Creating characters that are believable takes time and discipline. Creating dynamically real individuals and not imposing your own thoughts and impressions upon them is not easy to do, and is often the difference between a novel or screenplay that sits in a closet and one that finds its way around town and into the hands [...]

Years ago when Napoleon Hill’s famous manuscript on building wealth was ready for publication, it had no title.
His publisher called and said, “If you don’t come up with a title by tomorrow morning, I’m going call it “USE YOUR NOODLE AND MAKE A BOODLE.” Distraught, Napoleon Hill began playing with words and throughout the course [...]

Becoming a successful travel writer involves some imagination, some legwork, and a powerful eye for detail to transform the rich experience of a place into a clear, exciting article. If you can do all of that, and if you’re willing to put time into marketing your work, you can join the ranks of successful [...]

What IS a best-selling author?
You have to answer that in your own mind.
Technically, it’s any book that makes it into the Top 100 list at ANY online or offline bookstore.
However, what does it mean to you?
Is it someone who sells 300-500 books in a day through online bookstores like Amazon.com and makes the top 10?
Is [...]

Becoming a successful freelance public relations writer requires you to write persuasively and analytically. The key to persuasive writing is the key to good writing in general: know your audience. Public relations work requires you to address various audiences, such as:
1) Your customer base. Your customers already have some idea about what your client does;
2) [...]

You’ve spent many nights working on your book. You’ve rewritten it, edited it, and you used a professional proofreader to proof it. Your book is done &ndash finally — and you’re ready to send your precious manuscript off to a publisher, thinking that writing it was the hardest part.
In reality, getting your blood, sweat and [...]

As more and more old-growth trees are cut down, and we face the reality of having to wait close to 100 years or more to replace them, the need to recycle paper becomes increasingly important.
Paper, of course, includes books and magazines. Although paper products are nearly 100% biodegradable, it is pointless to send these resources [...]

The publishing company is the backbone of the writing world. The publishing company provides a great service to society by publishing and displaying the work of authors. The global existence of publishers is obvious, but the inner workings of a publishing company is unknown by many authors. Many book publishers consider the publishing industry as [...]

Many writers aspire to write books. Writing a book is a long, involved, difficult process. Book publishing is harder. A writer may submit his book repeatedly only to be turned down. The writer may eventually succeed. Wouldn’t it have been easier to get published the first time? Is that possible?
You can improve your chances of [...]

People never change. Nor do their basic desires. They’ve existed for thousands of years and will continue to exist for thousands more.
Names of people will change. Technology will change. People’s desires won’t &ndash their desires are hard-wired into our DNA.
That’s good for you &ndash as an author. By knowing what people want, you can profit [...]