Author & Illustrator of Mental Health Comics Holly Chisholm

Holly Chisholm is the artist of Just Peachy comics, which Booklist has called "thoughtful and poignant." Her popular Instagram account for Just Peachy comics was her compromise between drawing and journaling; it helped her record how she was feeling at the time of being diagnosed with depression and work through some of the darkness. At first it was scary to put her deepest thoughts and fears out in the open, but the responses and messages of support from droves of fans made Chisholm realize how much it was needed to talk about mental health. After about six months of making these comics, she decided to quit her job and freelance part time so that she could dedicate more time to making and promoting Just Peachy. In the future, Chisholm is hoping to make another book, and would love to be able to do this full-time, while raising awareness about mental health and her personal struggle with depression.

Old Writers Never Die. They Just...

Rather than give up a love affair with words, old writers, with decades of footprints in the book trade, simply change genres, refurbish stories, and stay delightfully crazy.

My falling in love with storytelling happened at nap time in my grandmother’s bed. It was some time in the year of 1949. She fell asleep in the midst of reading a story. I did not, and poked her with my elbow to get her voice going again, a voice honed on decades of reading the Bible aloud, with its old-world rhythms. Since my grandmother seemed to worry that I would be the first female in our family to go to prison, she dropped me off each Sunday in her church’s Children’s Class. There, I heard Bible stories that were older even than my grandmother, a realization that led me to my first profound thought: if stories could last so long, they must be something we need. Like air, food and water—or a good purse.

Writing AdviceMark GottliebSeptember 9, 2019writinginspiration, theborrowinglife, writingcommunity, writingtips, writinggoalsComment

Scandinavian-Inspired Dark Epic Fantasy Author Tina LeCount Myers

Tina LeCount Myers is a writer, artist, independent historian, and surfer. Born in Mexico to expat-bohemian parents, she grew up on Southern California tennis courts with a prophecy hanging over her head; her parents hoped she'd one day be an author. Tina lives in San Francisco with her adventurer husband and loud Siamese cat. The Song of All is the first book of the epic fantasy trilogy The Legacy of the Heavens. Her latest book from the trilogy, Dreams of the Dark Sky, publishes February 2019 from Night Shade Books.

Mark Gottlieb Literary Agent at Trident Media Interviews Online

I had the pleasure to sit down with Inc. Magazine’s columnist Dakona Shane to discuss the process of entrepreneurs getting published, prior to his article Ever Thought About Pursuing a Book Deal? Here's How to Get Started …here’s what he asked me and what we discussed in this Mark Gottlieb Agent interview.

Mark GottliebAugust 26, 2019Comment

Founder, President at Experience Digital Marketing for Authors and Publishers

Michael Mejer is an established, trusted digital marketing expert in the non-fiction business book space. The culmination of years of experience in publicity, marketing, and sales in this niche has empowered him to help dozens of authors take their social media platforms to the next level to help promote and grow their books, brands, and businesses.

Hollywood, NY & SF Book Fest Honorable Mention Recipient Andrew Buckley

Andrew Buckley is an editor for a small press, a professional copy and content writer, and a cohost for a geek movie podcast. He is the author of The Perils of Growing Up Werewolf series. His forthcoming book is The Fate of Freddy Mitchell, book one in the Dead Kid Chronicles, about when the fates of the underworld fail to capture a young soul at his scheduled time of death, and the very fabric of the universe begins to unravel—while the fates scramble to correct their mistake, he is forced to deal with a chatty crow, dark and sinister creatures hunting him through the night, a murderous gang of soul hunters, and the fact that he no longer appears to be as alive as he used to be. Andrew now lives happily in the Okanagan Valley, BC with one beautiful wife, three kids, one cat, one needy dog, and a multitude of characters that live comfortably inside of his mind.

What Being a Writer Has Taught Me About Being an Editor (and Vice Versa!)

What I hadn’t realized until recently was that the skill sets for writing and editing, so intertwined and yet so vastly different, can inform each other. Indeed, I’ve learned much about being a writer and writing from being an editor and editing, and vice versa.

L.A. Times Book Prize Honor Recipient & Sci-Fi/Fantasy Author Logan J. Hunder

Logan J. Hunder is a Canadian author from Victoria, British Columbia. After graduating college with a degree in Criminal Justice, he directed his writing abilities towards novels where his insistence to crack jokes would be less frowned upon. His debut novel, Witches Be Crazy, has received praise at the Los Angeles International Book Festival. Hi latest book is Astro-Nuts, in which Mars and Earth are like a divorced couple that don't like each other but have adjusted—somewhere in between, a diplomat sits aboard the HMSS Milk, swipes a vial of weird, incredibly dangerous, consumptive goo known as "Space Jam"—while the SS Greased Lightning ship notices the derelict vessel drifting through space, and despite not picking up any mayday calls, the captain insists on checking it out anyway…unbeknownst to the crew, the only way to guarantee safety over the goo is to destroy it. In addition to penning novels, Hunder is also a proudly serving member of the Canadian Navy.

Blackstone Publishing Hits the Ground Running

Blackstone is somewhat dissimilar from other book and audiobook publishers in a number of ways. One of the most obvious differences being that the company began as an audiobook company and then became a print and eBook publisher, whereas most multi-format publishers started by doing print books. In fact, because of our strength and reputation in the audio market, we have never accepted a manuscript for print and eBook only.

