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Find the Ending Before You Return to the Beginning

Just as we might be conflict averse, it can be tempting to keep revising a story’s beginning instead of proceeding into the messy middle.
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Backstory and Exposition: 4 Key Tactics

There’s a good chance that getting these essential elements right are among the biggest challenges you’ll face with your novel.
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Fix Your Scene Shapes to Quickly Improve Your Manuscript

Like story arcs, individual scenes also have shapes. Understanding yours can help you improve the ones that are falling flat.
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Get Reader Reviews Now to Drive Sales Later

Whether you use giveaways, blog tours or paid ads, generating reader reviews will drive sales and create opportunities for further marketing.
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Building Your Writing Support Triangle

The key to an author’s emotional wellbeing and continued productivity is creating a support system, and knowing which part to call on when.
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Do Stories Have a Universal Shape?

The idea of universal story archetypes is not a new one—but its corroboration by an A.I. brings a new dimension to the debate.
The Importance of Finding Your Marketing Sweet Spot

The Importance of Finding Your Marketing Sweet Spot

There are hundreds of ways to market. The secret isn’t to do them all—it’s to find the few that work for your product and focus on just those.
The One Thing Your Novel Absolutely Must Do

The One Thing Your Novel Absolutely Must Do

There’s only one thing that any novel must do if it’s going to succeed, and that’s arouse the reader’s curiosity.
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Understanding Third-Person Point of View: Omniscient, Limited and Deep

Third-person POV dominates the current publishing market, so it’s helpful to learn to navigate its many facets.
Embracing a Creative Pivot: Q&A with Darien Hsu Gee

Embracing a Creative Pivot: Q&A with Darien Hsu Gee

Author Darien Hsu Gee discusses writing and publishing across multiple genres, going back for her MFA at age 50, and having faith in her creative process.
How to Restart Your Unfinished Book

How to Restart Your Unfinished Book

Your calendar will never be suddenly free of urgent distractions. To finish that book on the back burner, you must actively bring it forward.
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The Differences Between Line Editing, Copy Editing, and Proofreading

New authors are often confused about what level of editing they need. Here’s some insight into the differences.
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Writing With Sharpness: Q&A with Elinor Lipman

The author discusses film adaptation, writing effective humor and natural dialogue, using a light touch with character description, and more.
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How I Landed a Book Deal Via Twitter—Unintentionally

For one unagented author, landing a publisher was a result of preparation, transparency, and a well-developed network.
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Using Book Promotion Newsletters to Increase Sales

Book promotion newsletters are a dynamic component of the overall book industry, but their focus—and results—can vary dramatically.
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Is Your Writer’s Block Really Writer’s Indecision?

When facing decisions in your writing, it helps to identify which questions have lower stakes and which ones are preventing real progress.
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How to Effectively Manage Multiple Narrators in Your Novel

There’s nothing wrong with using multiple narrators in a first-person story, but it requires some serious background work.
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The End May Only Be the Beginning: Infusing New Life Into Your Fiction

One editor’s technique to add narrative tension, deepen characterization, and force you to think past the original boundaries of a premise.
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Securing Audiobook Rights: The Rights You Need to Bring Your Audiobook to Market

Whether you’re an audiobook producer, a publisher or an author, here’s a breakdown of the rights needed to bring an audiobook to market.
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How to Move From First Draft to Second Draft to Publishable Book

When you’ve completed a draft but it’s falling a bit flat, it’s time for the Story Draft: creative work done technically.
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A Beginner’s Guide to Amazon Pre-Orders

Ebook pre-orders can be a great tool for KDP authors, but it might not be right for everyone—especially those without an established audience.
Priya Doraswamy and Carly Watters

Literary Agents Discuss Foreign Rights and the International Book Market

Literary agents Priya Doraswamy and Carly Watters discuss foreign rights, translation logistics, a book’s chances abroad, and much more.
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Pick Your Pond: How Nonfiction Authors Can Find the Right Positioning

As an author, it’s good to be a big fish in a small pond—but you’ll benefit even more if your pond is connected to a larger system.
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The Charm of the Large Word

Use of a big word can be beautiful, as long as it meets two criteria: it must be the right word and the best word.
Fiona Higgins

A Successful Author Was Rejected By Her Publisher. Here’s How She Found Another.

When big publishers rejected a book due to marketing concerns, one author forewent an advance to work with an indie that saw potential.
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Maximizing Book Sales with Facebook and BookBub Ads: Q&A with Melissa Storm

The bestselling author discusses best practices for ads, how to keep your spending in check, the top three mistakes authors make, and more.
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Emotional Truth and Storytelling: Why It Works and How

Emotional truth is the lens that allows us to see ourselves in a story, resulting in a heartfelt connection in a fictional narrative.
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4 Story Weaknesses That Lead to a Sagging Middle

If your middle’s lost momentum, check to see if your plot, characters, stakes and suspense consistently propel readers along the story arc.
Common Reasons Nonfiction Books Don't Sell

Common Reasons Nonfiction Books Don’t Sell

If you want to land a traditional publishing deal, then market conditions—and your position in that market—will affect your chances.
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Should You Hire a Social Media Assistant?

