July 27, 2020
By Paul Goat Allen
Shelley Adina is the author of 42 novels published by Harlequin, Warner, and Hachette, as well as Moonshell Books, her own independent press. She writes steampunk and contemporary romance as Shelley Adina; writes classic Regency romance as Charlotte Henry; and as Adina Senft, writes Amish women’s fiction. She holds an […]
June 22, 2020
A few years back I wrote an article for Writer’s Digest detailing my thoughts on the future of genre fiction: Cross Pollination: The Future is Genre-Blending. Having reviewed various genre fiction categories for the last two decades, I saw—and continue to see—this evolution firsthand. Simply put, […]
June 16, 2020
By Paul Goat Allen
Merriam-Webster defines “prolific” as marked by abundant inventiveness or productivity. The word also perfectly describes Sara Lunsford, best known perhaps for her paranormal romance series like Ambrosia Lane (Desperate Housewives of Olympus, et. al.) and After Dark (Furyous Ink, et. al.). The […]
June 8, 2020
Some people enjoy gardening in their free time. Or watching movies. I like to examine weekly bestselling lists—and watch the various mainstream fiction and genre fiction categories rise and fall in popularity. I’ve been doing it for decades—and it’s quite fascinating to try to connect the popularity of genre categories […]
June 1, 2020
Before becoming a book reviewer, I managed bookstores in New York for almost a decade. This was back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s—before the rise of e-commerce and e-books—and even back then, the companies I worked for (Coles and Waldenbooks) sold a fair share of self-published titles. (Although […]
May 18, 2020
The idiom “don’t judge a book by its cover” may be true when applied metaphorically to the worth or value of certain people, objects, and situations, but, sadly, when it comes to books, the exact opposite is often the case.
Readers judge books by their covers all the time. Don’t […]
May 12, 2020
I’ve been a book reviewer for more than 25 years and I’ve reviewed countless titles across all genre categories—from apocalyptic fiction to zombie erotica. Although a sizable percentage of novels that I’ve reviewed have been flawed in some way—imperfect attempts to tell an entertaining and enlightening story—I do what I […]
May 5, 2020
So, you’ve been contemplating writing a fantasy novel for a while—or maybe you’ve begun drafting it out or are already in revisions. Before you go any farther, I want you to seriously contemplate this question for a moment: “Why are you writing this particular story?” If you’re writing this novel […]
April 28, 2020
I’ve had enough conversations with publishers, agents, editors, and writers over the last few decades to know that for fiction releases—and genre fiction releases in particular—to have any chance at being commercially successful, those novels need to be familiar but unique.
Sounds like a contradiction, right? But it makes perfect […]
April 21, 2020
This may sound crazy but the back cover blurb for your novel—essentially a synoptic teaser—just may be the most important part of your self-published book. Here’s why: Some readers out there will buy a book solely on cover art—and cover art is hugely significant for that reason—but the vast majority […]
