Guest Post
3 Book Marketing Misconceptions and What to Do Instead
Shifting your understanding and approach to book marketing can transform it from a dreaded chore to a rewarding part of our journey.
Embrace Complication to Develop a Can’t-Put-It-Down Narrative
Even if your plot is moving along nicely, a well-placed complication can jolt the action forward or sideways, or surprise your reader a little.
Your Small Press Submission Checklist
If you’ve decided to seek a press that accepts unagented work, here’s a checklist to help you make a submission list you can feel confident in.
Avoid, Persevere, Endure, Fight: 4 Goals for Unforgettable Opening Scenes
A strong story opening might introduce your character's normal world, while also making clear the untenable situation they must change.
A Writer’s Secret Weapon: Add a Listening Pass to Your Editing Arsenal
Using a phone’s text-to-speech feature to read your story aloud while doing chores is a great way to catch errors that you might otherwise miss.
Turn Fact Into Fiction—Without Hurting Someone or Getting Sued
Imagine a friend reveals a secret past so compelling that no novelist could resist turning it into fiction. Here’s how one author went about it.
Boundaries Are About More Than Simply Carving Out the Time to Write
Boundaries within ourselves—our limits, standards, knowing which interactions are worthwhile—are as important as those we set with others.
Why Your Flashbacks Aren’t Working
Like a genie in a bottle, flashbacks can be wonderful and terrible things. If not carefully controlled, flashbacks can get disastrously out of hand.
How to Gain Traction in Your Career: Q&A with The Thriller Zone’s David Temple
Podcast host, author, and actor David Temple discusses his shift from being in radio to writing novels, landing all-star interviews, and more.
How to Teach Word a Scrivener Trick
MS Word is great for collaboration using Track Changes, but can it offer drag & drop organization like Scrivener? Yes, with a little know-how.
How Do You Know What Backstory to Include?
Backstory risks feeling clumsy or intrusive if it’s not directly relevant to the main, “real-time” story, and can stall forward momentum.
Using Beat Sheets to Slant Your Memoir’s Scenes
Identifying your story’s turning point or “beats”, and the function each one serves, can help shape your material into a more focused narrative.
Pay Attention to the Obsessive Workings of Your Mind
The headlines, facts, and observations that fuel your obsessions will seed your own work and grow it into the stories only you can tell.
Writing the Other: 4 Not So Easy (But Doable!) Steps
There’s no formula for “perfect” characterization of marginalized people, but these tips can pave the way to better representation—and better writing!
How and Where to Build Your Literary Community
Put your energy into people and places that are a good fit for you and your writing goals, and your literary community will thrive.
The Case for Pursuing a Traditional Publishing Deal Without an Agent
Kicking off your publishing career with a small press is a great way to get to know the industry, build your author profile, and establish a reputation.
3 Elements That Make Historical Romance Successful
If you approach a book with a writer’s eye, even the most pleasurable, light reading can teach you something that can enrich your own storytelling craft.
Emotional Intimacy Between Characters Isn’t Just for Romance Novels
No matter what you’re writing, emotional intimacy between characters is important to creating authentic relationships on the page.
Workshopper Beware: Navigating the Risky Waters of Writing Classes and Retreats
Sometimes, for some writers, workshops are magical. But attendees should be prepared for all of it—the magic, the toxic and the just-plain-weird.
Tropes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Just as a painter uses brushes and colors to blend and create, writers can experiment with tropes to make stories both familiar and refreshing.
Author Platform Follows the Work
One author threw herself into platform building and engagement, only to lose sight of what really mattered—her writing.
Scene, Summary, Postcard: 3 Types of Scenes in Commercial, Upmarket, and Literary Fiction
Understanding how to use them, and how to balance different types of scenes within a single narrative, is crucial for becoming a skilled storyteller.
When—and Why—Reveals Don’t Work
It’s an author’s job to create questions that readers crave the answers to, but questions posed with unclear stakes or context can backfire.
Set Up the Perfect Online Press Kit
Help journalists and bloggers to help you, by providing promotional materials about you and your books in flexible, user-friendly formats.
Structure: The Safety Net for Your Memoir
The more faith you have in your story’s structure, the more you’ll become the safety net your reader is hoping for.
