Author Buzz

Where Authors & Readers find each other

Matthew Brown

About Matthew Brown

Matthew is a writer, web dev, and geek from Kent (UK). He is the founder and current chair of Thanet Creative as well as head geek for Author Buzz. His ambitions include seeing a film or TV series based on something he wrote. Matt is also responsible for fixing stuff on AuthorBuzz.co.uk when it breaks.

Contract — Getting published is not easy. Getting a literary agent helps but getting an agent is no easy task. This article is an update to one I published on the now retired Thanet Creative Writers website which has now moved into the Author Buzz UK blogging network. The advice in “How to […]

Getting a good literary agent

9th September 2017 in Agents tagged agents / Jane Friedman / literary agent / Piers Blofeld / Science Fiction Writers of America by Matthew Brown

thief — A mistake new authors make is to hide what they are doing in fear that someone might steal their ideas. No one is going to steal your ideas – here is why. To illustrate the point, we told Tumblr what we were going to write before we had even written it. […]

Relax, no one is going to steal your ideas

7th September 2017 in Advice tagged beta readers / fears / ideas / sharing by Matthew Brown

science fiction — Researching where to submit short stories can be something of a chore but if you happen to be looking for Sci-Fi magazines accepting submissions (and paying) then you might well be in luck – we have five of them. UK Sci-Fi magazines Interzone Interzone was founded in 1982 and counts Michael Moorcock, Sir Arthur […]

5 Sci-Fi magazines accepting submissions

5th September 2017 in Advice tagged list / magazines / publisher / Sci-Fi / UK / US by Matthew Brown

lights — With a book, readers know what to expect because the author’s intentions are clear from the title, the cover and the blurb on the back. Are you doing the same with your blog? Recently, we talked about author blogging and what authors could blog about. One thing we did not talk […]

Authors, are you making your intentions clear

11th August 2017 in Blogs and blogging tagged Author Platform / blog / blogging / intentions / Matthew Munson / Thanet by Matthew Brown

Can and dog — Should authors blog? If so, what should we be blogging about? Blogging, like social media, is often touted as the golden ticket to book sales. It rarely delivers on this promise. Of course, they don’t – there is no such thing as a magic bullet to make sales happen. However, […]

Should authors blog? What should they blog?

8th August 2017 in Advice tagged Andy Weir / Author / Author Platform / blogging / blogs / Jane Friedman / Neil Gaiman / WordPress by Matthew Brown

Blog — We have given our developer blog a make over and you are the ones who benefit. The fresh new look for our dev blog will help promote you, the members of Author Buzz and your groups. It will do this by showcasing the featured, recently active, and popular members and […]

Site News: Dev Blog Makeover

1st August 2017 in Site News tagged accountability / blog / dev / news / progress / users by Matthew Brown

Internet — It is the most common question I encounter when talking about this stuff, so today we are going to answer the question of how to become an author. At least according to the Internet. We asked Google “How do I become an author”. This is what we found. Write something […]

How to become an author (according to the Internet)

27th July 2017 in Advice tagged agent / Austin Macauley Publishers / Author / James Campbell / list / Nicholas Sparks / publisher / self-publishing / Sophie Kinsella by Matthew Brown

beta reading — Beta Reading is perhaps the most poorly understood craft of writing. If you might ever find yourself offering feedback to a writer, this guide might help you give the best feedback you have ever given. Beginners and expert writers alike frequently take part in mutual critiques and yet, for all […]

A Rough Guide to Beta Reading

19th July 2017 in Beta Reading tagged beta readers / beta reading / guide by Matthew Brown

proofreading — Beta reading, editing, or proofreading – how do you pick the right one? With so many services on offer for authors, it can be confusing when trying to identify which is right for you. Author Buzz UK is here to help demystify these terms and help you learn what role […]

Proofreading, Copy Editing, and Beta Reading

14th July 2017 in Advice tagged beta readers / beta reading / copy editing / proofreading by Matthew Brown

Using Twitter — Many an author has said “I don’t have the time to learn Twitter” not knowing that there is an approach to Mastering Twitter that requires no more than five minutes a day. Twitter is one of those social media sites that a lot of people seem to find incomprehensible. There […]

Mastering Twitter in 3 easy steps

13th July 2017 in Advice by Matthew Brown

author typing — Have you ever heard of this thing called an author platform? It is supposed to sell books, right. The dream of being an author is highly compelling for us writers. We spend hours and weeks and years writing our book. Finally, it is ready to go. There is just one […]

A comprehensive introduction to author platforms

28th June 2017 in Advice tagged Author / Author Platform / books / email list / fans / guide / list / writers by Matthew Brown

books — Yesterday I stumbled upon the following headline – “Dustbin man builds free library of thrown away books”. According to the BBC: A dustbin man in Bogota in Colombia, who never studied further than primary school, has gathered a library of more than 20,000 thrown away books. After a little […]

Dustbin man’s library of thrown away books

10th June 2017 in Love Books tagged books / free / library by Matthew Brown