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July/August 2013 Issue
July/August Issue
Writer's Digest Magazine
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There Are No Rules
Getting Published
Agent Kate McKean’s Feb. 28 Webinar With Synopsis Critique: “Find, Fix, and Finesse Your Plot into a Winning Idea”
Plot and structure are so important to a story. Heck, that’s the key word to all this: story. A plot and structure is essentially your story’s framework. Many whole books have been written on plot because it’s such a tricky complicated thing. How can you keep people turning the pages? How can you affect their emotions and get them to continue reading? Plot factors in huge.
Luckily for us, we’ve got literary agent and instructor extraordinaire Kate McKean of Howard Morhaim Literary to teach “Find, Fix and Finesse Your Plot into a Winning Idea” — a brand new webinar at 1 p.m., Thursday, Fe. 28, 2013. It lasts 90 minutes and comes with an awesome critique of your entire synopsis! Read more
The Silent Gatekeepers
It’s something every writer who aims to publish a book through traditional means must deal with one day—the dreaded Silent Gatekeepers. But is it really fair for writers to criminalize the cold … Read more
“Perfect Your Query Pitch” — Feb. 14, 2013 Webinar All About Constructing a Dynamite Pitch
When you want to sell your book, you’ll need to send agents and editors a great query letter to pique their interest in your work. And the most important part of the query letter is the pitch — where you describe your novel or memoir’s story. To explain more about how to craft a dynamite pitch and get agents & editors to say YES, we’ve listed “The Book Doctors” Arielle Eckstut & David Henry Sterry to teach “The Art of The Pitch: Perfect Your Number One Tool to Attracting Agents, Publishers, and Readers.” The webinar lasts 90 minutes and happens at 1 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. Read more
“How to Make a Career of E-Books” — New Webinar by James Scott Bell, Feb. 7, 2013
It’s no secret that one of the biggest stories of the past few years is the rise of e-books and the potential money to be made selling them. It seems like each week we hear about some author — either an established one or a new scribe — who recently made a mint selling e-books. With all this in mind, we wanted to design/offer a brand new webinar all about how to make money off e-books and navigate today’s complicated digital waters. We’ve enlisted storytelling master James Scott Bell to teach the 90-minute webinar, “How to Make a Career Out of eBooks,” at 1 p.m. on Feb. 7, 2013. Read more
WD’s February 2013 Bundled Collection is “Writing for Children & Young Adults” (at 83% Off!)
Writer’s Digest’s new Premium Collections are a pretty cool deal. What happens is that a bunch of our products and/or services are bundled together and sold at a ridiculous discount. For February 2013, the “Writing for Children & Young Adult” collection is 10 awesome products bundled together and sold at 83% off. Each collection has a limited number — and is sold for a limited time — so check out this amazing premium collection (and get your book for kids published!) before it sells out. Read more
Expert Advice on How to Write a Query Letter: Literary Agent Kate McKean Explains How in Her Jan. 31, 2013 Webinar, and Critiques Attendees’ Queries
It’s no secret that a writer’s query letter is extremely important in their quest to get a literary agent and get published. Agents evaluate dozens of queries a day, and make requests for more material from the few letters that impress them. They’re crucial, and that’s why people never get enough articles or advice or samples concerning them. If you’re having trouble with your query letter, why not let a literary agent not only instruct you, but also critique your letter, as well? Sounds pretty sweet to me. The agent in question is the awesome Kate McKean, and the webinar is “The Anatomy of a Query Letter” on Jan. 31, 2013. Read more
“Your Story’s First Pages: How to Engage Readers” — Jan. 24, 2013 Webinar With Critique by Agent Kathleen Ortiz
It’s no secret that the first several pages of your manuscript are of the highest importance. The truth is that agents and editors size up your writing within a minute at the most. If you don’t have their attention on Page 1, they stop reading. It’s that simple. Because it’s imperative that your work starts strong and avoids overused techniques or cliches, we’ve enlisted literary agent Kathleen Ortiz of New Leaf Literary to help. Kathleen is teaching “Your Story’s First Pages: How to Engage the Reader” – a new webinar (with a critique of your first 500 words!) on Jan. 24, 2013. Read on to learn more. Read more
Let an Agent Help You Revise Your Novel: Michelle Brower’s Jan. 17, 2013 Webinar
They say, “Good writing is rewriting.” It’s true that your first draft is just that: your first draft. After the words are down on paper, you must begin the important process of honing, revising, and rewriting your work to eliminate weak writing and make your prose come to life. Rewriting is a process of polishing your words and eliminating all needless elements that can slow a manuscript down. Most work gets rejected simply because the novel/memoir is not where it needs to be in terms of quality. The writer just needed more revision and guidance! It’s with this important fact in mind that we’ve enlisted talented literary agent Michelle Brower of super-agency Folio Literary to teach a new 90-minute webinar called “The Art of Revision: Perfecting Your Book For Submission” on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. Every attendee of the webinar gets a personalized critique of their work. Read more
How to Get Your Memoir Published: Agent Regina Brooks Teaches a Webinar on Jan. 10, 2013 (With a Query Critique!)
