Whether you’re going the traditional route or self-publishing, you’re probably going to run into book advances either on your book contract or on third party contracts. So here are the bare bones of terms so you can make the best decision for your publishing journey!

When putting the final touches on your story, most people focus on the font for the cover–which is really important! But what about the internal book font?

Listening to all the writing advice out there, so much is focused on making your writing fast-paced, but boring scenes are actually a vital piece of the puzzle to making your story successful. Let’s talk about it.

For those of you writing sci fi and fantasy, one of the key questions you had to ask yourself when creating your world was—what should you do about any alien or foreign language? And this is a huge—and sometimes tricky—topic in the writing community.

One of the things that comes up regularly in craft advice is the idea of a “theme” in your story.

Now, I have to admit, it hasn’t ever been something I’ve focused on, or given as a tool recommendation to my authors. To me, the idea of a story theme in fiction had always felt a bit… ridiculous. Something for classic or literary literature, trying to teach me a lesson. Not something that has a place in my fun book about elves, love, or spaceships.

But I’m here to revise that opinion and tell you why it might not only strengthen your story, but also help you on your writing journey, to isolate what the “theme” of your book is, no matter what genre you write.

Most of your goals are most likely about writing or finishing a book. Which is an amazing goal. And a big goal. But it can be daunting, especially once the newness of the goal or the book idea wears off.

So the biggest thing you want to keep in mind is why you want to do it. What is driving you to write a book? Why that story?

If you are a fan of this channel, you’ll know we talk a lot about identifying your story genre, being familiar with it so you can either follow or bend genre expectations. Making sure you are giving the reader what they want and able to market your story correctly to get your book to those demanding eyes and ears.

But within this, there is a new term on the rise — Microgenres. 

Previously a popular term mostly in the music and movie community, the book world is now adapting it for their purposes as well. So what is a microgenre?

Let’s discuss!

Last week, we talked about reading comparable titles – what that means and why.

But something that doesn’t get talked about much, but is arguably almost as vital, is reading outside your genre.

I know what you’re thinking – Susan, you just went on a rant last week about how important it is to read in my genre, read comps, and learn from them. And now you’re telling me to do the opposite?

Yes, yes, I am. Book research, market research, like everything in writing and publishing, is about balance.

It is key to know what is going on in your genre. No question.

But if you stop there, you’re going to have tunnel vision—only seeing what is right in front of you. And that can hurt your career almost as much as not knowing your comparable titles.

So let’s talk about how reading a wide variety can make you an even better genre author (whatever genre that may be).

Can you believe it is already April?! 

Whether you are knee deep in the April Nanowrimo right now, or just trying to make it until summer comes, it is always a great idea to take a moment to review your goals from the beginning of the year and adjust as needed to make sure you are continuing (or resetting) to have a strong rest of 2023!

Staying focused in Q2 is one of my biggest struggles, so let’s dive into what I do for a Q1 review and Q2 Renew.

Head hopping is when you are writing a chapter in one point of view but slip into the thoughts, emotions, or views of another. This can be jarring to readers as well as cause confusion in your storyline. 

It can happen in any manuscript, but you’ll see this especially in third person limited, so for those of you thinking of writing in that POV, I highly encourage you to keep this in mind.

We’re quickly coming up on the new year—a fresh start and a time when everyone is excited to plan new goals, new habits, and make next year the best year yet.

But to start 2022 off right, you first want to take a look back at 2021.

So this is going to be a two part post: this week, we’ll talk about how to evaluate your previous year, what to look at, what to consider, and then next week will be all about taking that information and making realistic, achievable goals.

So let’s take a look at your 2021! And as an added bonus, if you are curious, at the end of the video, I’ll go over some of what I found out in the review of my 2021. Including how many books I read, which is always a big question I get asked.

So let’s dive in!

Last week, we talked about questions you should ask yourself to review your 2021, giving yourself a good idea of where you are at now. The good, the bad, and the in between.

So now we get to move on to the fun part – creating goals for 2022!

Writing a book is a long process, but publishing a successful book can be an even longer one.

"You can either be a genius or you can be patient."

This quote from James Clear comes from one of his 3-2-1 emails, and while I’ve yet to read his title Atomic Habits (it is on my TBR!), I thoroughly enjoy his weekly thoughts. His full quote is:

"I rarely have good ideas.​ To overcome this limitation, I think about one topic (like habits) for an unreasonable amount of time. Then, I revise, revise, revise until only the best stuff remains. It’s slow, but it works.​ You can either be a genius or you can be patient."

While James is not specifically talking about writing or publishing, he certainly could have been.

Skipping over the obvious connection to writing and editing in general, let’s talk about publishing.

Dialogue is an ongoing conversation (Ba-dum-dum) between authors and editors because it is one of the trickiest aspects of writing.

These are my top 10 rules for writing great dialogue – the code I live by when I do my editing, when talking with my authors, and even on the odd occasion I find myself needing to write dialogue.