Shadow Swans by Laura Thomas

I never do this, but today is a day for exceptions. My cousin Laura Thomas recently published her first novel, Shadow Swans, and I just finished reading it this morning. After finishing this amazing adventure of human emotion, I feel compelled to tell others about it.

So today instead of a blog post on writing, you are getting a recommendation to read Shadow Swans (and to be clear, I will not receive any financial reward for this plug). I am not giving a full review or a synopsis. You can see those on Amazon. Here I want to focus on the writing process and craft.

Why read this book? Because as a writer, you are in a quest to learn about craft, hone your skills, defy the rules, and break new ground. Laura Thomas has succeeded in immersing the reader into the characters and the world of a New York you have never imagined. The underworld becomes alive with vivid descriptions as the characters effortlessly become people you care about and long to follow.

In short, reading a book so well crafted will help you as a writer. Learn from the methods of coloring a room with a tuned mixture of sound, sight, and smell. Relationships that are complex to all parties involved, and yet clear in their parts.

I know you will enjoy the book, but that is not the point in this blog. Use the book to take your writing to another level. Study the way voice is employed. Examine the incredible use of simile. Grow as a writer by reading great writing.

And enjoy.

Buy Shadow Swans on Kindle
Buy Shadow Swans on Nook
Buy Shadow Swans in Print

Free Ebook Publishing - How to Publish on Smashwords

In the last few months, I have been exploring the self-publishing options in ebook format. Over time I will probably post on each of the major distribution options, but I found an interesting centralized option that I had never heard of.

Smashwords.

First, when you publish through Smashwords, your work becomes available through the Apple iPad/iPod store, Barnes & Noble, Sony Reader Store, Kobo Store, Aldiko Store, and more. Although they do not have a direct connection to the Kindle store, they will publish your work in Kindle format where users can transfer the book to their hard drive and to the Kindle when it is plugged in via USB.

That is an incredible first step to getting your new ebook to market. This is the closest thing to one-stop ebook publishing that I have seen so far.

Second, it is FREE! No setup cost, no publishing cost, no package cost, no upload or book revision cost, and they even include a free ISBN number for your ebook.

Third, for any ebook sold through their Smashwords store, you earn 85% of the price which is the most I have seen anywhere. And for the sales that occur through the major retailers you still receive 60%.

Fourth, they have free marketing tools to help you get the word out on your ebook, which is one of the hardest parts of self-publishing in my opinion.

Fifth, if you publish two or more different author works, you can upgrade your account for free to a publisher's account to centrally manage all of your author's works, and you get your own publisher's page on their site to showcase the work as needed for new releases or circumstances like a good news cycle going along with one of your book topics.

Although I am sure I will also use some of the direct publishing through the individual ebook stores, I have a hard time finding a reason not to start with Smashwords due to the incredible return on your time investment.

Click the link to get all the details for yourself, but I'm sure you will agree this is a great ebook self-publishing option. If you find other key points that I missed, please post in the comments for others to see.

Smashwords - How to Publish on Smashwords

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

Writing Contests 2010

The new year is just around the corner. If you want to enter writing contests in 2010, start scanning the contest options and find one or more that fit you. Here's my annual summary of some contests that look promising. Good luck!


CONTESTS - NO ENTRY FEE

Ladder Writers Competition - Short Story competition with a prize of approx. $100.
Deadline: January, 14, 2010

http://www.ladderwriters.com/

The Eric Hoffer Award - Here you will find two contests.
1) A winning work of short prose will earn you $500, and you can win other honors or distinctions.
Deadline: March 31, 2010
2) Submit your independent book, which includes self-published books, and you could win $1,500.
Deadline: January 21, 2010
http://www.hofferaward.com/


Career Transition Story Contest - Write a non-fiction story about your real life career change experiences and you could win $500.
Deadline: January 30, 2010
http://www.worklifegroup.com/contests/career-transition-stories/


First Annual Spirit Meditation Poetry Contest - Submit your unpublished poem for a chance to win one of three prizes between $50 and $150.
Deadline: January 31, 2010
http://www.spiritfirst.org/spirit_first_news.html#poetry

Christian Poetry Contest - You could win $3,000 in this poetry contest.
Deadline: February 28, 2010
http://www.utmostchristianwriters.com/

The William Saroyan Society Contest for 1st Grade through College - Submit your short story for a chance to win up to $100 in several grade groupings.
Deadline: March, 8, 2010
http://williamsaroyansociety.org/


