You Gotta Love This Writing with Anne R. Allen

With summer fast approaching, it’s about that time to kick back and relax. How about relaxing with some new writing resources? You Gotta Love This Writing with Anne R. Allen is sizzling.

Anne R. Allen is the successful author of many books that cover a variety of genres, from mystery to self-help. Her book, The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors became an Amazon #1 bestseller. Her writing style is a mash-up of her two favorite authors, Dorothy Parker and Dorothy L. Sayer, in a style she calls “Chick Lit. Noir.” She is a confident woman that is well-versed in many crafts, such as acting, artistic directing, and book sales.

Just like her books, Anne’s media presence is abundant. Catch her on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and even her own blog! Learn more about what makes this author tick.

We thank Anne for taking the time to join us in this edition of You Gotta Love This Writing and provide us with some resources that she personally uses, in her own words…

You Gotta Love This Writing with Anne R. Allen

1) Bakerview Consulting

I probably wouldn’t have a career without the reliable support of Barb Drozdowich of Bakerview Consulting. Barb is an author, reviewer, tech guru, social media maven, and book marketing expert from British Columbia who embodies the concept of “Canadian Nice.”

Barb is not only the webmaster of our award-winning blog, but she provides helpful tech advice that keeps a cybermoron like me from tearing out my hair daily while screaming very rude things at the computer screen. She also provides services that include websites on a budget, self-publishing help, social media marketing strategies and a whole lot more. I can’t recommend her enough.

2) The Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG)

I recommend this fantastic group to all new writers, although you don’t have to be a newbie to benefit from their resources. (And you don’t even have to be insecure, LOL.) This group provides a safe, helpful space on the Web where newbies can try out their wings and pros can keep up with the latest publishing news. The IWSG founder, bestselling sci-fi author Alex J. Cavanaugh, runs a tight ship. No flames, no trolls, just helpful people exchanging ideas, support, and information.

They run blog hops that can help new bloggers develop a following, and also put out a themed anthology every year featuring members’ writing. They have a blog, a Facebook page, and a newsletter edited by the knowledgeable Chris Fey. I can recommend them all.

3) Kristen Lamb

Kristen Lamb’s blog, books, and classes are a great source of information for writers trying to navigate the complexities of social media marketing. I’ve learned a whole lot from Kristen over the years, including what has now become a mantra for authors: “Your name is your brand.” I recommend her book The Rise of the Machines to any new writer who needs a guidebook to the online book world. Kristen always tells it like it is, and she’s hilarious.

4) Funds for Writers

C. Hope Clark’s long-running newsletter is what got me through a rough period in my career, when my first publisher went belly-up at the same time that most of the journals I wrote for stopped paying.

Hope’s weekly “Funds for Writers” newsletter provides lists of contests and paying markets for short fiction and poetry. It also includes several helpful how-to articles. A few contest wins—as well as placing my work in some paying journals—helped me get my confidence back, and started me on a new, more successful writing path.

5) The New Publishing Standard (TNPS)

According to their website, The New Publishing Standard is “a free e-magazine that helps people stay informed on the biggest happenings and trends in international book publishing…launched in September 2017, the magazine is edited by the internationalist author and journalist Mark Williams, and published by the Italy-based global digital content aggregator StreetLib.”

Mark Williams, an expat Brit centered in the Gambia in West Africa, also moderates the International Indie Author Facebook page, another great source of international publishing news.

As the eBook market gets saturated in the US, and Amazon dominates what we can say and do as authors, the global market is expanding fast. TNPS helps us keep up with what’s going on.

6) My Blog with Ruth Harris

Okay, I’m tooting my own horn here. The award-winning blog I share with NYT million-copy seller Ruth Harris has been providing down-to-earth, no-nonsense advice to new authors—both indie and trad-pubbed—for a decade.

As long-time veterans of the publishing industry, we help writers navigate the treacherous waters of today’s book world with advice on writing craft, insider publishing info, and tips on dealing with social media and the “Amazon jungle.”

Anne R. Allen is the author of 13 books, including the hilarious Camilla Randall Mysteries. Her nonfiction book, The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors is an Amazon #1 bestseller. She’s the co-author, with Amazon superstar Catherine Ryan Hyde, of How to be a Writer in the E-Age: A Self-Help Guide. Her latest Camilla book is Googling Old Boyfriends. Anne blogs writing advice with former Big 5 editor Ruth Harris at Anne R. Allen’s Blog…with Ruth Harris. Her book blog is Anne R. Allen’s Books. You can find her on Twitter at @AnneRAllen. She’s also on Pinterest, and Facebook.