In recent years, the publishing industry has witnessed a notable decline in paperback editions, particularly in adult nonfiction. Between 2019 and 2024, new adult nonfiction paperback titles decreased by 42%, dropping to just under 40,000. In contrast, hardcover titles experienced a more modest decline of 9% during the same period. Several factors contribute to this…
Category: Publishing
Writing “Penelope’s Big Dream”
Author Mónica Vidalón takes us through the process of writing and publishing her Children’s Book Even though my background is in business and advertising, I have always been passionate about writing and illustrating books for children. When my girls were little, I made a point to read to them very often not only to raise…
Interview with Jeremy Ross, Author/Illustrator of the Mustard Series
I chatted with Amazon Best-Selling author, illustrator, and Writing Academy graduate, Jeremy Ross, about the release of his third picture book in the Mustard Series: Mustard Thinks Twice! (available from Amazon). This time… Ketchup is up to his sneaky tricks again, and Mustard is faced with a difficult decision. Will Mustard join Ketchup and Ranch…
Types of Editing
What are the different types of editing and how are they different from one another? I get this question a lot, so I thought I’d answer it here on our blog. There are 3 main types of editing and they’re usually tackled in this order: 1. Developmental Editing Developmental Editing is a holistic look at…
Guest Post: Applying 3-Act Structure to a Picture Book
I would like to sincerely thank Steve and Dani for giving me the opportunity to share my experience writing Sade: We’re Moving to Canada! on this blog, and to provide a free copy of the book to the Writing Academy community. I have been writing on and off since I was a kid. I describe…
Guest Post: My Indie Journey
I’m an indie. It’s not a decision I made lightly, but in the end, I chose the independent publishing route. It’s my path. I’ve called myself type A, or a control freak, or whatever the latest jargon is, but basically, I like to do things myself. I’m also impatient. That said, I know two things:…
Guest Post: Challenges with Writing & Illustrating My Second Children’s Book, Breathe, Mustard, Breathe!
I would like to extend an appreciation to Dani and Steve Alcorn for allowing me to share a free copy of my second book, Breathe, Mustard, Breathe! with the excellent Writing Academy community, as well as a few key lessons I learned in writing and illustrating my second book. Breathe, Mustard, Breathe! simply teaches our…
Staging is Murder: A Student Success Story
by Grace Topping Today marks the launch of my mystery, Staging is Murder. It’s been a long road to publication, and I honestly don’t think I would have succeeded without Steve Alcorn’s course on mystery writing. It gave me a solid foundation on which to build. Without that foundation, I probably would have given up….
Lessons Learned: Writing & Illustrating an Amazon Best-Selling Children’s Picture Book
To begin, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dani Alcorn for inviting me to write a guest blog post for Writing Academy. My debut children’s picture book, Nobody Loves Mustard, unexpectedly became: An Amazon Best Selling New Release A Number 1 Best Seller (Top 100 Free) A Number 1 Best Seller (Top…
Editing Your Book
Every manuscript needs to be edited, and not just by the author. Sure, self-editing is an important step in manuscript preparation, but it’s not the final step if you want to be proud of your published work. We authors simply can’t catch all of our own mistakes. We tend to read what we think is…