CONTESTS - MODEST ENTRY FEE

American Short Fiction - Submit a short story and you could win up to $1,000 and publication.
Deadline: January 1, 2010
Entry Fee: $20
http://www.americanshortfiction.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp%3bview=article&amp%3bid=38-contest&amp%3bcatid=6-announcements


Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize - Write a short story on the theme Apartments and Neighbors under 750 words, and you could win $1,000.
Deadline: January 10, 2010
Entry Fee: $25
http://writingcontests.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/the-2010-stella-kupferberg-memorial-short-story-prize/

Iron Horse Literary Review Competition - Submit a collection to try for a $1,000 honorarium.
Deadline: February 15, 2010
Entry Fee: $15
http://writingcontests.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/iron-horse-literary-review-single-author-issue-competition/

Limnisa Short Story Contest - Write an original short story up to 3000 word and you could win a two week writing class in Greece or a one week vacation in an apartment in Greece.
Deadline: March 1, 2010
Entry Fee: £5.- (€6.-)
http://www.limnisa.com/pageID_7585721.html

Westmoreland Poetry and Short Story Contest - Submit unpublished short story or poems for prizes ranging from $75 to $200.
Deadline: March 15, 2010
Entry Fee: $10 - $20
http://www.artsandheritage.com/poetry-short-stories.htm


Once Bitten Contests - Here you will find a variety of poetry and other fiction contests with prizes from $150 to $5,000.
http://www.oncewritten.com/WritingContests.php

Some Good Writing Articles and Blog Entries

Here are some more links to interesting blogs and articles I found on the web.

Tweet a novel?
http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2009/08/09/writing-a-novel-just-tweet-it/

Approach the blank page.
http://writeanything.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/approaching-the-blank-page-part-3/

Fifth time's a charm.
http://hubpages.com/hub/NaNoWriMocom-Can-You-Write-a-Novel-in-a-Month

For young writers.
http://www.examiner.com/x-19400-NY-Gifted-Education-Examiner~y2009m8d10-Gifted-Education-101-Expert-advice-for-the-aspiring-young-author

Road to publication getting harder?
http://www.zeriously.com/1412/get-a-book-publishedthe-roadto-publication-might-be-getting-a-little-rougher-3/

Great article about podcasting novels.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-08/07/novels-by-podcast-how-to-make-money-from-free.aspx

9 ways to promote your books online.
http://www.examiner.com/x-16045-Portland-Writing-Examiner~y2009m8d5-9-ways-to-promote-your-books-on-the-internet

Hope these help you out.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Novel Setup in Lulu.com and Choosing Book Size

I am making good headway on the Novelette/Novella, and as I started thinking about overall page length it led me to thinking about the book size. So I logged into Lulu.com and started setting up my book.

Here is a quick run down of getting started in Lulu.

1) Setup an account if you don't already have one. This part is a pretty straight forward sign up process.

2) Start a new project. You can choose paperback, hardback, or a host of other formats. In my case, I choose paperback.

3) Add the title, author name, and you can set the work as private or public. When you are just getting started and playing around, just make sure it is private. Then click to Save and Continue.

4) Choose the paper type and size. You can choose Publisher grade (only ships from the US) or Standard for the paper type. The size options are too many to list here, but all the standards are available. You also pick the binding: Perfect-bound (traditional for novels), coil-bound, or saddle-stitched. You also get a neat floating calculator in the top right of the screen that shows you the cost of your book based on your selections. You also choose black and white or color, but the black and white option does include a color cover.

Play with the combination of these features to determine the best combination of size preferences and cost. I only started checking, but also consider the ISBN option you will want. If you choose the free option of publishing with a Lulu ISBN, your print sizes are more limited. If I decide to purchase my ISBN (for $99.99), I like the Digest size (5.5" x 8.5"). Due to the print size, this allows for the least amount of paper waste and therefore the best price. For a 300 page Digest book the cost is $7.00 per book. For a 300 page Pocket book (4.25" x 6.875") the cost is $10.50 per book. Obviously that means a smaller book with less words costs more money. That is why I like Digest for a first book without an established audience.

5) Upload your file. I uploaded a Word document but you can use a PDF and I think there are more options than that.

6) Design your cover. There is a great wizard for designing a simple cover. I will probably end up designing a custom cover but it is nice to have something setup in the meantime.

