Maybe you are already meeting your reading and writing goals for the summer. But maybe not. Fortunately, at DIY MFA we have some posts that will help you read and write more this summer.

Six Ways to Write Through the Lazy Summer Days

A lot of people like to take a break during the summer. I think this is partly because we’re conditioned from kindergarten through twelfth grade (and even into college) to view those 12 weeks as the only bit of freedom from the drudgery of daily life that we get. I get it.

But I think you can still take a break from the daily grind and get some words on the page. Former DIY MFA columnist Bess McAllister first shared this article in 2014 about how you can write through the dog days of summer without losing your cool. This post is all about maximizing the fun that summer has to offer while still meeting your writing goals.

#5onFri: Five Hacks to Help You Write More This Summer

This #5onFri from former columnist Savannah Cordova offers even more tips on how to get the most out of summer and meet your goals. This post walks you through how to get your writing done early so that you can reward yourself with some pool time and a nice cool, refreshing drink (or however you like to reward yourself).

I think rewards are an excellent way to help find the motivation you need to knock out the work. Yes, writing is fun and that’s why we do it, but—let’s face it—it’s also work, so be sure to reward yourself accordingly.

Four Ways to Build Accountability into Summer Reading

I’m sure I’m not the only one here who knocked their library’s summer reading program out of the park each year! Summer is just made for reading. Whether you’re hanging out poolside or beating the heat with a nice book inside, books are a great companion. They keep your brain engaged and provide hours of entertainment.

Summer is a great time to make some headway on your mountainous TBR pile, but sometimes a little accountability helps. Check out this post by former DIY MFA columnist Terri Frank on how to meet your reading goals for the summer.

Prepare Your LGBTQ+ Summer Reading List with Ten Must-Reads

Maybe you’re wanting to get a bit more diversity in your reading list, but don’t know where to start. Let me suggest this amazing list of LGBTQ+ books put together by current DIY MFA columnist, Adam W. Burgess. 

He’s done a great job of assembling a list of books across genres for your reading pleasure. Really! There are novels, graphic novels, poetry collections, and non-fiction books on this list. Plus, with each title on the list, he provides a bit of an explanation on why it’s recommended reading.

June 2022 Leisure Learning

OK. This post just came out, but I wanted to highlight it nonetheless. Each month, columnist Melissa Haas puts together suggested resources to engage your creative brain. The things highlighted in these posts run the gamut from documentaries to digital collections and even literary video games that you should check out. I can’t tell you how much I love this fabulous monthly resource that she puts together!

The items in this list are ones you can access at home during a staycation or perhaps even use to plan a literary trip. She even includes a family-friendly pick each month for something people of all ages can enjoy. Check it out!

Be Well, Write Well: Embrace Your Season

All of the resources so far focus on the season of the year, but this post by former DIY MFA columnist Leanne Sowul is all about your season of life. Maybe summer isn’t inherently more or less busy than the other seasons of the year. That doesn’t mean you can’t develop habits and routines that help you meet your goals.

This is a great post for anybody who is considering putting together a new routine for themselves. Truth be told, it’s a reflection post I need to work through as I am on the verge of a new start and am figuring out how to structure my days so I can live the life I want to live.

Tell us in the comments: What are your summer reading and writing plans?

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. Though she’s fallen off the wagon as a writer, she’s hoping to return to writing essays (perhaps even a novel!) through her involvement with DIY MFA. She is also Launch Manager, Web Editor, and Podcast Producer for DIY MFA and a Book Coach. She resides in Smalltown, Oklahoma, with her husband and their cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post Summer Round-up Post appeared first on DIY MFA.

On that note, if there’s anything I’ve learned in my three years at Reedsy and two years of writing for DIY MFA, it’s that we creators thrive when we share resources and support one another. In that same spirit, here are my top tips for self-publishing authors! While they’ll be most helpful for the first-timers, I hope even experienced authors learn a little something new about the self-publishing process.

1. Write the book you believe in

Before you can self-publish a book, you have to actually write it. And though “write to market” is increasingly common (and valid!) advice these days, I still think most authors should start with ideas they really love. Not only will the passion shine through in your prose, but it’ll also motivate you to write all the way to the end—something that marketing potential alone may not do.

A little anecdotal evidence: nearly all the most interesting, fresh-voiced books I’ve come across through Reedsy have been passion projects. Plenty of these titles end up with solid audiences too! But with the exception of nonfiction books serving specific groups (how-to, self-help, etc.), the best books are inspired by the story, not by the people who will buy it. 

In short: write the book you truly believe in, and the audience will follow.

2. Invest in your cover design

As I emphasized in my post on cover design mistakes, your cover is a crucial window into your book. Readers use it to judge genre, tone, and ultimately whether or not they should commit to your work; even the tiniest design mistakes can have a devastating impact on this decision.

This is why you must invest in cover design over everything else, whether that means spending sufficient time on your self-design or hiring a professional to make it look flawless. I’d certainly recommend the latter route to most authors: while you can always self-edit your book in a pinch, graphic design skills are simply not in most writers’ wheelhouses. And on top of being artistically gifted, a professional cover designer will be savvy enough to know exactly which design elements readers in your genre want to see.

True, hiring an artist will cost more than doing it yourself. But the time and stress you’ll save in the long run—not to mention the gorgeous cover you’ll get out of the deal!—will be worth it.

3. Start marketing relatively early

I stand by the notion that “writing to market” is not mandatory for success. Once your book is finished, however, you can (and should!) turn your attention to marketing—ideally as you’re editing your book, commissioning your cover design, etc. This will give you a few solid months to attract readers before your book hits the shelves.

Why market so early, you ask? The main reason is reviews: you’ll want to launch with reviews already in place, so your first “real” readers can purchase your book with confidence. In order to get these reviews, you’ll need to send out ARCs to bloggers and reviewers at least a few weeks in advance of your launch. So once your book is in its near-final form (i.e. only awaiting minor copy edits or a proofread), get on those ARCs ASAP.

