Press Kit

For the press

Have questions about Writers Helping Writers® and its bestselling Thesaurus Writing Guide series? Authors Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi love working with the press, and would be happy to answer your questions. Contact them here or scroll down for links to bios, headshots, and logos.

Quick Facts & Accolades

• 2023 Press Release: Self-Published Thesaurus Series Hits 1-Million Sales Milestone (or download as a PDF)
• The Writers Helping Writers series comprises 10 titles in 9 languages
• Over 14,000 5-star reviews on Amazon.com (across the series)
• Every book in the Writers Helping Writers® Thesaurus collection has received the bestseller designation on Amazon, often the #1 spot in one or more primary writing categories. In total, they’ve sold over 1.3 million copies.
• The Japanese Setting Thesaurus (a combined volume) reached the #1 spot for all books on Amazon.jp, went viral on twitter, received television coverage, and was profiled on BuzzFeed (Japan). The other books in the series are also quite popular.
• The authors, living in different countries, have only met four times in person
• Writers Helping Writers® is an award-winning site and is frequently found on many yearly “top websites for writers” lists.
• In addition to being favorite resources among writers and screenwriters, our writing guides are used in university-level curricula. They are sourced by editors, agents, actors, game developers, psychologists, and educators.
• Angela and Becca are women entrepreneurs & co-founders of a bootstrapped tech company, One Stop for Writers®

Writers Helping Writers® is a hub for storytellers containing articles, resources, and tools to help writers of all levels master storytelling. Established in 2008 and rebranded in 2015, this award-winning site was founded by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, co-authors of the bestselling Emotion Thesaurus (Jadd Publishing) and its many sequels.

In a blog-to-a-book story, the two began sharing descriptive lists (each dubbed a “thesaurus”) which provided a new, innovative way to help writers with an often-problematic area of description. In 2012, the first Writers Helping Writers® guide was released: The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression. Many more followed; collectively, they’re often referred to as “the Gold Standard of writing guides.” Available in nine languages, these self-published books have sold over 1.3 million copies.

About Our Books

Part guide, part brainstorming list, this bestselling series helps writers, screenwriters, game designers, and anime creators master show-don’t-tell. Each book targets a specific area of description and reveals how to use it to deepen characters, push the plot forward, and draw readers into a story world so immersive they won’t want to leave it.

Favorites among writers, editors, and psychologists, these guides have collectively sold over 1.3 million copies worldwide. Foreign rights are in the care of Marleen Seegers of the 2 Seas Agency.

Podcasts and Interviews

Angela and Becca are frequent guests on podcasts where they share their secrets to crafting solid, immersive stories. Follow the link below to start listening.

Endorsements

One of the challenges a fiction writer faces, especially when prolific, is coming up with fresh ways to describe emotions. This handy compendium fills that need. It is both a reference and a brainstorming tool, and one of the resources I’ll be turning to most often as I write my own books.” James Scott Bell, bestselling author of Deceived and Plot & Structure

“This is far more than a brilliant, thorough, insightful and unique thesaurus; this is the best primer on story — and what REALLY hooks and holds readers — that I have ever read.”  ~ Lisa Cron, bestselling author of Wired For Story & Story Genius

“This book is an invaluable resource providing situations that led to the character’s emotional wound, false beliefs, fears, and responses that impact personality, as well as triggers and opportunities that can lead into plot ideas. It’s a great addition to the thesaurus collection from Ackerman & Puglisi.” ~ Joanna Penn, NYT & USA Today bestselling author

“In these brilliantly conceived, superbly organized, and astonishingly thorough volumes, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have created an invaluable resource for writers and storytellers. Whether you are searching for new and unique ways to add and define characters or are brainstorming methods for revealing those characters without resorting to clichés, it is hard to imagine two more powerful tools for adding depth and dimension to your screenplays, novels, or plays.” ~ Michael Hauge, Hollywood Script Consultant and Story Expert, author of Writing Screenplays That Sell

“To weave stories that connect directly to a reader’s heart, an author knows they have to go deeper than they’ve ever gone before. The Emotional Wound Thesaurus takes them there.” ~ Steena Holmes, NYT & USA Today bestselling author