by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Starting out with book promotion can seem like a tremendous undertaking. And it is. But the important thing to know is that anything you can do online to promote your book or create a presence for yourself online is going to help you sell books.
For tips on starting out with platform building (the very basics…some of which I’ve seen established writers forget to cover), please join me at Barbara Hightower’s blog, Author Services at the Bistro.
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
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Don’t’ forget the new release blogfest that Hart Johnson and I are hosting on June 5th—find more information and sign up here. The best entries get signed copies of our new releases!
Have a great week.
The 1st literary interactive book app: http://bit.ly/HylhXa @Porter_Anderson @MirabilisDave @joningold
MS Word Trick: Combining Changes and Comments: http://bit.ly/HHKHq1 @jamigold
Agent Contract Expiration: http://bit.ly/HylYzv
Freelance Writing: 10 Tips to Better Interviews: http://bit.ly/Hym4qR @writersdigest
How to Finish Your Novel: http://bit.ly/Hym5v4 @write_practice
Write Your Book Even When You Feel Clueless: http://bit.ly/HHKVNI @originalimpulse
Potential blog content problems and how to fix them: http://bit.ly/HHL2ZL @problogger
Leading into a Scene vs. Including Backstory: http://bit.ly/Jcng20 @juliettewade
What Would “Insert YA Heroine Here” Do? http://bit.ly/HHLpU3 @mittenstrings
Add details to ground readers in your scene: http://bit.ly/HHLtTQ @juliemusil
A useful resource for describing settings, emotions, shapes, textures, and more: http://bit.ly/eIGRMO @AngelaAckerman #writetip
Mini-ebooks–a home for articles that need a little room: http://bit.ly/IyB5we @annabaddeley
Will Hachette Be The First Big-6 Publisher To Drop DRM On E-Books? http://bit.ly/IyBgYs @laurahazardowen
5 things writers should know about being knocked out: http://bit.ly/HGiWII @ajackwriting
Write to Universal Acclaim? Not Likely: http://bit.ly/HGiZnZ @noveleditor
How to Write a Book When You’re Really, Really Busy: http://bit.ly/HGj7Uw @chucksambuchino
8 things 1 writer learned analyzing her yearly freelance writing expenses: http://bit.ly/HGjj66 @michellerafter
How to Scan Your Site for Free: http://bit.ly/HGjo9X @jasonboog
Why we should attend conferences and a list of upcoming US cons: http://bit.ly/HGjFK7 @msheatherwebb
Tips for hooks in book openings: http://bit.ly/HGupMY @PegEditors
Do Big Publishers Need Recognizable Consumer Brand Names? http://bit.ly/HGuvEv @passivevoiceblg
How to Fix a Flat (Novel Scene) in 3 Easy Steps: http://bit.ly/IKNHNv @JulieWuAuthor
A Quiz About Compressing Accordion Sentences: http://bit.ly/IKOfTD @writing_tips
The Savvy Writer’s Guide to Simultaneous Submissions: http://bit.ly/IKOP3A @BTMargins
Identify your novel’s genre: http://bit.ly/IKOSfQ @rachellegardner
Discoverability and the New World of Book PR: http://bit.ly/IKPjaa @barbarahenricks @RustyShelton
The rejection resubmission: http://bit.ly/IKPEcJ @nicolamorgan
Art of the Genre: Top 10 Literary Sci-Fi/Fantasy Covers of the 1970s: http://bit.ly/IKPPoA
Adding a musical element to your worldbuilding: http://bit.ly/IKQ8j5 @fantasyfaction
Little Fixes to Improve Your Book: http://bit.ly/IKQhTN @maryannwrites
Creating Reality: The Pleasant Psychosis of Writing: http://bit.ly/IWICkn @BTMargins
Learning the writing craft over time: http://bit.ly/HJG4v7 @bob_mayer
Seeing the World through Your Character’s Eyes: http://bit.ly/HJG7Y7 @livewritethrive
Author Blogging 101: Widgets, Sidebars and You: http://bit.ly/IWIVvr @jfbookman
Movies about writers: http://bit.ly/IWIZLP @BTMargins
The Illusion of Writing: http://bit.ly/IWJmpE @Ravenrequiem13
Keep Your Unwavering Passion to Write: http://bit.ly/HJGtxN @evemariemont @4kidlit
