Five Great Sites For Writers

The sorting and recycling part of our moving preparation is almost done. Next up is the meeting with our lawyer, then the realtor to get the keys to our new house. The next few days will be eventful, to say the least. But I need a short break from all that, so before I head out today to visit the grandkids, I’m sharing some excellent sites that I go to for advice and/or workshops on writing, publishing, and marketing. For my writing friends, hopefully, you’ll find these useful on your journey. Some of them I’ve mentioned before:

The Creative Academy. This is a great go to site for writers of all levels of experience and all genres, including nonfiction. They offer plenty of workshops (which they save so you can watch at any time) and groups to network with, among many other things. It’s a supportive, positive environment.

Funds For Writers. Mystery author Hope Clark is a dynamo who’s been offering writing tips, markets, grant info, and the names of agents and publishers for years. She also seeks and pays for articles about publishing and marketing. I’ve published with her in the past and she’s great to work with.

David Gaughran. I’ve mentioned him before and still find David’s free courses and marketing tips through his newsletter invaluable. He definitely has his pulse on what’s happening in the industry and is an expert on Facebook and BookBub ads. He digs deep into understanding what’s going on behind the scenes with companies like Facebook and Amazon.

Authors Publish. These folks provide a variety of markets that include everything from literary journals to theme-specific magazines, to publishers with good distribution and who don’t require an agent. They also provide helpful articles and free guides to preparing manuscripts and finding publishers.

Writing Corner. This newsletter is chalk full of markets in all sorts of categories and genres. It takes time to wade through all the info, but if you’re looking for agents, publishers, contests, and magazines to submit to, this is a great one-stop place. They also provide tons of other resources and tips for writers.

By the way, I’m doing a Freebooksy series promotion event today and reducing the price of most of my books. This morning, I already have 235 downloads of The Opposite of Dark, and it’s just after 8:00 a.m. It’ll be interesting to see how things will shape up by 8:00 p.m. tonight. The books are available on all the usual platforms.

Out With the Old, In With the New

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the nostalgic experience of tossing out old papers and magazine clippings on a variety of topics. Since then, I’ve started purging my writing-related files which has also been a nostalgic exercise. I found folders containing pamphlets and notes, and old itineraries from conferences going back to 1997. I found a folder containing news clippings about famous Canadian authors including Mordecai Richler, Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davies, Carol Shields, and many others. I brought to the students of the Saturday morning writing workshops I facilitate.

I found five different folders containing story ideas, partially completed first drafts and the occasional completed draft. Some of the ideas I did use, others I’ve now discarded, and a few I kept because they still resonate with me. Thankfully, it’s all in one file now 😊 The purging will continue over the next couple of weeks, but I see an end in sight, thank goodness.

As mentioned last week, I’m resuming book promotions for 2023. The first is a BookFunnel $.99 sales promo for my second Casey Holland mystery, Deadly Accusations. This group promotion features over 140 discounted crime fiction titles to choose from, which you find HERE:

The second event is a newsletter signup promo, offering an even more varied selection of books including free mystery, humor and romances, which is available HERE:

Since many of you, including me, are still experiencing freezing winter temperatures, this is a perfect time to try new authors and curl up with some great ebooks.

Free and Discounted Mysteries For You

Before I launch into today’s topics, I want to say that Canadian Independent Bookstore Day last Saturday was a great success for our local store, Western Sky Books. This was their best event ever, and it was heartwarming to see supporters come out in droves. It was great fun to see a number of writers I hadn’t seen in person in more than two years, and one author I hadn’t seen in a decade!

So, here we are in May, one of my favorite months of the year. The weather’s warming slowly although there’s still a fair bit of rain and cloud hovering over BC’s lower mainland these days. Flowers are blooming, albeit slower than last year. Since I was married in mid-May nearly 34 years ago and our family always celebrates Mother’s Day, it’s a special month.

This weekend, I’m offering great deals on most of the titles in my 6-book Casey Holland series this weekend, which ends on May 9^th. You can find the link to the entire series with just one click HERE. By clicking on that page, you’ll see that the combined price for all the books is under $10.

I’m also taking part in two BookFunnel events offering free mystery ebooks all month. One is the Leading Ladies of Mystery giveaway featuring female lead characters. The link is HERE.

The other offer focuses on mystery and suspense titles, with either male or female protagonists, which you can find HERE.

So, please take advantage of these opportunities. Summer’s coming and it’s time to load up your devices with new books as you prepare for holidays or at least a little more downtime. Couldn’t we all use some R & R and escapes into great fiction?