My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars. Or maybe 6 of 5 Stars. Or . . .

A short time ago, I reviewed Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy, giving all three books five stars. I loved the series so much, I couldn’t wait to read her next one, and immediately downloaded Six of Crows. After oohing and aaahing over the stunning cover design (I may have mentioned once or twice how much I love cover art), I dove straight into the tale.

As you can read on the cover, the book is about “six dangerous outcasts, and one impossible heist.” Those of you who love stories about gangs of less than upstanding citizens, sting operations, and movies like Ocean’s Eleven, should be pulled in by those words alone. Me, I’m not usually drawn to those particular topics, but knowing the book was set in the same world as the Grisha trilogy…

Image courtesy of Fredrik Rubensson under CC BY-SA 2.0

When it comes to making it as a writer, there are no hard and fast rules, it seems. For writers who have spent the better part of their lives receiving rejection letters, there’s always the J.K. Rowling story. For the die-hard traditionalists who say you need a publisher, you can always throw E.L. James at them. All in all, what the writing world has taught us in terms of popularity is that anything goes.

So to build up on the kind of characteristics that make writers stand out from the pack, check out these great resources for pursuing the writer dream. From indie publishing tips to great seminars on storytelling, there’s a plethora of information to bring your next novel straight to the New York Times Bestseller list—or on the shortlist for a Pulitzer, whatever floats your boat.

1. The Paris Review

Free today on Amazon – click to download

One of the classic books on getting reviews, How to Get Good Reviews on Amazon: A Guide for Independent Authors & Sellers, is free on Amazon right now.

Written by Theo Rogers, an experienced Amazon reviewer, this book takes you behind the scenes and into the reviewer subculture that’s grown up on Amazon. Grounded in both psychological science and thousands of hours of conversation with some of the top reviewers Amazon, it gives you a deep, insider’s knowledge of how the top reviewers think and operate. It not only walks you through exactly what to say and do: it takes you inside the reviewers’ heads so you can see for yourself why the approach given here is the one that works. Perhaps most importantly of all, it tells you what never to say or do!

Lessons include:

• A simple, four-part…