Welcome!
Thank you for visiting JohnBriggsBooks.net, where I’ll keep you updated on my publishing news, events, book releases, and the like. I’ll also offer my thoughts on the publishing industry (particularly … Continue reading
Book Trailers
Announcing the release of Leaping Lemmings! September 6, 2016! Just because it looks very cool: Leaping Lemmings! in Mandarin. Announcing the release of Pete Seeger, The People’s Singer … Continue reading
EDITING BRAIN VS. WRITING BRAIN: WHAT YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT WRITING FROM DONALD TRUMP’S COVID CASE
Want to know what you can learn about writing from the top story du jour? Then read on because you’re a writer and you need to find the story in everything.
Just Because My Publisher Did Something Cool
There are a lot of reasons (many of them noble) to buy ebooks — saving trees, saving the ozone, lower cost — but here’s a new one: saving democracy.
There’s a big push on to buy ebooks instead of print books to…[Read More]
SEVEN TIPS FOR BEATING WRITER’S BLOCK
Does writer’s block keep you pacing the floor for days? Tossing and turning at night?
Here are a few tricks to overcome it.
Why Satire Is the Best Way to Understand This Election
Inundated with news stories? Can’t always tell who’s telling the truth? Let satire help you figure it out. How? Okay, let’s start with a quick question. Is the statement President … Continue reading
IS LABOR DAY A PRODUCTIVE WRITING DAY FOR YOU?
I have a secret. Well, a preference really. I hate not working on holidays—and by working, I mean writing.
To me, a day off from the day job is the perfect day to write. I have started several books and written entire short stories and picture books on holidays. For some reason, I find it personally and professionally rewarding. Any holiday becomes a productive day for me.
And any holiday can be a productive writing day for you, too.
Why Being Uncertain Ruins Your Writing (I Think)
Imagine you climb into a taxi and the driver says, “I don’t know. It’s over there somewhere.”
Now, imagine you climb into a second cab and the driver says, “Yeah, I know exactly where it is. We go up three streets, make a right, and it’s two miles on the left.”
You’d feel a lot better getting in the second car, right?
That’s a lot like writing.
Imagine those taxi drivers are authors. The first driver/writer will meander, appear lost, look for the next turn or destination, and you’re not sure your trip is ever going to pay off or bring you to a good destination.
But your feel like the second driver is in control. He may go a way you don’t know or expect, but you’re always confident you’ll reach your destination.
Uncertain writing has the same effect. But with the first writer, you don’t climb out of the car, you abandon the book. You stick with the second writer until the end.
How to Avoid Uncertain Writing
How to Create a Great Title and Eye-Catching Cover
A few decades ago, most book covers were a solid color with a standard font and a title that almost always told you nothing about what was inside if you didn’t already know. Those days are long gone. Today, we judge books by their covers in a nanosecond, so your cover not only has to stand-out as a thumbnail image, it has to hold a potential reader’s attention for five seconds or more, and have a title that is alluring and able to be listed on page one in Amazon’s search engine.
That’s a lot to cram into one image and three to ten words
So, how do you do it?
Below are
Why We Like Satire Even When Things Don’t Change
In 1729, A Modest Proposal shocked a staid and stiff England. Readers were immediately repulsed by the anonymous author’s suggestion that people eat children in order to stop children from starving. They rose up and demanded that action be taken to stop the immense poverty sweeping Ireland. Aristocrats and scholars, the primary targets of A Modest Proposal, quickly threw money and workable solutions at the problem. That satire, one of Jonathon Swift’s many masterpieces, produced sweeping changes.
We’ve had a three-hundred-year drought since then.
So why do we keep reading satire?
Book Birthday: A Vote for Jesus Releases Today!
A Vote for Jesus, an old-fashioned political satire that confronts modern politics, releases today. While bookstores unfortunately remained closed due to COVID-19, print and ebooks can be ordered through Amazon, … Continue reading
Writing Advice: Don’t Talk About Your Book Until It’s Done
There’s an old saying in the arts: Don’t talk about your next project until it’s done. Why? Well, before I answer that, let’s get into a little background on it … Continue reading
John Briggs Books 