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All of my books use real settings in the state of South Carolina. I can honestly say that the locations have done more to sell my books than anything else. SC settings like Edisto Island, Charleston, Chapin, Pelion, Walterboro, and Newberry can be found in my stories. Readers say, hey, I’ve been there, and they buy, wanting to revisit that place, or insert themselves into the familiar. In terms of Edisto Island, people have vacationed there, fallen in love with it, and while they can’t return anytime soon, they can at least revisit in a story. The Edisto Bookstore sold 1000+ copies last year and almost double that this year. People wanted to take Edisto home with them, or they were new to the area and wanted fiction that sank them into the parts they didn’t know. Some ask me how I get away with using real places in fiction. I have several tips for this: 1) Be accurate in the setting. 2) Don’t paint a negative light on a real commercial venue. 3) Use multiple real aspects of the setting from street names to businesses, from weather to economy, from culture to demographics. 4) Don’t use real people, or More

When you discover you have the means to freelance, it becomes a blessing and a curse. On the upside, you have the ability to take the thoughts that go through your head and convert them into bylines and money. On the other hand, you feel like an overloaded dishwasher. With so many ideas you scramble to optimize that flow into what will best work for you. It can be overwhelming. Whether through limited energy or actual hours in the day, you’ll always have a time budget. That limitation should be present in deciding where to devote your energy. I write ideas down on a document called my pitch list. If I’m really inspired (because it can be extremely easy to write in the heat of the moment) I might even write some paragraphs out as my time budget allows. After I have some ideas sketched out, I consider available publications. Can I can pitch them with reasonable efficiency? How much do I have to readjust my writing style to turn in a quality product and is that a good or bad thing? What is the pay and how does that compare to the demands in terms of research and word count? Start More

About this time of year we take measure of who we are, what we’ve accomplished, and what we’ve overcome. Then we often ponder where to take things from here. Many of us interpret those feelings as yearning for a memoir. We like to feel that what we experience is so profound that it needs to be shared with others so that they can learn how to live a better life, or learn what to avoid. The problem is we forget what a memoir is. It’s a true story that reads like a novel. Fact is, too many failed memoirs are little more than autobiographies. When writing a memoir, one has to remember the following: 1) It’s as much about the beauty of the writing as the substance. 2) The reader has to feel almost like a voyeur, as if violating a peek into someone else’s life. 3) The reader has to relate to the feelings. 4) The memoir has to have an intention construct, with a deep, worthy message. 5) The story has to feel raw, with revelation in the end. 6) The tale has to feel powerful. Hundreds of people have told me they wanted to write their memoir. More

If you are a self-publishing author who is breaking even and beyond, and you enjoy marketing and selling your work directly to your readers, then a literary agent may not be the proper route for you. But if you seek to publish your books via the traditional tract—meaning a publisher that will equip you with editors, public relations, book designers, marketing, distribution, and hopefully a generous advance against royalties, then most likely you will have to be represented by an agent to open that seemingly insurmountable gateway of a publishing house. It’s well known that most editors refuse to look at your queries or sample chapters without an agent soliciting on your behalf. I was very lucky—naively so—when my first novel passed through the slush pile without an agent and was picked up by one of the most prestigious publishers, but the odds were akin to winning the lottery. Because of the success of my first novel, an agent solicited me for my second book. I was flattered and yes, again naïve, when I signed on to her agency. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a terrible mismatch. I fell into a legal wrangle that imprisoned my book with them More

A gentleman wrote to me asking if he could write a feature piece for FundsforWriters about a site that took his money and didn’t follow through with the promised service. I try not to do that. I don’t mind warning about the characteristics of such sites, but I back away from calling a business out as crooked. Frankly, I’d rather not be sued. However, curiosity got the better of me, and I visited the site he referenced. In seconds, red warning flags waved in my head. That’s when I decided I might not be able to criticize a specific entity, but I can darn sure tell you about the red flags to watch for on any and all sites offering services for writers. Red flags frequently mean scam. Note these issues when wondering if a site offering writer/publishing services is legitimate. 1) The About page is either missing or too generic. The copy speaks in theory. History of the company is missing. Headquarters locale is missing. In other words, nothing specific is mentioned ABOUT them. They don’t want you to know who they are. You know, in case you want your money back. 2) No human beings. You have no More