You may also want to set up a website, start posting more on social media, and create ads if necessary. Needless to say, this work can pile up quickly—so the earlier you start, the better.

4. Make the most of the community

Somewhat paradoxically given the term, one of the best things about self-publishing is the self-publishing community—the authors, readers, and professionals dedicated to the cause and its ever-evolving points of interest. They convene on Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, etc. Wherever you normally spend time online, you should be able to track down the right community for you.

These communities are not only treasure troves of advice and commentary but also of genuine compassion and understanding. Join to connect with authors and readers in your genre, stay for the people that care about authors like you. Yes, it’s always handy to be able to post a reader poll or pick the brain of an experienced editor—but when you’re despairing over writer’s block or Amazon algorithm woes, that’s when your own little self-publishing community bubble feels truly invaluable.

5. Be wary of publishing scams

Not to pull a terrifying one-eighty with this next point, but for all the amazing people you’ll meet online, scammers still sadly abound… and their sociopathic inventiveness and persuasion can hoodwink even the most experienced authors.

The most common scam is when someone (often impersonating a real editor) contacts you, the author, with some fantastic offer—a full publishing package, a contract with a Big 5 imprint, or a deal to turn your book into a screenplay—in exchange for upfront payment. They’ll often call this an “agent fee,” a “signing fee,” etc. to try and make it sound more legitimate.

No matter what they say, though, contacting you out of the blue + requiring payment before providing any services = going to take your money and run. 

The good news is that once you’ve heard about the Big Scam, it’s easy to spot: anyone who randomly pops up in your inbox, proffering fame in exchange for money, is bad news.

For future reference, this post and Writer Beware are excellent resources to help you steer clear of publishing scams. When in doubt, you can always Google—where there’s smoke, there’s fire in the world of online scams.

6. Build out your backlist

On a more uplifting note, one of the best things you can do for your self-pub career is the very reason you started it in the first place: to write more books! Building out your backlist is a huge part of long-term marketing, allowing you to usher readers toward more books they’ll be interested in—especially if you’re writing a series about characters they love.

If you’re completely finished with the world of your first book, you can still write something similar. For authors of genre fiction, this shouldn’t be too hard; just start on another sci-fi book, or lit fic novel, or historical romance, as you were probably planning to anyway. For nonfiction authors, it might be tougher. Consider asking your readers what they’d like to learn about next.

Once you have a few books in your backlist, plug them like nobody’s business. Your most recent release should remain your primary focus, but you can still have things like a website banner displaying all your books; social media posts about previous books, especially harking back to fan-favorite bits; updated ebooks with intriguing previews at the end of each; and so on.

7. Remember that success takes time

Coming full-circle, I’ll end on another point that sounds obvious, but is worth reiterating for authors everywhere: quantifiable success takes time. Of course, publishing even a single book is a massive achievement by most people’s standards—but if you’re looking for strong sales, abundant readers, or even consistent critical acclaim, it’s likely going to take a few years.

Whether this statement feels inspiring or discouraging really depends on you as an author. If it currently skews more “discouraging,” try to get some clarity. For example, if you’re after a very specific type of success, ask yourself why. Are you working toward a sustainable career as an author, or is it a matter of ego? Which matters most to you: money, readers, or glowing reviews?

None of these are mutually exclusive, nor is any answer invalid—the idea is to guide you on how to proceed. You might even decide that self-publishing isn’t for you and end up pursuing a traditional publisher instead! 

But if you do stick with the self-pub route, take comfort in the fact that you won’t be the only one on the indie grind.

This also seems an apt note on which to end my indie grind, so to speak. As I close out my final column for DIY MFA, my wholehearted wish is that every author reading this—whether green or gold in terms of experience, indie or trad pub in their eventual path—pursues their dreams uninhibited, and gets everything they want out of craft and career alike. Best of luck to you all, and have a wonderful 2022!

Tell us in the comments: Have you ever considered self-publishing your novel? Why or why not?

Savannah Cordova is a writer and content creator at Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors with the best editors, designers, and marketers in the business. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and low fantasy, as well as writing the occasional short story. She’s here to pull back the curtain on publishing so that every author can have the greatest possible chance at success.

The post My Top Tips for Self-Publishing Authors in 2022 appeared first on DIY MFA.

As a result, most authors are best off hiring a book cover designer, someone with the skills and experience to produce the perfect cover for your book. If this isn’t possible, the next best thing is knowing what to do yourself—and just as importantly, what not to do! There’s plenty of advice out there about what goes into a standout book cover, but today, let’s tackle potential sales-killing cover design mistakes and how to avoid them when designing your own cover.

Mistake #1: Using overly familiar stock elements

Most online book cover makers rely on stock photos and other premade design assets. You select the image, colorize it, slap on some title text, and presto! The cover is done. But while this approach is certainly cheap and easy, it has one huge drawback: the best stock photos have already been used by many other authors, resulting in a deluge of eerily similar covers.

I’m not saying it’s impossible to create a unique, professional cover from a stock photo—only that you should do your own research instead of choosing from a cover maker’s image gallery. There are some amazing stock photo sites out there, some of which are relatively unknown, and you’ll discover a much wider range of possibilities than you would with a cover maker. Though you might struggle if you’re aiming for a more abstract cover, remember that you can do wonders with close-ups of “natural” images like water, land, and sky.

Stock photos aren’t the only amateurish cover design element to avoid—there’s also the matter of overly familiar fonts. The title is most crucial to get right, but your author name and a pull quote or two may also appear on the cover, and you don’t want any of them to remind readers of Microsoft Word! To that end, try to choose a font family you’ve never heard of before; when in doubt, stick to simple sans-serif typefaces that look good in all-caps.

Mistake #2: Failing to signal the genre

Now that we’ve covered those specific design sins, let’s move onto an equally grave error that can manifest in different ways. This would be the failure to signal your book’s genre, and it’s one of the most common—and dire—sales-killing cover design mistakes among first-time authors.