You can then generate a print-ready PDF to see what your book will look like in layout. I am very impressed with the ease of setting up a book in Lulu. I'll give more details as I evaluate the different parts of Lulu.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Novel Writing Contest Due September 1st

If you have a novel ready to go, check out this contest.

http://www.anderbo.com/guidelines.html

The winning author retains all literary rights and receives a $300 honorarium upon publication.

Novel Writing Contests 2009

I have received some feedback on my Writing Contests post that most contests are for short fiction, not a full Novel length work. So in response, here is a post of what I could find for those who want to submit full Novels to writing contests, or at least submit from your completed novel. My list is short since most of the contests I found have already expired for 2009.


If you are aware of any more Novel contests, please post them with links in the comments for everyone to take advantage of.

ChristianWritersGuild:
If you write Christian Fiction and are a first time novelist, here is a chance to win $20,000 plus publication from the publishing house and author behind the Left Behind series, Jerry B. Jenkins and Tyndale House.
http://www.christianwritersguild.com/Contest.asp

Writing Room contest:
This contest is for work between 50,000 and 125,000 words. There are a range of prizes including cash prizes maxing out at $500 and including publication through PublishingRoom.com and some publicity. I would not consider this a traditional contest, but rather more of a "promoting our services" contests. You are required to publish your manuscript through PublishingRoom.com if you enter this contest (you can choose the free publishing option with no frills). Read the fine print before you make a decision on this one.
http://www.writingroom.com/Writing-Contest-Authors-Choice-2009.aspx


A Woman's Write:
Submit the first 75 pages of your novel in this contest to win a $500 prize along with publishing aids and a letter of recommendation.
http://www.awomanswrite.com/rules.html


NanoWrimo:
I know this requires you to write a new novel for the contest, but it is still a good contest with a high profile.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/

3-Day Novel:
That's correct, 3 days. This is a great contest to help you focus on writing volume and ignoring your inner editor. You may find that after producing a lot with a little time, you have some good material in the middle.
http://www.3daynovel.com/


Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Resources

Sometimes, it is good to just look around on the Internet and learn what you can from others. That may even be how you found my blog. This week, I just want to list out some links that I found interesting or could relate to in some way. Hope they help you either emotionally or practically.

Another unpublished neophyte talking about writing.
http://undisciplinedoaf.blogspot.com/2009/04/so-youre-writing-novel.html?zx=711354ae21d39de

A nice set of writing insights from novelist Marilynne Robinson.
http://writingcompanion.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/writing-marilynne-robinson/

A young person struggles with the idea of writing a novel.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977666398&grpId=3659174697239359&nav=Groupspace

A blog entry about Print-on-demand.
http://writingright-martin.blogspot.com/2009/04/print-on-demand-publishing-when-does-it.html

An interview with Cindy Wilson.
http://adventures-in-creative-writing.blogspot.com/2009/04/changing-expectations-interview-with.html

What do you do after you finish the first draft? Here's a list.
http://storyflip.blogspot.com/2009/04/youve-written-novel-now-what.html

Learning the Craft: Writing a Novel
http://trishlawrence.com/blog/2009/04/26/learning-the-craft-writing-a-novel/

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.twitter.com/jhughthomas
http://profile.to/jhughthomas

On getting published.

A few weeks ago, Ian left the following comment:
"I know it's very easy to write a novel, but very hard to get one published. The ratio of novels written to those published is 200:1. Writing a novel is like buying a lottery ticket."

As an unpublished writer myself, I would like to address this concern for Ian and other writers who are aspiring authors. I'll take it point by point.

1) "I know it's very easy to write a novel" OK, this is true but deceiving in my opinion. Can writing a novel be fairly easy? True. Is writing a novel that is worthy of being published by a major publishing house easy? False. It isn't about writing a novel, but rewriting and more rewriting and polishing and then more rewriting. To edit a novel into a refined work, ready to publish, is a very difficult task that requires discipline, acquired knowledge of reader expectations, some technical writing knowledge, thick skin, and a touch of business savvy.

2) "but very hard to get one published" I think everyone would agree it is difficult to get published. However, from what I'm hearing (word on the virtual street), the economic downturn could be a good thing for first time authors. Why? Because new author's don't get a big advance like established author's do. That makes it a cheaper investment, and editors are expected to turn out a certain amount of production in a publishing house just like any product manager in a business.

