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Starting Later & Starting Over: Launching a Writing Career When You’re No Longer “Young”

February 18, 2025May 14, 2018 by Sangeeta Mehta 24 Comments

Seven-figure deals seem to be given to more 20-something debut writers than debut writers in any other age group, yet Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx started writing at 58—and Frank McCourt began writing in his 60s. Were these writers more talented than younger writers trying to break in at the same time? Or has the industry started gravitating more toward younger writers in recent years? Two literary agents, Sarah Davies and Dr. Uwe Stender, offer their thoughts on the publishing industry’s attitude toward age.

6 Reasons to Relaunch Your Book

February 18, 2025May 10, 2018 by Penny Sansevieri 31 Comments

Book relaunches can take a variety of forms. If done right, they enhance your overall brand, as well as your book sales. Their first and foremost benefit is the new publication date. Having a new book opens up access to bloggers and media who might not have been available to you with an older book.

Where to Begin: The Search for the Inciting Incident

February 18, 2025May 9, 2018 by Peter Selgin 11 Comments

Where to begin? Of all the questions that harass novelists and others with a story to tell, it has to be the peskiest. The question comes down to structure. Not what happened, i.e. the series of events that make a story, but the order in which those events are conveyed.

What It Really Takes to Break Through with Your First Book Deal

February 18, 2025May 8, 2018 by Susan DeFreitas 8 Comments

In many ways, it’s never been harder to get a traditional book deal. At the same time, there have never been more ways to establish a career as an author.

Writing About Acts of Violence

February 18, 2025May 4, 2018 by Jane Friedman 2 Comments

Violence can be too sanitized, too tamed into a generic, pre-packaged mold, and so it can’t yield the kind of interesting questions or meditations readers crave, and writers must eventually confront.

Copywriting 101: How to Earn Money By Writing for Businesses

February 18, 2025May 3, 2018 by Jules Horne 2 Comments

Writing for businesses is a way for skilled writers to earn a good, dependable income. Someone is responsible for writing all the websites, brochures, and marketing materials out there. Why not you?

Asked and Answered: Framing Story Questions Effectively

February 18, 2025May 2, 2018 by Peter Selgin 15 Comments

Sometimes everything we need for our story openings is there, more than we need, in fact. It’s just a matter of cutting and rearranging.

How to Become a Bestseller with Money, Luck, or Work (Mostly Work)

February 18, 2025April 26, 2018 by Cyndy Etler 54 Comments

“If you build it, they will come” is the biggest crock of sh*t ever foisted. The second biggest is my own mental script: “If I write it, The New York Times bestseller list will come.” Nope. Wrong answer.

How to Use Adjectives Wisely and Judiciously

February 18, 2025April 25, 2018 by Peter Selgin 9 Comments

With modifiers, you want to choose your battles. Just because every noun offers itself up for modification(s) doesn’t mean you should modify it. Think of adjectives as ketchup or hot sauce; put it on everything and it quickly wears out its welcome.

True and False: Two Kinds of Narrative Suspense

February 18, 2025April 18, 2018 by Peter Selgin 14 Comments

“True” suspense raises the question, “What’s going to happen next?” It arises organically and authentically from characters and their actions as conveyed to us through a firmly established, consistent viewpoint. “False suspense” is generated by an author who, intentionally or otherwise, withholds information.

Building Your Business Model as a Writer

February 18, 2025April 16, 2018 by Jane Friedman 2 Comments

Over the last month, I’ve been talking (and writing) about how to build a business model for career that suits your particular strengths as well as the unique quality of your work. Here are my latest appearances.

In Storytelling: Never State What You Can Imply

February 18, 2025April 11, 2018 by Peter Selgin 15 Comments

Telling readers what to think or feel is the job of a propagandist. A storyteller’s main purpose, on the other hand, is to create experiences for the reader, to involve us so deeply, so convincingly, so authentically in those experiences that we feel what characters feel.