Are your characters making misleading assumptions? http://bit.ly/HJGIsE @Janice_Hardy
Show, Don’t Tell: How Much of Your Story Is Implied? http://bit.ly/HJGL7P
Tips for A Better Book Presentation: http://bit.ly/HJGOAC @BTMargins
5 Principles for Using Facebook: http://bit.ly/HTkNMU @janefriedman
Women’s Fiction Format: http://bit.ly/HKlGu1 @pprmint777
Self-Editing Tips to Make Your Manuscript Ready For Publication: http://bit.ly/HEsYcY @WritersCoach
The fully-developed book premise: http://bit.ly/HKlT04 @donmaass
Tips for reading novel excerpts: http://bit.ly/HLzPaJ @beth_barany
Overwriting–areas to edit: http://bit.ly/INXUJ3 @TaliaVance
Is Pinterest Traffic Worthless? http://bit.ly/HLA2uk @nestguy
Tips for finding an agent, from an agent: http://bit.ly/HLAfh5 @luciennediver
Signs Your Character Is Wasting His Potential: http://bit.ly/IOlkOx @KMWeiland
8 tips for guest posting: http://bit.ly/HJdZDr @duolit
Crushes and chemistry: http://bit.ly/HJe9uu @Kid_Lit
An agent asks, “Bitter or Misunderstood?” http://bit.ly/HJerl6 @bookendsjessica
Why Writing Through Resistance is Essential: http://bit.ly/IVJESj @ava_jae
16 Kindle Lending Library Titles Were Bestsellers In March: http://bit.ly/IVJKt6 @ebooknewser
Turning Your Twitter Followers into Readers: http://bit.ly/IVKsqs @pushingsocial
Profanity in worldbuilding: http://bit.ly/IVKzCn @juliettewade
When Books Mattered: http://nyti.ms/IE0J2S @NYTMetro
16 of the Top 100 Best-Selling Paid Kindle Books in March Are Exclusive to the Kindle Store: http://bit.ly/HF0m3s @PassiveVoiceBlg
Why Small Publishers Fail: http://bit.ly/IE10CN @victoriastrauss
Meditate, don’t caffeinate: http://bit.ly/IE1bhi @misfitsmascara
Tips for writing effective dialogue: http://bit.ly/HF0Ia5 @writersdigest
Success in fiction writing is 50% practice and 50% persistence. Talent is optional: http://bit.ly/IN8oNE @Yeomanis
Where to Find Ideas For Novels Or Short Stories: http://bit.ly/HL1MhU @writersdigest
11 Revision Questions: http://bit.ly/HL1W95 @fictionnotes
9 ways to upset an editor: http://bit.ly/HL2eMU @jameslsutter
Being a tax-wise author, parts 1 & 2 (for US writers, but possible deductions for others): http://bit.ly/HL2njx , http://bit.ly/HL2prK
Plan the Story, Meet Your Characters. http://bit.ly/J1YWFe @christi_craig
Reading in Public: 3 Steps to Captivate Your Audience: http://bit.ly/J1Zg6Z @DIYMFA
Tips for writing suspense: http://bit.ly/J1ZyL1 @stacygreen26 @nicolebasaraba
Tips for writing convincing male characters: http://bit.ly/J20oYh @BooksForABuck
Inspiration from a cryptic text: http://bit.ly/J20I9o @GeneLempp
20 Rules About Subject-Verb Agreement: http://bit.ly/IWD9xk @writing_tips
Writing Lessons from the Newsroom: http://bit.ly/IWDHn1 @torcon
Writing for the YA market–writing what’s hot: http://bit.ly/IWEcNR
Scrivener review: http://bit.ly/IWEnZA @ajackwriting
Balancing story and prose: http://bit.ly/IWEJzl @katieganshert @rachellegardner
Write Because You Love It: http://bit.ly/IWER1L @jodyhedlund
How To Balance Dialogue and Description: http://bit.ly/IWF84T @serbaughman
Tips for submitting short stories (especially for SF/F writers): http://bit.ly/IWFM29 @amsmibert
What beta readers are and ideas for finding them: http://bit.ly/HYkyPk @jamigold
An agent says you can’t turn one genre into another to try and sell the story: http://bit.ly/HYmpDT @greyhausagency
Explaining show, don’t tell: http://bit.ly/HYmAiB @V_Rossibooks
What booksellers really mean when asked for recommendations: http://bit.ly/HYmXcW @deadwhiteguys
3 Reasons to Write Stream of Consciousness Narrative: http://bit.ly/HYnbkd
Why editors won’t be excited if you want to write “a little of this and a little of that”: http://bit.ly/HHY2dd @behlerpublish
Google wants to mobilize your Web site – for free: http://bit.ly/HHYk3O @kfitchard
Discipline of Writing. Writing as a Discipline. http://bit.ly/HHYE2w @LavChintapalli @womenwriters
