What is curb appeal? According to the real-estate business, curb appeal is what potential buyers see first when they drive up to your property that’s for sale. It “embraces everything between your front door and the street” (per the MyHomeIdeas site). That site goes on to note: “It doesn’t take much to make dramatic style… [Read more…]
November 20, 2008
I’ve decided to review my library of hundreds of books of writing advice and put together a list of a small number of top recommendations for your library. I’ll review my favorites and compile a list of the essential works (IMHO) for writers (to be kept on a permanent page of my blog). I’ll tell… [Read more…]
April 22, 2008
An author platform. To pitch a nonfiction book, you need one . . . because literary agents want you to have one . . . because publishers want you to have one. . . . But what are author platforms and what do they do? Let’s tackle the second part of that: what do they… [Read more…]
February 29, 2008
Not sure which genre your novel is? In your mind, hey, it’s a hydrid! Maybe a science fiction/fantasy, or a romance/thriller/time-traveling mystery. Maybe you think that’s a good thing. But if it’s more than one thing, in terms of genre, that’s a problem. Specifically, a marketing problem. Why? Genre is basically a label. It assigns… [Read more…]
February 18, 2008
What people are saying about The New Writer’s Handbook 2007: (To order from Amazon.com, click here.) “. . . from the preface by Erica Jong to the closing piece by Mary Pipher, it surprises and satisfies.” – Library Journal (Starred Review) “. . . a holistic approach in reaching out to new writers, nurturing their… [Read more…]
February 17, 2008
A query letter for a novel must be short. Ideally, just one page. It’s what you send as a first contact to a literary agent (sometimes directly to an editor), often as an email. You hope they will open it, scan it, be intrigued very quickly (and impressed by your writing on that one page),… [Read more…]
The Writer's Handbook
January 23, 2009
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