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Useful Links

Aka people who are better at the arts (and life) than me. All of the most brilliant minds I’ve encountered have been gathered here for your benefit. Use some, use all, use none. The choice is yours.

Awesome Authors:

  • Chuck Wendig: author of the Miriam Black series (Blackbirds, Mockingbird, The Cormorant) and the 500 Ways to Be a Better Writer series. This man is hilarious, crude, and one of the most helpful SOBs currently in the writing business. His fiction is quick-witted, visceral, and imaginative. His writing advice is engrossing, funny, and downright brutally honest. If you’re a new writer, don’t hesitate–pick up a copy of 500 Ways to Be a Better Writer. It has an infinite amount of good advice about the craft of writing, and, get this, it’s not boring. I’ve never had a better time learning about writing than with Mr. Wendig.
  • Jackson Pearce: urban fantasy and urban fairytale author (Sisters Red, Sweetly, Fathomless). I owe my current writing career to Ms. Pearce, who did a lecture on creative writing and getting published at the University of Georgia a few years back. She’s terribly nice and helpful to young writers. I’d recommend her if you have any interest in writing Young Adult novels, particularly in the fantasy genre.
  • Geoffrey Thorne: author of Star Trek expanded universe novels, comic book writer/artist, and screenwriter. This man knows his stuff. He’s done everything from acting to writing episodes of Leverage and Ben 10. He’s also been a big help getting me to the resources I need as a writer. And he’s mad talented when it comes to putting pen to paper.
  • Andy Rattinger: screenwriter and independent filmmaker. My unofficial writing sensei whom I found via Twitter is ridiculously sharp, witty, and completely devoted to writing, no matter what the art form. I honestly wouldn’t have made it through my first few years as an author without him. If nothing else, follow him on Twitter. Do it now, thank me later.
  • Talisha Harrison: indie author, comic book writer, poet. She’s deeply involved in creating new comic books with a specialty in people of color and female characters. Definitely an up-and-comer to get behind.
  • Milton Davis: author of several successful Afro-Futurism and Afro-centric novels, comic books, and graphic novels. He also hosts a lot of panels discussing race relations and diversity in sci-fi/fantasy settings, and is a huge advocate for black-centric characters in all types of media. He attends a lot of conventions every year, so do yourself a favor and check out his work.
  • Gerald Coleman: fellow author and poet of color whose bread and butter is speculative fiction. Excellent at lectures and seminars as well.
  • Ilona Andrews: New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon Bestselling author of the Kate Daniels series. She changed my life once just with her amazing series and then again when she so kindly gave me feedback on The Black Parade and made a blog post about it. Read all her work. It’s some of the best urban fantasy period.
  • Marcus Haynes: indie author, educator, and fellow nerd. Check out his elemental series and play around in his awesome sandbox.
  • Glenn Parris: indie author, rheumatologist, and scholar. Check out Dragon’s Heir or read his story in Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda.

Writing and Publishing Related Blogs & Websites:

  • Writer Unboxed. There’s tons and tons of articles, guest posts, and interviews to help any author of any kind with their work, whether it’s writing as a craft or marketing/advertising your work. It’s also a great springboard into other writing blogs.
  • A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. This is J.A. Konrath’s blog and it’s filled to the brim with useful content involved with self-publishing. He’s one of the most successful self published writers of all time and has a lot to share about the experience.
  • The Creative Penn. A great source for the overall process of writing, editing, publishing, and marketing a novel. I recommend the book cover design and editors pages in particular just because those are two of the most difficult services to attain when self-publishing.
  • CrowdSpring. In particular, the book cover design section of this website is a reasonably affordable resource for self-published and indie authors. It allows you to post the kind of cover you want with all the details you need to include, such as an example cover and descriptions of colors you do and do not want, and you are guaranteed your money back if you’re unsatisfied with the entries you receive. This is an invaluable tool and one I want to encourage new authors to use because book covers are very expensive, and yet the second most important thing about your book. I got the cover of my first ever book, The Black Parade, using this service and was extremely pleased with the result.
  • The Indie Book Reviewers. This is for those authors who are already published, but need some buzz or reviews generated for their novels. This is masterlist of book bloggers who are open (at the time of the listing) for submissions. Mileage may vary, but it’s definitely a great resource to have rather than having to Google for book bloggers on your own.
  • GoodReads. Like to read, but don’t know where to find new books? Bam. Solution. It’s a huge online library of books to read, review, and share. It’s also a great resource for authors to find new readers and promote their work with giveaways. I’m a member of the site and it’s been a great help connecting me with readers.
  • Critique Circle. For any upcoming writers, this may be a great place to get feedback on your work as it’s in progress. Basically, it’s a site where you can receive critiques on your work based on a point system. It is time consuming, but if you’re patient and willing to participate, it’s definitely worth it.
  • KBoards. I was recently recommended this site by Geoff Thorne and it’s a goldmine. The Writer’s Cafe is chockful of helpful forums and discussions about common issues for indie and self published authors. It is an absolute must for any new author. You will learn so much, and the response percentage is far higher than somewhere like Agent Query Connect or GoodReads.
  • 99 Designs. Need a book cover? Odds are you can find what you’re looking for, and for an excellent price, here. I especially like that they have options for both pre-made and custom covers.
  • BRoseDesignz: This cover artist has done quite a few covers for me (Back to Black and the entire OCAB series thus far) so I can not only vouch for the quality of her gorgeous art, but her rates and turn around time are excellent. Please check out her book covers if you’re in need for one.
  • Pacemaker: This is an extremely handy tool if like me you’re not much of a planner and you need to see your writing progress. This site helps you track your word count in almost any fashion you can think of: daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly, and at whatever pace you set. You create your goal and then drop by to log your progress. I’ve found it’s great for analyzing my output and understanding the patterns to my writing process. Plus, it’s totally free and easy to use. Go nuts.

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