What Is (and Isn’t) High Concept Fiction, and How Do You Pitch It?
Pitching a high concept novel can be the key to skyrocketing to the top of agents’ slush piles, according to Angie Hodapp of Nelson Literary [Read More]
Writing
Finding Productive Space for Writing
By Tina Jenkins Bell Last summer as I worked on the edits for the last few sections of my novel, I needed an alternative to [Read More]
Using Kids and Parents as Beta Readers for Children’s Fiction
Debut author Marie Unanue, whose book and message are about being “kind all the time,” has a unique writing process story: After writing two very [Read More]
How to Sell an Essay or Article: 21 Tips for Writing a Winning Cover Letter
Wondering how to sell an essay? Writing a cover letter that’s short and perfect to introduce your pages will sell a piece faster than submitting [Read More]
25 Literary Journals that Accept Reprints
Publishing your work is wonderful. Even though my work has been published hundreds of times, I still get excited every time a new publication containing [Read More]
“Go Your Own Way”: James Patterson on Supporting Childhood Literacy, Generating Novel Ideas, and Writing with Bill Clinton
After more than four decades in publishing, record-breaking bestseller James Patterson has this to say: You can go your own way. Discover an exclusive extended [Read More]
Agent Myth Busters: 5 Common Misconceptions About Literary Agents
A mother-daughter pair of agents debunks 5 common misconceptions. By Cari Lamba and Marie Lamba We literary agents do most of our work behind the [Read More]
Train Your Eye for Better Writing: 3 Writing Techniques Adapted from the Visual Arts
Add color to the canvas of your manuscript with these 3 writing techniques adapted from practices commonly used by painters and other visual artists. By [Read More]
4 Things Writers Need To Know About Author Readings
— Written by Lev Raphael I’ve done hundreds of invited talks and readings on three different continents and I love being out there with my [Read More]
What a Coincidence: 7 Clever Strategies for Harnessing Coincidences in Fiction
Well-timed coincidences can catapult a story forward, but a poorly planned one can bring your readers to a dead stop. Use these 7 strategies to [Read More]
Playing with Common Horror Tropes for Comedic Effect
What do horror and comedy have in common? Well, quite a lot actually. Some of my favorite books and movies are combinations of the two [Read More]
The Writer’s Guide to Wattpad: How Readers Fall in Love with Your Words
by Benjamin Sobieck, editor of The Writer’s Guide to Wattpad (WD Books 2018) On Wattpad: @BenSobieck Wattpad works because it makes it easy for readers to [Read More]
7 Ways to Turbocharge Your Ebook Marketing
Smart ebook marketing works like a magnet to bridge the gap between readers’ unmet desires and your book’s ability to satisfy those desires. Here are [Read More]
20 Things to Consider When Building Fantasy Worlds
by New York Times Bestselling Author Sara Raasch I have crafted two fantasy worlds in my career so far. The first, Primoria in the SNOW [Read More]
Is Social Media Changing How We Write?
by Anne Leigh Parrish We’ve all heard it said that readers have increasingly short attention spans. Spending time with a print medium isn’t as engaging [Read More]
Who Ya Gonna Call? Writing Paranormal and Supernatural Phenomena Realistically and Authentically
Given the popularity and depictions of “paranormal and supernatural phenomena” in movies and TV, one of the world’s foremost scientific experts on writing paranormal and [Read More]
What Starting a Business and Launching a Book Have in Common: It’s All About the Investment
When you’re launching a book, your job is to find readers, engage with readers, write good books, and sell the heck out of said book(s). [Read More]
13 Literary Journals Open to Other Art Forms
Most literary journals publish poetry and fiction. Many also publish creative nonfiction, essays, reviews, and visual art (largely paintings, drawings, and photography). Most do not [Read More]
Where to Write
Written by Geary Smith Several years ago, while vacationing with the family in Key West, Florida, I can remember looking up at the home of [Read More]
How to Never Be a Writing “Failure”
Dealing with rejection doesn’t have to be a discouraging experience. Here, P.S. Hoffman offers five ways to fail smarter and set yourself up for success, [Read More]
Fiction University: Practical Advice for Beginning Fiction Writers
First, don’t do it, if that’s how you plan on making a living. Sure, we all hear about the fabulous successes of the J.K. Rowlings [Read More]