5 On: Dario Ciriello
Author Dario Ciriello talks about breaking writing rules, what publishing other writers taught him about the business, and how little he as a writer cares about what other writers think.
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The Marketing Rule You Can’t Forget
When I work on a project—with clients, but particularly with my own writing—I start by acknowledging a blunt but important truth: Nobody cares about what I have made.
So You’re an Author Without a Social Media Presence: Now What?
Social media is just one component of your author platform, and not necessarily the most important component. It works best as part of a holistic book marketing and promotion strategy.
How to Pitch Agents at a Writers Conference
Pitching agents at a writers conference can be a difficult task for the new writer. Here’s how to make it a little easier on yourself.
A Serial Publishing Platform That Earns Money for Indie Creators
Tapas, a new digital publishing platform, has led to meaningful earnings and readership for independent artists and writers in less than two months.
Screenwriting Techniques to Strengthen Your Novel: Q&A with Nina R. Sadowsky
Screenwriter and novelist Nina R. Sadowsky shares screenwriting techniques that have influenced her novel writing, and writers can learn from the screen.
How Do You Respond to Criticism of Your Work? 6 Patterns to Recognize
Are you getting the most from professional feedback, or are you inadvertently sabotaging your progress? Look for these patterns in your response.
The Advice to Pursue Your Passion: What Does “Passion” Even Mean?
Here’s a word I have eliminated as fully as possible from my information and advice lexicon for writers: passion.
The Challenge Faced by High-Quality Literary Journals
Today, our problem is not finding more great things to read. It’s finding time to read the great many wonderful things that are published.
The Difference Between a Press Release and a Pitch (You Need Both)
The two biggest mistakes in book publicity pitches: they are too long in length, and not pointed or provocative enough.
If You’re Successful, Lots of People Ask for Your Help. Who Deserves It?
A “clueless ask” is when a well-meaning stranger asks for an investment of a successful person’s time and energy. What are such people owed, if anything?
How to Choose and Set Up a Pen Name
You should consider how secret you want to be about your true identity. Maintaining secrecy is difficult. The higher the level of secrecy, the more complicated the process
Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published
If you want to publish your book, here are the steps you should follow to assess your work’s potential, then research and pitch editors and agents.
How to Immediately Improve Your Query Letter’s Effectiveness
In my many years of critiquing queries, I see the same weaknesses again and again. Here are the biggest issues that afflict novel queries and how you can fix them.
When You Actually Should Dig Out Those Old Stories From the Dusty Drawer
If there’s something at the heart of the story that still interests you, that keeps pulling you back, that still haunts you years later, then that’s probably a sign that there’s something worth struggling for there.
The Perfect Cover Letter: Advice From a Lit Mag Editor
When submitting your short form literature to a magazine or journal, your cover letter is often the first impression an editor sees. It serves as an introduction to your thoughtfully crafted art. As such, it is significant, but it shouldn’t be intimidating or even take much of your time to write.
Why Your Memoir Won’t Sell
Everyone has a meaningful story to tell, but not everyone’s story (or writing) is going to deserve a commercial publishing deal. Here are the most common problems I encounter in memoir pitches and manuscripts.
Fan-Friendly Marketing and Kindle Worlds Licensing: Q&A with Aleatha Romig
Primarily an indie published author, Aleatha Romig participates in Kindle Worlds, which allows other authors to write about the characters in her work.
5 Research Steps Before You Write Your Book Proposal
Writing a nonfiction book proposal—a good one—requires not only sharp clarity about your idea, but also how that idea, in book form, is relevant and unique in today’s market. You’ll have a much easier time writing your proposal if you take time to conduct market research beforehand.
5 Steps to Kick Your Marketing FOMO to the Curb
Marketing FOMO is more debilitating than distracting—and if you suffer from marketing FOMO, your marketing tasks will never be done.
How Do Literary Agents Approach Diversity?
How do agents—generally considered the gatekeepers to publishing companies—approach the issue of diversity in the publishing industry?
Start Here: How to Write a Book Proposal + Book Proposal Template
Everything you need to know to start writing a book proposal for your nonfiction book.
The Pressure to Release More, More, More Titles
Whenever you produce titles fast, you’re making trade-offs.
Don’t Immediately Trust Mainstream Sites on Publishing Stories
Here are the latest stories that are causing confusion (and sometimes moral panic) where it’s not deserved.
How Much Should You Personalize a Query Letter?
Some agents and editors say that personalizing a query letter can backfire. Others say the opposite—that it’s mandatory. What should you do?
A Writer’s Worst Fear
Every writer’s pet fear stems from the mother of all fears: What other people think of what I write is more important than what I think of what I write.