3) "ratio of novels written to those published is 200:1" Take heart.
First, realize that many of those who write a novel never send a proper query letter to one let alone fifty publishing houses. Many never take the time to learn the business side of how to get published. If you educate yourself, you have dramatically improved your odds.
Secondly, the odds are questionable. In this article from The Internet Review of Science Fiction, you can see much better odds projected as listed below:

Short Fiction 40:1
Novels 60:1

Then the Writing Smart blog posts that "On the average, 98-99% of submissions to both publishers and literary agents get rejected, especially if you've never been published before."

I think that you have to be reasonable and determined in equal measure. Know what you are facing but do not be deterred by rejections and negative remarks. Persistence, education, and revision are the tools of a writer turned author. I intend to do all that I can to be published one day.

4) "Writing a novel is like buying a lottery ticket" This is only true if you plan on getting rich by writing a novel. If this is your plan, I have a bridge to sell you. The truth is, very few (and I do mean VERY few) authors become wealthy from their writing. Most author's who write full-time are doing well just to pay the bills and live a modest lifestyle. If your goal is money, I would choose a different profession. If you love to write and want to do so regardless of the dollars that follow, you are in the right place. In fact, you are more likely to succeed because you are writing from a point of passion, not profit.

Anyway, that's just my two cents worth. To Ian and all those who question their own odds, I hope it helps. I do not mean to tear down Ian's statements, but rather to encourage you all that it is not that bleak. Apply yourself with all of your efforts and abilities, and enjoy whatever level of accomplishment that results. You may surprise yourself.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.twitter.com/jhughthomas
Facebook Profile

My novel title is taken!

It's OK, just breathe. Breathe... there you go. Don't freak out. Let's just calmly talk about what it means.

If you find that the "perfect title" for your novel is already taken, first consider the legal side of things. According to the copyright.gov website, some items not eligible for copyright protection include "Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans" which means you are in the clear on legal grounds.

Next ask "Is the other book similar at all?" If you have a fiction story called "The Snake" and a plumber has published a how-to book on cleaning your pipes called "The Snake," you aren't likely to have much inadvertent bleed over. But if the other book is in a similar genre and or is simply another work of fiction, you have to decide if it works for you or against you.

I'm just guessing here, but if you have a book called "The Firm" it is possible that you might get some sales, particularly online sales, from readers who think they are getting the John Grisham novel. I would not recommend this as a strategy for book sales because rather than developing a following of readers, you will most likely develop a following of haters, annoyed that they got the wrong book.

As long as it is branded properly and the cover art is distinct enough, you are probably OK with a title that is already used. If it is a very popular title, I would recommend looking long and hard to make sure you can't find another choice for your book.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
Facebook Account

What is the podcast/podiobook business model?

OK, let me start by saying this is a loaded question. All I can do is give you one take on it. What I will present is based on listening to and reading podcasts, interviews, and blogs featuring many different authors taking this approach. I welcome and encourage anyone with opinions to share with all in the comments.

I see the business model as more of a progression, a set of building blocks that you assemble over time. Here are some of the steps involved in this progression.

Step 1: Write some great fiction - It may seem obvious, but until you have some fiction to offer up, you will be stuck at step 1. The beauty is that because you are planning to podcast, you can write short story length, novella length, or novel length. You will probably be podcasting in fifteen minute segments, so you longer source material just means more episodes. It may even be preferable to start with a shorter story to cut your teeth.

Step 2: Reformat for a podcast - In the same way that you can't just act out a novel in front of a camera and get a movie (thus, the screenplay), you may want to do a mild once-over on your story to make it more suitable for audio. Consider how narrative and dialogue will play out in the spoken word by reading your story out loud to yourself. I'm guessing that just as with story writing, the more you do it, the better you get at hearing what works best.

Step 3: Record the episodes and post them - I'm not going into all the details on recording or where to podcast your podiobook in this post, but this is where you really put yourself out there. You are now putting your fiction out into the universe to see what happens. It is important to note that you are giving your fiction away for free. Many people also offer their fiction in PDF format along with the podiobook. More ways for people to consume your fiction. Which leads to the next question. What if no one listens?

Step 4: Market yourself like crazy - This is where you have to spend most of your education time. Learn how to use combinations of social networking, blogging, interviews, podcasting, newsletters, and many other methods to increase the profile of your podiobook and your name. Your goal is to become a recognizable name and a very searchable name on the Internet.

