Today I’m talking to Nicholas Petrie, author of the stunning debut The Drifter, an explosive thriller written with a strong literary sensibility. In our conversation, we tackle a topic that many authors often struggle with: how do we write about something when we have no first-hand experience with it? This question goes deeper than “how do… Read more »
Web Editor’s Note: I’m so excited to welcome Constance Renfrow as one of our regular columnists! Constance is an editor as well as a writer, and in her column will be shedding some light on what happens on the other side of the book deal. Please join me in welcoming her to DIY MFA team! Greetings, writers!… Read more »
For months, I dreaded my first pitch session, a live event in which a roomful of potential agents awaited me with only three minutes to impress each one I’d targeted. I’ve always felt that I don’t make a good first impression; I come off too serious, too earnest, too Hermione-ish. (There’s a reason Harry and… Read more »
Hello and welcome to another awesome episode of DIY MFA Radio! Today I’m so excited to be interviewing Literary Agent Jeff Kleinman. Jeff is a founding partner of Folio Literary Management, and also happens to be my awesome agent! What I love about working with Jeff is that he has an eye for spotting books… Read more »
a.k.a. Genius is my debut middle grade novel, published by the small press Pauline Books and Media. Changing how you see yourself can be challenging. For nearly seven years I saw myself through one lens – as a mom. A full-time, stay-at-home-with-my-three-little-ones mom. I am also a published author. That’s still hard to say. And… Read more »
Porter Anderson is a journalist, speaker, and consultant specializing in publishing and its digital disruption. “Writing on the Ether,” his original weekly column on the industry, appears every Thursdays at JaneFriedman.com. His “Ether for Authors” column appears every Tuesday at Publishing Perspectives, the international site supported by Frankfurt Book Fair. A third franchise, London on the… Read more »
When I first started learning the book industry, I thought all you had to do to publish was to write a phenomenal book. At the Writer’s Digest Conference East (WDCE), I first heard about a a new publishing survey conducted by Digital Book World earlier this year. There’s a report of the results if you… Read more »
At the Writer’s Digest Conference, and other events I’ve attended lately, one thing has become very clear: self-publishing is no longer synonymous with vanity publishing. In fact, self-publishing can be a sound business model for writers with a more entrepreneurial bent. There’s even some fascinating research (a Digital Book World survey) suggesting that “hybrid” authors–who… Read more »
These days, with Amazon and a host of other opportunities for self-publication, writers take more of a lead in getting their books in the hands of readers. If writers can upload their books and sell directly to readers then what happens to the “middle men” like literary agents? While some writers seem pleased to see… Read more »
On Tuesday, we hosted Random House Editor, Mark Tavani, who spoke about the acquisitions process and what editors look for in submissions. Today, we get Mark’s take on the author-editor relationship and what it’s like to work with an editor. Without further ado, here’s Part 2 of our Editor Q&A Series this week. Editors all… Read more »
