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Iain Broome

I'm the author of the novel, A is for Angelica. Every week, I send Draft Mode, a newsletter full of tips and tools that help you improve your craft and promote your writing.

Creative writing

Do you need university qualifications to be a good writer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azCELNd8V7APostgraduate writing courses have become hugely popular in the last 15 years and more and more English degrees feature creative writing as part of their syllabus. These days it’s quite common to hear that an author’s first novel or debut poetry collection

copywriting

A beginner’s guide to writing for the web

Guest post by Rob Mills [http://bluegg.com] One of the privileges of being a writer is the opportunity to share stories with, evoke emotions in, and connect to other people. With more traditional storytelling platforms [https://www.iainbroome.com/blog/guest-post-the-importance-of-story-structure] such as books, authors are not present when

community

A writer’s guide to feedback and writing groups

Guest post by Elizabeth Markham [http://www.lamellae.wordpress.com]. For most of us who write, the desire to share our stories with the world (and maybe even get paid for it) means we can’t write in isolation – we need feedback. There are many ways to get feedback, including

book deals

The key to selling your book is the cover letter

Guest post by Gary Smailes [http://www.bubblecow.co.uk] We are all looking for the secret to securing a book deal! I am pretty sure that there is no one winning formula, though I am convinced that without a killer cover letter you are doomed to failure. I am

Microsoft Word

How to speed up your writing with AutoCorrect

The act of writing, as in the physical process of getting your work on to the screen, can be a tiresome business at times. Thankfully, there are plenty of really rather helpful writing software packages [https://www.iainbroome.com/blog/5-fantastic-computer-programs-for-writers] available to help you make things as painless as

copywriting

Copywriters: ghosts of their writing selves?

Guest post by Manuela Boyle [http://twitter.com/manuelaboyle] I write five days out of seven. Some weeks maybe more. Original prose no less; raw materials plucked from different vocabulary sets and arranged into a new word order. But here’s my dark secret: I write for other people. What

Creative writing

The five rules of getting a book deal

Guest post by Jean Hannah Edelstein [http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com] Before we start, some quick disclaimers: I used to work in publishing, and I keep up to date on the industry for my blogging purposes (and personal interest), and I do a little critiquing of new writing on an ad-hoc

Blogging

Why AudioBoo is a terrific tool for writers

AudioBoo [http://audioboo.fm] has been referred to as an audio version of Twitter [http://twitter.com/]. I’d say it’s got quite a long way to go in that regard, but it’s certainly a handy little tool for publishing actual words and sounds with barely any effort

birthday

Write for Your Life is one year old today!

Well doesn’t time fly, eh? This time last year I finally got round to launching Write for Your Life [http://writeforyourlife.net/welcome-to-write-for-your-life]. It was something I’d talked about for ages, but always put off because I was worried about how much time I could devote to it.

copywriting

Seven tips to help you become a better fact checker

Guest post by Mary Ward [http://journalismdegree.org] Fact checking allows you to separate fact from fiction. If you do not want to be fooled by inaccuracies that you read or hear then you need to know what to do and where to go to find the truth. Otherwise, you