Kaye Lynne Booth lives, works, and plays in the mountains of Colorado. With a dual emphasis M.F.A. in Creative Writing and an M.A. in Publishing, writing is more than a passion. It's a way of life. She's a multi-genre author, who finds inspiration from the surrounding nature, her love of the old west, and other odd and quirky things which might surprise you.

She has short stories featured online and in several anthologies in addition to her published works mentioned above. She has served as a judge for the Western Writers of America and sitting on the editorial team for Western State Colorado University and WordFire Press for the Gilded Glass anthology and editing Weird Tales: The Best of the Early Years 1926-27, under Kevin J. Anderson & Jonathan Maberry. Her books are available in both digital and print editions at most of your favorite book distributors.

In addition, she keeps up her authors' blog, Writing to be Read, where she posts reflections on her own writing, author interviews and book reviews, along with writing tips and inspirational posts from fellow writers. Kaye Lynne has also created her own very small publishing house in WordCrafter Press, and WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services, where she offers quality author services, such as publishing, editing, and book blog tours.

In her spare time, she is bird watching, or gardening, or just soaking up some of that Colorado sunshine.

Ask the Authors 2022 edited by Kaye Lynne Booth

Where can you find publishing industry experts willing to share their secrets?

Ask the Authors 2022 is the ultimate writing reference, with tips and advice on craft, publishing and marketing. Eleven experienced and successful authors share what works for them and offer their keys to success in traditional publishing, hybrid and indie. You'll learn industry wisdom from Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Kevin Killiany, L. Jagi Lamplighter, Bobby Nash, Paul Kane, Nancy Oswald, Chris Barili, Jeff Bowles, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Mario Acevedo, and Kaye Lynne Booth.

This book offers tried-and-true ways to improve their craft and explores the many options in the current publishing and book marketing worlds. Take a peek inside and find out what works for you.

 

REVIEWS

  • "I found it to be both interesting and useful, answering questions I didn't even know I had and giving me different perspectives to ponder as I move forward on my own writing journey."

    – Alex Norton, Likely Story
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

I've been a writer for almost a quarter of a century. It's true. I sold my first poem for $5 in 1996. My writer's journey has been a slow one, but I've discovered a few things along the way, the most important being that most authors are good people, and they are a tight-knit group who are usually willing to help their fellow authors by sharing their own experiences and advice. I can't tell you how much talking to and learning from other authors has helped me along the way.

In 2018, I had an idea to run a blog series where a group of authors shared their writing, publishing and marketing advice in a Q&A format on my authors' blog, Writing to be Read. The series ran for twelve weeks, with each week covering a different topic. It was popular enough, that I ran a second round later in the year. The series was called "Ask the Authors", and in 2019, I compiled and published those blog segments into a writing reference of the same title. It featured 17 authors, in various stages of their writing careers, and it contained some awesome writing advice.

In 2021, I found myself going back over the information and advice included in Ask the Authors, and I realized that while much of the advice on craft was evergreen and remained valid today, digital technology has changed so rapidly, a lot of the information was no longer valid or was at least in need of updating, especially in the publishing and marketing realms. In 2018, audiobooks were relatively new, while now many authors have delved into that realm with their work, and they are a common topic of conversation. "To publish an audio version, or not to publish an audio version of your book? That is the question!"

Of course, this isn't the only technological advance that has changed the publishing industry. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is now a common fixture on many of our devices, and if you listen to The Creative Penn podcast, Joanna Penn talks about its place in creating audio books, and other digital advancements in publishing, like NFTs, (and I have no idea what the acronym stands for), which are hard to get my mind around. From what I can gather, they are like digital hardbacks; collector editions in digital format which can be purchased with crypto currency.

My point is that things have changed a lot since I first ran the blog series in 2018, not even five years ago. Indie authors, like Hugh Howey, are being looked to and respected as industry leaders, right along with the traditional Big 5, which have recently merged into the Big 3. Traditional publishing is still struggling to adapt and change to meet the new market, while indie authors lead the way by embracing this digital era and adapting publishing and marketing practices. It is because of all these vast changes, some of the information and advice contained in that original reference book has changed.

So, I decided to do it again, and Ask the Authors 2022 is the result. This time I've requested that each author include an essay, offering writing tips and advice, in addition to the Q&A. Beside myself, we have Chris Barili, one of the authors who participated in the original project. In addition, we bring you eight other authors, offering relevant advice – sometimes agreeing, and sometimes differing from one another. And that's okay, because there is no right or wrong when it comes to writing. Every author is different, and what works for one author, may or may not work for the next. For that matter, what works for one book may not work for the next.

The authors you will meet in Ask the Authors 2022 include: Kaye Lynne Booth (that's me), Christopher Barili, L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright, Bobby Nash, Mark Leslie Lafebvre, Roberta Eaton Cheadle (also published as Robbie Cheadle), Nancy Oswald, Mario Acevedo, Paul Kane, and Jeff Bowles. Kevin Killiany was also a contributor, but due to circumstances in this crazy pandemic era, he was unable to contribute an essay, although he did participate in some of the Q & A. They are a great bunch of authors, most of whom I've worked with before on one project or another. And I love that I can hear their voices in the essays provided here, which makes every time I come here to reference their advice feel like turning to old (& new) friends.

The idea is to offer you an author's toolbox, filled with an assortment of different tools that authors can use to improve their craft, or publish and sell their writing. It's a great reference that offers the opportunity to learn from authors who are making it work. Not everything suggested will work for you, but I'm sure you will find some of it that fits. I hope you find it helpful.

That being said, it's time to Ask the Authors.