Review in Practice: “Word by Word” and “Dollar by Dollar”

One of the advantages of being in a Story Bundle, is that you get a free copy of all the books included in the bundle. That means you get to read everyone else’s book. With the 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle, for me, it, means I get to read a lot of writing reference books and I can discover from them, bits of writing wisdom which I can utilize in my own writing and publishing processes to improve my own work. Word by Word and Dollar by Dollar, by Kerrie Flanagan, are both exclusive to the 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle, so that means you can’t get them anywhere else.

About Word by Word

Word by Word by award-winning author Kerrie Flanagan, shows you how to unlock your creativity and transform your writing. This is an essential guide for writers that offers inspiration, genre-specific strategies, and practical tips.

My Thoughts on Word by Word

This is the book I wish that I’d had when I was earning my first M.A. in Creative Writing. Flanagan offers a comprehensive overview of writing in each of the various genres, with interviews and advice from various authors in each one.

When I first entered graduate school, I didn’t know what a trope was, and it would be impossible to cover the tropes of every genre, even in the intensive M.F.A. program which I attended, so these overviews were quite valuable to me because they helped me to understand the genres in which I haven’t yet dabbled, but may consider in the future. I’ve been playing with the idea of writing a mystery recently, and I have a couple of romance stories in with my trunk novels which could be worthy of taking another look at.

I found the section on children’s writing particularly helpful, as this is a genre I have recently tried to break into with the My Backyard Friends kid’s book series. I have a couple of other books written for kids that I’d like to put out there, too, so the section on using humor when writing for children was especially interesting to me and gave me some ideas about how I could incorporate humor into my own stories. (If you’d like to hear more of my thoughts inspired by this section, catch my November “Writer’s Corner” on writing for children.)

About Dollar by Dollar

Dollar by Dollar by Kerrie Flanagan is a comprehensive guide packed with proven strategies to help writers boost book sales, increase income from writing, and succeed in both traditional and self-publishing.

My Thoughts on Dollar by Dollar

Dollar by Dollar, by award winning author and journalist, Kerrie Flanagan covers the ins and outs of the publishing world, including both traditional and independent publishing, with a full section of valuable advice about ways to make your writing pay beyond crafting books.

While I have chosen not to take the slow traditional route to publishing in favor of taking control of my own writing career, I found the section on traditional publishing to be spot on with my understanding of the industry. Flanagan covers areas such as writing a book proposal or query letter, landing an agent and what to expect once you do, and how to navigate the world of small presses.

At first glance, I thought that this book would be in competition with my own book, The D.I.Y. Author, but the section on independent publishing covers more information on publishing through Ingram Spark, while mine focuses on using an aggregator such as Draft2Digital, so they really are complimentary to one another. Flanagan covers things to think about when deciding if self-publishing is the right route for you, tips on making your book stand out in the crowd, and the challenges and independently published author may face.

In addition, I found the section on other paid writing venues to be quite valuable. Flanagan covers magazine and freelance writing, blog writing, travel writing, resume writing, and more. These are avanues which all authors may not have considered as means to make a living from their writing and should be explored.

But what I found to be of the most value were the sections on newletters and email lists, and about building your author tribe. If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that my newsletter is one area where I have not been consistant at all, and Flanagan reminded me of what a valuable marketing tool that email list really is. This is an area on which I really need to work on and I’ve added it to my list of things I need to do for 2025. She also offered tips on what to put in a newsletter which I found thought provoking.

Building an author tribe is another area which I know is a valuable asset, and I’ve found being a part of Kevin J. Anderson’s tribe of authors to be of great value.But every author has their own tribe, even if it is a small one. These are the authors you work with in some capacity on a regular basis; those who support and encourage you; those who inspire you. My tribe is almost exclusively online and includes the members of my blog team, my blog tour hosts, and authors that I’ve worked with in various anthologies, as well as fellow authors which I’ve met through Facebook groups who are open to exchanging services such as beta reading or proofing, interviews, or reviews. But compared to tribes like that of KJA, my own tribe is small and I need to work on growing it in the coming year.

The 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle

Word for Word and Dollar for Dollar, by award winning author, Kerrie Flanagan are both offered in the 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle, along with my own The D.I.Y. Author and ten other valuable writing references that every author should have at their fingertips. This bundle offers valuable writing advice from successful authors such as Kerrie Flanagan, Kevin J. Anderson, Mark Leslie Lefabvre, Wulf Moon, Joshua Essoe, as well as struggling authors like me. A percentage of every bundle sold goes to the Neil Peart Brain Cancer Research Fund from Cedars Sinai. These digital books are DRM-free and compatable with any digital reading device. And you get a lot of books for one great price.

You can get your 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle here: https://storybundle.com/writing

About Kaye Lynne Booth

For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, and her kid’s book series, My Backyard Friends. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.

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This post is sponsored by The D.I.Y. Author and WordCrafter Press .

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