March 14, 2025
By BlueInk Staff
Every year, more than one million books are published. Imagine a reader standing in front of a bookshelf with that many titles. Now imagine the impossible: how will they choose one title over another?
That’s where reviews come in.
At BlueInk, we are obviously a huge proponent of […]
July 25, 2024
By Paul Goat Allen
I’ve worked in the publishing industry for almost 30 years—as an editor, book critic, publicist, and publisher, to name a few positions—and all of those jobs have essentially revolved around discovering and promoting noteworthy titles. That said, I know how monumentally important identifying category is: it’s an invaluable aid to […]
September 6, 2023
By Paul Goat Allen
Over-explanation in storytelling is always a big red flag—in large part because it reveals to the reader one of two (very bad) things: either the author doesn’t have confidence in their own writing ability, or they don’t think that their poor ignorant readers will understand the brilliance of their own […]
January 9, 2023
Every book needs an author bio. It lets readers know who you are and why you are uniquely qualified to write the book at hand. Readers expect this at the back of your book. And booksellers and other industry professionals expect it on your press releases and other marketing […]
December 16, 2020
By Paul Goat Allen
If you’re writing a novel with the hopes to entertain—to facilitate the literary escapism of your readers—you want those readers to pick up your book and not be able to put it back down. I’ve described these kinds of reads as “unputdownable” in the past—they’re page-turners, and everyone loves a […]
November 2, 2020
By Paul Goat Allen
Well-developed and complex characters are integral to creating a novel that resonates with readers and critics alike. Even with other noteworthy narrative attributes like readability, immersion, plot intricacy, and thematic profundity, a storyline is inevitably going to fail without interesting and identifiable characters.
November 8, 2018
Many books these days are sequels, often part of a series. As I have recently discovered, writing a sequel is a very different experience from writing a standalone book.
Over the last four years or so, I have been working on a sequel to my first novel The Marriage of True […]
June 20, 2017
By Nadya Lyapunova
You did it, your book is finished! It’s a moment worthy of celebration. But if you have dreams of finally setting your laptop aside for awhile, it’s time to think again: In today’s book world, the reality is that you’ll be busier than ever, looking for online ways to market your […]
July 26, 2016
Let’s assume that you’re a fiction writer looking to self-publish. You’re a voracious reader and practiced writer, willing to put in the hours of writing and rewriting to make a story shine. And you’ve got a great story to tell, rich in memorable characters and set in a locale […]
April 26, 2016
You did it, your book is finished! It’s a moment worthy of celebration. But if you have dreams of finally setting your laptop aside for awhile, it’s time to think again: In today’s book world, the reality is that you’ll be busier than ever, looking for online ways to […]
