These days, libraries are so much more than physical books. Librarians don’t just find books or make reading recommendations (though they’re still great at that), they also make a wide variety of important resources available to their entire community. And you don’t even have to go to the physical library to access them–much of those services and resources are available online, both on library websites and through apps on your phone, computer, tablet, or e-reader.

Libby (by Overdrive)
Libby is essentially the digital version of your library. Once you create an account using your library card number, you’ll have access to thousands of e-books and audiobooks you can read immediately from your phone, computer, and even your Kindle or e-reader. You can search for a specific title or author in a specific format, or browse through genres and librarian-curated guides like new releases, kids’ classics, books by Black authors, queer stories, and more. 
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The app was created in June 2017 and is the most popular library app, likely because of its wide selection and its simple, clean design. In less than six years, over one billion books have been checked out through the app. In fact, the billionth title checked out through Libby happened on January 21 of this year (An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lepena, if you’re interested).

Much like the physical books in the library, your library system has a specific number of digital copies available of each e-book or audiobook it offers, so some popular titles might not be available at a moment’s notice. But never fear–on Libby, you can put titles on hold just like you would at your library, and the app will let you know about how long you’ll have to wait for that book and will notify you when it’s available. 

In fact, notifications are one of the best parts of using a library app: Libby will notify you when the due date for a book you’ve checked out is coming up (so you can re-check it out if you need to), and if a book you were searching for has been added. It’ll also keep track of what you’ve previously borrowed, and you can make personal book lists, like “TBR,” “favorite middle grade,” or whatever you want!

Pro Tip: If you’re as big a book nerd as the staff at Wildling, you know that sometimes you hear about a great book and you simply must read it right now! In that case, may we recommend belonging to multiple library systems (the author of this post belongs to five *humble brag*) so that you’re more likely to find an available copy of what you want when you want it. 

The app is available for Android, iOS and Windows devices.

Hoopla
Hoopla is another popular library app that offers e-books and audiobooks, but it also offers thousands of graphic novels and comics, music, movies, and TV shows. Some of the newest, most popular music albums (like Taylor Swift’s Midnights) or TV shows are available on Hoopla, and just like all the other library apps you love, they’re all free. 

Hoopla also offers something called “BingePass,” which gives you days of unlimited access to online content like The Great Courses, the Highlights collection, Kidz Vidz, storytime videos for kids, and more.

Hoopla also offers “Kids Mode” so parents can feel totally comfortable letting their kids browse the vast selection of music, TV, and movies.

Kanopy
If Hoopla isn’t available from your local library, there’s a good chance that they offer access to Kanopy instead. Kanopy doesn’t offer books, but it’s specifically for videos. Through Kanopy, you can stream over 30,000 classic and indie movies, documentaries, and television series. 

So get downloading!
Remember those times when your doctor’s appointment was taking longer than expected or you got stuck at the DMV and you cursed yourself for forgetting your book at home? Thanks to library apps, as long as you have a phone with you, you’ll never be without a book to read or an album to listen to or a movie to watch. Library apps are free, easy to use and access, and full of hours of entertainment and information. 

​The number of bookish podcasts out there truly seems infinite. There’s a podcast for the whole book spectrum, from writing to reading to marketing, and more. It’s comforting to know there’s something out there for you no matter what you’re looking for, but it can feel a little overwhelming at the same time. Where do you even start? Well, we’re highlighting some of our favorites in three categories: book recommendations, the craft of writing, and author marketing. 

• Book Fight: The Book Fight podcast is hosted by Mike Ingram and Tom McAllister—writers, writing professors, and long-time editors for Barrelhouse, a nonprofit literary magazine and book publisher. On each episode, the hosts ask their guest author to come prepared with a book, essay, or short story that impacted them in some way, and entertaining, unpredictable, and informative conversations ensue! New episodes every other week, with bonus episodes for Patreon subscribers.
• All the Books: We love Book Riot, so we had to include their podcast All the Books! Hosted by Liberty Hardy and the editors of Book Riot, this bookish podcast puts out episodes every week all about the latest and greatest in book releases.
• Asian Review of Books: The Asian Review of Books is a book review publication that added a podcast to their repertoire in late 2020. Host Nicholas Gordon interviews fiction and nonfiction authors writing in, around, and about the Asian-Pacific region. New episodes every week!  
• NPR’s Book of the Day: If you’re in a time crunch and need to get the lowdown real quick on the best and latest the book biz has to offer, NPR’s Book of the Day podcast is for you. As the name suggests, this podcast has new episodes every day, and you can get an awesome book recommendation in fifteen minutes or less. 
• The Sapphic Book Review: Hosted by Laura Green, the Sapphic Book Review podcast features interviews with sapphic fiction authors—your one-stop shop for the best in lesbian fiction—and you can look out for new episodes every week.
• Backlisted: John Mitchinson and Andy Miller bring us Backlisted, a podcast with the tagline “Giving new life to old books,” which we absolutely love. The hosts are joined by a new guest each episode who has chosen a book they believe more people should know about. The podcast is sponsored by Unbound, a crowd-funding publisher, but as they put it in their own words, the podcast “isn’t about selling new product: it’s about how and why some books stand the test of time.” New episodes release every other week. 

