Guest Columns

Most writers write in the hopes that they will sell their book, connect with a readership, and make money from the sales. Their priorities may not be in that order, but it’s usually the goal when writing a novel or nonfiction manuscript. And that’s expected and reasonable.

Yet, often, upon completing her first novel, an author’s engulfing joy of writing becomes infiltrated with a subtle, growing anxiety. Soon to join that is a cocktail mix of emotions: trepidation, fear, self-doubt, worry, despair, frustration. Whether these come flooding into the writer’s mind and heart full force or just niggle at the back of her mind—they come. Read more

The first hurdle to scholarly publication is catching the eye of an editor who then sends one’s proposal/manuscript out for blind peer reviews. A university press evaluates a submission in light of the potential book’s impact in a discipline. Typically, scholarly reviewers expect a certain kind of measured, unbiased tone, much substantiation of any claims, i.e. lots of citations of others’ work, and little personal presence in the material. Read more

Webster’s defines arrogance as “an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.” Basically, you think and act like you’re better than you actually are — and possibly even better than other people. With that kind of definition, who in their right mind would admit to being arrogant?

I would — solely because I want to publish a novel one day. And the truth is, if you’re also a writer with a goal of publication: 1) You are, in fact, (slightly) arrogant.* (And that’s OK. I only encourage arrogance in very, very small doses.) And 2) This is a GOOD thing. Read more

I used to be an actor. Then I became a fiction writer. This transition had very little to do with a spine-injuring production of The Tempest. Neither swords nor backstage ghosts were involved, whatever rumors you might have heard. In any case, several theatrical skills and lessons turned out to be useful in my new profession. I hereby present three of my favorites:

1) You can’t be the actor and the director at the same time. Let me clarify: You can direct and perform in the same show. But you cannot do so at the same time. You must switch hats. Sometimes it helps to use actual hats. Do not attempt to wear both hats at once. Read more

1. Physical tours can still sell a lot of books. I know, I know, lots of people say the book tour is dead. And yes, most authors, even famous authors, don’t draw crowds the way they used to. But at least for the young adult and children’s market, it is still possible to put together an author tour that sells well. How do I know? Here’s a list of the top ten markets for my debut novel, ASHFALL, at the end of November last year as my physical book tour was winding down. The data are from Nielsen Bookscan:

GIVEAWAY: Mike is excited to give away a free copy of his novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: vrundell won.) Read more

The curse of a vivid imagination is that you can almost always imagine something that would make the situation worse. This is why if there is a sudden lurch on a flight, you can count on me to grip my armrest, mentally picturing the wing suddenly falling off of the plane. Strange noise in the middle of the night? Zombie apocalypse. Hacking cough and sniffle? No doubt the beginning of Ebola. It makes my life anxious, but it’s great for writing fiction. Most fiction suffers from not enough conflict, not too much. With every book and every scene, ask yourself “what would make this worse?” One way to do this is to take common conflict resolution techniques and turn them upside down.

GIVEAWAY: Eileen is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: sefmac20 won.) Read more