Top 10 Posts of 2015
It’s the end of another year, and time for another top ten post overview! 2015 was an exciting year for Finish That Novel! and an exciting year for me personally. My novel Automaton was selected for publication last December, which led to a thrilling publishing adventure for me (and lots of busyness!). Meanwhile, Finish That Novel! grew about 300% in terms of views and traffic, despite the fact that I had to take several breaks from posting to work on my own writing and publicity. Without further ado, let’s check out which posts made waves in the writing world!
10. 5 Ways to Kill Writers’ Block (After It’s Started)
Writers’ block can be terrible, and even the best novels can come to a grinding halt because you simply don’t know what to write. That’s okay. That’s normal. This post will help walk you through the steps to get back on your feet and push your way forward to a healthy writing pace!
9. A Look into The Life of A Published Author
Last spring, something amazing struck me: I realized that I was officially a published author. My debut novel had released. I was getting paid royalties, accepting interviews and even doing a book tour that put Finish That Novel! on hold for over a month. In this post I documented what publication is like for new authors and what caught me by surprised.
I’m always looking for new writing resources to share with fellow writers, and Novlr caught my attention over the summer as being one of the better services available. As of my writing this it costs $10 a month, but if you have the budget, I definitely recommend it!
7. How to Write Award-Winning Literary Fiction (Parody)
One of the more fun blog post series I’ve written in 2015 is my parody posts. I take a certain author or popular genre and look at the biggest problems with it. This post looks at the modern Literary Fiction craze and some of the problems I’ve had with it.
6. 14 Reasons You Need to Finish Your Novel
It’s true. Finishing your novel is actually good for you and will benefit you in unexpected ways, even if you never seek publication. Here’s a list of some things that you should consider if you ever feel like giving up.
5. 12 Writing Mistakes I Wish You’d Stop Making
There was a certain typo in this article that certain readers gave me grief over, but since I’ve fixed it I can say that this is one of the stronger articles featured on this site.
4. Booktrack Review: Books with Soundtracks?
Despite what I consider a brilliant idea, my initial review of Booktrack was rather stormy. After further experimentation, I decided on a more positive review which you can find here, but I have yet to put any of my own stories through the system with everything else I have going on.
3. How to Format Your Novel for Submission (And Why It Matters)
I have seen drafts from hopeful (and talented) authors that were rejected from publishers almost instantly. Many writers end up confused and are forced to repeat the same mistake over and over because they don’t know what the mistake is–formatting. Publishers will reject your novel without question if it isn’t formatted correctly. This article covers the basics in novel formatting and how to know what publishers wanted.
2. Showdown: Yarny Vs. Litlift
This article has been trending ever since it was published. Yarny’s a veteran in the writing online arena, but Litlift is a newer and supposedly more refined presence. Which one holds out in the end? I look at ease of use, customer service and the overall experience I had with each of these services to determine the winner.
1. Blurb and Bookwright Double Review
It’s no surprise that the reviews dominated the top ten list this year, and further no surprise that this post made number 1–with a whopping 1, 415 views since I first published it. Blurb is already well known for their photo album publishing services, and the news that they were now going to offer self-publishing through Bookwright was exciting! I was all too eager to try it out and see what it offered writers.