Eisner Award & YALSA-nominated Graphic Novelist Jason Walz

Jason Walz is an Eisner Award-nominated comic and graphic novel creator living in Minneapolis. He is the author of several comics and graphic novels, including the Last Pick trilogy and Homesick. Last Pick was a Kirkus Reviews Best YA Science Fiction of 2018 Selection and a YALSA 2019 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Nominee.

Morality vs. Legality in Historical Fiction

The question of "right" and "wrong" is as old as the human race. Great thinkers have struggled with it throughout history. At the core of my novel The Abolitionist's Daughter, based on an actual incident, is the age-old struggle between legality and morality.

Science Fiction & Fantasy Editor and Author Steve Saffel

Steve Saffel is a Senior Acquisitions Editor at Titan Books, the world’s premiere popular culture publisher, acquiring original science fiction, fantasy, horror, crime fiction, art books, and media tie-ins such as Alien, Planet of the Apes, Batman, Mass Effect, and more. Some of his recent projects include Robin Hood: Mark of the Black Arrow, a Cthulhu vs. Sherlock Holmes trilogy, Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and fiction for Dishonored. Before joining Titan, Saffel was the Editorial Director of Media Projects for Del Rey. In addition to his work there on Star Wars, Saffel also contributed to the Harry Turtledove alternate histories, David Gemmell fantasies, H.P. Lovecraft horror tales, Robotech, Tarzan, and Mars Attacks! He entered publishing via Marvel Comics and then moved to Del Rey Books where he edited science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror, and nonfiction. Saffel is also an author, having written the definitive book Spider-Man The Icon: The Life and Times of a Pop Culture Phenomenon.

Confessions of an Author Newbie: A Story of High Hopes, Heartbreaking Failure... and a Stick-Figure

This is my only-slightly-inspirational story for the world’s would-be writers out there. I can honestly say, “Believe in your dreams,” but make sure you’re ready to pull out your heart and stomp all over it a few times. Publishing your book is a series of amazing highs and devastating lows. Someone told me once—not only do you need to believe in your work, you need to bleed every word. Now, I finally understand, and as I’m mopping up the carnage—I’d like to share my gory details.

Co-Founder & Executive Editor of Unnamed Press Olivia Taylor Smith

Olivia Taylor Smith is the co-founder and executive editor of the Unnamed Press. She is also a certified silver pin sommelier with the North American Sommelier Association and translator of the graphic novel Panthers in the Hole, about the Angola 3.

Iowa Writers'/Yale Writers' Grad & Author of Historical Fiction Diane C. McPhail

Diane C. McPhail is an artist, writer, and minister. In addition to holding an M.F.A., an M.A., and D.Min., she has studied at the University of Iowa distance learning and the Yale Writers’ Workshop, among others. Diane is a member of North Carolina Writers' Network and the Historical Novel Society. She lives in Highlands, North Carolina, with her husband, and her dog, Pepper. She is the author of The Abolitionist’s Daughter, a personal narrative dealing with the struggles of imperfect souls to do right in a time of bitter conflict—a view of Southern Abolitionism, a deadly civilian clash, and the emerging role of women in a world depleted by the bloody conflict of men—a viewpoint far from prevailing stereotypes of the Civil War South, with themes of justice, racial relationships, and equality as timely as today's headlines.

Comparative & Competitive Books Matter

It's important for authors to hold themselves in high esteem, by making comparisons of their writing to success stories. That is why I like to sit down with the writers I work with and nail down what the comparative or competitive book titles to their manuscript might be, before making a submission to editors at publishing houses. We in the industry casually refer to this as asking what the "comps" are (short for comparative or competitive book titles). These are books in the current publishing marketplace that are similar and successful. It's not just about simply saying that a book or author is not unique—it's about celebrating how great a potential publication could be...

Author, Translator and Writing Streamer Scott Wilson

Scott Wilson works as a translator and editor for the Japanese news-entertainment website SoraNews24. He runs ScottWritesStuff, a creative writing livestream on Twitch, and in his free time can be found playing video games and Magic: The Gathering with friends. Metl: The ANGEL Weapon is his first novel. He lives in the Japanese countryside with his wife.

Editorial Director of Sourcebooks Casablanca Deb Werksman

Deb Werksman is the Editorial Director of Sourcebooks Casablanca. She previously ran her own publishing company. Werksman is the country's foremost editor of Jane Austen sequels, and acquires single title romance in all subgenres, as well as historical and women's fiction. Sourcebooks is the country's largest woman-owned independent publishing house, and they are known for their sales and marketing, as well as our focus on building authors' careers.

Books in Translation: Foreign Rights Generate Author Income

Here at the Trident Media Group literary agency, the advances and royalties received from foreign publications makes up about a third of our overall income. So you can imagine that for an author, foreign rights, or books in translation, might also make up about the same overall income on any given book title of theirs. Well, that's certainly nothing to scoff at! That's just one of the reasons why we make every effort we can on behalf of the authors at Trident Media Group to retain foreign rights, such that foreign rights can be properly exploited to an author's benefit. In this article I explore the benefits of working with a literary agency in the foreign publishing markets, as well as the downside of allowing American publishers to handle foreign rights for authors.

Honoring National Women's History Month with Historical Fiction Research

In 1987, the United States Congress designated March as National Women’s History Month. When my literary agent, Mark Gottlieb, asked me to write a guest post for his publishing blog, I thought it might be appropriate to write about a woman publisher.