Maybe This Time is Jennifer Crusie’s new book, landing on bookshelves everywhere today. This is her first solo novel since the wildly popular Bet Me, which won the 2004 RITA.) Maybe This Time is smart and quirky, brimming with the trademark Crusie repartee. Here, with a Take 5 to whet your appetites, is Jennifer Crusie. [...]

Every book requires research. Even if it’s set in your hometown and your protagonist is a whole lot like you, there will be some moment where you’re not sure of a fact – was the corner store there in 1994? Is it 15 miles to Waverly or 16? – and you will, in some way, [...]

July 5th isn’t a major U.S. calendar holiday, but because July 4th fell on a Sunday this year, many people with full-time jobs are taking July 5th as a holiday from work. Including me. So I’m here but not here. And do you know what I’m not doing, wherever I am? I’m not writing. I’m [...]

Please welcome guest poster Karin Slaughter to Writer Unboxed.  Karin is an internationally bestselling author of crime fiction and suspense, author of 11 novels that have sold upward of 17 million copies globally.  Karin’s upcoming release BROKEN, is another nailbiter, and sure to add to her list of bestsellers. When Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, [...]

My book is called The Kitchen Daughter, and it’s about a woman who discovers she can invoke ghosts by cooking from dead people’s recipes. Does that say everything there is to say about my book? Heck no. But does it say enough? In my opinion, yes, just. Writing is hard, and I’m not just talking [...]

Today we welcome special guest Cindy Hudson to Writer Unboxed. Cindy is the author of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs (Seal Press, October 2009). She’s here today, just days before Mother’s Day, to tell us about books that resonate with two generations of readers. Enjoy! ____ Writing for Two [...]

So here’s the question: do you need an MFA? Answer: No. (Score! Shortest. Column. Ever.) But here’s what happens if you ask the question in a slightly different way. Question: Could you benefit from an MFA? Answer: Almost definitely. A little background: My senior year of college, I applied to the most selective MFA programs in [...]

I’m about to dig into the revisions my editor and agent have suggested for my next book, (How To Bake A Perfect Life, out in January). It’s a complex story with a fairly large cast of characters and a complicated time structure. The tale is set in a bakery, more specifically a boulangerie, which is [...]

We wannabe authors—“author” meaning published writer—who are on the web are constantly assaulted by reports and opinions on what sells.  We hear that zombies are the new vampires . . . no, wait, angels are the new vampires . . . or are they the new zombies?  Mysteries are up, and so is YA and [...]

How has the recent eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano affected you?  Are you stranded in an airport trying to get home?  Did you miss an important funeral?  Were you planning on going to the Coachella music festival?  Talvin Singh, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Gary Numan won’t be there.  They can’t get a flight.  WWE Raw Wrestlers are [...]

Paris postcard 3 For writers at the source of the ‘food chain’ of publishing, daily life is often quiet and solitary, tapping away at the computer and mulling over scenes and characters, but it’s good to remember we are part of a vast and busy and lively industry which employs hundreds of thousands of people [...]

I hold in my hands a trade paperback titled We the Enemy. It’s the real thing—except you can’t buy it anywhere because this is the one and only copy. This rare, one-of-a-kind book, written and designed by me, cost me all of $10.86 (including shipping). This is by way of Lulu.com. I couldn’t buy one [...]

Tonight is the night! Carleen Brice’s lauded debut novel, Orange Mint and Honey, was purchased by Lifetime Movie Network and has been transformed into a made-for-TV movie for the network called Sins of the Mother. [Read our interview with Carleen here.] Check out the trailer here, and be sure to tune in to the Lifetime [...]

This is pretty cool. Seeing as Writer Unboxed readers are keen to learn more about the the book publicity space, we thought you might be interested in a homegrown, zero-budget, author-fueled project that WU contributor J.C. Hutchins recently coordinated. It was a cross-promotion that was so savory, it snagged the participation of several New York [...]

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone had a wonderful, food- and family-filled holiday. Now it’s Black Friday, and on this, the biggest shopping day of the year, I’d like to make a special plea: buy books this holiday season. Not my books, I don’t mean, or even those of my fellow WU contributors. Just books. Fiction, nonfiction, [...]