Blogger: Mary Keeley
Last week a client received a request to do an advertisement to help promote a good cause. She wondered if it would be wise because it didn’t appear to relate to the books she writes. She was …
Nonfiction
Author, Check Your Online Presence
Blogger: Mary Keeley
When your book proposal interests agents and editors, the first thing they’ll do is investigate your website, blog, and social media activity. That’s why it’s so important that each area of your online presence compliments the others …
How to Get the Most from Your Beta Readers
Blogger: Mary Keeley
I highly recommend participating in a critique group. You can improve your own craft as you critique your partners’ work often as much as you can by receiving their feedback on your work. But this can’t replace …
How Has an Editor’s Job Changed?
Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
The other day, my assistant, Michelle, asked me how an editor’s role has changed since my first book released, which was in the mid-1980s. Some of my responses surprised her; so I thought it might be …
In Search of Inspiration and New Ideas
Blogger: Mary Keeley
It’s been a few years since I blogged about where to get inspiration for your writing. One suggestion I gave for engaging readers back then was to relate to current events and the cultural issues they illicit. …
Deadlines: Are They Set in Stone?
Blogger: Mary Keeley
Count yourself blessed if you have an editorial deadline looming. It means you have a new book contract. Your agent should have negotiated a realistic manuscript due date during the contract negotiation, based on your other writing …
Fresh Approach: How to Delight and Surprise Your Reader
Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
One question I’m often asked is whether I see the same ol’ ideas in queries.
Indeed I do.
That begs the question: What can a writer do to be sure the idea he or she is …
Fresh Approach: How to Delight and Surprise Your ReaderRead More
Work Patterns for the Way You Think
Blogger: Mary Keeley
I always assumed I was a process thinker through and through. But I’m learning that isn’t always the case. Sometimes my mind goes off on a creative tangent. Maybe it’s a matter of adapting, unknowingly, to the …
Sound Bytes on Writing Well
Blogger: Mary Keeley
When you Google books on writing, you’ll see a plethora of excellent books by writing experts. It can be overwhelming. How can writers absorb all those volumes at the same time they’re being encouraged to write, write, …
Writing a Breakout Book: Icons
Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Recently my book club took a Dashiell Hammett tour of San Francisco. We ate at John’s Grill (which appears in The Maltese Falcon, the book our club read in preparation for the tour). The guide …