About Me pages fill some fiction writers with dread. And yet, a good About Me page is essential to connecting with readers, winning new fans, and even impressing agents, editors, and publishers. The problem is, many of us are introverted artists. We scrawl fiction in our lonely writers’ caves, where the sign at the door […]
Take a quick browse through a bookstore or Amazon’s virtual shelves and you’ll discover that there are hundreds of books about how to write fiction. But when you need to get serious about self-editing your manuscript, pickings are slim. Still, a few fantastic books stand out as tremendous guides to help fiction writers self-edit. Here’s […]
Your novel is completed, edited to perfection, and your beta readers love it. Now what? You’ve heard the next step is to approach a literary agent, but do you really need one? The short answer is no. The longer answer is: it depends. For some writers, having a literary agent on your side could make […]
Publishing a new book is probably one of the most nerve-wracking and satisfying moments of a writer’s life. Every author must have felt it – the fulfillment, the pride, that special type of anxiety roiling in your stomach. All the results of your hard – but well worth it – work. But before you rush […]
Look at the cover for any book by a hugely successful author, and you’ll usually notice the author’s name is in larger type than the title of the book itself. Why is that? Because of branding. People are more likely to read a book by an author they like. Yes, the quality of your writing […]
Many self-published authors don’t realize at first what they’re in for. A traditional publishing house will at least help you with marketing, promotion, and sales – but when you decide to take on the mantle of the publisher, it all falls down to you. Writers don’t tend to be natural salespeople, and too often for […]
Everyone dreams of sailing through NaNoWriMo, completing the 50,000th word with a flourish at 11:58 on November 30th, then spending a leisurely December polishing their manuscript into a budding bestseller for the New Year. The harsh truth is that for most of us, this may not become a reality – but that doesn’t mean it’s […]
Podcasts are a great way to absorb useful information, keep up with news in the writing industry and hear from other writers. While many of us struggle, given the pace of modern life, to study a non-fiction book or digest a magazine, you can listen to podcasts in your car, while you do the housework […]
Today’s post comes from one of our dear friends: sought-after speaker, educator and award-winning book coach, Lisa Tener. As a book writing coach, Lisa helps writers in all aspects of the writing process — from writing a book proposal and getting published to finding one’s creative voice, prioritizing projects, developing an author platform, setting clear […]
A common worry when nearing the finale of your debut novel is whether you have a) enough words to qualify as a publishable, full-length novel or b) too many words packed into those pages – which will put off both publishers and readers, for different reasons. But how do you know when you’re toeing the […]