A market I come across states it wants poetry, so I sort through my collection of unpublished poems and find one or two to submit. The same goes when I see markets requesting essays or short stories; I usually have one matching their need. Opportunities for more sales await the writer who writes a variety of content. There’s no guarantee each submission means a sale, but it can, at least, open doors to more markets to submit work to. If you want to have these opportunities as well, consider becoming a writer of assorted types of content. Two things are required in order to get started on this path: 1. Being the kind of writer capable of writing a variety of work 2. Having a collection of work ready to submit To achieve that first requirement, start writing other types of content that you don’t normally write. Poetry, essays, short stories, articles and blog posts. If you don’t know how to write them, books and online courses available to help you get started, not to mention reading those writers already successful in these areas. Take some time to learn how to write different kinds of content, and write it well, More

Each week someone (or several someones) writes me with something similar to the following: “I want to write about my life. It is very colorful and . . .” That color consists of abuse, drugs, alcohol, homelessness, bad marriages, adoption, traveling, rags to riches . . . you get the idea. Someone has overcome an obstacle and wants to shout it to the world if not teach others how to do it. The requests are usually: 1) How do I publish the story? 2) How do I get funds to pay for me to spend time writing my story? 3) How do I get funds to hire someone to write my story? No one has ever asked me how to learn how to write to get the story recorded properly. The assumption is if the story is a good one, it will sell. Trust me . . . it will not. Novice writers want to start with writing about themselves. The problem with writing memoir is the lack of market. My first question to anyone who wants to write memoir is, “How many memoirs have you read to learn how a successful memoir is constructed?” To this date, nobody has More

Travel can be exhilarating, especially when we can give back to that location. In America, the United States National Park’s Artist-In Residency (A-I-R) Program offers creative folks a chance to enrich the parks’ interpretive programs. Artists of all persuasions – writers, painters, sculptors, photographers, fiber artists, musicians, composers, glass artists, woodworkers, book-makers and more – are encouraged to apply. If you love to create, especially in a beautiful outdoor setting, you are a viable candidate. The residencies are both humbling and honoring. International applicants are encouraged. Artist-In-Residency opportunities for private, focused time are often based in some of the world’s most scenic locations. Most offer private living and are free of charge, and transportation costs are sometimes covered. You’ll be offered free housing for two-to-four weeks in most parks. They are searching for applicants who have: •    a clear vision of a creative project •    a personal history of intent and commitment •    a past record of productivity •    two letters of recommendation The U.S. National Park opportunities have expanded during the last decade. Now there are hundreds of opportunities each year. Most offer free housing for 10-30 days and some cover transportation costs. The accommodations are always more than More

A few weeks ago, I mentioned one of the questions I am often asked, one that I feel uncomfortable talking about. “What advice would you give another writer?” Similar questions in that arena are: 1) How do you avoid writer’s block? 2) Where do you get your ideas? 3) Don’t you run out of ideas? No two writers do much of anything the same in this business. Is it interesting to hear someone writes standing up or after they swam a mile at dawn or drank coffee if they wrote in the morning and tea in the afternoon? I want to turn around and ask a question of my own: “How does this apply to YOU as a writer?” Why do people want to know the tangible details of someone’s creativity? Because they hope that modeling something, anything, after a successful writer who’s gone before them, will similarly connect them to that creative genius. They are wondering if something tangible and readily reproduced can tap into a more imaginative well than they have now. It’s trying to find the 1, 2, 3 steps of writing successfully and publishing smart. Everyone has a left brain and a right brain. The left More

A key piece in the book promotion puzzle for authors/publishers is obtaining editorial reviews from an authoritative source such as a newspaper, magazine, or website. Freelancers often write these editorial reviews, oftentimes as a labor of love (i.e., a volunteer gig). However, if the review site charges authors/publishers for reviews, it most likely pays freelance writers to write them. Different from reader reviews, which focus on the individual’s experience with the story, editorial reviews lend the credibility of an expert opinion and are a valuable promotional tool. Many respected entities review authors’ books for a fee, others provide free reviews, and some have both options. Book promoters reprint these reviews, and they can be the source of pull quotes on a book’s back cover or Amazon product page. Big publications such as Kirkus charge authors significant reading fees ($450 or more), while smaller websites like Reader’s Favorite, Literary Titan, and Independent Book Review are lower in cost (less than $100) or even have free options. I write editorial book reviews for Independent Book Review (IBR). I started as a volunteer and then moved into a paid freelance position. Now they serve as a steady source of income as well as interesting reading material. And I learn as a More