The Writer's Dig

Robert Crais, master of crime writing, makes modern classics the old-fashioned way—with a heartfelt passion, a fine-tuned process and, naturally, a twist.

Knowing and understanding the constituent parts of a book cover will help you make the best marketing decisions when you design or commission your own. Reedsy's own Yvonne takes us over the basics.

Literature comforts in a way clinical definitions and diagnoses cannot. It can help people recognize the symptoms of mental illness in themselves long before the predator of suicide pounces. Kristen Davis Schwandes explains why it is vitally important for writers to accurately portray the thought processes involved in mental illness.

Marketing Mentor Ilise Benun shares a few tips on for getting started in freelance writing — a topic she'll address in greater detail in her indieLAB session on what it takes to forge a successful writing career of any kind.

Lynn Dickinson shares tips to help writers honestly examine their writing routines to make the changes necessary to achieve their writing goals.

Dealing with rejection doesn't have to be a discouraging experience. Here, P.S. Hoffman offers five ways to fail smarter and set yourself up for success, even after you've been rejected by a publisher or an agent.

Given the buzz surrounding the explosive book Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward, we dug out a surprisingly timeless article from the August 1996 issue of Writer's Digest about Mr. Woodward's investigative journalism techniques.

Your characters’ views of the world can do much more than simply define who they are. Jane Cleland discusses how to use character perspective to propel your plot.

When launching a book, your job is to find readers, engage with readers, write good books, and sell the heck out of said book(s). Here are a few rules from the business world that will make the investment of time and energy worth your while.

The newspaper, magazine or web editor loves the freelance article you submitted and says “Yes!” Before you jump up and down and share the news to your 10,000 social media friends, beware the worst that has happened to more than one freelance writer—but also be hopeful for the best things too!

From August 14–31, enter to win a virtual coaching session with author Paulette Perhach on the topic of your choice. You'll also receive a free copy of the new book Welcome to the Writer's Life.

We're not all comedy writers, but many of us want to write a funny story or incorporate funny scenes into a novel. In this excerpt from The Byline Bible, Susan Shapiro offers 18 quick and easy ways to improve at eliciting laughs from your readers.

Procrastination can be a writer's worst enemy. But here, Jenna Blum rethinks her approach to self-distraction and shares seven creative ways writers can productively procrastinate.

The theme of the September 2018 Writer’s Digest is “Writing Boldly.” Here, Editor-in-Chief Tyler Moss explains what that means for writers today.

Rob Eagar offers up three essential Amazon secrets and hacks for authors to write and sell books on Amazon, including how to change the marketing text for your book, getting email subscribers through Kindle Direct Publishing, and identifying your target audience.

If you want to make a living writing for your favorite publications, you need to perfect your freelance writing pitch. Here are a few things to keep in mind when pitching articles for magazines, newspapers and the web.

Bob Eckstein illustrated the happenings at the reimagined Book Expo 2018. Explore his observations here.