Make Your Writing Anxiety Disappear By Thinking Small

February 18, 2025April 10, 2018 by Jane Anne Staw 41 Comments

Many people I know are ambitious about their writing. Ambition is not bad in and of itself. But it definitely interferes with your writing. If even before you begin a writing project, you are thinking about where you want it to be published and who, you hope, will review it, you are opening the door to anxiety.

How to Establish Routine While Building Character on the First Page

February 18, 2025April 4, 2018 by Peter Selgin 8 Comments

Routine is important. Without routine the extraordinary events that make for a plot have nothing to work against or to set them into relief. But that routine also needs to evoke character to make us feel something.

Building a Strong Author Platform: It’s Not Just About the Numbers

February 18, 2025April 3, 2018 by Jane Friedman 4 Comments

A smart and strategic author should evaluate their platform strength on three levels: (1) ability to reach new readers, (2) ability to engage existing readers, and (3) ability to mobilize super fans.

Your Characters Don’t Have to Change to Be Compelling

February 18, 2025April 2, 2018 by Jane Friedman 4 Comments

When a character “change” feels beautiful, it’s because the character has confirmed what we’ve hoped or suspected all along. Maybe the character hasn’t changed at all, but rather has finally been put in a situation where her truest self can be revealed.

Writing Scenes: Crafting the Setup and the Payoff

February 18, 2025March 28, 2018 by Peter Selgin 10 Comments

As writers, we’re always either setting up some moment or scene, or paying it off. Since scenes are the building blocks of narrative, we should always be writing scenes.

A Brief History of the Fantasy Genre

February 18, 2025March 27, 2018 by Jeff Shear 13 Comments

While fairy tales are ancient, dating back to the Bronze age, fantasy turns out to be a revival movement, rising from the grave of the recent dead. Mention of the word fantasy is minimal through through the twentieth century, with some peaks here and there depending on your source. Around 1945, fantasy took flight, soaring up and up, well into the twenty-first century. Why the change? What summoned the word fantasy back to life in 1945?

5 On: Ian Thomas Healy

February 18, 2025March 26, 2018 by Kristen Tsetsi Leave a comment

In this 5 On interview, author and publisher Ian Thomas Healy shares what he learned from his experiences with literary agents, what to look for when submitting to small press publishers, his feelings about Amazon KDP Select, and more.

What You Need to Write Your First Book After Age 50

February 18, 2025March 22, 2018 by Julie Rosenberg 41 Comments

First and foremost: Set realistic goals. Is this book going to change your life? No. After publication, you will not be a different fifty-plus-year-old person. You will be pretty similar to the person you were before, only this fifty-plus-year-old person has written a book. So ask yourself: What are you hoping to get out of the experience?

The Pleasures of Genre

February 18, 2025March 21, 2018 by Peter Selgin 6 Comments

Literary fiction’s subsumption by other genres and vice-versa has become so pervasive one must wonder what distinction if any can still be claimed by “pure” literary fiction beyond pretentiousness.

What I Earned (and How) During My First Year of Full-Time Freelancing

February 18, 2025March 19, 2018 by Jane Friedman 16 Comments

In 2014, I made the leap from conventional employment to a full-time freelance career. Here’s how I did it—and what I earned, down to the dollar.

My New Book, The Business of Being a Writer, Is Now Available!

February 18, 2025March 16, 2018 by Jane Friedman 15 Comments

My newest book, The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), takes it on principle that learning about the publishing industry can lead to a more positive and productive career. It helps writers feel empowered and confident to navigate an ever-changing field.

There Are Only 2 Types of Stories—and Why That Matters

February 18, 2025March 15, 2018 by Eli Landes 20 Comments

Why should you care that there are only two story types? It actually matters. Like a chef, knowing what defines the concoction you’re about to create will help you figure out how to make it work. And how to stop it from failing.

Inhabiting Our Scenes: Information Versus Experience

February 18, 2025March 14, 2018 by Peter Selgin 9 Comments

One reason behind the supremacy of the writing rule “Show, don’t tell” is that telling is, frankly, harder. To gain and hold a reader’s attention through action and dialogue is one thing. To do so through exposition is another.

AWP 2018: Tips on the Business of Writing and Publishing

February 18, 2025March 12, 2018 by Jane Friedman 2 Comments

For AWP 2018, I hired a team of writers to help me cover business-related sessions, as part of the launch for my newest book (official release date: March 16). Their blog posts are available over at the companion website for the book.

Why Blog—From the Writer Who Said Goodbye to Blogging

February 18, 2025March 8, 2018 by L.L. Barkat 51 Comments

Sometimes going back is going forward—especially if you refashion the old, sloughing off what became untenable. This is why I’m going back to blogging. While every writer won’t find my reasons of interest, plenty of writers might want to explore their possibility.

How Your Story Opening Foreshadows (Intentionally or Not) What’s to Come

February 18, 2025March 7, 2018 by Peter Selgin 5 Comments

To those who may object that the mere fact of two opposite-sexed people sharing the first scene of a novel (and a cockpit) doesn’t—necessarily—imply a romantic future between them, all I can say is … yes, it does.

How to Write Memoir So They Don’t Read It, They Live It

February 18, 2025March 6, 2018 by Cyndy Etler 17 Comments

If your readers are going to put themselves in your skin and live your experiences, you need to be hyper-conscious of what those experiences looked, felt and sounded like before you write them.

You Must Write Through Many Bad Sentences

February 18, 2025March 5, 2018 by Jane Friedman 2 Comments

Writer Jane Delury discusses the importance of showing up and writing regardless of the conditions you find yourself in, no matter how you feel.

The Challenge of Pulling Off a Dead Narrator

February 18, 2025February 28, 2018 by Peter Selgin 16 Comments

I have had mixed feelings about ghost narrators. As narrative sleights-of-hand go, it strikes me as a little too easy, a bit too glib. It also requires suspension of all four laws of thermodynamics.

3 Principles of a Successful Freelance Career

February 18, 2025February 26, 2018 by Amanda Layman 12 Comments

When I began working as a freelancer, I wanted to find clients to pay me in the thousands. Once I figured out how to land writing jobs, I was working long hours, always seeking more clients, and somehow still getting paid next to nothing. I was missing something on the business side of things—an essential piece of the puzzle.

How to Make the Best Use of “Routine” Events in Your Fiction

February 18, 2025February 21, 2018 by Peter Selgin 9 Comments

When we read about routines in fiction, or in any kind of story, most if not all the pleasure we get from the experience derives from our anticipation of seeing the routine shattered, or, at the very least, disrupted.

5 On: Julie Smith

February 18, 2025February 20, 2018 by Kristen Tsetsi 2 Comments

Author, publisher, and book marketer Julie Smith shares what she loves to write—and read—in a mystery, how her writing obsession evolved into marketing, the mistake many authors make with their book covers, and more.

Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

How Works of Fiction Can Be Boiled Down to Two Types of Plots

February 18, 2025February 14, 2018 by Peter Selgin 6 Comments

In most works of fiction, either a character’s status-quo condition of discontent is challenged when opportunity presents itself — or — a character’s status-quo condition of contentment meets with an obstacle.

Avoid Nagging False Suspense Questions in Your Story Opening

February 18, 2025February 7, 2018 by Peter Selgin 23 Comments

Among a novelist’s chief challenges is that of determining what information to supply when and where: how to balance the desire to arouse suspense with the need to prevent confusion.

Launching Your Second Book and Beyond: 4 Questions to Ask

February 18, 2025February 6, 2018 by Andrea Dunlop 11 Comments

Book launches are intense and can feel very high stakes, so use the time between them to take a step back and consider how to build a career over many years, and many books, to come.

Hedge Words and Inflation Words: Prune Them From Your Writing

February 18, 2025February 5, 2018 by Jessi Rita Hoffman 40 Comments

I’d like to highlight two common writing flaws that clutter the manuscripts of many aspiring authors. I call these culprits “hedge words” and “inflation words.”