Elements of a Great Suspense Story: http://bit.ly/HHYU1j @ChynnaLaird
Crime fiction–when sleuths must work with government employees for info: http://bit.ly/J0u8pl @mkinberg
The power of manipulation in crime fiction: http://bit.ly/I6GMjv @mkinberg
Inspiration from a cryptic text: http://bit.ly/J20I9o @GeneLempp
Why Small Publishers Fail: http://bit.ly/IE10CN @victoriastrauss
When Books Mattered: http://nyti.ms/IE0J2S
Is Pinterest Traffic Worthless? http://bit.ly/HLA2uk @nestguy
5 Principles for Using Facebook: http://bit.ly/HTkNMU @janefriedman
20 Verbs Smothered by “Be”s: http://bit.ly/IQWifN @writing_tips
An agent says you can’t turn one genre into another to try and sell the story: http://bit.ly/HYmpDT @greyhausagency
Who and whom: http://bit.ly/IYFNnp @missedperiods
How to purchase ISBNs in the USA: http://bit.ly/IYG35I @woodwardkaren
The taxman and the artist: http://bit.ly/IYGnl4
How 1 author handled writing an emotionally troubled protagonist: http://bit.ly/IYGU6j @kcraftwriter
Amazon Lets Authors Spy on Readers: http://bit.ly/IYHb9y @writersdigest
Tips for writing a synopsis: http://bit.ly/IYHr8r @nicolamorgan
How 1 writer reworked a 1st chapter: http://bit.ly/IYHNfj @DaveThomeWriter
How to Create Characters that Fascinate: http://bit.ly/IarQko @WriterThesaurus
4 Tips on Adding a New Twist to an Old Plot: http://bit.ly/IarXN0 @janice_hardy
Social Networking—Take Time to get Your Feet Wet: http://bit.ly/Ias4Im @novelrocket
3 Possibilities for Defeating Writer’s Block: http://bit.ly/IasgaB @CDRosales
Answers to Book Discount Questions: http://bit.ly/HW7quT @jfbookman
4 Important Character Concerns: http://bit.ly/HW7zhS @vigorio
5 Effective Book Marketing Strategies: http://bit.ly/JbYnVN @KarinaFabian
The Writer’s Life is Full of Second Chances: http://bit.ly/JbYCQq @RLLaFevers
Combating Confusion: http://bit.ly/JbYJLX @BretBallou
Patience Is a Writer’s Most Important Virtue: http://bit.ly/JbYVL4 @jeffgoins
Writing Advice from C.S. Lewis: http://bit.ly/HXlOTy @passivevoiceblg
Being habitually creative requires far more than original thinking: http://bit.ly/HXlWCp @JeffreyDavis108
Does One Book a Writer Make? http://bit.ly/HXm3hm @bob_brooke
21% Of Adults Have Read An eBook In The Last Year: Pew Research: http://bit.ly/HXm8lf @ebooknewser
Top 5 Tips to Maximize Your Writing Conference: http://bit.ly/HXmpEH @kristenlambTX
Grammar Today: Rigid Rules or Rhetorical Choices? http://bit.ly/HXmvMz @pubperspectives
How The Wall Street Journal Uses Pinterest: http://bit.ly/HXmCI4 @10000words
Plot Fixer – Part I: Your Premise Isn’t Compelling: http://bit.ly/HXmIPR @karalennox
How to boost the number of your friends on Goodreads: http://bit.ly/IFBPwF @PublicityHound
DRM is crushing indie booksellers online: http://bit.ly/Jlm81j
The Importance of Persistence: http://bit.ly/Jlpmlt @thecreativepenn
Don’t Just Create “On Demand,” Create For You: http://bit.ly/Jlptxl
Industry in collapse: The strain is showing: http://bit.ly/IAQFVc @Porter_Anderson @RachelleGardner
How much lead-in time do you really need before your story’s inciting incident? http://bit.ly/JWpmmZ
Traditional mystery writing–tips for delaying the body’s discovery: http://bit.ly/IcSpEt
@camillelaguire
Guidelines for story length: http://bit.ly/IcTtpG @noveleditor
Get to your inciting incident or call to action as soon as possible: http://bit.ly/IcTCcB @AlexSokoloff
Common logical mistakes to avoid: http://bit.ly/IcTLwH @readingape
Why Poetry Should Be More Playful: http://bit.ly/IcTUjI @hoodedu @theatlantic
How To Properly Harvest Your Very Best Ideas: http://bit.ly/IcTXfu @write_practice
Open Letter to Friends of Authors: http://bit.ly/IcU0YL @fictionnotes
Thoughts on using flashbacks: http://bit.ly/Idxzqk
Writing religion into speculative fiction: http://bit.ly/IdxJxZ @sarahahoyt
12 Myths About Being a Writer: http://bit.ly/IdxP8P @annerallen
