Archive for the ‘Advice for New Writers’ Category

4 Pitfalls To Avoid When Crafting Trans Characters (SF&F Edition!)

By Ashley Lauren Rogers

There are numerous examples of classic science fiction and fantasy stories that deal with gender and what happens when we deviate from expectations of that gender. Include popular shows like Transparent, movies like The Danish Girl, and celebrities like Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, and the politically polarizing Caitlin Jenner–and it’s no wonder that an increasing amount of fiction, including YA, is featuring trans and non­binary characters. So how can writers–especially if they aren’t trans or nonbinary–create such characters?

How Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors and Publishers Can Take Advantage of Price Promotions

If you’re an author or publisher, price promotions are a powerful way to reach new readers and sell books.

How powerful? In 2015, price promotions on BookBub alone drove sales of over 20 million ebooks — and over 200 of the books with promotions featured on BookBub made it to The New York Times bestseller list.

In this post, we’ll explain how science fiction and fantasy authors and publishers can tap into some of that power and use price promotions to accomplish multiple book marketing goals.

Try Writing Comics

by Sara Ryan

Whatever your situation as a writer, I’d like to encourage you to try writing in the comics format. I keep using the word “format” to emphasize that, as advocates of comics have often been compelled to repeat, “It’s a format, not a genre.” Comics are not just about superheroes, or crime, or memoir, or humor, or romance, or journalism, or realism, or surrealism, or science fiction, or fantasy. Comics can be all those things and more.

The Pleasures of Anthology Editing

by Susan Forest

I like seeing a passage, whether my own or someone else’s, improve with a changed word choice, a question answered, or an idea clarified or extended. To create an entirety—a book—from the discrete stories that make it up, by juxtaposing ideas, styles and emotional content, was a satisfying and creative process that was new to me.

Ten Thoughts About the Business Side of Writing

by Russell Galen

Have an agent. If you feel you don’t need one, find another human being to whom you have no emotional attachments, who knows a lot about the IP business, will tell you the truth, will be a sounding board for your literary and business questions, and will speak to the buyers of your work so that you can keep some distance from them.

Guest Post: Amazon Bites Author

by Mary Rosenblum

So you can publish on Amazon.com, but if you’re successful they’ll yank your book? What kind of catch 22 is this? Ah, oh yes, all you authors who are trading reviews? Amazon.com, according to that helpful associate Brad spoke to, is ‘looking at’ Goodreads, too. Their own company! They’re looking at authors who connect up to swap reviews… If most of your reviews come from other authors, you might want to think about this.

July Market Report

Welcome to the July Market Report for SF/F. Magazine News: Deep Magic is a bi-monthly electronic magazine that publishes clean short fiction in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Our issues are also filled with author interviews, art features, book reviews and tips for writers. Most of our nonfiction pieces are invitation only to industry professionals […]

Dispelling the Myth of Strong Female Characters

by Megan Leigh

When it comes to equal representation in fiction, women have a long way to go. There simply aren’t enough female characters in books and that’s counting those that appear only as romantic interests, victims to be saved, or someone’s mother. Is it really so much to ask for an equal number and variety of well-written, three-dimensional female characters?