Step 5: Repeat Steps 1 through 4 - The first podiobook is just the gateway to your second podiobook, your first novel, your online collaboration, etc. I won't pretend to know how many times you need to do this to "arrive." The goal here is to build a fan base. With each podiobook you release, you are developing this fan base. Once they are posted, they are there forever so people finding you one year down the road will find a year's worth of content. The growth of free, quality content over time combined with a unique level of customer content is how you will develop a following.

Step 6: Publish you novel - This should probably be one of your podiobooks or a new story taking place in one of your podiobook worlds. It could come in the form of traditional publishing supported by the strength of your online following, or in the form of self-publishing leveraging your online fans who are willing to pay for more of your fiction.

Think about it logically. With the millions of books out there, how do you choose what to read? You read authors you know you can count on for good fiction because you have read their work before. The podiobook approach allows a large group of people to hear your fiction without risking anything but the time to listen. If they like what they hear, they don't think of buying one of your books as taking a risk.

It is a whole new way of thinking. A radical change from traditional publishing.

I'm not saying one way or the other what I will ultimately do, but I know this is a viable model that can produce results if you have the talent and are willing to put in the hours.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com

Podcast your novel. The new face of publishing.

Often in history, innovation causes a shift in the direction of business. The telegraph industry gave way to the telephone business. The horse and buggy were replaced by the car industry.

That's not what we are seeing in publishing.

It is a new age where people operate in a new way. In the last ten years, the ipod, audio books, podcasts, and blogs have come into their own. People consume entertainment and information in the midst of a busy day, on he fly, or on-demand. On an average day, most people read less on the written page than on the computer screen. Increasingly, people hear less on a CD than on their ipod or computer streaming.

It isn't a replacement of a previous industry, but a change in the way we operate, and therefore the way the publishing industry must operate in order to keep up.

I still think it is a valid pursuit to seek traditional publishing, and probably the best place to start. Just don't stop there. And depending on how small a market you expect, you may even want to start with the "non-traditional" approach.

You should study the pioneers of the podcast novel including J.C. Hutchins, Scott Sigler, Tee Morris, Mur Lafferty, and so many more. If you listen to interviews or personal podcasts by these individuals, you will quickly find that the podcasting route requires a lot of work... I mean a lot. But it can pay off in the end.

Check out the selection of Podiobooks that are available. You could be next on the list.

This is a good article about the brave new world of podcasting fiction.
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1872381,00.html

I will probably do a more in-depth blog on the podcasting option in the future. Until then, let's all keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

Marketing my book online... before the book is finished?

In case you are not sure from my title, I have not completed even the first draft of my novel. And yet I brazenly state that I should be marketing now. Am I completely insane? Possibly, but I will explain why I think that regardless of where you are in the writing process, your marketing should already be in the works.

There are many facets to marketing: advertising (print/TV/online), interviews, podcasts, blogs, book signings, etc. I only know a little about marketing because I am unpublished, but I am convinced that the earlier you begin one portion of marketing, the better off you will be. What is this portion?

Your online presence!

You don't need a published book or even published articles to begin establishing an online presence. You just need some time and the will to explore your options. Here are a few of the areas that I am exploring during my writing process.

1) Buy your domain name. In today's world, this is a no-brainer because it is cheap and expected. Most importantly, it takes time for your domain name to be crawled by all the search engines, linked to by other websites, blogged about, etc. This time translates into quick and easy search results when you do get published and someone is Googling your name. Which leads to point number two.

2) Choose your author name wisely. May sound silly, but in my opinion, this is a big one. I go by Hugh but I choose to use J Hugh Thomas as my author name in part because the domain name jhughtomas.com was available. In addition, when I Google Hugh Thomas, I get many results for a history writer named Hugh Thomas. To prove my point, Google the name "j hugh thomas" and you will see my website and this blog right at the top. That is what you want... to be easily found if someone is looking. Not to mention, many people will start by typing in the URL of the person's name before they even Google. Every advantage counts.

3) Write a blog. Since they are free to run, this is another given. What do you blog about? I'll answer with the question, what are you interested in? What is important is that you are writing regularly in a communicative way, not in fiction style, and you are establishing more of a web presence with every post. Don't forget to link back to your domain name in every post which also helps boost the ranking of your primary site. Have many interests? Write several blogs. But make sure you can post at least once a week. If you post less than that, you will loose any loyal readers. I recommend blogger.com because it is what I use, but I'm sure the other free services are just as good.

