Editing Fiction Like a Pro: The 5 Most Common Mistakes That Bog Down Your Narrative
The most common mistakes that bog down an otherwise flowing narrative are easy to avoid or correct when you're editing fiction scenes. These five simple steps will make your writing soar and your readers sit up and take notice.
Guide to Critique Group Etiquette: 9 Embarrassing Mistakes That Make You Look Like an Amateur
As a writing critique group member, you walk a hair-thin line between appropriate ruthlessness and inappropriate intrusiveness. So how do you know where the boundaries are before you stumble into them? Here are nine mistakes it’s never okay to make.
5 Tips for Writing a Self-Help Book Backed by Strong Research
When you're writing a self-help book, make sure to do your research. Here are five tips to help ensure that your nonfiction work holds up against a critical eye.
The Problem with Sensitivity Readers Isn’t What You Think It Is
As major media outlets raise the question of whether sensitivity readers represent censorship, Anna Hecker offers her experience working with one.
8 Things You MUST Do When Your First Book Is Launched
Congratulations, you just launched your first book! But … what now? Here, Heather Christie outlines a process for ensuring the success of your book and your career.
How to Revise Your Manuscript: Tips from Five Editors
To “kill your darlings” is one of the most difficult tasks an author has to face. Writing a strong novel or non-fiction book often is as much about rewriting and editing as it is about crafting the first draft. Or, to paraphrase Ernest Hemingway: “The only kind of writing is rewriting.”...
Editors’ Tips on Revising Your Manuscript and Query Letter
In this free live webinar, five top Reedsy editors will share their ultimate revision tips and give you the inside scoop on querying agents. If you’re looking to secure a book deal, you must first know how to write the perfect query letter, when it’s best to submit that query, and...
The Biggest Mistake New Writers Make
I wrote the first draft of my novel by hand, which I realize is slightly insane. Every morning I would wake up at five o’clock (or as I like to call it, o’dark o’clock), write three pages, and then go on with my day. Well, that’s a very simplified version, but...
A Chat with the Editors of YARN: Writing, Editing, and Giving Back
YARN, the Young Adult Review Network is thrilled to be celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. When it launched in January of 2010, it was the first independent online literary journal of short-form YA to publish short stories, essays, and poetry by writers of any age and stature. In five years,...
4 Marks of Good Writing
How can you tell if a piece of writing is strong? Whether you’re editing for a publishing company, working as a freelancer, or self-editing, correctly assessing the quality of the work is imperative. In this excerpt from The Editor’s Companion, Steve Dunham discusses four marks of good writing and how you can...
Editing Poetry: “Say It or Don’t Say It”
As poet and Pulitzer nominee Clifford Brooks states below, “…just as it is crucial that a writer creates his or her own voice, the way we edit is also a matter of self-discovery.” I couldn’t agree more. I’m a true believer in the idea that no two poets create or edit...
How to Edit Your Book in 4 Steps
By Guest Columnist Mike Nappa Mike Nappa is founder of Nappaland Literary Agency, and author of 77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected, available wherever books are sold. * The woman asked a sensible question; she deserved a practical answer. I was sitting on an “Agents & Editors” panel at a...