We have wonderful news, our staff is growing and now Shirley Flanagan has joined the BeYourArt.com team. Please welcome her by leaving a comment on her wall at http://www.beyourart.com/profile/ShirleyMFlanagan. She will be the Writer’s Oasis Chat Administrator/Editor which she has conducted for some time, but now officially as part of BeYourArt.com. This is an incredible resource for writers. Please join the following topic, which is where most of the chats are hosted and to see what Writer’s Oasis Chat has to offer.

http://www.beyourart.com/group/writersoasischat

This is an archive of the Writer’s Oasis Chat, which meets on BeYourArt.com and AOL. It invites authors and professionals to speak on various topics in writing. Contact Shirley Flanagan, the Writer’s Oasis Chat Administrator, or join the Writer’s Oasis Topic to be added to the mailing list.

Sunnyasalark: Ayn, have you used the same characters in more than one novel

AynHunt: Yes, Sunny. I’ve used Jessica and Miss Emily several times

Sunnyasalark: Is that romance or mystery, Ayn?

AynHunt: In The Haunting and Unwilling Killers

AynHunt: ghost stories

MargeeBee: Do you enjoy writing a series novel?

Sunnyasalark: How did you bring the characters into the new novel? Read more…

Co-Published: BeYourArt.com and The North Shoreian Magazine, The Altruism Issue, Volume 1, Issue 11, Practicalities of the Surviving Artists, November 2008. Written by Pamela Reese.

Photo By Nino Andonis

The faltering economy has impacted most segments of business and industry, and those involved in the arts have not been exempt. Nevertheless, fiction publishers have taken action to provide new options to aspiring writers. Publishing has begun to affect a myriad of changes in an attempt to remain relevant and competitive in an increasingly tight struggle for entertainment dollars.

Given the current volatility in the book business, smaller profit margins and the need to entice a new generation as the avid readers of the baby boom are aging; publishing is at last seeking solutions to longstanding difficulties.

The publishing industry, deeply entrenched in long traditions and reluctant to initiate sweeping changes in a tight economy, is experimenting with ways to eliminate some of their most vexing issues. Those solutions may have a very direct impact on writers and their art. Read more…