others at its very best.
Why Romance Readers Love Third Person Point of View
Give your work the best possible chance in the increasing tough world of publishing. Learn how to self-edit your work. Polish your work and present it to others at its very best.