The hard part is knowing how to ask the right questions in order to get the right answers.

By Charles H. Bush

They say “write about what you know.” Unfortunately, if you’re like me and don’t know much, you have to find a way know what you need to know. The method I use is “research.”

For years, before advent of the internet, I found research to be a daunting task, certainly not for the homebound or for the lazy like me. But now most needed research is rather easy. The hard part is knowing how to ask the right questions in order to get the right answers. I’ll give you several case studies a bit later to demonstrate what I do. There are several tools I now use to do my research, so I’ll just jump right in. Read more…

This is an archive of the Writer’s Oasis Chat, which meets on BeYourArt.com and AOL. It invites authors and professionals to speak on various topics in writing. Contact Shirley Flanagan, the Writer’s Oasis Chat Administrator, or join the Writer’s Oasis Topic to be added to the mailing list.

Sunny: Introducing our million seller, Holly Jacobs

Holly: Okay, so I feel a bit presumptuous with the title of this. Although, the geek in me was truly excited when I did the math last year and realized more than a million of my books had sold worldwide, an

Sunny: Its amazing Holly

Holly: and realized more than a million of my books had sold worldwide, and I was even happier when I made it past the million and a half mark last royalty statement. Holly: That worldwide is a big part of the number. That and the fact that Harlequin is truly a global entity. I just did an article on Harlequin’s overseas distribution.

Holly: . They sell books in more than a hundred countries. I’ve had books come out in only about a quarter of them so far.

Tinny: Don’t keep us in suspense What did you write that sold 1 M? Read more…

Added section for Books by Members of BeYourArt.

Co-Published: BeYourArt.com and The North Shoreian Magazine, The Altruism Issue, Volume 1, Issue 11, Practicalities of the Surviving Artists, November 2008. Written by Pamela Reese.

Photo By Nino Andonis

The faltering economy has impacted most segments of business and industry, and those involved in the arts have not been exempt. Nevertheless, fiction publishers have taken action to provide new options to aspiring writers. Publishing has begun to affect a myriad of changes in an attempt to remain relevant and competitive in an increasingly tight struggle for entertainment dollars.

Given the current volatility in the book business, smaller profit margins and the need to entice a new generation as the avid readers of the baby boom are aging; publishing is at last seeking solutions to longstanding difficulties.

The publishing industry, deeply entrenched in long traditions and reluctant to initiate sweeping changes in a tight economy, is experimenting with ways to eliminate some of their most vexing issues. Those solutions may have a very direct impact on writers and their art. Read more…