One frequent culprit here is the generic book cover, which is so bland that it’s impossible to glean any context about the book itself. This happens more often than you’d think: it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the more neutral your book appears, the wider an audience it can attract. Alas, an empty void of a cover won’t appeal to readers of any genre. To quote another publishing adage, “If you’re marketing to everyone, you’re really marketing to no one.”

The other version of this mistake is when a book’s cover indicates a different genre than what it actually is. Again, this is more likely than you think—you might look at books in many genres for inspiration, and accidentally end up favoring a design that points to another genre. You might even think that it doesn’t matter what readers think they’re getting, so long as your book is good. But if your pink, frothy cover implies a romance and you’ve actually written hard-hitting domestic fiction, readers are not going to be happy.

Luckily, there’s a simple way to ensure your cover stays on-brand: make an effort to emulate covers that are in your genre, as they’ll typically share signature colors, images, and various other aspects of design. Though you’ll have to strike a balance between “recognizably related” and “virtually identical” (again, steer clear of stock photos you see on other covers!), it’s better to err on the side of similar than to risk a cover that’s totally disconnected from your genre.

Mistake #3: Disregarding the thumbnail

Throughout the design process, authors tend to picture their cover in its final, full-size form—the roughly 625 x 1,000-pixel file they’ll upload to retailers, or even the cover of their physical book. But this makes it easy to forget about another critical sales factor: the thumbnail.

When people find your book on Google, Amazon, and anywhere else online, they’ll almost always see the thumbnail first. This means that even the sized-down version of your cover must look professional and, ideally, placeable within your genre. While it’s okay if readers can’t tell exactly what’s on your cover, the overall aesthetic (colors, shapes, text) should give them a clue.

And on the “professional” note, keep in mind that some design mistakes only reveal themselves in thumbnail form! For example, your title might turn out to be slightly off-center or too small to read in the thumbnail. Worse yet, you might have a complex design that appears dynamic and exciting in the full-size image, but totally chaotic and overwhelming in the thumbnail.

Again, the good news is that if you’re aware of this issue, it’s easy to avoid. Just keep checking your design to ensure it works as a thumbnail—after adding each new element, zoom out and see how it looks at roughly 150 x 200 pixels, then adjust anything that looks “off”. These extra few minutes could save you hours of frantic redesigning down the line!

Mistake #4: Inconsistent covers within a series

Finally, a common mistake among series writers is having inconsistent covers between books—that is, covers that differ in style, with one cover’s “signature” elements missing from the other. Yes, this can happen even when both covers are genre-indicative; imagine a photo-based romance cover and an illustrated romance cover in the same series. Though you’d likely be able to tell they’re both romances, you wouldn’t otherwise connect the two at first glance.

This is why you should consider not only what would look good, but also what would look cohesive across multiple covers. If you’re working with photos, try to source them all from the same photographer, and use the same title font each time (though different colors and other small, distinctive accents are encouraged!). And if you’ve gotten the first book illustrated, plan to hire an illustrator for later books as well—ideally the same professional, who will be uniquely qualified to craft a sequel cover that both stands out from and ties into your first cover.

One more thing: if you happen to be printing your series, don’t underestimate the power of dimension consistency. Having all your books be 6 x 9, with a cover to match, isn’t quite as important as what’s on that cover, but it’s definitely something readers will notice—and if BookTok is any indication, they may care more than you think.

And there you have it: all the major sales-killing cover design mistakes to avoid when designing your own book cover. Though hiring a professional is preferable, I know it’s not possible for every author; this way, at least you’ll know where the hurdles are and how high to jump. Happy designing!

Tell us in the comments below: What are some steps you plan to take to avoid these sales-killing cover design mistakes?

Savannah Cordova is a writer and content creator at Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors with the best editors, designers, and marketers in the business. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and low fantasy, as well as writing the occasional short story. She’s here to pull back the curtain on publishing so that every author can have the greatest possible chance at success.

The post Sales-Killing Cover Design Mistakes to Avoid appeared first on DIY MFA.

This debate has been flourishing since Amazon introduced Kindle Direct Publishing in the late-aughts, and if you’re not too familiar with KDP, you might be surprised by the nuance involved. Many indie authors have praised Amazon for its easy-to-use platform, promotional opportunities, and more. Yet at the same time, the inner workings of Amazon remain murky, its book market is highly competitive, and—needless to say—going Amazon-exclusive means missing out on what other retailers have to offer.

To help first-time authors make this crucial choice, this post will candidly unpack the pros and cons of Amazon exclusivity and how it functions. We’ll start with the pros before moving onto the cons. And whatever your experience or opinions of Amazon, I’d encourage every author to read all the way through before committing to either path.

Pros of Amazon exclusivity

1. Kindle Unlimited enrollment

We can’t discuss Amazon exclusivity without first mentioning KDP Select, the program that requires it in the first place. To clarify, anyone can publish a book with KDP (the platform) and still have the freedom to sell on other retailers. However, those enrolled in KDP Select must sell their ebook only on Amazon—at least for each 90-day KDP Select period (which automatically re-ups unless you opt out). As a result, much of the exclusivity decision boils down to the benefits of KDP Select.

First and foremost is the inclusion of your ebook in Kindle Unlimited, Amazon’s reading subscription service. When enrolled in KDP Select, your book becomes available to over three million KU subscribers, and you earn royalties based on pages read. This means if your ebook blows up on Kindle Unlimited, you could earn a lot more than you would otherwise—especially if you’ve written a romance, which is by far the most popular genre on KU.

Basically imagine if you got paid every time someone read your blurb, or previewed your book’s first few pages on Amazon. It’d be pretty sweet, right? Because KU royalties aren’t dependent on readers committing to your book, as regular sales royalties are, you’ll likely receive more of them over time—so long as your book remains part of KDP Select. And don’t worry, it will still be kept up for sale; Kindle Unlimited is just another channel for people to access it.

