Book News
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Notes from the editor's desk! Book launches and events! Author insights! Marketing tips! You'll find all that and more here at the Orange Hat blog.
Featured Story:
We're all in this together! In this guest post, author Sharon Wagner considers the ways that writers (and the people who love them) can all work together to support each other.
The Latest Stories:
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What Publishers Owe Authors Submitting Work
It’s common for an author to feel that publishers hold all the power. Until the advent of print-on-demand and self-publishing,…
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Summary, Exposition, and Narrative
Facts and information! All books need them in order for the reader to understand the story. But deciding how to…
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Authors are Extraordinary; Publishers are Ordinary
I gave a presentation called “Publishing 101” at the Brookfield Public Library on Sunday. I’ve given this presentation a couple…
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Orange Hat’s Next Chapter: Now What?
When deciding what was next in my career and discussing my purchase of Orange Hat with our founder Shannon Ishizaki,…
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Details, Juggling, and Chekhov’s Gun
Imagine you’re reading a story and learn in the first chapter that the protagonist does not speak. Maybe he can…
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Orange Hat’s Next Chapter: How Did We Get Here?
Purchasing Orange Hat was like a dream coming true when you never knew you had the dream in the first place. Read the inside story on the transition from founder Shannon to new owner Michael.
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Whoa Writing: Crafting Four-Dimensional Characters
Writing advice often stresses the importance of writing three-dimensional characters. These characters are “fully fleshed out,” which is a really…
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Whoa Writing: The Villain is the Hero in Their Own Story
Who’s the hero of the movie Mean Girls? Is it ingenue and audience proxy Cady Heron? We see the world of Northshore High through her eyes. We feel her friendship with Janis and Damien. We ache over her crush on Aaron Samuel. We laugh as she pranks Regina and the other Plastics. Sure, toward the end of the film, we get a little worried that she’s gone too far. And she does neglect her real friends in favor of being popular. But she’s the hero, right?
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Whoa Writing: Finding Deeper Meaning
When’s the last time you’ve read Judy Blume’s classic Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret? If you’ve never read it before, pick up a copy. I read it around age 14 (unusual reading for a boy, I know, but I’ve never been particular about the genders of my protagonists), and recently listened to the audiobook.
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