Novel Writing on Edge - Development Notes From Algonkian Writer Conferences

In doing a clear out of books (always painful, but in a tiny house like mine, necessary), I came across Narrative Design by the fabulous Madison Smartt Bell . I studied with Madison at Goucher and still count him as mentor and friend (his wife, Elizabeth Spires , is a tremendous poet). They have both always been very supportive of me and their work has always inspired. So I took the appearance of this book as a kind of message to me from him, an answer to the question I'd been asking myself lately about the structure of a novel I'm almost finished writing. I'd even go so far as to say he was giving me instructions. Tucked between its pages I found a handout given to students in Madison's English 315 class. I can't remember exactly What English 315 was, surely a fiction workshop. The handout is called "Four Coordinates" and he describes it as "a set of measurements for evaluating technique in a work already composed. Even as such, it is too limit...

By Paula Margulies To everything, there is a season, and after many years of helping authors publicize their work, I’ve learned that some seasons that are better than others for certain aspects of book promotion. Here are my recommendations on timing for book publicity (note: this is general advice based on my experience as a publicist; your experiences may be different, depending on the kind of book you’ve written, whether you are traditionally or self-published with ebooks or print versions (or both), and the specific media and venues you plan to approach): 1. The best time to promote a new book: the first 6-8 months after its release The first 6-8 months that a book is out is the best time period to promote it, because that is when authors are most likely to receive yes nods from booksellers and members of the media for signings and interviews (except for those topics that tie in with breaking or hot news topics: then an older book can be considered timely). When I work with ...