• 88 Cups of Tea: From their website because they say it better than I ever could--We are an online platform and podcast for creative writers looking for guidance in their storytelling journey and connection to a community, fostering year-round conversations around the personal and professional life of a writer. We explore and unpack conversations that touch on topics like overcoming rejections and challenges, querying tips and crafting advice, lifestyle habits that support the heart and the soul, what it means to be Human while navigating a creative path, and more. We pride ourselves in nurturing a supportive environment that aims to encourage, inspire, and entertain.
• Well-Read Black Girl with Glory Edim: Not only is Well-Read Black Girl an incredible podcast that aims to introduce diverse writers—contemporary authors who are nonbinary, queer, trans, and differently abled—to future generations, but it’s also a digital literacy platform that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. Well-Read Black Girl founder and host Glory Edim addresses inequalities through her platform and hopes to improve communities by way of reading and reflecting on the works of Black women. Through this podcast, you’ll dig in deep with authors like Tarana Burke, Min Jin Lee, and Anita Hill, just to name a few, and hear from literacy advocates and Black booksellers—a celebration of culture, art, justice, and literature. Catch new episodes every week! 
• The Writing Life: The Writing Life puts out monthly episodes all about how to improve your writing—theme, structure, character development, writing specific genres, etc.—it’s all covered! 
• Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire: An author herself, host Mindy McGinnis tackles craft, agent hunting, querying, the publishing industry as a whole, and more in Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire. This is a hugely informative podcast with new episodes every couple weeks. 
• #AmWriting: This podcast provides such a welcoming community for writers looking for other writers. Hosts Jessica Lahey, KJ Dell’Antonia, and Sarina Bowen come together to provide listeners with advice on craft, productivity, and creativity for writers of all genres. New episodes every week! 

• Book Marketing Action Podcast: BMAP, baby! We consider host Becky Robinson to be an expert in all things author marketing, and she’s the founder and CEO of Weaving Influence. On her podcast, Becky shares actionable strategies and effective solutions for authors looking to learn how to market themselves and their books. One of our favorite aspects of Becky’s show is those awesome action items at the end of each episode (which come out weekly!). Check out Becky's episode with Christina here!
• Novel Marketing: This podcast is the longest-running book marketing podcast in the world—that’s right—the world! Novel Marketing is for writers who want to build their platforms, sell more books, and change the world with their writing. Authors in the self-publishing, indie publishing, and traditional publishing worlds can all find value in this informative podcast with host Thomas Umstattd Jr. Look out for new episodes every week.
• The Sell More Books Show | Book Marketing, Digital Publishing and Kindle News, Tools and Advice: Hosts Jim Kukral and Bryan Cohen offer strategies and tools to . . . you guessed it—sell more books! Find out some amazing tips and tricks to get the word out about your book and get those book sales up with new episodes every week.
• Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast: Penny Sansevieri and Amy Cornell do a beautiful job of keeping episodes short and sweet to give authors awesome tips they can work into their book promotion without asking too much of their time. Fun and informative, you can get new episodes of this fabulous podcast every week.
• PublishHer Podcast: For all the writers out there, we’re talking all routes to publishing, book launches, book marketing, tips, tools, and resources to write, publish, and sell your book. Self-publishing, hybrid publishing, and traditional publishing. Author interviews and industry experts. Hosted by Alexa Bigwarfe of the Women in Publishing Summit. Updated every week.

​Well, there you have it! Use these recommendations as a jumping off point because this list just scratches the surface of the bookish podcast land. And please let us know about any of your favorites that we didn’t mention here. We’re always looking for new bookish podcasts to listen to! 

written by Grace Ball

​“Father, I did not know you were there, in the kitchen,” I said.
“I see,” he responded. “Well, Sarah, I have just come in from the garden. I do not know why you did not see me.”

Yikes! Wow, that’s some seriously bad dialogue. You know the saying about porn? “It’s hard to define, but I know it when I see it.” Yeah, that’s bad dialogue. Bad dialogue can absolutely, single-handedly ruin your book. Getting a grasp on writing organic dialogue is one of the most important things a writer can do for their craft. But how do you spot bad dialogue? And how do you write organic dialogue?

​People almost exclusively use contractions in speech unless it’s for emphasis. “I don’t know where your hat is,” might escalate to “Dude, I DO NOT KNOW where your hat is!” But in regular, ongoing speech, it’s better to err on the side of contracting than to separate out all your “do not”s.

​This is probably the biggest offender we see in new authors’ unedited books. People don’t say each other’s names! Again, unless it’s for emphasis, people literally don’t say each other’s names when they’re speaking to each other. Why would they?

