Romance Dominates Kindle: 5 Stats Every Fiction Writer Should Know 02-11-2026
55% of top-selling Kindle books in 2025 were romance — and 75% of those bestselling authors went indie. Five eye-opening stats about the hottest genre in publishing.
steve
Plot vs. Story 02-03-2026
Plot vs. Story: The Key to Writing a Compelling Novel Many writers, even seasoned ones, often confuse the terms plot and story, using them interchangeably. However, as I explain in How to Fix Your Novel, understanding the crucial difference between these two elements can significantly improve your writing. By keeping plot and story distinct, you...
steve
Everything You Need to Know About Book Publishing 01-31-2026
Successful author Kevin Kelly has written the best guide to publishing I’ve ever read. It’s called Everything I Know About Publishing and Self-Publishing. Here are some of the best take-aways: “Traditional book publishers have lost their audience, which was bookstores, not readers. It’s very strange but New York book publishers do not have a database...
steve
The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot 01-17-2026
Lester Dent (1904–1959) was a prolific pulp fiction author who wrote hundreds of stories. He is best known as the principal author of the Doc Savage series, featuring a superhuman hero. Dent developed a formula—a master plot—for writing a 6,000-word pulp story. It has proven effective for adventure, detective, western, and war fiction. Here’s how it starts:...
steve
From Farm Fields to Fiction: How Writing Academy Helped Janet Achieve Her Publishing Dream 08-18-2025
After a lifetime on a farm in southern Ontario, Janet traded crops for creativity and began cultivating words instead of soil. Her journey from rural life to published author began with poetry, when her poem Follow the River won a contest at Creative Writing Institute. The Institute’s CEO, Deborah Owen, recognized her talent and invited Janet to...
steve
Animal Genders in Children’s Books 07-14-2025
Children’s picture books are filled with talking animals—but did you know that these characters are overwhelmingly male? A recent data‑driven feature from The Pudding reveals that male animal characters are referenced twice as often as female ones in popular children’s books, with male pronouns (“he/him”) nearly three times more common in both books and reader‑submitted...
steve
Writing Academy Celebrates 25 Years! 04-06-2025
What started as just one class back in 2000 has turned into an array of classes, services and books offered worldwide. Writing Academy now offers five classes taught by Steve Alcorn through more than 1500 colleges, universities, and library systems worldwide. We also offer more than a dozen video classes at https://writingacademy.com And Steve and...
steve
Are Paperbacks Going Away? 03-05-2025
In recent years, the publishing industry has witnessed a notable decline in paperback editions, particularly in adult nonfiction. Between 2019 and 2024, new adult nonfiction paperback titles decreased by 42%, dropping to just under 40,000. In contrast, hardcover titles experienced a more modest decline of 9% during the same period. Several factors contribute to this...
steve
A Scientific Approach to Scene and Sequel 11-19-2024
Author Ian Fanselow breaks down his methodical approach to writing with an example scene from his new novel “Worlds Apart” I am a very methodical person and planning is my strength. So when I learned about the idea of “Scene and Sequel” it immediately clicked for me, and I developed a system I used for...
steve
Manuscript Evaluation Checklist 08-24-2024
mww42 Manuscript Evaluation ChecklistDownload
steve

References

http://www.merriam-webster.com/ http://www.thesaurus.com/ http://www.apstylebook.com/ Guide to Grammar and Style http://labarker.com/sitemap.html#writing http://www.writersmarket.com/ scribendi ASJA Celtx

Proudly powered by WordPress

%d

Copyright Information for Writers

Share this:

Like this: