Author Heather McCorkle

Building your platform isn't all bad. In fact, it can be really fun. The people you meet can enrich your life and some may even change it. Kimberly Pauley is the type of person that will enrich your life. She keeps me laughing, keeps me encouraged, and even keeps me grounded at times when I need it. As an author she's full of great links and tips that help other writers and she had great taste in books! So great in fact that she's a book reviewer for Young Adult Book Central. If you haven't already Kimberly's young adult urban fantasy, you must. It's the most unique vampire story I have read in a long time. The main character, Mina, must decide whether or not she wants to be a vampire. Both of her parents are vampires and she isn't supposed to live among them unless she's one herself. But Mina would rather worry about catching the eye of the hot guy in school than make huge life decisions at this point. This book is a blast and you're missing out i...

Every now and then you meet someone really special on an online community that makes you think, 'yeah, that's why I'm on here!' Someone who makes you laugh and cry and feel llike the whole writing experience doesn't have to be lonely at all. Myra McEntire is one of those kind of people. I think we first came across each other in the YA lit chat on Twitter (or #yalitchat for those of you who tweet!). Myra writes young adult urban fantasy and is represented by agent Holly Root of Waxman Literary Agency. Now that's a dream team! In her free time (LOL!) she reviews books for Young Adult Books Central Blog (YABC). She reviews some outstanding books and has never steered me wrong! Keep an eye on the bestseller lists for Myra. Its coming girl. . . You can find Myra on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/MyraMcEntire Here's her blog: http://writingfinally.blogspot.com/ And here she is on YABC: http://yabookscentral.blogspot.com/

Bear with me, I'll explain. As I get further into the process of becoming a published writer I'm learning that there is a lot of zen needed to pull this off. For one, you must absolutely be hard as nails to take all the criticism and rejection dealt out in this line of work. Got that one down, bring on the next challenge! Before I can even finish that sentence it's swinging at me with a wicked right hook. But I'm ready, I can roll with it. Next comes the critique process from the agent. How quick can you get this back to me? Watch the keys on my computer smoke. I can make overnight express look like the pony express. When it comes to re-writes and editing I'm a machine, lightning fast and spot on. So what's next? Bring it, I'm ready! Oh, what do you mean now we have to wait for the editor to consider it? How long do we have to wait? What, months! Ugh. Not that, anything but that! But oh yes folks, it comes right back around to the waiting process. Time again...

I'm always on the lookout for new marketing ideas for one's writing. Don't get me wrong, I'm a believer in traditional publishing and will fight until I'm blue in the face to achieve that goal. However, even if an editor buys your work that doesn't mean the house will do all your marketing for you. They'll have a plan of course, but if you don't snag a huge advance your marketing plan is likely to be minimal. In which case, it's time for you to step in and take the reins. And of course for those who self-publish it's completely up to them. One of my Twittering friends came up with a brilliant idea. He Twittered about offering a short story of his for free. When I asked him about it he said it was a way to bring more readers to his work than if he had just placed it on his website, and he's right. And you thought Twitter couldn't do anything for you! If he has say fifty followers and only half of them check out his site, that's still 2...