In the above example (silly, I know), Father calls Sarah Sarah and Sarah calls Father Father. Sure, it’s only a two-line exchange, and we don’t know what might be going on around them. But say they’re alone. Why would Sarah need to say “Father”? Who else might she be talking to? She’s probably even looking at him. And further, Father certainly doesn’t need to say “Sarah,” as he’s directly answering Sarah’s question.

Again, emphasis changes how we speak. “I don’t know where your hat is,” might escalate to “Sarah! I SAID I didn’t know where your hat is!” In a tender moment, a character might say another’s name. But in general, skip the name-calling. We “‘we” being the characters and the readers) all know what’s going on here.

“Hey,” I said.
“Oh hey, what’s up,” Emily responded.
“What are you working on?” I asked curiously.
“Just painting,” Emily answered. She waved her paintbrush and giggled.
“Ah,” I said. “That’s cool,” I added.

Ugh, I’m exhausted just writing that example! Reduce dialogue tags so your readers don’t get exhausted!

Of course, dialogue tags can be crucially important for making a dialogue exchange clear. However, they are also criminally overused in amateur writing. When dialogue happens in real life (I think we just call that “talking”?), it happens quickly. For your reader to perceive your dialogue as organic, it helps if it can be read quickly.

Dialogue tags slow down your dialogue. They’re clutter. They almost never bring new, true meaning into your book. Cut dialogue tags you don’t need—for example, if two characters are talking back and forth, you can seriously limit your dialogue tags, as it’s as simple to keep track of those conversations as it is to watch tennis.

Even when you’re writing scenes with bigger casts, you can limit dialogue tags. Cut a dialogue tag and opt instead to include some body language that augments the dialogue. Cut a dialogue tag and add some inner monologue. Cut a dialogue tag and trust your reader to be able to follow. Even with a cast of several characters, if two are talking back and forth for several lines, you simply don’t need dialogue tags.

Trust your reader! They aren’t stupid. They’re actually probably quite skilled at reading. So trust that they can follow what’s happening even when you don’t label every single word.

​You know what humans definitely don’t do? Talk good. Haha! Short of a highly skilled professional public speaker, humans no talk no good. We say dumb shit. We mess up and keep going. We mess up and stop and start over! We start a sentence and halfway through we forget what we were saying.

People don’t talk in complete sentences, not really. We speak in bursts. In linguistics, they aren’t even called “sentences,” because they’re different; they’re called “utterances,” and their rules are different. None of your characters should be speaking in complete sentences all of the time. It’s just not realistic!

Write your characters messing up. Especially in emotionally charged moments, your characters won’t be speaking perfectly. It shows their humanity if they talk dumb when mad, just like us.

People speak differently. All people, even similar people, speak differently. By writing each of your characters to speak differently, you make their speech more organic—and you make your character fuller and more convincing at the same time!

Some people stutter a lot. Some people use big words because they read a lot. Some people use big words because they want to sound like they read a lot. Some people don’t talk often. Some people never stop talking. Some people are interrupters; some people wait for an opening. Some people have accents; some people have speech impediments. Some people speak quickly and energetically, off the cuff, while others are more measured and plan carefully.

It’s been said (by someone, idk who) that you should be able to tell who in your book is speaking without any dialogue tag at all, just by looking at how they speak. Like much writing advice, this is an excellent guide, but don’t take it literally. You can’t make every single utterance reflect a whole personality. But generally, readers should be able to notice differences in characters’ speech patterns.

The only way to truly evaluate if your dialogue sounds organic is to read it aloud to yourself or to someone else. When the words come out of your mouth, they should feel natural. You’ll notice really quickly that you need more contractions, that your lines are too stilted, that your characters all sound the same, when you start reading aloud.

Dialogue can make or break a book. A book with a weak plot or theme can be literally held aloft by its characters and their dialogue. Artful, realistic dialogue is the hallmark of a skilled author. So do your work and make sure that all your characters are speaking organically and authentically to themselves.

written by Christina Kann

We'll keep this short and sweet, because we've already wasted so much of our time on Twitter.

We're ditching our Twitter account.

When Elon Musk bought Twitter last year, the Wildlings thought to ourselves, "Ah, another megalomaniac billionaire buying a platform we all use for his own personal clout. Yeah, that happens in late-stage capitalism."

When he started laying off his security and content moderation staff, we were like, "Ummmm okay Elon, how are we handling security then??? Who is making sure Twitter is a safe space?"

He has now given us our answer: No one is making sure Twitter is a safe space, because it's not.

In April, Twitter "quietly rolled back a portion of its hateful conduct policy that included specific protections for transgender people," according to CNN. "Twitter also removed a line from the policy detailing certain groups of people often subject to disproportionate abuse online, including 'women, people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual individuals, and marginalized and historically underrepresented communities.'”

Wow! Ouch. The entire Wildling staff is on that list. Moreover, Wildling has always been committed to nurturing safe spaces for writers from all walks of life to develop their craft. Unlike Twitter, Wildling particularly aims to work with writers from marginalized groups and uplift their voices.

Twitter is coming for our allyship and our identity. They are no longer protecting us, our authors, and our community. So we're out.

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