Reviews & Tools
Because writing is hard.
Review: If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland
"Brenda Ueland he dares you to write freely and recklessly, to never be afraid of making mistakes. "Let’s cut right to chase here. I really enjoyed this book, it’s a charming read...but I’m not going to recommend it. I first heard of it through a reddit thread that...
Review: “Crank it Out” by C.S. Lakin
Part of C.S. Lakin’s “Writer’s Toolbox” series, Crank It Out is a fairly well known (fairly well received) book about increasing writing productivity. The focus is on how, as a writer, you can turn your productivity around and really start to...you guessed it...crank...
Review: The Liar’s Bible by Lawrence Block
"Don’t expect any action items, but The Liar’s Bible will help you mature as a writer."I bought The Liar’s Bible without really knowing anything about it. I didn’t know anything about the author, his various pen names or his multiple bestselling series. The Liar’s...
Review: Six Figure Author by Chris Fox
Chances are you already come across Chris Fox at some point in your self-publishing journey. A prominent figure in the indie publishing industry for a long time, Chris Fox has a book for almost any part of your self-pub business. From marketing, to launching books, to...
Every Successful Writer’s Secret Weapon – A Word Count Tracker
Writing is a lonely job. Everybody’s interested in what you’re doing, you may even have a great support system but, at the end of the day, writing is about sitting down (by yourself) and putting work in. This obviously has it pros and cons (no waiting on lazy...
Interview with Indie Exchange Founder Oliver Ryan
It was my pleasure this week to chat with indie author, and founder of Indie Exchange (www.indiepubexchange.com), Oliver Ryan, about the self-publishing industry and how his new platform can help authors save time, and avoid some of the major pitfalls involved with...
Podcasts for Writers and Self Published Authors
Rule 89 of the Internet. If it exists, there’s a podcast of it. If you think the indie author world is niche enough that finding podcast content would be difficult. Baby, you don’t know podcasting. There are all kinds of books that swear they can teach you how to...
Free Writing Diary and Daily Word Count Tracker
Ever wondered which day of the week you’re most productive on? Or which project you’ve spent the most time writing? Or even just what your average words per minute is? This free writing diary will do all of that and more!At a glance...This is a Google Doc that you can...
How to Choose (and buy) a Pre-Made Book Cover
Your book is in the editing phase and boy, is it a doozy Your long days of writing and editing and rewriting (and worrying the book will never end) are finally behind you. It’s time to get a cover. Unless you are rich in design skills yourself (or have a lot of money...
Review: “Romancing the Beat” by Gwen Hayes
You want to know how to structure your romance novel? Not sure how to meet-cute? Are your characters Fighting For Love, when they should be Retreating from Love? Feeling a little lost? Then you need to read this book.At a glance...This is the gold standard for romance...
Reddit for Writers: Best Subreddits for Authors
No matter if you’re sitting alone at home, or surrounded by people in a cafe, writing is always lonely work. It’s you and your brain, creating characters, worlds, and plot. It helps to be able to find places that will allow you to connect with other, like minded...
Review: “5k Words per Hour” by Chris Fox
Want to write faster? Of course you do. If you're struggling with getting your daily word count up, there's a good chance this book is for you...but be warned, there isn’t any magic formula: it’s going to take a lot of work to actually get up to 5k an hour. The main...
We made a thing!
The exceedingly awesome team here at bookspry finally put their drinks down long enough to finish their first collaborative book! This book of writing prompts is fun, silly, creative and thought provoking all at the same time. But more importantly, it's actually...
NaNoWriMo Day 30 – AAAAAAAHHHH!!!
You made it to Day 30! Give yourself a round of applause! You should be so proud of yourself. Just taking part in NaNoWriMo makes you a winner! If you made it to 50,000 words then that’s awesome! If you didn’t make it all the way, then don’t worry! You should still...
NaNoWriMo – Day 29 – Show, Don’t Tell!
On the penultimate day of NaNoWriMo you’ve probably already heard this phrase: Show, Don’t Tell. It’s one of those phrases that gets thrown around a lot. What exactly does it mean though? You should strive to give your readers all the information they need to infer a...
NaNoWriMo – Day 28 – Contraction Distractions (or how to cheat at NaNoWriMo)
Alright this is a NaNoWriMo tip that probably would have been useful earlier in the month, but we’ve only just learned that some NaNoWriMo competitors are doing this and we felt we had to say something. To win NaNoWriMo you have to write 50,000 words. No-one checks...
NaNoWriMo – Day 27 – The Final Countdown!
The finish line is in sight. We’re on the final stretch. After today, you only have two more days to get to your NaNoWriMo goal (eeek!!). How you feel about that probably depends on what your current wordcount is and how much you still have to write until you get to...
NaNoWriMo – Day 26 – Music?
Distractions come in all shapes and sizes. We’ve talked earlier in the month about how tempting it can be to check websites during your NaNoWriMo writing sessions. We didn’t touch on another form of distraction that seems harmless, but can be insidious. A lot of...
NaNoWriMo – Day 24 – On Rewards
Yesterday we showed you a site that rewards you once you’ve written a few hundred words. It’s a cute site and if you didn’t catch it then we really recommend that you go read yesterday’s post. It’ll be worth it. However it does introduce a wider topic: should you be...
NaNoWriMo – Day 23 – Treat yo self…with Kittens!
Today’s NaNoWriMo tips is a bit...different. We’ve all been working hard and this one is just a bit more fun than usual. After all, you’ve been working hard for weeks now and you deserve it! So, we all know by now that distractions are the enemy and should be avoided...