Writing Advice | Writing Advice
Oct.23.2012
After the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy told reporters that “victory has a thousand fathers” and “defeat is an orphan”; while it would be the height of hubris to compare your book to an international incident, still, depending on the outcome in terms of sales, a similar rule applies.
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Oct.22.2012
At group book signings, resist the impulse to either act like a special flower whose publishing experience has been blissful or a Debbie Downer for whom nothing has ever been enough; it’s not that you should be trying to win a popularity contest, but really, you don’t want people to hate you...
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Oct.21.2012
There’s an invisible line that exists between gratitude that your book has been published and resentment that the publisher didn’t do everything it could have and should have done – or anything at all – to ensure your book become as successful as it could have been; I would recommend you err on the...
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Oct.19.2012
I don’t care if you have an agent or not, and if you have one, I don’t care how good that agent is: Read any publishing contract you are offered in its entirety and do not sign until all your questions have been satisfactorily answered; for once you’ve signed, no one will later let you say...
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Oct.18.2012
If you fall off a horse, a small percentage of you shouldn’t get back on again if, like me, you are woefully uncoordinated, for to do so could spell your own demise; but on those days when the publishing world knocks you off your game, when it takes the piss, the very best thing you can do is get...
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Oct.17.2012
You don’t want to be a thoughtless ninny but you also don’t want to over-think every single little thing, for if you do the latter, you may die without ever having submitted or published anything.
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Oct.16.2012
When soliciting feedback on a draft, it can be tempting to get as many opinions as possible, but the truth is, less can often be more and more can often be too much noise, so choose your readers with the following thought in mind: “Why do I think this particular reader can help me?”
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Oct.14.2012
If you say “Please buy my book!” too many times, you will become like The Boy Who Cried Wolf – no one will listen to you anymore, you will find yourself alone and you might wind up getting eaten.
[Note: This is a sad note for me because normally once every 30 days –...
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Oct.13.2012
If you think that because YA novels are frequently shorter than adult novels – and children’s books shorter still – that they will be easier to write successfully, you’ve got another think coming (bonus tip: “another think coming” is the correct idiomatic usage).
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Oct.12.2012
Unless someone is your Absolute Dream Whatever, you do not have to jump through that hoop.
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