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This article is the first in a series of articles reviewing publishing and marketing tools for authors, featuring a mix of reviews from staff and guest posts. Today's article is a guest post from Blair Cousins. If you have a product you want to review on Business for Authors, email diannalgunn@gmail.com for guest article guidelines. Atticus homepage As an indie author, there is no shortage of tasks that must be done. Whether it’s drafting the next novel or gathering invoices for taxes, you really are an army of one. That’s why I was excited to hear about the release of the new book formatting software, Atticus. Advertised as a mash-up of Scrivener, Google Docs, and Vellum, I was curious to try it. Especially if it works as well as I’ve…

Harnessing The Elements: the Potential of Elemental Magic Systems - June 4, 2022 at 5:30 - 6:30PM EST The archetypal and primal resonance of elemental magic systems make them a staple trope in fantasy magic systems — but how can we uniquely adapt this classic magical expression to simultaneously build up characters and the secondary world? On this panel, we’ll explore techniques and modifications that can be used to refine the classic elemental magic system and provide more in-depth worldbuilding and story development. Learn how to enrich your reader’s experience by providing a fresh take on a much-loved convention in your own fantasy writing! This panel is part of Storycrafting Sessions: Fantasy, a 100% FREE virtual conference happening on June 4th! Sign up for this panel or look at the…

They Call Me… Tim!: Passive Worldbuilding with Names, Epistolary, and Food - June 4, 2022 at 4 - 5PM EST Framing devices like epistolary and footnoting can be powerful tools for enriching your story and your world. Naming schemes, epistolary, and food are a few simple but powerful tools to more smoothly integrate your secondary worldbuilding. This panel will discuss how and why you might want to use or expand on these passive worldbuilding aspects to avoid info-dumps, provide cultural and character signals to readers without using dialogue, and enrich your fantasy world! This panel is part of Storycrafting Sessions: Fantasy, a 100% FREE virtual conference happening on June 4th! Sign up for this panel or look at the full event schedule! The Moderator Dan Fitzgerald Dan Fitzgerald is a…

Beyond Elves and Dwarves: Creating Unique Fantasy Species - June 4, 2022 at 2:30-3:30pm EST Fantasy has endless possibilities, but many fantasy worlds seem stuck on the same handful of species: elves, dwarves, maybe a goblin or an orc. This panel will encourage you to go beyond these fantasy staples by looking at under-utilized mythological species and how to create whole new species of your own to populate your fantasy worlds! This panel is part of Storycrafting Sessions: Fantasy, a 100% FREE virtual conference happening on Jun 4th! Sign up for this panel or look at the full event schedule! The Moderator Dianna Gunn Dianna Gunn is a freelance writer by day and a fantasy author by night. Her sword and sorcery novel, Moonshadow’s Guardian, was released in November 2018.  When she’s…

Urban Fantasy: Layering Another World Over Our Own - June 4, 2022 at 12:30 - 1:30PM EST While the medival period tends to inspire the bulk of older fantasy stories, the genre has expanded to include the unique terrains and challenges facing city-dwelling protagonists. Urban fantasy writers face the challenge of balancing the fantastical and realistic elements of their stories in a way that highlights meaningful themes and situations. This panel will explore how to layer your character development and focus your worldbuilding to reach Urban Fantasy readers! This panel is part of Storycrafting Sessions: Fantasy, a 100% FREE virtual conference happening on June 4th! Sign up for this panel or look at the full event schedule!  The Moderator Bethany Baptiste Bethany Baptiste grew up in Jacksonville, Florida where she thrived…

Fantasy as a Safe Space: Using Fantasy to Explore and Critique Social and Political Themes - June 4, 2022 at 11AM - 12PM EST The innate narrative distance in Fantasy Fiction creates a unique cultural space for important social and cultural critique. In this panel, we’ll explore how to mindfully build into your stories ways to cultivate ideas, validate concepts and develop conversations so you can participate in creating safe spaces in the fantasy genre. This panel is part of Storycrafting Sessions: Fantasy, a 100% FREE virtual conference happening on June 4th! Sign up for this panel or look at the full event schedule! The Moderator Dianna Gunn Dianna Gunn is a freelance writer by day and a fantasy author by night. Her sword and sorcery novel, Moonshadow’s Guardian, was released in…

Magic-tech, Steampunk and other Cross/Sub-genres: Skirting the Fringes of Sci-fi - March 19, 2022 at 5:30 pm EST Why are we drawn to the liminal spaces? Around standard 'core' Science Fiction subgenres, such as Space Opera, Time Travel, or , subcategories like Steampunk (which combines Science Fiction aspects with Historical and/or Fantasy elements), Zombie fiction (Sci-fi+Horror elements), and Science-Fantasy or Magi-tech (Magic as/is Science; or Magic exists separately alongside Technology) not only exist but thrive. What can we learn from exploring these cross-genre spaces? This panel will explore why some of the most interesting stories under the Science Fiction umbrella term exist on the fringes of the genre, what opportunities draw writers to liminal genre spaces, and what to be aware of when exploring the fringes of Science Fiction in…

Accessibility in Science Fiction: Imagining New Tools for Disabled Folks - March 19, 2022 at 4pm EST Science, in both life and fiction, is used to break barriers, solve problems, and elevate the human experience. What scientific advancements or inventions might change life for disabled folks? How might the challenges and opportunities of accessibility be faced or explored in Science Fiction? This panel explores thoughts and questions around accessibility in Science Fiction: how think about or imagine tools, trends and futures in which disabled folks experience greater integration, more opportunities and participate in trailblazing new paths ahead. This panel is part of Storycrafting Sessions: Science Fiction, a 100% FREE virtual conference happening on March 19th! Sign up for this panel or look at the full event schedule! The Moderator Stephen…

Races, Religions, and Cultures: How to Ethically Borrow Inspiration from Existing Patterns of Human Existence - March 19, 2022 at 2:30 EST The vast diversity of richly-populated worlds is a common and much-loved aspect of Science Fiction. Since we haven't met any aliens (yet...!), the diversity within a writer's mind and work is a direct product of what we know of history and can learn or extrapolate from personal experience. This panel will discuss how to ethically borrow inspiration from existing cultures without perpetuating harmful stereotypes, and distinguishing the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation (and how you can avoid the former!) when writing Science Fiction. This panel is part of Storycrafting Sessions: Science Fiction, a 100% FREE virtual conference happening on March 19th! Sign up for this panel or…