Barbara Hollace, Author

I feel it's important to keep my fingers on the pulse of the literary movement.  In my career as a writer, I've discovered hundreds of useful links to help me keep on top of the "writing game".  On this page, I want to pass some of my resources along to you. 

I will be updating this page on a consistent basis to include links to resources that may be of interest to my site visitors.  Resources might include archived copies of newsletters, educational websites, professional associations, online reference materials, other authors or government agencies.

Useful Web Sites:

www.spokaneauthors.org 

Spokane Authors & Self-Publishers - Meets on the FIRST THURSDAY of the month at the Timbercreek Buffet, Argonne Village, Spokane Valley, WA.  The meeting room opens at 11AM for us to eat lunch.  Our formal meeting starts at NOON with our featured speaker or other event.  We break for about 15 minutes at 1PM for coffee and dessert and then reconvene for club business and reports from members and guests about their writing and publishing.  We encourage members to bring their published books to the meetings.  There is display table space at the front of the room where you can place your books for sale.

www.craigslist.org    Craigslist - Free listings for writing jobs, both nationally and internationally. Specifically, look in two sections:  Jobs column: Writing/Editing and Gigs column: Writing.

Tip: Search for jobs in major U.S. cities.  Do your due diligence.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This is a good place to find freelance work and build writing credits and relationships.

http://groups.yahoo.com  PayingWriterJobs (Yahoo Group) - Enter PayingWriterJobs and you can sign up with the group.  Criteria: You must submit at least one job posting per month to remain on the list. (I am one of the Moderators for this group.)

www.fundsforwriters.com  Funds For Writers - Hope Clark puts together this great newsletter. The free edition, Funds for Writers, comes out weekly and offers writing opportunities in a variety of areas: contests, grants, magazines, writing jobs, agents, and publishers. There is also a deluxe edition of the newsletter, Total Funds for Writers, $15/year.  (A great buy)

Publishing Industry Resources

www.publishersweekly.com  Publisher's Weekly - This magazine is known as the ‘bible’ of the publishing world.  There is a print edition, very expensive, available at the Spokane Public Library and also offers free email newsletters.  This is a great way to keep up on publishing industry news.  Authors run ads offering Advance Reader Copies in exchange for a book review. (PW Daily and Children’s Bookshelf, Religion Bookline, Comics Week, and Cooking the Books)

Agents - Writers are always looking for the ‘magic formula’ to find an agent. There isn’t one except hard work, a little luck, and timing. Here are links to a couple of agents I really respect. KEY: When searching for an agent, make sure that your book fits the genre that they represent.

http://www.larsenpomada.com Michael Larsen - Michael is the author of “How to Write A Book Proposal” and his website is filled with resources and author info from his 37 yrs in the business.

http://www.andreahurst.com/  Andrea Hurst - Andrea is a great agent with good resources on her website.

http://www.theebookcoach.com  Ebooks:  Ellen Violette, The Ebook Coach - Ellen is THE source when it comes to learning how to write an ebook. She has proven methods that work.

Promotion

Marketing Professionals: There are several people who have gained a reputation for their expertise within the writing community.  Here are a few of them:

www.johnkremer.com   John Kremer - Author of 1,001 ways to Market Your Book. Offers a FREE weekly email newsletter with marketing opportunities.

http://www.author101.com   Rick Frishman - One of the publicity gurus. His website and ezine are good information sources.

http://www.rtir.com:  Steve Harrison, Radio-TV Interview Report - Producers read this to find interesting guests. 

http://www.nationalpublicitysummit.com   National Publicity Summit - This offers an amazing opportunity to meet producers and journalists from top media outlets. (These are more expensive methods of promotion, but are well-known for results throughout the industry.

Blog Tours

http://yodiwan.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/whats-a-book-blog-tour/   What is a Book Blog Tour?   Blog Tours are one of the new low-cost promotion methods that authors are using.

www.fionarobyn.com  For example, check out Fiona Robyn.  Fiona is an author from the U.K.  Her promotion tools include newsletters, blogs, and book giveaway contests. Recently, a United Kingdom publisher picked up three of her novels for publication. She went on a blog tour to promote her book.

Book Tours

www.jajance.com  One of my favorite authors that still does book tours is J.A. Jance.  Check out her website for her schedule and also blog entries from her latest book tour.

Social Networking

A new facet of online communication for the young and young at heart.

www.facebook.com  FaceBook - You need to sign up as a member to view the pages of other members. Several authors use FaceBook to hold book launch parties.

http://www.robingunn.com/  FaceBook Example: Robin Gunn Jones - For the release of Engaging Father Christmas, she hosted a tea party online, chatted with her fans, and had a contest to give away an autographed copy of the book.

www.twitter.com  Twitter - messages must be 140 characters or less.

www.youtube.com  YouTube - posting video clips.

Websites

Great tool to create an online presence and have others access information about you and your work.

www.prillboyle.com  Prill Boyle - Prill writes about late bloomers (Defying Gravity). She has a blog, website, and writes a guest column in the NAABW newsletter.

Blogs

Authors often have blogs on their web page.  It’s like writing a journal entry.  Good way to update your fans about your life and writing projects.

Newspapers are using reader blogs to cover a variety of topics for free.  You can become a citizen journalist.  I write a blog for the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Apartment Living.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/apartmentliving/   NOTE: The Seattle P.I. doesn’t allow you to use the blog for promotional purposes. 

Book Clubs

http://www.dearreader.com/  Suzanne Beecher - Suzanne offers a 5-minute read per weekday in each of her book clubs, Business, Fiction, Good News, Mystery, Teen, Science Fiction, Non-Fiction, Romance, Thriller, Audio Books, Pre-Publication. She works with over 100 publishers, and over 350,000 book club members. A list of publishers is on her website.

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Some of My Resourcing Adventures

I will be highlighting a special set of links and photos that depict some of the trade shows, book signings, presentations, readings, etc. where I have taken an active role.  I hope you will enjoy some of my real life experiences as an author as I share my most memorable moments!

Hollace Writing Services

Do you have a book in your head that you want to get onto paper?  Have you started to write and need a little support?  Are you holding stories and information that you would like to share?  Whether you are looking for moral support or someone to write your book from scratch, we can help.

Hollace Writing Services can:

• Conduct and transcribe interviews
• Research your topic
• Organize your content and writing process
• Write or ghost-write your manuscript
• Edit and polish your writing
• Offer consultation and coaching

Hollace Writing Services can help you achieve consistency, accuracy, clarity and much more. 

Please feel free to contact me for more details at barbara@barahollace.com