Writing a memoir or your life story? Get it published in 2013! Instructor Regina Brooks is a literary agent as well as the author of You Should Really Write A Book: How To Write, Sell And Market Your Memoir. On Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, she is teaching a brand-new webinar called “How to Write, Market & Sell Your Memoir.” It’s an intensive all about memoir writing and publishing, and comes with an individualized query critique (from Regina) for every attendee. Read more
Get Published and Land a Book Deal in 2013: Jane Friedman Shows How in a Jan. 3 Webinar
2013 is fast approaching — a new year full of endless possibilities for you and your writing. This is the year you get your book published! To give you the best start possible on your journey, we’ve enlisted e-media and publishing visionary Jane Friedman to teach a comprehensive new webinar called “How to Get Published: Land a Book Deal in 2013″ on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. It starts at 1 p.m., EST and lasts 90 minutes. The webinar will be an intensive overview of what you need to do to successfully pitch your book to agents and editors this year, as well as an examination of whether indie/self-publishing may be the right path for you. Read on to learn more. Read more
5 New Year’s Resolutions for Writers
A new year, a new writerly you. New Year’s Day is a time for reflecting on the past year while thinking about the goals, wishes, and hopes for the new year ahead. … Read more
Agent Dawn Frederick Teaches “How to Sell More Books and Network” — Dec. 20, 2012 Webinar With Query Critique
We all want to try and meet more readers and sell more books. That’s the primary goal of being on social media, is it not? To connect with people, to network. To help us with this broad and important undertaking we call networking, we’ve enlisted literary agent Dawn Frederick (Red Sofa Literary) to teach a brand new webinar on Dec. 20, 2012 called “How to Network and Sell More Books.” This instruction will be of great value to 1) self-published authors looking to get their work into bookstores and sell more books, and 2) writers who are submitting to agents & editors now who also hope to make themselves a more attractive author by having great self-marketing potential. Read more
Agent/Author John M. Cusick Teaches “Writing and Selling Sci-Fi & Fantasy for Kids and Teens” – Dec. 13, 2012 Webinar With Query Critique
On Dec. 13, 2012, we’re pleased to welcome back literary agent & kidlit author John Cusick to our webinar program. Because he is both a successful children’s novelist as well as a literary agent for Scott Treimel NY who reps kids books, John is a remarkably good instructor at explaining how to get young adult and middle grade published. On Dec. 13, he’s teaching “Writing and Selling Science Fiction & Fantasy For Kids/Teens.” If you’re writing in either of these hugely popular genres, let John explain what agents are looking for, and let him give your query letter a critique at the same time! Read more
Agent Holly Root Teaches “Writing the Breakout Teen Novel” — Dec. 6, 2012 Webinar With Query Critique
For those of you who don’t follow literary agent Holly Root on Twitter, you should know that there is a reason she has 13,000 followers. She’s very smart and sells a lot of books. A big passion of hers is young adult and middle grade books. Her first webinar went so well that we’ve invited her back for more. Holly is teaching “Writing the Breakout Teen Novel” at 1 p.m., EST, on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The webinar lasts 90 minutes. In addition to getting top-notch instruction, all attendees can also submit their query to Holly for a guaranteed critique. (And if she likes what she sees, she may just ask you for more. Literary agents Barbara Poelle, Lori Perkins and Kathleen Ortiz have all signed clients after critiquing writing as part of a WD webinar!) Read more
How to Make Your WordPress Website Stand Out in a Crowd: New 11-29-12 Webinar With Jane Friedman
WordPress is quickly becoming the go-to technology for any writer who wants to start a simple yet very effective website for themselves. (And remember, a website is the #1 tool a writer has to meet readers, market themselves, sell books, and become a more valuable author to agents & editors.) With that in mind, we’ve brought back popular webinar instructor Jane Friedman to teach “Wordpress Websites 101: Best Practices, Tools & Growth Strategies” — a 90-minute webinar on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. She will address things like how to have your site make money, how to show up higher in Google search results, and more! Read more
Literary Agent Kate McKean Teaches “Awesome First Pages: How to Start Your Story Right” — Webinar With Critique on Nov. 15, 2012
