I'll always edit up to three pages at no cost. It is important for the writer to see the style of the editor. We all work differently. I do a line edit and pages of notes. The notes are for overall issues and the line edit gives them ...READ»
In this day and age where everyone is making quick decisions based on what they find on the internet, how you communicate with your potential customer has tremendous relevancy to your bottom line. How many websites have you visited ...READ»
In my experience, titles come from a lot of crappy brainstorming. Write lists of possible titles. Even if 100% of that list is garbage, the act of writing down possibilities engages the brain. Then you have to let your mind do its ...READ»
The key to generating PR is repetition. The media is very skeptical of what they read and so it takes time to generate buy-in. Buy-in is created by being consistent and submitting solid content to the same media players over and ...READ»
Locations in your book should be as well defined as characters because, in fact, they are characters. Locations are living and breathing. Like people with hearts and minds and souls, locations also have hearts (the community of ...READ»
If people find your writing offensive that is probably a good thing. If you’re not turning people off, you’re not turning people on. Think of your favorite actor or actress. I guarantee that as much as you adore them, there are ...READ»
Characters are just like people—completely unpredictable! At least they should be. Ask me what I think my wife will do in a given situation, and I’ll have an opinion. I won’t be right though, because inevitably, she always ...READ»
A character’s voice should be found from the inside out, not the outside in. Meaning that characters are created through a writer’s willingness to dive into doing their homework and truly bringing a character to life. You can ...READ»
Almost ALWAYS! Query letters are standard in the industry. That being said, what is most imperative is that you do your homework when approaching any agent. They each have a preferred method of submitting work to them. Most of ...READ»
I’m not in favor of pen names unless you are moving outside your brand and are afraid of confusing people. We all know what happened to Coke when they tried to redesign their image – it flopped. So if you are a mystery writer ...READ»
A great question. The answer to that lies in your goals. I typically work with people whose intention is to make a difference in the lives of their readers and to build an entire operation around their book. They are not always ...READ»
It is imperative that you have a process for pursuing an agent. The last thing you want to do is go into this blindly. Jeff Kleinman at Folio Lit, had a brilliant idea that he shared with our writers on a call last year. He ...READ»
This past weekend my wife and I were doing a lot of driving through the colored fall countryside of Wisconsin and we ended up listening to Dean Koontz’s Life Expectancy, the audiobook. We actually found ourselves, wanting to take ...READ»
In my experience a good novel takes about 12-16 months to write. When I approach the writing process, I do three months of character development, two months of plotting and then the remainder of time is spent building the ...READ»
Amid the gyrations of the stock market, and predictions of a severe
economic downturn, I have found myself in the interesting position of
launching a start up with my friends at Lullabot and Bond Art +
Science. Over the past six ...READ»
Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is king. If you have a great story idea, ask yourself, is it so good that no matter what happens to me over the next five to ten years of my life, I’m willing to push through and persevere for ...READ»
So many call it your voice, but I call it your THEME! Not the theme of your story, the theme of your life. We all have a unique perspective on the world that is our own and we write from that center. If you can articulate what that ...READ»
In my opinion, you should never send a pitch to a publisher if you are expecting them to buy your book and pay you with an advance. Any commercial publisher worth their salt doesn’t accept queries and pitches directly from ...READ»
YES! You (probably) need an agent. The question is actually not, “Do you need an agent?”, the question is “WHEN do you need an agent?”!
Agents are an imperative piece of the puzzle for (most) any writer who wants to ...READ»
“This is the first conference out of seventeen where the keynoters mingled and worked with the agents, editors and publishers as well as the attendees. You were everything we wanted you to be. You lit fires. You made friends. ...READ»
I attended several of Corey's workshops at the Wrangling With Writers conference. The first one was about preparing the "pitch" to snag and reel in agents or editors who might be matches for a writer's best efforts. Corey ...READ»
This is the perfect question to ask upon my return from the Wrangling with Writing Conference in Tucson, AZ. I’ll let you answer that question for yourself based on my experience. At the conference, I taught four workshops, gave ...READ»
Attention. Attention. Attention.
Just kidding. Sort of. I’ll explain. When I was acting years ago, I started off working commercially with a boutique agency. I LOVED my agent, Robin Levy, and her staff, Leigh and TJ. It ...READ»
Per my last series of posts, we have discussed the importance of articulating theme. It’s an essential ingredient to being able to create a career out of your writing. But how do we become objective enough in our own life to be ...READ»
Once you have determined where you fit in the equation of writing (see previous post), then you are ready to investigate your selling point. Whether you are the writer looking to get hired to tell someone’s story, the blind old ...READ»