4) Feedburn your blogs. If you don't know what this is, go to feedburner.com and read all about it. Bottom line is you have a distribution option for people to subscribe by email or RSS feed to your blog, you can track your subscribers, see when your blog is web crawled, tell the service to notify the search engines every time you post a new entry, etc. It is a free marketing and management plug-in to your blog, and all it costs is your time to set it up.

5) Social Networking. If you don't already have them, setup Facebook and MySpace accounts at a bare minimum. Once again, you will link between your blog/domain/facebook/myspace which helps your web presence. More importantly, you can join writers groups for support and reading groups for future marketing opportunities. The more friends you add over time, the more people you can directly market to once you are finished with your book. One important note here. DO NOT OVER MARKET TO YOUR FRIENDS OR GROUPS!!! This is a big no-no and you will be shunned if you take advantage. However, an email/message blast when your book is launched is perfectly acceptable. You would also be surprised how many professionals are lurking in these groups... agents, marketers, editors... so you may end up with a great support network to boot.

That's enough to start with, but it is just the tip of the ice burg. Don't get overwhelmed by it all. Just do something now so you aren't rushing to appear online after your book is on the shelves.

Resources:
Writing Excuses is a fun podcast that is entertaining and informative on the writing process. It holds to a short 15 minute format which is perfect on the go. You'll find yourself laughing and learning in the process.

Here's an article on How to get your first novel published by Jackie French. Since she is a published author many times over, better to follow her advice than mine.

Oh, and I forgot my weekly writing update last time. Over the last two weeks, I have finished another three scenes for the screenplay. The story is coming along nicely and I think I have reached the half-way mark. I believe that by the end of the year this will be done and I will be back full-time on the novel.

Until next time, lets keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

How would your characters vote?

Don't worry, I'm not getting political. This is, and will remain, a writing blog. However, I think it can be a fun exercise to take each of your main characters and imagine them debating the issues and choosing a candidate. To some, this may be the fun equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard, but the point of the exercise is to know your characters better.

Maybe write a short dinner party scene in which your characters take their sides and defend their positions. In the process, make sure you are being true to the character you have written thus far in your book (assuming it is an unfinished novel). Or perhaps you will learn something new about your character that you had never considered before, maybe even some back story. Anyway, have fun with it and strengthen your characters in the process.

Here's my latest true confessions in writing. I finished two more scenes this week in my screenplay. Slowly but surely, I'm finishing the movie so I can get back to the novel.

RESOURCES:
I found an interesting article titled "The literary web" that talks about the habits and tools of readers using web resources.

Another reminder that this is NaNoWriMo month, where thousands of people try to write a novel in a month. If you are interested in getting a late start, here's an article on it.

Think you'll never finish your novel? That you will never be published? Take encouragement from someone who has just finished the journey, Alice J. Wisler with her book Rain Song. Reading about how she made it may be the push you need to continue writing.

Last but not least, here is an interview on query letters and pitches.

That's all for this week. Until next time, lets keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

Resource: Free Publishing and Free Website

Don't know about you, but I'm a huge fan of the word FREE. Anytime you can get something free that is also useful in publishing or marketing your book, I suggest you invest the time to use it. These resources are really for when you are finished with the book, but I don't want to forget to give them to you later, so here they are.

FREE SELF-PUBLISHING (FAST!!)
I have seen many self-publishing options, but this one may be the best. You can go through an online setup process including uploading your manuscript in Word format, entering additional information, basic cover design or upload your own cover files, and you will have a print-ready designed book. All of this is for FREE. Granted, depending on your publishing plans, this may not work for you. If you are going for the conventional publishing house, more power to ya. I have not made that decision yet. But if you want to self-publish, this option allows you to have zero overhead. If your book takes off and you need a real web press run of books at a lower cost, you can always do that later. This is a great way to get started though. If you have all your ducks in a row, you can get your files uploaded and ready to print a book in about an hour.
http://www.wordclay.com

FREE AUTHOR WEBSITE
Ok, ok. I know what you are thinking. There is more free web space out there than you could ever use. I have two responses to that logic. 1) The more websites and/or web footprints you have, the better (more on web marketing another day). 2) This site is focused on authors, which makes it more friendly for your purposes. The layout has pages for reviews, featured books, author's bio, links, events, and even a blog. This is only for after you have a published book, but when you hit that point, it is a good one.
http://www.authortree.com/