Thanks to everyone who participated in our #AprilFools4Writers content. If you missed it, here are the details. There were tons of hilarious and clever entries this year and I enjoyed reading through all of them. More than 400 people participated, which is amazing! Anyway, without further ado here are the winners (chosen at random,...

BY NINA AMIR If you are a writer who dreams of landing a traditional publishing deal, you might have a nagging question in your mind. It’s probably phrased something like, “Is my book idea what a publisher wants?” In fact, a better question to ask yourself is, “Do I have what publishers really want?”...

BY ROGER MORRIS Use these 8 strategies to turn occasional assignments into steady paychecks.

Are you ready to have a little fun? It's April Fools Day, which means it's time for my annual #AprilFools4Writers contest! Here's how it works: Create entertaining, clever and witty headlines that would appear in an Onion-style newspaper for writers about anything writing related (grammar, authors, books, etc.) and post it in any of...

BY DANA SITAR You can easily waste a lot of effort producing guest posts for little gain if you don’t have a solid plan. Follow these steps to ensure you get the most out of every guest post appearance.

BY DAVID JAUSS The best writers almost always seem to know, either consciously or intuitively, when to use present tense. Many of us, however, do not. Present tense has become something of a fad, and we often use it even when past tense would serve the story better. Whatever the causes for the prevalence...

You know more about music than any of your friends and can hold your own with all of these so-called critics. But where to begin? How do you break through to the printed page and music blogosphere? Here's how.

Visits to literary landmarks reveal powerful lessons every writer can carry home.

5-Minute Memoir is exactly what it sounds like—a personal essay on some facet of the writing life, be it a narrative or a reflection, pensive, touching or hilarious. Enjoy this installment from Steven Rowland.

Although both professions study and treat people with psychological and behavioral issues, there are big distinctions between psychologists and psychiatrists. Fortunately, you don’t need to feign emotional trauma and lie on a couch for hours to get it right in your work. Here’s a breakdown.

Here's the breakdown on what you need to know when signing a book contract that includes an advance, including what it means and how it works.

I came across this new resource for writers from a company called Vook. It looks like a fascinating tool for self-published authors, allowing authors to track book sales that are reported through most of the major players in the ebook and POD business--Amazon, Amazon KDP, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Nook Press, Kobo Writing Life,...

No matter how you want to publish, and whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you should produce a business plan for each and every book you write and publish—before writing a word of your manuscript. Let me offer you eight good reasons why I believe this is an important practice if you want to...

There are a couple of places where your manuscript's word count needs to appear. Here they are.

Here are a few tips to make sure you don’t go overboard with negative personality traits.

So how does one approach the monster once you’ve decided to write a memoir? Following are some lessons memoirist Nancy Spiller learned from writing her own.

Are you a member of a helpful and creative writing group? Do you meet with fellow writers to share your work, receive thoughtful feedback, get a boost of inspiration, and hang out with others who love the craft? We’d love to hear from you!