2. The ability to run price promotions

The other key feature of KDP Select is the ability to run price promotions on your book. These promotions come in two flavors: Kindle Countdown Deals and Kindle Free Promotions. The former allows you to discount your book to under $2.99 for one week each 90-day period and still receive 70% royalties on the sales. The latter is what it says on the tin, allowing readers to download your ebook for free, though just for five days rather than seven.

You’re only permitted a single price promotion per enrollment period—i.e. you couldn’t make your book free for the first five days, then $1.99 the next week, without cutting yourself down to 35% royalties—but price promotions can be very useful, especially for authors launching their first books. Running a limited-time promotion on your ebook not only makes it more enticing to readers, but also gives you a shot at the Kindle Daily Deals page and the Kindle Store Best Sellers page (which, as you’ll see, has a whole section just for free books!).

The only downside of price promotions is how infrequently you can run them. However, for those in the know, these promo days can absolutely be optimized for exposure. If you do go Amazon-exclusive and take advantage of price promotions, make sure you’re simultaneously plugging them on social media, to your mailing list, and wherever else you can think of.

3. It’s less effort than going wide

As Rob Eager touches on in this episode of DIY MFA Radio, one of the few silver linings of Amazon’s near-monopoly is that authors who wish to reach the majority of readers (at least in the US and UK) don’t need to expend their energy elsewhere. Amazon is so dominant, especially when it comes to ebooks—controlling an estimated 75% of the US ebook market—that for many indie authors, the additional effort required to “go wide” may not be worth it.

There are exceptions, of course. If you’re willing to pay for an aggregator like Draft2Digital, you can sit back and relax as the aggregator uploads your info and centralizes your data for all the different retailers (though it’ll cost you either a flat fee or a ~10% royalty cut). And if your target audience is outside the US or UK, or if you want to expand your reach in other countries, going wide can be very fruitful indeed.

But if you’re looking for a single US-based platform on which to go “all in,” Amazon is the one—as daunting (or disillusioning, if you’re not an Amazon fan) as that might sound. 

Still, it’s not without its drawbacks, which is exactly what we’ll talk about next. Having covered the major pros of Amazon exclusivity for first-time authors, here are the potential cons.

Cons of Amazon exclusivity

1. You can’t make your book permafree

Somewhat ironically given the price promotions touted by KDP Select, you cannot make your ebook permanently free, or “permafree,” on Amazon without also publishing it elsewhere. This is because Amazon doesn’t allow you to set your book’s price to free for more than five days at a time—unless, that is, you’re leveraging its price-matching feature.

As spelled out on Amazon’s Digital Pricing Page, the retailer has the authority to price-match your book to its lowest price online, presumably to give Amazon a competitive advantage. The trick, if you want your book to be permafree— as many authors do, when they care less about royalties and more about exposure—is to set your book’s price to free on another retailer, then notify KDP Support (select “Pricing” → “Price matching” in the sidebar).

Making a book permafree, especially if it’s the first in a series, is a popular and often successful tactic for indie authors; however, it’s simply not an option if you want to stay Amazon-exclusive. If you’ve run your allotted Free Promotion and are impatiently waiting out the remaining 90 days of this KDP Select period so you can do another one, consider just going wide instead.

2. The algorithms can do a lot of damage

Again, Amazon’s inner workings are less-than-transparent, but we do know a few things about its algorithms—the complex formulas that control everything from the Best Sellers lists to the top search results for buyers. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to game these as an author: calibrating your keywords to hit as many relevant terms as possible, writing a compelling book description, and so on.

The not-so-good news is that there’s still a great deal you can’t control—elements that, if compromised even slightly, can tank your book. For example, you might think you should go all-out for your book launch… but what you might not realize is that a big sales spike on your first day, then low sales in the days to follow, indicates to Amazon that your book should not be promoted consistently. The algorithms will take the spike as an anomaly and advertise your book less than if you had steady sales for several days.

Another notorious example of the algorithms’ fickleness is what can happen with your book’s “also boughts.” If you make the mistake of doing an external group promo (like on BookFunnel) with other books that aren’t very similar to yours, Amazon will map connections between your book and those books. The algorithms will then continue recommending your book to disparate readers who won’t buy it outside that promo, because it won’t seem like it’s for them. The result? Amazon clocks your book as a dud and stops recommending it at all.

This is how, for some authors, the supposedly foolproof algorithms become a nightmare to wrangle. Yes, if you do your research and play it safe, you’ll likely be okay. But if you’d rather avoid the possibility altogether—or if you want to support retailers that still have some good old-fashioned human curation, like Barnes & Noble—you should go wide.

3. You’ll lose out on Amazon-boycotting readers

Speaking of human curation, let’s address the elephant in the room: the fact that, despite Amazon’s ubiquity, more and more readers have begun striving to avoid it. Though poor worker conditions and the decimation of independent bookstores can hardly be blamed on Amazon’s self-publishing division, the company’s shortcomings may be enough for you, too, to steer clear—especially if you run in close circles of anti-Amazon consumers.

These are the main pros and cons for any first-time self-publisher, though you’ll probably want to look into other ebook distribution channels before making the final call. And if you decide to enroll in KDP Select and commit to Amazon exclusivity for 90 days or more, make sure to check out Helen J. Darling’s post on the long-term effects of Amazon exclusivity—with additional factors to consider like how many books you have and the diversity of your products.

With all this information at hand, you should end up on the right path! But even if you don’t, remember you can always switch from Amazon-exclusive to wide, or vice-versa; as your life changes, your publishing goals might too, and it’s never too late to re-route.

Savannah Cordova is a writer and content creator at Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors with the best editors, designers, and marketers in the business. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and low fantasy, as well as writing the occasional short story. She’s here to pull back the curtain on publishing so that every author can have the greatest possible chance at success.

