Your Book May Be Too Long (or Not Long Enough): Suggested Word Counts for Genres
When you start submitting your book to agents, publishers, or editors, they will all ask the same question: what is your word count? As a new writer, this may seem an odd question. After all, you may know off the top of your head that your book is 250 pages long. But...
Next Steps for First-Time Authors
By Jori Hanna You’ve written “The End” on your first draft, and you’re filled with an incredible sense of accomplishment. You did it! You finished your book! You’re proud, and you should be. Of the millions of Americans who say they want to write a book, very few...
How to Write an Endorsement Blurb for a Book
By Jori Hanna It's no secret that humans respond to a concept called social proof, the concept that if someone else is doing it, we should too. This is why modern marketing relies so heavily on digital word-of-mouth tactics such as influencer posts and product...
How to Find Your Target Audience
By Jori Hanna No matter what kind of writing you do, the first step in the process of sharing your work with the world is identifying your target audience. Your target audience will help you determine your tone, your word choice, your style, what rhythm or flow you...
The Name Game
By Kylee Wooten Coming up with a name is challenging. Whether you’re deciding on the name of the new family pet, battling over whom to name your child after, or trying to come up with the perfect title for your new novel, it’s almost impossible to know if you’re...
10 Tips for Writing an Attention-Grabbing Review
What’s the one thing that’s worse than reading a terribly dry book? Reading a terribly dry review about a book! Here are some tips by our Senior Editor to help you rise above the noise and catch the attention of book pros. 1. Choose wisely. You don’t have time to read...
How to Write a Book Cover Blurb
You've finally finished your hours of researching, writing, and editing! You've sent in your manuscript and your publisher asks for a book description... That shouldn't be hard, right? All you have to to do is condense everything you know about your book into 250...
How to Choose a Winning Book Title
For many authors, choosing a title for their book is much like choosing a name for their child. A book's title is usually for life, and you want to be sure it's "just right." After all, as much as we say "Don't judge a book by it's cover," everybody does. The title...
Ask the Authors: Finding Your Path
Do ideas just come to authors, or do they have to work for them? How do they decide what kind of book they’ll write? Betsy Streeter and Dave Edlund talk about how they found their path. Do you have any questions for our authors? Let us know by leaving a comment...
Ask the Authors: How to Plot a Murder and Get Away with It with John Desjarlais
We asked John Desjarlais to discuss his process writing (and plotting) a murder mystery. In these books, everything is important. Characters, settings, interactions, motive—especially motive—all play into whether or not your reader will believe your story. Packed with...