Virtual assistants take over tasks that you could do yourself. What you’re buying, in effect, is the freedom to use your time in other ways.
Why Waiting Too Long to Register Your Copyright Is a Big Mistake

Why Waiting Too Long to Register Your Copyright Is a Big Mistake

Though registration with the Copyright Office is no longer required for protection, there are still many reasons why it’s important.
Sarah Chauncey

How One Author Landed a Publishing Deal for a Gift Book: Q&A with Sarah Chauncey

The debut author discusses writing an illustrated book for adults, platform building, and listening to the little voice inside.
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Don’t Hold Out for Publishing to Make You Feel Seen. Here’s Another Goal Instead.

Publication is elusive and in many ways out of your hands, but feeling seen is something that writers can offer each other right now.
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I Spent Nearly Two Decades Writing and Editing My Book. It Finally Found a Publisher.

Perseverance isn’t just about finding the right agent or publisher—it’s also about refining your work into the best version of itself.
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What You Can Learn About Platform From a 12-Year-Old

Building a platform is akin to making friends at a new school: invite, engage, be helpful, share and, most of all, be your best self.
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The Benefits of Writing Flash Fiction

Let go of description, extra words, and clever exposition. What’s left is a tightly crafted nugget of concentrated gold—flash fiction.
2 Methods for Structuring Your Memoir

2 Methods for Structuring Your Memoir

Authoring a memoir, the gift of hindsight allows you to invest moments with deeper meaning than they may have had at the time.
letters

Letter Writing as a Powerful Prompt

From Franz Kafka to Bob Dylan, history shows that letter writing can be a portal to discovery that benefits a wide variety of projects.
Writing and Publishing Horror: Q&A with Todd Keisling

Writing and Publishing Horror: Q&A with Todd Keisling

The horror author shares what scares him, the authors who taught him the most about the genre, crowdfunding, trigger warnings, and more.
3 Tips for Cutting Your Word Count (Without Giving Your Whole Story the Ax)

3 Tips for Cutting Your Word Count (Without Giving Your Whole Story the Ax)

Like pruning the extra sprouts out of a garden, sharper and tighter prose makes the details you keep stand out.
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Writing True Crime: Q&A with Janis Thornton

The Indiana author discusses publishing and promoting close to home, plus the logistical, ethical and legal issues around writing true crime.
Writers Often Ask Me a Question I Can’t Answer

Writers Often Ask Me a Question I Can’t Answer

The field is saturated, so many people wanting to tell their interesting stories. You wonder: Am I a good enough writer to keep doing this?
Online Book Events: A Necessary Pivot in 2020, But How Do You Compete?

Online Book Events: A Necessary Pivot in 2020, But How Do You Compete?

It's now possible to fill every lunch hour and evening with book clubs and book festivals and live readings and more. Thus, even if you offer a creative and enticing online event, it’s hard to sell when so much content right now is available for free. Before you decide to run an online event, consider the following.
Amazon's Importance to US Book Sales Keeps Increasing—for Better or Worse

Amazon’s Importance to US Book Sales Keeps Increasing—for Better or Worse

Amazon has changed, grown, and dominated more than any other company in the book publishing industry. Here are the key developments that authors need to know about.
Everyone Wants Barnes & Noble to Survive. Can It?

Everyone Wants Barnes & Noble to Survive. Can It?

The biggest bookseller in the United States has suffered a slow decline over the last 10 years. Can the business be turned around?
Traditional Publishing Enjoys Its Best Sales in a Decade—Despite Supply Chain Problems

Traditional Publishing Enjoys Its Best Sales in a Decade—Despite Supply Chain Problems

Book publishing faces a very tight printing market at the same time that sales have increased to levels not seen for ten years.
when you need permission - fair use guidelines

A Writer’s Guide to Fair Use and Permissions + Sample Permissions Letter

If you need to request permissions from an author or publisher, here are general guidelines, plus a sample letter you can customize.
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A Successful Daily Practice Requires Honesty

A daily practice can only succeed if we're 100% honest about our doubts and weaknesses, because one area of denial can scuttle the ship.
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Where Novelists Get Stuck: 3 Common Issues with Early Drafts

Writing can be a lonely process, and it’s easy to feel stuck. Editors and coaches can help identify the common problems—and their solutions.
To Avoid Rejection, Take the Writer Out of the Story

To Avoid Rejection, Take the Writer Out of the Story

Experienced editors look for a story so engrossing the reader forgets that he’s reading—story in which the author’s voice seems not to exist.