3 Ways to Experiment with Memoir Structure to Improve Your Narrative Arc
Playing around with different storytelling forms during manuscript revision can lessen anxiety and reveal new possibilities.
What Taylor Swift’s Vault Tracks Can Teach You About Not Killing Your Darlings
If a scene, storyline, character, or image doesn’t quite belong in your story, save it for later use—as Taylor Swift does with song ideas.
Hybrid Publishers and Paid Publishing Services: Red Flags to Watch For
If you’re an author seeking a hybrid publisher or self-publishing assistance, it’s important to know what to look out for.
Writing Rules That Beg to Be Broken
Aspiring writers are inundated with rules to follow—but writing is creative, so don’t look to prescriptions or those who preach them.
Why You Need a Press Release in the Digital Age
Whether you write novels or nonfiction, a press release is still an essential tool for raising awareness and sharing your work’s core message.
Demystifying Miscreant Memories and Crafting a More Authentic Narrative
Memoirists owe it to readers to tell them the truth. But what do you do when the truth isn’t black and white?
Writing Hasn’t Won Me Fame or Fortune, But It’s Brought Me Friendship
Even with the best promotion, there’s no guarantee your book event will fill the seats. Here are some tips for making the best of it.
The First Rule of Writing Is Writer’s Block Does Not Exist
Writer’s block is an excuse, based on fear, that gives us permission to quit as soon as writing gets hard.
Designing Thriller and Mystery Twists That Work
Twists feel “twisty” because the author has carefully engineered the story to mislead readers via the protagonist’s journey and assumptions.
Ghostwriting Trends: A Report from the Gathering of the Ghosts in New York City
Ghostwriters, whose literary contributions have often been made in secret, are creating more community and visibility for their work.
5 Ways to Make a Writing Retreat “Pay Off”
If you’d love to go on a writing retreat but worry about whether the investment will “pay off,” here are five ways to reap rewards.
Beyond BICHOK: How, When and Why Getting Your Butt Out of the Chair Can Make You a Better Writer
While you can’t publish a book without sitting down to write, there are many times when we can gain insight by looking away from our work.
Confronting Sophomore Syndrome as a Published Author
On the release of her sophomore novel, one year after her debut, a writer reflects on what she’s learned about the business of authorship.
What Is LGBTQ+ Fiction—And Does a Writer Have to Be Queer to Write It?
While there are no fixed conventions writers need to adhere to, there is nonetheless much to think about and be aware of.
Avoid Random Acts of Content
One way to cultivate a loyal audience is by sharing compelling content, but it’s important to understand the needs of your target audience.
To Get on Podcasts, Create a Media Kit
This excerpt from the new book How to Get on Podcasts by Michelle Glogovac focuses on the importance of creating a basic media kit.
How to Write Realistically About Drug Use in Your Novel
A new book, The Grim Reader, helps authors understand how to write convincingly about drugs and their use.
The Über Skill for Writers
By paying attention to how you are impacted by story, you can learn to trace those effects back to the techniques that elicited them.
4 Things Every YA Writer Should Know About Teens
A good novel has everything teen brains are primed to crave—excitement, emotion, and escape.
Your Substack Isn’t For Everyone
To ensure you’re giving value to your audience, make sure you know who your newsletter is for and what they get from it.
Researching the Right Literary Agents for You
When seeking an agent, it helps to research what they've actually repped and sold versus what they claim they’re looking for.
Add a Luke Skywalker Moment: Give Your Main Character a Bitter Choice
For a memorable story, give your main character a strong motive, a flaw, and a series of escalating decisions leading to an impossible choice.
Journals and Dreams: The Unsung Heroes of Literature
Like a pot of broth simmering on the stove, the contents of our journals nourish us and provide the basis for countless delicious creations.
What Sleeping With Jane Eyre Taught Me About Pacing
Going too fast is one of the biggest mistakes storytellers make. When you arrive at a moment readers have been waiting for, slow things down.
Writing a Really Short Book Description Is Harder Than It Looks
A well-crafted book blurb gives us just enough to care, to empathize with the protagonist’s plight, and leaves us wanting just a bit more.