Story structure–the midpoint: http://bit.ly/IdxUcD @KMWeiland
Right now I’m writing the fourth Memphis Barbeque mystery. I’m still working on the first draft and, like all first drafts, I’m realizing I’ve got some issues.
The biggest one I’ve got right now is that I’ll need to move the discovery of the victim’s body up. Right now, the body is found around page 32 and that’s going to be a bit too far back for my editor (and readers.)
I’ve read posts where writers have fussed about having to put the inciting incident so close to the front of the book—but, to me, that’s just the modern reality. Unfortunately, we’re not only competing with books that have that early hook, we’re also competing with short attention spans and readers hooked on TV, computers, and game systems.
I think late inciting incidents presents a recurring issue for most writers and for many genres. It’s easy to write in a long lead-in time while we’re setting up the story’s big event. (For a nice review on a inciting incident, take a look at writer K.M. Weiland’s posts: one on maximizing your inciting incident and one on the difference between the inciting incident and the key event.)
As an example, here’s an overview of what’s going on with my current story (and I’m not addressing this until I’m done writing the first draft):
First of all, I’ve introduced several of the main characters in the story—my protagonist and two important supporting characters.
The characters are introduced through a scene where a ticking time bomb element is in place (and no—I write cozy mysteries, so this isn’t an actual bomb, but it’s a stressful event with a stated deadline.) So there’s some tension—but it’s not the inciting incident. It’s not the murder.
Then I started setting up the murder. I introduced another of the supporting cast and wrote a scene to show how the future murder victim is making certain people unhappy….two characters talking about the future victim. One person he’s making unhappy is close to my protagonist, introduced in the opening scene.
But a murder needs at least 3-5 suspects just to keep the reader guessing. So I’ve got an additional, tense scene with the future victim and some future suspects—people that the protagonist and supporting cast don’t really know, but who play important roles in this book.
Then I’ve got the setting to work in—and this setting is important for this particular murder. I write in a scene at the festival, bringing in the elements of the setting that are important to the murder.
Finally—the body is discovered.
Now I know that I’ve kept things moving along in those 30-odd pages. I’ve set up the murder so it’s not just some out-of-context, out-of-the-blue body being thrown at the reader. I’ve had tension and conflict and humor and necessary character introductions.
But I know that my editor will want me to move the body’s discovery up.
This means that when I’m done with this draft, I’m going to probably cut out some of those scenes. There was a time when I’d have dumped the body in a prologue (you’ll see that in a couple of my first books) and then proceeded on with the story exactly as I just explained it above. I’d crossed off the body’s discovery by putting it on the first page of the book, then moved back to my usual set-up.
I’m not as crazy about doing that anymore. It worked all right, but now I get the feeling that the whole time the reader is reading the set-up, they’re wanting to get back to the body they’d heard about in the prologue. I just don’t like it as much as I used to.
So what I’ll do at the end of this draft is to ramp things up. I’ll move the discovery of the body about 10 pages up. I’m going to have some of my character development and introduction in response to my inciting incident. After all, it’s going to be a stressful event for these characters—their response to it will show a lot about them to the readers.
