How to use Wattpad to get a book deal

Reading Time: 4 minutes Serialized novels were popularised by Victorian novelists such as Charles Dickens. Today, free online tools enable anyone to do it – and reach an audience. But would you do it for free? What if it lead to a million hits and a two-book deal with HarperCollins? Emily Benet tells us how she used Wattpad as a launchpad, and shares her top tips for success.

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How Saul Wordsworth took Alan Stoob from Twitter character to published book

Reading Time: 5 minutes Twitter: Huge distraction? Waste of time? Like shouting into an empty field? That’s what Saul Wordsworth used to think. But now his Twitter comedy character Alan Stoob has become a bestselling book, and may become a Hollywood movie. He reveals how he did it – and how you can create your own Twitter character.

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Emily Benet’s blog-to-book-to-sitcom success story

Reading Time: 2 minutes We’re all familiar with blog-to-book success stories. But what about blog-to-sitcom? Regular readers will remember Emily Benet. She won the 2010 Author Blog Award in the Published Author category, which was announced at the Publishing Talk tweetup at the London Book Fair. Her début book, Shop Girl Diaries, began as a weekly blog about working in her mum’s unusual chandelier shop.

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How blogging helped a science fiction author find new fans

Reading Time: 6 minutes Blogging is a great way to raise your profile, connect with readers and encourage sales. But how do you get started? Science fiction author Keith Mansfield started on the road to blogging with a workshop his publisher sent him on – and he’s never looked back. Here he explains how he got started, how he’s benefited from blogging, and shares his top blogging tips.

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How #NaNoWriMo helped Julia Crouch win a three-book deal with Headline

Reading Time: 5 minutes Writers’ block: two words that strike fear into every writer. But for the past 11 years every November a website has come to the rescue. National Novel Writing Month was founded in 1999 by US-based freelance Chris Baty and 20 other writers. Aimed simply at getting words on the page, it sets participants a target of 50,000 words written by the end of the month, and provides forums and exercises aimed at overcoming writer’s block. It has an impressive success rate: of the 165,000 participants in 2009, over 30,000 crossed the 50,000 word line at the end of November.
One of those who participated in 2008 was creative writing graduate Julia Crouch, who had hit a wall. It helped more than she expected: before Christmas the books that came out of NaNoWriMo won her a three book deal with Headline. Her début, the psychological thriller Cuckoo, is published in March. Here she explains how NaNoWriMo helped.

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How Twitter propelled a republished book up the Kindle charts

Reading Time: 3 minutes Amazing things can happen on Twitter if you catch the eye of an ‘influencer’ or two.
Sarah Salway’s Something Beginning With was first published in 2004. Although it had a blog, this was in the days before Twitter, Facebook, and the huge word of mouth possible to achieve with them.
In November 2010 it was republished by the Friday Project. Within a week, it went from nowhere to the top 250 in the Kindle charts. How did this happen?

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