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Narrative Nonfiction: Making Facts into a Story

When editors say they are looking for narrative nonfiction, what does that mean?

Narrative nonfiction is creative nonfiction yet while both are fact-based book categories, narrative nonfiction is also about storytelling, not just presenting facts in a clever way. It gives people, places and events meaning and emotional content

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Start Here: How to Self-Publish Your Book

by Jane Freidman

 

Industry veteran Jane Friedman gave us special permission to reprint the following article, which outlines the steps necessary to self-publish your print or ebook, and includes links to numerous resources. If you’re thinking of self-publishing, this article is a must-read. Another must: subscribe to Jane’s blog

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Top Ten Grammar Bloopers

We’ve all seen blooper shows on television. Family bloopers. Actors’ bloopers. Talk show bloopers. But have you ever seen a grammar blooper show? Probably not. Well, I can’t provide you with an actual show on grammar bloopers, but I can give you my top ten.

You may ask why I

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Turn Your Research into Several Magazine Credits

So, you have a good idea for a magazine article.  Can you turn it into a great idea?  Many writers put a huge amount of effort into getting a piece published, only to stop with one byline.  Their ideas hit the press once, and stop there.

 

Getting a publication

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Real Time Management for Writers

Many of us have taken time management classes in an attempt to get more out of our days. However, sometime we don’t realize that writing and managing a writing career takes different types of time: actual writing time, time spent marketing, time spent communicating with clients (editors and others), time

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Understanding Copyright and Fair Use

 

COPYRIGHT

 

Did you know that you have invoked a copyright as soon as you write something—putting it on paper or other media? For many years I didn’t understand this concept. I thought I needed to take out a copyright on each short story, article, or book I wrote.

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Using Connectives to Make Your Prose Flow

Do you ever wonder how to use connective words? I do. I am constantly second-guessing myself on the proper use of such words as “than,” “as,” “nevertheless,” “neither,” “either,” etc.

Like transitions, connectives serve as a bridge, connecting anything from a word, a clause, a sentence, or a paragraph with

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Mastering the Vital Art of Transitions

I grew up in the Washington, DC/Maryland area. In navigating your way through the city and its many suburbs, you often need to cross over rivers, the Anacostia, the Potomac, to name just a few. Bridges provide the means for you to cross the rivers.

Bridges also provide the means

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What’s Holding You Back?

You’re a writer. Perhaps you’ve just started your writing career and dream of becoming a New York Times bestseller. Or maybe you’ve been writing for a while and sold some short stories, but you have yet to reach your goal of selling a book.

What’s holding you back?

 

FEAR

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Book Apps for Beginners

 

 

Welcome home!   :)

 

Your free ebook is right below.  While you’re downloading, have a look at this quick video to see everything that’s changed here at CBI.  We’ve been busy bees, making everything simpler, faster and more useful for our members.  I know you’ll really enjoy it.

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Productivity and the Writing Life

We all want to be more productive. Too often, though, we approach this goal with no clear idea of how to make it happen. Saying “I want to be more productive” is not likely to bring results. Start with a plan.

  • Define productivity in personal terms. Do you want to
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Glossary of Common Publishing Terms

What’s your writing IQ? Do you know the lingo used in the writing and publishing business? Take a look at the following definitions and see how many you know.

Let’s start at the beginning with basic terms:

 

Antagonist: the anti-hero or force who works to keep the protagonist from

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Start with One Sentence

Practically speaking, there’s nothing more difficult than staring at an empty computer screen, willing yourself to be creative. You may be stuck trying to find the perfect place to start your story. Or you’re contemplating the entire story arc—an intimidating process at best. From start to finish, your book must

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Networking Can Help Your Career, and the World

In the March 2015 issue of Children’s Book Insider I wrote about establishing your networking goals to help you boost your writing career. I also showed you how to identify your networking personality. Once you’ve done all that, you’re ready to put it all together.

There are principles that can

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Perfect Your Writing Style

Fashionistas talk a lot about style. So do writers. Interestingly, both groups use the word in much the same manner. Style, in fashion and in writing, is unique to the individual and revealed in the details.

I will never be a fashionista, so I won’t be instructing you in that.

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Get Targeted Feedback Through Response Sheets

Writers need feedback. Unfortunately, feedback can be hard to come by. What to do?

Your first reader should, of course, be yourself. After you’ve read through the manuscript and revised to the best of your ability, find several other readers to offer critiques. These first readers are often referred to

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Opening Lines: Make Yours Count

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, if the was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of

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VIDEO – How to Write Compelling Dialogue, Part 2

In Part Two of her dialogue tutorial, writing coach Teresa Funke covers the most common dialogue challenges, including using slang and cussing, dialect and accents, inserting humor into the conversation, and linking the dialogue with the character’s movements.

 

 

 

To download a pdf transcript of this video, or to learn

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How to Use Fiction Techniques in Nonfiction

by Sue Bradford Edwards

 

To sell your nonfiction, you have to hook your reader, including your first reader – an editor or agent.  When I write narrative nonfiction, I grab my reader using the same techniques used by fiction writers.  I create a story full of interesting characters who

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Do You Have to Write From Beginning to End?

Many writers believe they have to begin with “Once upon a time” and finish with “The End.” In between, every word must be written exactly in the order that it will be read. There is little flexibility in this approach – and it’s difficult to continue the entire way through

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The Writer as Businessperson: How to Take Your Career Seriously

My husband owns a business that makes power supplies. He operates it as would any business person, with attention to inventory, marketing, record-keeping and, always, professionalism.

Did you know that writers are also business people? Sometimes, however, we forget that, focusing on the creative side and neglecting the business one.

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7 Steps to Researching the Magazine Market

Here are a few steps toward learning the magazine market:

1. Read magazines you enjoy and study the content carefully.

2. Carefully study about a year’s worth of issues in a magazine so you have a sense of what has recently been published.

3. Take a look at competing publications

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9 Reasons Why Magazine Writing May Be For You

If your definition of breaking into children’s publishing includes writing and selling a 300-page novel, or convincing a publisher to invest thousands of dollars in your picture book, you’re overlooking a substantial part of the market. Magazines need new material on a weekly or monthly basis. Some writers start off

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Book Apps for Beginners

 

This month, we’re giving you a wonderful ebook that will help you understand the remarkable possibilities offered by book apps!

 

book apps

Karen Robertson, our Book App Expert, has created a special ebook version of her Book Apps for Beginners just for Children’s Book Insider subscribers!