The Author’s Path: The Journey to Publication
A detailed look at how NetGalley’s Stuart Evers and Myfanwy Collins went from manuscript to publication, with marketing and PR advice.
How to Spot Toxic Feedback: 7 Signs That the Writing Advice You’re Getting May Do More Harm Than Good
If you recognize the following characteristics in the critiques of your work, it may not just be inept—it may, in fact, be toxic.
How Do Books Become Bestsellers? (Can Authors Increase Those Chances?)
Is a book’s success all luck, even if ‘luck’ includes hitting the right subject matter at the right time, or is it marketing—and can an indie author in any way compete with a publisher?
Classic Story Structures and What They Teach Us About Novel Plotting
Turns out there is only one universal rule of plot, and it goes back to what Joseph Campbell uncovered: every single story worth telling is about transformation via trials.
Going Beyond Truth-Telling in Personal Essay
Writer Katherine Vaz discusses an assignment that is given to every student at her university: to write about “the most important thing ever to happen to me.”
Author Marketing Collectives: An Increasingly Important Component of Book Promotion
Authors need help with digital book marketing—the kind of help that traditional publishers rarely provide. Co-ops and collectives can help fill that gap.
How to Pitch the Media (Without Even Sending Your Book)
When you’re wooing the media, what you’re really trying to do is to intrigue them. To whet their appetites. Sometimes the best way to do that flows from remembering that less is often more.
Are You Clear About Your Writer Persona? Going Public by Design
As writers, we don’t always know how much of ourselves to share with the public. But it behooves us to create and curate an author persona—the public face for our work.
Pantser or Plotter? Deciding Which Can Save Your Writing Life
Half of writers are plotters, and the other half are pantsers. One is not the right way or the wrong way; there is only the way that works best for you.
How to Optimize Your Amazon Author Central Pages (Don’t Forget the International Pages)
Every author, regardless of when or what they’ve published, has an Author Central page. But many authors have not claimed theirs—which is a big mistake.
4 Methods for Developing Any Idea Into a Great Story
How do great authors develop stunning narratives, break from tradition, and advance the form of their fiction? They take whatever basic ideas they’ve got, then move them away from the typical.
My Recent Work with The Authors Guild: New Publishing Resources and Classes
I’m delighted to announce that I’ve been working with The Authors Guild on the creation and release of their new resource guide on e-publishing.
5 Commonly Confused Words Starting With A
Learn the difference between all ready/already, altogether/all together, all right/alright, any time/anytime, anyway/any way.
Freelance Writing IS a Viable Career (Don’t Listen to the Naysayers)
If you dream of a full-time freelance writing career, don’t be discouraged by the largely negative messages about how difficult it is out there.
The Most Common Entry-Level Mistake in the Writing Game
By far the most common entry-level mistake in the writing game, the thing that can get a perfectly good story rejected by an editor on the first page, is overwriting.
The Importance of a Strong Opening Scene
No pressure, but the opening of your book is the gatekeeper in determining whether your novel will sell. If your opening is weak, it won’t matter if chapter two is a masterpiece. Editors and agents and booksellers and librarians and readers will stop reading before they get there.
How Lists Inform Our Writing, Our World
We order; we catalogue. It is, simply, what the human mind excels at.
4 Freelancing Myths That Are Holding You Back
Misconceptions about getting started often hold new writers back. You may think that to be successful as a freelance writer, you need a J-school degree, an impressive database of editorial contacts, and a truckload of supplies. Not so—read on to learn the most common myths that can sabotage you before you start.
How to Write Your Memoir with Fun, Easy Lists
You need to write a memoir—except the mere thought floods you with anxiety. You’ve got decades of memories; where would you even start? Lists to the rescue!
The Second Act Novelist: 6 Ways to Prepare
If fiction writing is something you’d like to pursue in your retirement years, follow these steps to help you prepare for the business of authorship.
How to Get Violence Right in Your Fiction
For new writers, throwing in a few combat scenes can seem like an easy way to add some excitement to a novel, but the reality is that violence can be incredibly difficult to pull off effectively.
On Tastemakers and Making
Taste is not static. Rather than a fixed endpoint toward which one toils away, it’s a target that moves over the course of a lifetime.
The Myth About Print Coming Back (Updated)
Discussions about the “resurgence” of print and the comeback of independent bookstores amounts to wishful thinking, not an understanding of the industry.
5 On: Debra Eckerling
Debra Eckerling (@WriteOnOnline), founder of the writers’ support group Write On!, discusses common writer challenges, the value of blogs, what it means to take writing to the next level, tragic networking mistakes, and more in this 5 On interview.