You Can’t Get to “Once Upon a Time” Without “What If?”

February 18, 2025February 2, 2018 by Jane Friedman 1 Comment

Danielle Lazarin: “At every stage of my work, questions are my most essential writing tools. I use them to move through to the other side of murky. It’s only by stepping into that unknown and uncomfortable space repeatedly during my process that I can become more deliberate in the story I’m telling.”

The Risks and Rewards of Bringing Your Spouse or Partner Into Your Business

February 18, 2025February 1, 2018 by Dorcas Cheng-Tozun 5 Comments

There are real risks to working together on a business with your spouse or partner, especially if you are both still learning how to do it well and manage your household through the uncertainty of the start-up existence. Adopting formal agreements on how to interact with one another can help avoid stress and anxiety.

The Essential First Step for New Authors: Book Reviews, Not Sales

February 18, 2025January 30, 2018 by David Wogahn 31 Comments

New authors have no symbolic capital. They are not (yet) known for producing quality books that seduce readers. Is it possible for self-publishing authors to create symbolic capital? Absolutely yes, and many have. In today’s increasing online world of book shopping, it is book reviews that build symbolic capital.

Can You (Should You) Typeset Your Own Book?

February 18, 2025January 29, 2018 by Arielle Contreras 14 Comments

If people judge books by their covers, then typesetting is the difference between a brief or a lasting impression. The cover may grab a reader’s eye, but what the reader sees when they crack open the book is what will hold their attention.

affordable ways to master book marketing on a budget

4 Affordable Ways to Master Book Marketing

February 18, 2025January 25, 2018 by Dave Chesson 14 Comments

Keeping up with the latest book marketing trends and learning new tactics can be expensive. Couple this with the growing cost of self-publishing, and it’s important that we be economically shrewd in our endeavors. Here’s how.

How to Rock a Free Day Promotion for Your eBook

February 18, 2025January 24, 2018 by K.B. Jensen 12 Comments

If you are an indie author on Amazon, in Amazon’s Kindle Select Program, you can use five free days to promote your ebook in exchange for three months of exclusivity. Many traditional publishers are increasingly doing free promos as well, and the competition is growing with thousands of free ebooks available every day. So how do you stand out?

Is Writing Being Devalued by Giveaways and Cheap Ebooks?

February 18, 2025January 22, 2018 by Jane Friedman 7 Comments

There’s growing unrest surrounding the proliferation of free and cheap books, particularly ebooks. The reasons for sharp discounts and giveaways are legion (and some reasons are better than others), but regardless of the reason, I see greater shaming of those who are seen to “devalue” literature in our culture.

The Totality Effect: How a Total Solar Eclipse Changes the Way We See

February 18, 2025January 18, 2018 by Melanie Bishop 2 Comments

What I learned from the total eclipse was this: What wasn’t phenomenal? Everywhere I looked, something grand was there for the taking.

What Does 2018 Hold for Writers?

February 19, 2025January 16, 2018 by Jane Friedman 6 Comments

A round-up of publishing industry trend articles, helping freelancers and authors anticipate changes coming in 2018.

What Obligations Do Writers Have to Their Parents?

February 18, 2025January 10, 2018 by Jane Friedman 7 Comments

There’s a very famous piece of advice from Anne Lamott that occasionally makes the rounds on social media. She says: “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” This advice, especially when shared out of context, makes me cringe.

Best Book Marketing Advice for Authors: The Best of 2017

February 18, 2025January 9, 2018 by Jane Friedman 6 Comments

I regularly round up and comment on book marketing advice that have writers buzzing. Here’s what sparked discussion in 2017.

Optimizing Your Books for Amazon Keyword Search

February 18, 2025January 3, 2018 by Penny Sansevieri 36 Comments

The more your book is optimized for search at Amazon, the more often it’s going to come up in searches, and—consequently—the more you’ll sell. Part of making your book more discoverable is understanding how to set your categories and keywords on Amazon, which is accessible to any indie author.