I’ve also realized that I disclose a few things in my book’s beginning that I could hold off explaining until later. There’s, I think, a tendency for writers to want to loop the reader in. I know I have that tendency. It’s good not to want the reader confused, but if we’re just holding off on revealing a connection between characters or a character’s secret—there’s no reason not to let that extra element of tension spice up the story. Why not?
Working in the inciting incident:
Have it be your opening hook. The characters’ reaction to the events will be the readers’ introduction to them.
If you’re trying to delay the inciting incident but hint at it (to keep readers hooked), use flashbacks and flashforwards with caution. These can either backfire or intrigue. The ones I read seem to backfire more often than not.
If you just can’t think of a way to move the inciting incident closer to the front of the book, make sure that you’ve got a good amount of tension and conflict in your lead-in to that point. If the first part of your story is all backstory and set-up, the reader might not stick with it.
Remember that we don’t have to tell everything upfront. We can raise questions and delay answering these questions until later in the book…even at the end of the book. As long as it’s not confusing or unduly frustrating, this delayed revelation adds tension to a story. See if some of that explanatory lead-in material can be put off until later in the book.
When do you usually include your story’s inciting incident? Do you ever have to push it up? As a reader, when do you find yourself losing interest in a book—and is it related to the placement of the inciting incident?
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I visited my parents a couple of weeks ago during my children’s spring break. We also helped them to clean out their attic. (It’s hard not to take advantage of having a hale and hearty 15 year old boy in the house.)
One of the things that was uncovered up there was my father’s electric typewriter. He was an English teacher and typed quite a bit, so it was a pretty nice model. My daughter was completely enchanted by it and asked if we could take it home (she’d been asking about my typewriter, but it’s definitely gotten buried somewhere in a closet or our own attic.)
Amazingly, my parents still had an ink cartridge for the typewriter in a desk and headed right to it, and handed it over to my daughter. (My head exploded just a bit at this….had to wonder what else they’ve held onto!) We drove back home to North Carolina and my daughter immediately asked for me to show her how to work the typewriter….but I was already busy unpacking us and cooking supper.
The next day she asked me again to show it to her…..but I was cooking Easter dinner (seems to have been a good deal of cooking lately.) I was a little impatient, I’ll admit, and told her I was sure she could figure it out. This is a ten year old who spends a great deal of time on the computer, understands social media, and is a fair little typist at 45 wpm.
And she had, y’all, no clue.
She couldn’t figure out where to roll the paper in on the roller, where to line it up on the little silver ruler on the typewriter, where to stick the ink cartridge in. That she had to hit return for the thing to go to the next line (no word wrap on typewriters). And—there was no way for her to correct her mistakes, either.
But put her with any cell phone and she intuitively interacts with the device—enlarging pictures and text on the screen by that reverse-pinch that this generation has down perfectly.
The fact that I thought the typewriter would be intuitive to a lifelong, very experienced computer user (a computer native) who’d never seen a typewriter and the fact that it really wasn’t to someone born in 2001, just goes to show how fast and far and quickly everything has changed. It illustrated to me how fast the world changed. At 41, my life is evenly divided between life on a typewriter and life on a computer.
What does the computer revolution mean for writers? It means that we can write faster. That writing is easier. It means we have the luxury of creating horrible first drafts…deleting or rearranging text is easy. It was the first step toward today’s proliferation of writers and the large number of books that many writers have written.
Recently, I’ve noticed amazing changes in both the television and music industries (which have also been impacted by the changes in technology.)
HBO now offers an online subscription service to provide online viewing. They’ve enhanced older episodes to identify in the sidebar each new character who comes onstage–giving their picture and a paragraph explaining their connection to the protagonist and the storyline.
In the music industry, independent musicians who previously would never have been able to attract a following without signing with a major label are now able to reach audiences directly. Their singles are sold through venues like Amazon and have the potential of reaching the millions that songs by the mainstream artists do.
General wisdom states that writers should simply keep writing as much as their schedule allows and focus on writing the best books possible. I think this is still the best approach. But I think we need to also start mulling over a little bit some out-of-the-box approaches that can be better utilized by the new technology…as we start moving into the future.
Things like extras (enhanced books)
Alternate endings for books is something I’m seeing more of lately. I actually love the idea of having different killers for a mystery. I change my murderer enough for this to be an easy thing to write.