The post Amazon Exclusivity: An Honest Appraisal for First-Time Authors appeared first on DIY MFA.

To be clear from the outset: small press publishing is a division of traditional publishing, but it’s not what people typically imagine. While Big 5 publishers put out thousands of titles and rake in billions of dollars each year, small presses publish way fewer books and make $50 million or less per year. They also tend to focus on a certain literary category (for example, poetry or memoir) and may even specialize in regional authors, depending on where they’re based.

Needless to say, there’s a vast range of small presses out there. But if you do choose one, you can expect certain things to be different from working with a major publisher—and indeed, for some of those to be a drastic improvement.

Find that elusive home for your unique story

First and foremost, you’ll likely enjoy working with a small press if your book has quirky subject matter, employs an experimental style, or otherwise represents a “niche interest”. Where a major publisher might be reluctant to spend resources on it—and where self-publishing may not appeal because you have no idea how to market such a book yourself—a small press can provide just the right balance of enthusiasm and knowledgeable assistance. (Lilly Dancyger recently published a great case study over on Electric Lit about this, for those who are interested.) 

The tricky part, of course, is finding a suitable press for your book. Because small presses love to specialize, you’ll have to do some research to find a press with the right catalogue and qualifications. I’d recommend looking carefully at each press’s in-house team, their mission statement, and the books they’ve released in the last year to figure this out. Remember that no legitimate press will ask you for money upfront. No matter how small, they’re still a publisher, and that entails providing services in exchange for later royalties, not out-of-pocket payment.

The good news is that if you want to start researching small presses, you can find plenty of reputable ones in this directory of independent publishers. Even if your perfect match isn’t among them, looking into these publishers and their catalogues will give you a sense of what a legitimate small press should look like.

Work with an experienced team without losing creative control

One of the biggest frustrations authors report with Big 5 publishers is how little creative control they retain. Without a doubt, this is the way of mainstream traditional publishing: the author gets an advance for their troubles, but they have almost no say in the editing, design, and marketing of their book. And while many authors are understandably relieved to be free of the responsibility, others very much want to stay involved.

If the latter sounds like you, definitely consider publishing with a small press. The grassroots nature of most small presses means that authors are encouraged to help prepare their book for publication—contributing substantially to edits, cover design concepts, etc.—and that it’s an excellent learning experience for new authors, as Marilee Haynes discusses here.

Crucially, though, you’re not left to manage all your own production services (as you’d need to when self-publishing), because your publisher will already have an in-house team. In effect, you get the best of both worlds: experienced, talented people to help make your book a success, without wresting away your creative control.

Some authors might be fine with having minimal control in exchange for a bigger advance, which is entirely fair! But keep in mind that while Big 5 publishers pay out in the short term, their long-term plans do not guarantee sales. If you suspect your book will be a tricky “mainstream” sell, go with a small press that cares deeply about your niche and will listen to your ideas—rather than a major publisher that will shut you out and potentially market your book all wrong.

No upfront costs and decent royalty shares

Going back to the financial side of things, it’s true that most small presses can’t offer high advances, and some small presses don’t offer advances at all. An established small press might give you a couple thousand dollars… but that’s very much the exception, not the rule.

Still, the overall financial benefits of going through a small press can outweigh this tiny or nonexistent advance. As mentioned above, one significant advantage of small press publishing is that you don’t have to hire an editor or cover designer yourself, which means no upfront costs (and again, if a publisher does ask you for money ahead of royalties, they’re not to be trusted). Also, while small press royalties aren’t as much as those you’d get from self-publishing, they’re a lot better than royalty shares with a major publisher—usually just 5-10%, compared to up to 50% royalties with a small press (and versus 70% with self-publishing, for context).

That’s not even to mention that royalties only come through after you’ve “earned out” your advance, which can take ages with a Big 5 publisher, if it happens at all. So while I won’t deny that small press advances are low, I’d also point out that massive advances aren’t such a good thing if your sales are disappointing, and that higher royalty shares often make for a more positive, sustainable publishing experience in the long run.

Curious to learn more about royalties in publishing? Check out this post on how much authors make—and for thoughtful ruminations on author costs and royalties from someone who’s been through it firsthand, be sure to read Lauren Sharkey’s piece on the price of publishing.

It’s easy to pivot to another publishing path

Despite some drawbacks of traditional publishing and self-publishing, both are still very viable publishing routes! Working with a small press isn’t for everyone, and if you ultimately find yourself drawn to one of these instead, do feel free to change course.

Luckily, if you start with small press publishing, it’s easy to switch to a different path after your first book. Having collaborated with a relatively small in-house team, you’ll then be prepared to either trust your next book to a larger one (that of a Big 5 publisher) or to go in the other direction and hire your next team directly (if you self-publish).

Essentially, small press publishing lets you sample both sides of the publishing world. If you like the balance, by all means, stick with it. But if you’re seeking better royalties, or if you’d prefer to work with a literary agent to get acquired by a major publisher, you can always look into other options—now with a bit of experience under your belt.

Savannah Cordova is a writer and content creator at Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors with the best editors, designers, and marketers in the business. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and low fantasy, as well as writing the occasional short story. She’s here to pull back the curtain on publishing so that every author can have the greatest possible chance at success.

The post Small Press Publishing Might Solve All Your Problems appeared first on DIY MFA.

But a few publishing myths are more insidious, and even as someone who works in self-publishing, I’ve rarely seen them challenged. These are the misconceptions I’d like to address today — and which I hope you’ll recognize as false the next time you see them pop up! 

Misconception #1: A dozen query rejections is a lot 

One of the best-known anecdotes in publishing is that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was rejected by twelve publishers before finding a home at Bloomsbury. This bit of trivia has often been touted as encouragement for new authors, giving the impression that a dozen rejections is an unusually high amount, requiring a Herculean level of perseverance.

