Welcome to the River Birch Press Blog
Our blog features articles on book editing and writing, marketing and platform building, cover design and title selection, and much more. Come back often to see what's new. Under the Categories heading in the right hand column, you'll find categories of our articles. Click any of the tabs to see the articles in that category. Thanks for visiting!
Editing: An Art and a Science, Part 1
Whether you are self-editing an article or book, two intrinsic aspects of it need to be considered. First of all, the art or creativity of it must be addressed. The idea comes, is fleshed out through either facts and arguments for non-fiction, or through characters, plot, and scenes for fiction. But does it flow well? That is where the art comes in. Just as individual paint strokes are not usually seen in artwork, transitions [...]
Editing: An Art and a Science, Part 2
Once the overall artistic edit of your book is complete, as we have seen in Part 1, then the technical aspects (the science of writing) must be addressed. The first step is to determine which stylebook will be used. We all had English in school and were taught there was only one way to write something, but that is no longer true in contemporary writing. For example, whether or not to use the serial [...]
Anatomy of a Great Book Cover
You can tell a book by its cover! A great cover will tell readers there's a great book inside—one they may want to read. As with editing, cover design is both an art and a science. Artistically, a great cover has a memorable title, an eye-catching photo or illustration, beautifully formed type, and intriguing back cover copy. Technically, the cover must meet printer specifications, be formatted according to [...]
Pillars of Christian Book Marketing
Authors want to know how to effectively market their books. The problem is that most authors don't understand what marketing is. First let me say what it is not: Advertising is not marketing. Promotion is not marketing. Distribution is not marketing. All of these are parts of marketing but marketing is much broader. Book marketing is getting your book into the hands of readers. It involves a lot of steps and can involve many [...]