No longer can writers compose books that “really start to cook on page 40.” Books must start strong from the very first page. Your first paragraph, your first sentence, your first few pages — they all must have momentum and conflict and purpose. They cannot be fluff. Weak starts to stories is one of the most frequent reasons agents & editors reject submissions. Lucky for us, we have an expert on the subject. One of our most popular webinar instructors, literary agent Kate McKean, has returned to teach “Awesome First Pages: How to Start Your Story Right” on November 15, 2012. Read more
Promote Yourself and Your Books to Get Known & Build Your Platform
The Writer’s Digest Premium Collection for November 2012 is called “Make a Name For Yourself.” The idea behind the WD premium collections is simple. We bundle tons of stuff and discount it a lot. In fact, this collection is discounted 81%! So if you want to learn how to network yourself, make connections, meet readers, and sell books, this premium collection for you. Learn more about the 3 books and many webinars included with this deal… Read more
How To Get More Blog Readers: Webinar on November 13, 2012 (RESCHEDULED DATE!) with Personalized Blog Critique
If you’re trying to reach more readers and make connections, a blog will be one of your biggest tools. A blog is your chance to have a depot for content and let people know who you are and what you’ve written. Fortunately, we have blogging expert Porter Anderson to help us learn more about this subject. Blogging pro Porter Anderson is teaching an all-new how-to webinar on blogging called “What Authors, Bloggers and Freelancers Need to Know” on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012 at 1 p.m. EST. Keep reading to learn all about the intensive webinar and the personalized critique. Read more
Write Your First Draft in 12 Weeks
It’s easy to start a novel but difficult to finish. You have to have enough momentum to carry you through the entire front-to-back process. Starting on Nov. 8, author G. Miki Hayden will be teaching “12 Weeks to a First Draft” – all about how to break down your novel writing process into three months of work and tackle it step by step. Each week, students will be assigned a portion of their story and will delve into subjects such as pace, plot, character, setting, style, exposition, dialogue, and tension. Read more
Flowchart: How Do I Publish a Book?
One of the questions we get asked the most at Writer’s Digest: How do I publish a book? Well, we decided to finally answer it in this flowchart from our November/December 2012 … Read more
Learn to Plot & Structure Your Story. New Webinar on Oct. 18, 2012 Shows Story Physics and Engineering.
What are the most important moments of your story? Do you have a low point? The climax mapped out? The inciting incident that gets the story moving? These are the questions being addressed by Story Engineering author Larry Brooks (a true master of plotting, in WD’s opinion) for his new webinar on Oct. 18, 2012. Larry is teaching “Story Physics: How to Hit the Most Important Moments In Your Story Out of the Park.” If you want to map out a good story, learn about plot & structure by taking this webinar. Read more
Agent Gina Panettieri Teaches “How To Find The Right Agent To Sell Your Book” – New Webinar With Critique on Oct. 11, 2012
Who better to help you find the best agent than a great agent working in today’s marketplace? Here at WD, we publish the Guide to Literary Agents as a huge database of agents and what they want. But getting the book is just the first step. You need to investigate agents for possible submissions then research what they like and what they’re selling. The more you target your submissions, the better off you’ll be. And when you receive an offer of representation from an agent, how do you know if they’re the best fit for you in the long run? Luckily for us, we have an expert on the matter to teach a webinar. Agent Gina Panettieri (Talcott Notch) teaches “How To Find The Right Agent To Sell Your Book” on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012. All attendees get a critique. Read more
Literary Agent Jim McCarthy Explains the “10 Elements of Novels That Sell” on Oct. 4, 2012. The Webinar Comes With a Critique
A lot of people write novels, but few sell. Why? It all comes down to a mastery of language and voice. It means creating great, vivid characters that we remember. It’s about starting your book strong. It’s about mapping out a story structure that has highs and lows to take the reader on an emotional journey. Literary agent Jim McCarthy, a wise publishing pro, will be covering all these topics as he repeats his popular webinar, “10 Elements of a Saleable Novel Today,” on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012. The webinar starts at 1 p.m. EST and lasts 90 minutes. Read more
Introducing Our New Advice Column for Writers: Funny You Should Ask!
Have you ever wished you could get advice on your writing life, your pursuit of publication, and everything in between, from an expert source would tell it to you straight, with good … Read more
