I seem to have accululated quite a few links on promoting yourself as an author the past two months, from having a great author bio to having a professional headshot to hitting #1 on Amazon. Speaking of Amazon, don’t forget you can still get free copies of Eighty Nine for Kindle until 5.59pm AEST tomorrow (Friday). That’s 11.59pm Thursday US Pacific time and 8.59am Friday UK time. You can see my previous post for more information and links.

And now to the helpful posts for April and May…

Writing

Writing the Longer Picture Book

Mara Rockliff talks about writing longer picture books (over 600 words), including important tips for authors to keep in mind when writing a longer picture book.

8 Apps Every Writer Should Have

A list of 8 helpful writing apps for your phone, including a story tracking app for those who are in the process of submitting queries and a rhyming app for poets/picture book writers.

Ideas for Story Structure

I’ve seen a lot of different ways to plan out story structure, but I just love the simplicity of this idea. It’s not only a simple way of plotting out your novel/short story/picture book (yes, it can equally be applied to all three), it manages to incorporate the main points of the story arc. I’ll definitely be using this system in future.

Promoting Yourself as an Author

Five Ways to Fix a Boring Bio

Whether you’re published, unpublished, querying, have a Twitter or Facebook account or a blog, at some point in your writing career you will need to write an author bio (multiple times!). Think you’re boring? Or haven’t done enough yet? This post offers 5 simple and logical ways to spice up your author bio.

The Seven Worst Mistakes of Indie Authors and How to Fix Them

If you are taking the self-publishing route, this post by Joanna Penn is a must-read. She has some great advice, with solutions to oft-made mistakes by self-publishers. She speaks from the experience of someone who has been down the self-publishing path and had to learn from her own mistakes.

Amazon Bestseller: Top Ten Tips for Hitting #1 on the Amazon Store 

A post from author Rachel Abbot, whose book has topped the Amazon charts. She shares her experience of starting out thinking all she had to do was upload her book and the profits would roll in, to discovering the key factors to marketing her book successfully.

Author Business Cards

A literary agent, who is not generally a fan of business cards, talks about how to make a stellar business card that won’t get thrown in the trash. Some really great tips!

Mastering Your Author Headshot

Author August McLaughlin offers some helpful tips on making sure your author headshot gives the right impression and how you can get the most out of a headshot photo session. She includes an interview with headshot photographer Ken Dapper.