I do appreciate the “Never give up!” moral of the story, and I won’t deny how awful it feels to get rejected even once. But as any author who’s written their share of query letters will know, twelve rejections is not a lot. Maybe it was back in 1995, but in 2021 — with agents and publishers so much more accessible online, and receiving constant queries and submissions as a result — modern authors need to adjust their expectations.

It would also benefit most authors, both professionally and psychologically, to realize that generic form rejections and even delayed rejections (those that take weeks or months to arrive) are not personal. Top agents get hundreds of queries per week; they simply can’t respond to every author, and even form rejections may not arrive in a timely manner. I know it’s tough to let go of rejection, especially when an agent seems so cavalier about it — but try to take each one in stride and use this as an opportunity to fix whatever might be turning them off.

Though I can’t say what is a “normal” amount of rejections to receive, I will say it’s more than a dozen. If you’ve written a book in a competitive niche and you’re sending out tons of queries, it could be more than fifty. In that sense, the spirit of the famous anecdote stands: don’t give up! But also don’t expect to hit the jackpot on query #13.

Misconception #2: Your advance sets your career in stone

Some might recall this article by Heather Demetrios that circulated back in 2019, all about the author’s rollercoaster experience with trad pub: how she received high advances for her first few books, only for later advances to drop dramatically when the first books didn’t perform. It ignited major controversy in the publishing community, with some agreeing that Demetrios was taken for a ride by her publisher, while others argued she’d squandered the chance of a lifetime.

But if one indisputable truth emerged from all this, it’s that a big advance from a publisher — even multiple advances — doesn’t mean you’ve “made it” as an author. If your book doesn’t earn out (i.e. generate profits equal to your advance), you won’t receive royalties, your further advances will be lower, and you could even be dropped by your agent or publisher.

Despite all this, there remains a disproportionate industry focus on the importance of trad pub advances. Not that this focus is always bad; sometimes advances are a useful metric, as in 2020’s #publishingpaidme campaign. This movement sparked a much-needed conversation about racial disparities in publishing, and to be sure — whatever you think about what advances should signal — no one can deny that Black authors should be receiving much higher advances for their books.

Still, one can see how new authors might deduce that high advances are the ultimate barometer of publishing success… which, as we know from Demetrios’ story, is not the case. And authors like Roxane Gay and N.K. Jemisin, both of whom participated in #publishingpaidme, arguably prove the opposite: you can receive a paltry advance and still become a celebrated bestseller (though again, in an ideal world, the first part would not happen).

So if you’re an aspiring author, just keep in mind that your advance does not determine your career trajectory — and if you do manage to land a book deal, don’t let that initial lump sum distract you from the nuts and bolts of the deal itself. Instead, focus on tightening up other important aspects of your contract, such as release date, distribution channels, and setting a baseline rate for every book you want to sell.

Misconception #3: Publishers go all-out to promote their books

Another key point from the Demetrios article was that, despite the promise seemingly implied by a contract, a publisher’s interest in your work does not mean they’re going to promote it. This is a huge part of why most trad pub authors don’t earn out their advances — and debut authors are at a particular disadvantage, as they often have no idea what’s coming.

Unfortunately, there’s not much to be done on the publisher side. You can ask for more marketing support and opportunities (requesting that your publisher pay for ARCs, send you on tour, etc.), but most publishers don’t have the resources to promote every book they acquire. They do it for the biggest titles, sure, but otherwise rely mostly on word of mouth and their authors’ pre-existing platforms to move copies.

The silver lining is that you can start building your own platform at any time, before your book is even acquired. In fact, having a solid platform can significantly improve your chances of landing an agent and publisher in the first place! This is especially true for nonfiction authors whose subjects require a show of experience or expertise; if you already run a flourishing lifestyle Instagram, for example, you’ll have a much easier time pitching your lifestyle book.

An independent platform will come in even handier if you decide to self-publish rather than traditionally publish — and with all the wild unpredictability of trad pub, the control afforded by self-pub might be looking better by the minute. But before you decide to self-publish your book, take heed of this next point… 

Misconception #4: Self-publishing is cheap

Though there are many benefits to self-publishing, low cost is not one of them, at least not when done right. Yes, it’s possible to self-publish for almost nothing, but that book is bound to have a cobbled-together cover, strange formatting, and typos throughout. And sadly, no matter how amazing your book is at its essence, these kinds of issues will stop readers in their tracks.

The lesson here: if you want readers to invest in your book, you need to invest in it first. For reference, the average self-publishing author on the Reedsy marketplace spends between $2,000-$4,000 for a full slate of book-related services — this includes multiple rounds of editing, formatting, cover design, and possibly professional marketing as well.

However, you don’t have the budget for all of this, I recommend prioritizing cover design. It’s the first thing readers will see of your book, and one of the clearest indicators as to whether it’s a) a professional product and b) a good match for them specifically. Getting a professional cover design still isn’t cheap, of course — but if you keep your cover relatively simple and weigh plenty of options in terms of designers, you can get a bestseller-worthy cover for $300-$500.

(PS. Check out that post on the cost of self-publishing for more tips to save money, and Helen J. Darling’s post on indie author budgeting for a breakdown of key terms and best practices!)

Misconception #5: Every author should try trad pub first

“Traditional publishing > self-publishing” is one of those blanket statements that I think most people in the industry would recognize as false — but that doesn’t stop a lot of authors from categorically thinking they should try trad pub first. After all, self-pub will always be an option. Why not shop your manuscript around before you commit to publishing it yourself?

This approach makes sense if you’ve done your research and are well-informed and confident on the subject. But many authors out there have no idea what trad pub really entails, only envisioning that six-figure advance and glittering book tour — which, as we’ve covered, are far from guaranteed. For some of these authors, self-publishing will turn out to be the better path… but they’ll forge ahead with trad pub anyway, investing months or even years of their lives, only to find it wasn’t right for them after all.

Admittedly, without knowing you, I also can’t tell you which publishing route you should take. It depends on countless factors, from your feelings on creative control to royalties to mainstream recognition to literary awards. But I can implore you to do your own research and educate yourself further before you decide.

