Query Letter 101
A query letter is a formal letter that a writer sends to literary agents or publishers to introduce themselves and their work with the...
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- Aug 25
- 2 min
Book review: Mark of the Raven
by Morgan L. Busse Published November 6, 2018 Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Genre: High fantasy, epic fantasy, young adult This is...
- Jul 20
- 2 min
Elements of a successful book: metadata
Metadata feels like a nebulous term, and for many writers, it’s components seem hard to pin down. However, it’s vital that your book has...
- Jul 6
- 5 min
Elements of a successful book: the back cover blurb
You’ve written your book and edited the heck out of it, and you don’t want to deal with it anymore. Sounds about right? But then you...
- Jun 22
- 3 min
Elements of a successful book: title
Book titles and subtitles feel pretty basic—every book has a title (at least), and I don’t think it’s controversial to say that your book...
- Apr 27
- 3 min
Formatting dialogue in fiction
A grammar miniblog Most writers are familiar with the basics of formatting dialogue in fiction such as in the following examples: “I...
- Mar 17
- 5 min
Keeping readers engaged: the first ten pages of your novel
Ask anyone and they’ll likely say that writing a book is a hard job. Ask a writer and they’ll likely say that starting to write a book is...
- Feb 6
- 3 min
Narrative tense
Writers have a lot to consider when they choose the narrative tense of their novel. Deciding on the right tense for your story has a...
- Dec 16, 2022
- 3 min
Line- and copyediting versus proofreading
Sometimes, it can be difficult to keep the stages of editing straight and remember exactly what each one includes. From my experience,...
- Dec 8, 2022
- 3 min
Manuscript evaluations
What developmental editors do can be a bit of a mystery to the uninitiated, so I asked some of my DE colleagues for a broad picture of...
- Nov 17, 2022
- 3 min
Hiring a beta reader
Beta readers are a pivotal part of the self-publishing process. They read your manuscript with the eye of an “average” reader, helping to...
- Nov 10, 2022
- 3 min
Lowering editing costs
In the editing world, time really is money. Editors have to strike a balance between setting a rate they can live on and completing work...
- Oct 27, 2022
- 3 min
Style sheets
One of the first things I learned about that was new to me as a freelance proofreader and editor was style sheet creation. Yet, it’s...
- Aug 19, 2022
- 4 min
You've written a book. Now what?
Pat yourself on the back, first of all. You wrote a book! Let that realization wash over you, then set your novel aside. It's time to...
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