Author Archives: Della Galton

From pin-up to publication – the rocky road of book cover design

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Della Galton

Today, I’d like to welcome fellow author, Peter Jones, who has kindly agreed to guest post and shed some light on how he arrived at choosing the book cover for his latest novel. Over to you, Peter… Behold the cover … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Posts | 2 Comments

Selling Your Book – Five things you should do on Twitter – and Five things you definitely shouldn’t!

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Della Galton

Yesterday I had a lovely day teaching How to Sell Your Book with several ladies from around the countryside. Thank you, ladies, you know who you are. Here’s what we talked about as regards Twitter. Twitter is deceptively simple to … Continue reading →

Posted in selling your book, social media | 3 Comments

Writing for The Friend

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Della Galton

Last week I was lucky enough to listen to a talk – as well as have a chat with – Shirley Blair, Fiction ed of The People’s Friend.  Fascinating stuff.  Here are ten things you may or may not know … Continue reading →

Posted in ideas, Inspiration, News, Short stories for magazines, Writing | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Writing a Winning Opening Paragraph. Three Top Tips.

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Della Galton

Last week I was lucky enough to be teaching at the Writers’ Summer School at Swanwick in Derbyshire. Beautiful place if you haven’t been there. One of my courses was about winning writing competitions. Just for fun we had an … Continue reading →

Posted in competitions, News, Writing | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Ideas – a poem that inspires a story

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Della Galton

Recently, a lady wrote in to my Dear Della column in Writers’ Forum and asked me about turning a poem she had written into a story.  She wanted to know how to go about it. This is something I’ve done … Continue reading →

Posted in ideas, Inspiration, plotting, Writing | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Getting More Reviews on Amazon

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Della Galton

In an ideal world, everyone who reads your book and loves it will leave you a review on Amazon. In reality, as we all know, this doesn’t happen. Don’t count on book sales leading to reviews. One estimate I saw … Continue reading →

Posted in selling your book | 11 Comments

Creating Suspense in Short Stories – Three Top Tips

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Della Galton

I used to believe that the art of writing suspense was mostly about technique – short sentences build tension and pace, longer sentences slow it down. But suspense means so much more than this. So what does the word suspense … Continue reading →

Posted in ideas, Inspiration, Short stories for magazines, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Eating Loads and Staying Slim

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Della Galton

The hardest thing about losing weight is keeping it off. I learned this in between trips to Slimming World, which I have been to three times.  That says it all really. I loved Slimming World – they helped me to … Continue reading →

Posted in How to Eat Loads and Stay Slim, Inspiration, News | 4 Comments

Writing Your Memoir/Autobiography

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Della Galton

If you’ve ever fancied writing your memoir or autobiography you are not alone.  How do I go about writing my memoir or autobiography? is probably the second most frequently asked question I get on my Dear Della page at Writers’ … Continue reading →

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5 Things a Writer Should Never Say on Social Media and 5 Things That They Should :)

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Della Galton

If you use sites like Facebook and Twitter as promotional tools, as I do myself, there are certain things you should and shouldn’t say in public.  This is my rather tongue in cheek list of Dos and Don’ts. Dont’s Don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in social media, Writing | Tagged | 19 Comments