Look into your options, never assume, and when you hear something that doesn’t sound right — like one of these misconceptions, for example — don’t be afraid to question it.

Savannah Cordova is a writer and content creator at Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors with the best editors, designers, and marketers in the business. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and low fantasy, as well as writing the occasional short story. She’s here to pull back the curtain on publishing so that every author can have the greatest possible chance at success.

The post The Biggest Misconceptions About the Publishing Industry appeared first on DIY MFA.

This doesn’t mean you have to lock yourself in a creative box. Great structure comes in many shapes and forms, and can emerge from plotters and pantsers alike! However, there are certain red flags that will crop up if your structure is less than optimal, and these are what you need to look out for — especially if you’re a first-time author.

Though I know it’s hard to appraise your work objectively, I implore you to look for these five signs that your book’s structure isn’t working, so you can fix it before readers realize the same thing. To help you identify them, I’ve included titles that I feel demonstrate these structural defects, at least to some extent; they’ll show you how even the most experienced authors can falter, and why we all need to be vigilant with our own work.

1) Your plot peaks too soon

Picture this: you’re a reader halfway through a novel. You know something big is coming, whether through foreshadowing, increasing tension, or open acknowledgement that a major event is about to occur. Then it happens — and as it turns out, the remainder of the book is more or less falling action. There’s nothing significant left to reveal to readers or change the fates of the characters; in other words, the plot has peaked far too soon.

It might sound easily avoidable, but this is a surprisingly common issue, especially among authors who don’t outline. And even for those who do outline, the compulsion to get to the “exciting part” may cause them to rush through the buildup, resulting in a climax that arrives many pages earlier than intended… and which often means filling the subsequent pages with drawn-out resolution or total fluff.

In my opinion, this is the essential structural flaw that undermines Elizabeth Gilbert’s recent novel City of Girls. (Spoilers ahead for this and all other books discussed here!) The plot follows a young woman named Vivian who gets involved in the sparkling show biz and social scenes of 1940s New York City. She’s surrounded by fascinating characters, ever-changing relationships, and potent drama, all of which makes for an excellent story.

However, about two-thirds of the way through the book, Vivian gets caught up in a scandal that forces her to leave her life of glamor behind. And while I know some readers found Vivian’s post-NYC existence interesting and narratively fulfilling, I was disappointed by the abandonment of the plot up to that point — especially once I realized nothing else was really going to happen.

If you suspect your book may suffer from this problem, think about how you might extend the buildup and/or the post-peak plot in a worthwhile manner. For example, Gone Girl has a major reveal in the middle that easily could have made the rest of the book seem lackluster! But Gillian Flynn ensures the story doesn’t end there, keeping readers hanging on with plenty of additional drama and satisfying twists.

2) You have too many threads to tie off

Another unfortunate structural issue is having too many character arcs, subplots, and other details you initially intend to be important, but which feel superfluous as you approach the end of your book. Fortunately, these threads aren’t hard to identify: if you’re wrapping up the main plot and you have more than one minor storyline still to resolve, you have too much going on.

There are two ways to handle this, structure-wise. The first is to simply remove the plot and character threads that don’t add anything substantial. For example, if you have a character who only appears a handful of times and doesn’t impact the plot, you can reduce or eliminate them entirely. (For authors with series aspirations, this may even be a blessing in disguise; a character you want to write more about, but who doesn’t have much bearing on the story you’re currently telling, could be perfect fodder for your next book.)

The second method is to try and resolve some of those minor threads earlier, so they don’t pile up and become overwhelming. This requires more thoughtful restructuring than scrapping whole subplots and characters, but it can be extremely rewarding, especially if the resolutions of those earlier threads contribute to the reader’s understanding of the “big” resolution later.

As for a concrete example of what not to do, you might look at some of Dickens’ works as having far too many threads. Of course, many would argue that this is exactly what makes Dickens great — the epic number of characters and subplots, the extreme level of detail. But, as I imagine anyone who’s read Bleak House would concede, a bit of pruning is sometimes necessary to make a book more comprehensible (and tolerable) for readers.

3) Your timeline jumps around too much

We’ve all read books with time jumps, and I won’t deny that flashbacks in particular are a great way to build narrative suspense. However, some time jumps can be more confusing than compelling, and may even cause readers to lose interest completely; this is why a jumpy timeline can be a sign that you need to restructure your book.

Continuing in my vein of controversial examples, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a quintessential case of too many time jumps. To be fair, the chaotic structure of this somewhat dystopian novel does accurately reflect the story — that of a man “unstuck in time” — and over the course of reading it, I’ll admit that I came to respect Vonnegut’s unorthodox approach.

However, I’ve since realized this is a case of the exception proving the rule. Even upon rereading the book, each time jump was still quite disorienting; I only remained invested and entertained because of Vonnegut’s immense skill as a writer. Needless to say, if Kurt Vonnegut can barely get away with this kind of time-jumping, the rest of us probably shouldn’t attempt it.

That said, if you find your story’s timeline jumps around too much (especially if you, the author, have trouble keeping track!) the best thing to do is go back to square one. What did you intend to accomplish with this structure, and might the same goals be attainable through fewer time jumps — and perhaps fewer perspectives, if that’s a complicating factor as well?

If you end up re-outlining your entire book, it might help to use a writing app to keep track of different elements. This way, even if you continue to use time jumps, you’ll have a clear visual sense of your chronology. (Scrivener 3 with Label View is the one I have in mind, but any writing tool with outlining functionality should greatly improve your use of time in a narrative.)

4) Your late-stage “revelations” are unsatisfying

This is perhaps the most irksome structural flaw I’ve come across as a reader, because it’s almost impossible to identify until you’ve read the book in full. In a way, it’s the opposite of the first issue I mentioned: rather than peaking too soon, the story builds and builds, dropping tantalizing hints and drawing out every bit of tension, and then… it fails to resolve in a satisfying way.

