Guest Post

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.

One way to cultivate a loyal audience is by sharing compelling content, but it’s important to understand the needs of your target audience.

This excerpt from the new book How to Get on Podcasts by Michelle Glogovac focuses on the importance of creating a basic media kit.

A new book, The Grim Reader, helps authors understand how to write convincingly about drugs and their use.

By paying attention to how you are impacted by story, you can learn to trace those effects back to the techniques that elicited them.

A good novel has everything teen brains are primed to crave—excitement, emotion, and escape.

To ensure you’re giving value to your audience, make sure you know who your newsletter is for and what they get from it.

When seeking an agent, it helps to research what they've actually repped and sold versus what they claim they’re looking for.

For a memorable story, give your main character a strong motive, a flaw, and a series of escalating decisions leading to an impossible choice.

Like a pot of broth simmering on the stove, the contents of our journals nourish us and provide the basis for countless delicious creations.

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.

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.

It takes practice to write immersive descriptions that draw readers in, without going overboard and risking boredom or loss of attention.

An author considers how we often try to turn ourselves into other kinds of writers instead of following our internal compass.

Shonda Rhimes’s Netflix series is a master class in amping up stakes and keeping viewers invested in the characters’ outcomes.

Today’s post is excerpted from How to Enjoy Being Edited: A Practical Guide for Nonfiction Authors by editor Hannah de Keijzer.

Creative planning is the act of mapping out where you are, where you want to go, and how you are going to process today’s challenges.

Too many books and not enough time? One author learns that speed-reading print and audiobook versions simultaneously can enhance retention.

In marketing, “proof of concept” means testing an idea for sales potential before going all-in. Here’s how to apply that to your book.

Literary citizenship—freely sharing your knowledge with those in need—can reap substantial rewards for authors and editors.

All hail the newly published author—or not. When your book’s released but there’s no parade or marching band, here are some other takeaways.

Make the most of your writing practice by understanding which brain waves are active during the day and best support specific writing tasks.

As with abstract painting, fiction can find worth in technique rather than specific meaning—emphasizing not the What, but the How.

When author and readers have little in common, what makes writing relatable? A teacher examines Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird to find out.

The euphoria of hitting the top spot on Amazon can quickly give way to the realization that it hasn’t fundamentally changed much at all.