Wednesday links: Timelines and book covers

I love regularly reading tips and advice articles in certain subjects — particularly writing and publishing. I don’t always need the information right then, but I know that it’ll eventually come in handy. Or at least, I hope it will.

I know there are a lot of other people out there who feel the same way I do, but sometimes it can be difficult to find every useful advice article that’s out there. So I thought I’d bring you a few. Here are the tips and advice articles that jumped out at me the most this week.

1. Science Fiction and Fantasy Worldbuilding: Timeline Adds Crucial Details, from Fiction Notes: There are plenty of novels out there that don’t outright state when they take place. But I’ll bet that most of the authors of those novels can give you, at the very least, an approximation of the time period. Excerpt: “One of the first tasks in revising my current WIP has been to nail down a firm time line for my story. When does all this stuff happen? I had it vaguely placed in the 21st century, but I didn’t want to nail it down specifically.”
2. Why Self-Published Book Covers Are Better Than You Think, from Publishing Perspectives: Yes, there are some not-so-great book covers put out by self-published authors. But there are also some amazing ones. Excerpt: “The main thing that this competition has demonstrated to us so far is that plenty of self-published authors know exactly what the industry — and, more importantly — their readers want from book covers. Since we announced the shortlist to the public, who can vote for their favorite cover, we’ve been inundated with engaged readers reacting positively to the book covers on show.”