While May was crowded with events, June isn’t far from the same density of overcrowded book-goodness overload. Several of May’s events will even be pouring over to the next month.

June is another month full of great events for authors and publishers of all categories. As schools and universities across the world close their doors for the summer, we list 12 events in June 2017 that matter to authors and publishers across the globe.

This brief article will help you plan what book fairs, publishing events, conferences, workshops and retreats you want to organize your month around, as well as where to find more info on each event.

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Mobile phones are quickly replacing many items that were previously thought to be irreplaceable. Consider, for example; cameras, calculators, watches, alarm clocks, radios, portable video devices, magazines, newspapers, etc. All of these items can now be stored on your mobile device – comfortably resting in your pocket.

Today, a large number of users have also switched from reading printed documents, to reading digitized content through mobile devices, whether they’re reading fiction, non-fiction, short stories, etc. A growing trend in recent years, is the utilization of mobile-based learning. This incorporates everything from fully-fledged and heavily sponsored library apps, to standalone MOOC software, to educational game apps and individual course hosting.

People are shifting towards doing everything they can while on-the-go. In many ways, they can be encouraged to even study and learn through their phones. Mobile learning is definitely on the rise, and in this article we explore the pros and cons of mobile learning while also offering our own insight to establishing your mobile learning strategy, along with a handful of tools you can utilize to start creating your own mobile learning platform.

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There’s something delicious about creeping along a dark hallway with a character, feeling their terror as they grip their kid’s baseball bat with sweaty fingers. Something woke them from a deep sleep. Something not quite right. It could be the tree scratching against the window. It could be the cat.

But we know it’s neither of those things, don’t we? We know something terrible is waiting in the shadows, something with ripping claws and teeth.

Something hungry.

Keep on reading for 5 valuable tips to creating anticipation, suspense and horror in your next book!

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At its best, reading historical fiction is like a journey to a fabulous new place – familiar, and yet totally different – from where you see your “normal” everyday world through fresh eyes.

But sometimes there are bumps in the road. I’ve read a lot of historical fiction, and I’ve read a lot of contemporary fiction written over the last three hundred years or so. In writing stories set in the past, I’ve found one of the most difficult things to gauge is how much detail to include.

I’ve written here some important tips to consider when you’re working on your next historical fiction novel or short story.

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Writers famously talk about overcoming writer’s block, that traffic jam that stops the creative juices mid-flow and kills off any hope of getting your book off the ground. One big question you might face when you’re thinking about the overall theme of the book is: what should I even write about?

Fortunately for writers, however, there are plenty of opportunities for inspiration that can jump start the ideas for a book’s main theme, the characters that might appear and the events they go through.

Below are ten points to consider when you’re thinking over themes for your next book. Whether you choose to revisit old themes and revamp them, create tales around real life events, or modernise myths and legends, these points should help you decide on a best-selling theme.

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For anyone in the writing industry, it’s important to always stay on top of things. May is another month loaded with great events for authors and publishers of all categories. Between book fairs, publishing events, writers’ retreats and conferences, we listed 14 events in May 2017 that matter to authors and publishers across the globe.

This brief article will help you plan your month around what events you want to (and can) attend, as well as where to find more info on each event.

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Once you’ve finished your manuscript, it’s easy to breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate the first step to getting your book published. But bearing in mind editors can tell what’s worth publishing after as little as two pages, it’s a good idea to do some editing yourself, before you send it off.

The more that editors realize your manuscript needs a lot of editing work, the more likely they are to put it to one side and forget about it. Self-editing will increase your chances the editor reads your manuscript – it’ll also increase the chances your book will actually be readable.

To avoid any hiccups, below are 10 easy steps you can follow to re-read over your manuscript and self-edit.

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Imagine 9-year-old Sophia reading her favorite story book Alice in Wonderland only to find Alice being replaced by Sophia herself. If you’re not impressed, don’t underestimate this for children. For a kid to see his/her own name featured in the book (let alone becoming the hero) is a big deal! After all, isn’t reader engagement one of your main goals as an author?

In this article, we’re going to look behind the curtains, into the technical side of things, and share one of our secrets for creating interactive ebooks: dynamic character names. This applies to EPUB 3 ebooks (for an understanding of the EPUB format, read: Alice in EPUB-Land: Understanding the EPUB format). Continue Reading

Ebooks have blown the market open for authors to get their creations out to the widest possible audience. They have also opened up a big can of worms when it comes to deciding the technologies behind best ebook practices.

When creating an ebook, there are two layout formats you can choose from: reflowable layout or fixed layout. But which one is best to choose when you want to create content that people can easily download and read?

Each layout format has its own uses, advantages and drawbacks. It all depends on what you’re creating and who you’re creating it for.
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One of Colombia’s (and Latin America’s) most important cultural and literary events, the Bogota International Book Fair will provide you with more than just Gabriel Garcia Marquez – you’ll also get to enjoy well over 1000 cultural events on the side, along with literary gems from all the biggest Latin authors along with many promising, up-coming names.

This year, the FILBo 2017 will be celebrating it’s 30th anniversary. So we thought we’d conduct an interview with the Fair’s manager, Ms. Sandra Pulido Urrea, to discover what’s so special about this year’s event, as well as France’s role as the country guest of honor at this milestone event. FILBo will be held from the 25th of April till the 8th of May this year.

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