Several years ago now, my friend Margie McKinley from the University of Michigan sent me a paperback book that had been printed on demand in just a few minutes, …
The Dreaded Author Photo, Version 2.0
I've written before about how much I hate photos of myself in general, and in particular the dreaded author photo, which will survive in books for generations. …
Downton Abbey: An Inspirational Writing Story
Downton Abbey is one of my three television weaknesses (along with The News Hour and the Daily Show). And I'm not one to read about what I watch. But I found …
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Alma Katsu: From Writer to Spy to Writer
I'm delighted to be hosting Alma Katsu, whose debut novel, The Taker, is just out this week. Booklist calls it, "An imaginative, wholly original debut" and says …
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Sentencing a Book: The Tough Task of Writing the Pitch Sentence/Paragraph
The writing of a book and the writing of a haiku are two different things, but the sad truth is that to sell a book, we have to be able to describe it …
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Reputable Novel Contests You Might Apply To
Following up on a conversation we had in the Novelist Group on SheWrites, I've put together a list of contests for unpublished book length fiction (including …
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Maddie Dawson: A First Novel, Take Two
I met today's guest author, Maddie Dawson, on my favorite online writer's community, SheWrites.com. Her ... well, it's complicated, but it is Maddie's first …
Anne Tyler on 1st Drafts
"I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them - without a thought about publication - and only in the …
How to Build a Book Group Audience for Your Book
The biggest market of readers these days seems to be book groups. The question for most authors isn't whether they want to reach this market, but how. Some of …
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Writing a Novel is Like Making a Jigsaw Puzzle
I've often said writing a novel is like running a marathon, but I'm beginning to think it's more like making a jigsaw puzzle: The charge of the first draft is …
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