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 […]
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 […]
First you had to figure out how to write a book – a query that so many people initially get hung up on. Can you really do it? Do you have to know you’re literary genius before you even start? How are stories supposed to be structured? How do you make your characters come alive […]
The most important thing you’ll ever write isn’t your novel. It’s not even your next novel, or your life story, or that email to your boss you can’t quite bring yourself to send. It’s your query letter. This short letter is the key to opening the door to all your dreams – and if you’re hoping […]
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 […]
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 […]
Rejection often comes part and parcel with any short story submission. Sad but true. But how can you start to make rejection less of a soul-crushing norm (the kind that makes you want to run and hide the moment you hit “Send”) and more of a random, but tolerable, hazard of the profession? Let’s face […]
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 […]