Casts of characters could provide a useful reader reference if we’ve written in a large cast.
Interviews with the authors can provide readers with a behind the scenes look at the novel’s creation.
Chapter teasers from upcoming releases—this makes a tremendous amount of sense from a marketing perspective and provides the author with a firm deadline that he might not otherwise have with a self-published book.
Down the road (honestly, probably not too much farther down the road) we’ll have to think about other aspects of these extras—maybe music, mp3 clips (recorded interview, for instance), forums (social commentary on our books—while actually reading our books), picture slideshows/video, related articles…
I’m not mentioning this to scare anyone. But I think that the more open we are to this change, the better we might adapt (and ultimately profit) as these changes start happening.
When I was busily striking the keys of my typewriter while writing essays in high school, I’d have been overwhelmed if you’d talked to me about Skype and Facebook and Twitter. I’d have been overwhelmed even at basic word processing — icons for underlining and bolding? Font choices and font size? Things that are intuitive now were once completely confusing.
What I think this means to me is that I’m going to try to change my still old-fashioned notions of what a book is. It means I’ll be adjusting my parameters for “creative.” It means realizing that, in this new age of reading, writers will have to not only be creative with words but with marketing and effects.
But the most important thing, as always, will be the story we give our readers. The packaging can be slick and interactive, but it won’t mean a thing if the readers don’t care about our story.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
To me, the future seems full of promise and excitement for writers. We just have to be open to it. What do you see, though, when you look ahead?
by Dr. John Yeoman, @Yeomanis
“Brace yourself,” my doctor said. “This won’t come easy” he fiddled with his pen “for either of us.” He averted his eyes. I braced myself.
“You eat junk food,” he muttered. “You smoke and drink in industrial quantities. You take no exercise.”
I protested. “I go jogging with my tortoise!”
“Yet by every test known to medical science, you are in perfect health.” He glared at me. “People like you put doctors out of work.”
Some authors are like that. They consume junk fiction, take no exercise in their craft, and have the work ethic of a sloth. Yet they can scamp out a novel in three months. Then they trip over a literary agent at a cocktail party and – lo! – next day they get a contract from Random House. It happens. And it isn’t fair.
Worse, it fools every would-be author that they can do the same. After 100 rejection slips and a fling with clinical depression they discover the truth. Success in fiction writing is 50% practice and 50% persistence.
Talent is optional.
Or so I tell my students at the creative writing classes I teach at a UK university. They don’t believe me, especially when one of their number goes on to sign a three-book contract after one term’s work. It’s all in the genes, I say. Some authors are lucky, like that, but most have rotten genes.
It took Agatha Christie 20 attempts to get The Mysterious Affair at Styles into print. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was rejected 121 times. Joanne Harris broke into print with Chocolat only after 15 years in the wilderness. And The Lord of the Flies was published by the purest accident.
“So what are we doing here?” some students moan.
“Learning to write stories,” I tell them “in the event that you have rotten genes. It might take you just three years, with practice, to write a story that works. Then you can embark on a novel. The rest is persistence.”
Earn while you learn
Better still, I say, you can earn while you learn.
Write a story every week, enter it in a story contest, and you might soon be winning a cash sum from every three in five contests you enter. What’s more (I add, returning reluctantly to the syllabus), each story is a five finger exercise in craft technique. Focus on exploring a new skill in every story. One week it’s characterisation, the next could be body language. In time, you might even explore emblematic resonance!
“You’re only saying that because you run a story competition,” they protest, cheekily.
“True,” I sulk “yet it’s true.”
To punish them, I then assign them an exercise – to rewrite the top news story of the day in the styles of James Patterson, Proust and Annie Proulx, successively. (The latter is a punishment very cruel.) To do that, they have to read the authors first. Blatant imitation is another way to learn one’s craft, and quickly. I tell them. And it’s true.
Of course, I already know which of my students will get a solid B+ – the ones who practise most. But I shall have no option but to grant, as always, a sparkling A- to those who practise least, rarely turn up to classes and cheek me when they do. But who were born with lucky genes.
I hate such people. They put doctors out of work.
Dr John Yeoman, PhD Creative Writing, judges the Writers’ Village story competition and is a tutor in creative writing at a UK university. His free course in winning story competitions for profit can be found at: http://www.writers-village.org/contest-success.php