Sometimes the “big reveal” is glaringly obvious, or it’s not much of a reveal at all. Or sometimes a late-stage twist will arise with no foreshadowing whatsoever, which has the added “bonus” of making the reader frantically flip back through the book to scan for signs that were never there.

Whatever the form, it’s incredibly frustrating to invest so much time and energy in a book, only to be cheated out of a satisfying resolution. Once again, I speak from experience; I recently picked up Tangerine by Christine Mangan, a book claiming to be “The Girl on the Train meets The Talented Mr. Ripley.” High praise!

But despite an atmospheric start, Tangerine quickly devolves into a sort of suspenseful endurance test, doling out promising information without ever doing anything interesting with it. In the end, as one reviewer put it, “everything is exactly as it seems” — what’s perhaps intended to be a twist is just a slightly clearer iteration of information that was already provided.

Of course, to pinpoint this kind of structural problem in your own book, you have to be extremely honest with yourself. Consider your ending and what you’ve done to build to it. If there’s a reveal or dramatic ending of any kind, have you hinted at it without being too obvious? If there’s not, or if it’s intentionally out of left field, might readers feel that you led them on? Any doubts should prompt you to take another look at your structure, and potentially rework it for a more satisfying outcome, whatever that might mean for your readers. Speaking of which…

5) Your readers become confused

This is an undeniable catch-all for any author worried about their book’s structure: if other readers have trouble following it — even if it’s crystal-clear to you! — you have a problem. This could be due to any number of reasons, including any or all of the issues outlined above. But whatever the culprit, if a third-party reader tells you the structure doesn’t make sense to them, you’d better trust their objective opinion.

This is why, if you’re planning to publish your book, you should seek out beta readers and other trusted commentators to provide feedback as early as possible. Hire a professional editor if you have to; just get some eyes on your book that aren’t your own.

And even if they tell you to burn everything and start over, that’s still much better than releasing a book with a structure no one can understand. Plus, the next time you write a book, you’ll know exactly what tends to go wrong with your structure… which some might say is the first step toward making sure everything goes right.

Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories.

The post #5onFri: Five Signs Your Book’s Structure Needs Work appeared first on DIY MFA.

But truly masterful literary suspense is easier read than done, so to speak. When writing horror (or mystery or thriller), it’s all too easy to rush through the aforementioned buildup, or to forget to include any suspenseful elements at all. So if you’re stepping out of your comfort zone to write a suspense story for the first time, you should know that it will likely challenge your usual methods of exposition — but if you manage to get it right, it’ll be incredibly gratifying. 

To that end, here are five key tips to writing nail-biting suspense that will keep your readers enthralled from start to finish!

1) Employ flashbacks

Using flashbacks to conjure suspense is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and for good reason: flashbacks implicitly promise to reveal something important to the reader, especially if there’s a knowledge gap between past and present. A classic example of this is Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, which mentions a tragedy in the very first chapter, but doesn’t specify what happened. The truth then comes out over the course of the novel — and many, many flashbacks.

This is probably the most common way of using flashbacks: dangling a carrot in the reader’s face and compelling them to chase it. Of course, as the narrative progresses, you’ll have to produce other, smaller carrots (baby carrots?) to feed them so they don’t get frustrated by the chase. These carrots will consist of dramatic scenes and less-important bits of information that factor into the “big reveal” without giving it away, which is especially crucial if it’s a plot twist. 

Another, riskier way to use flashbacks is to not dangle the carrot at all. Sometimes authors jump into flashbacks without any apparent cause or direction, and readers just have to trust that they will lead somewhere rewarding. This can be good if you want to reduce the chances of readers guessing your ending, but it also makes it slightly more difficult to engage them off the bat. 

In any case, flashbacks are an excellent tactic to sustain suspense in a story, and also just a nice way to mix up your narrative structure. The only thing I’d caution against is using flashbacks for atmosphere alone, without any plot-related payoff. While it might seem like a great way to create suspense and misdirection, it’s bound to end in them feeling cheated, and — here’s the really scary part — could even result in a scathing review on Goodreads.

2) Sprinkle in foreshadowing

Speaking of dangling carrots (I promise this metaphor won’t last much longer), another highly effective way to build suspense is through foreshadowing. Though I’m sure we’ve all come across it before, you may not know just how many types there are — from subtle symbolism to Chekhov’s gun, almost every story has some kind of foreshadowing in it.

One of the cardinal rules of foreshadowing is not to overdo it, lest the reader guess the ending too early. But if you want to create suspense that accumulates and intensifies throughout the story, your foreshadowing can’t be too subtle; otherwise, readers won’t register it at all. 

How can you do this without exposing too much? The best technique is to combine specific details with vague, ominous implications. The ever-brilliant Margaret Atwood does a marvelous job of this in her new book The Testaments (don’t worry, no spoilers): 

We didn’t live over the store. Our house was a long distance away… It was made of yellow brick, and it was very ordinary. There was nothing about it that would make you look at it twice. Thinking back, I’m guessing that was the idea. 

This is only a few chapters in, so we don’t yet know why the house needs to look so innocuous. But this statement clearly signals that we should look out for the answer, and that it will be a big revelation when it arrives. Indeed, when it comes to any strategy for writing suspense, this is the perfect balance to strike: just enough info to keep readers on their toes, not enough for them to draw firm conclusions.

3) Include ambiguous characters

A more complex method of increasing suspense is to introduce ambiguous characters — characters that are unreadable, unpredictable, or otherwise unknown to the reader. Not only is there the constant question of “What are they going to do next?”, there’s also the larger, more pressing concern of, “Are they actually the antagonist?” 

Gillian Flynn is a big fan of ambiguous characters, but perhaps her best-known is Nick Dunne, one of the main characters and narrators of Gone Girl. Though Nick’s initial narrative account seems innocent enough, clues soon begin to mount that he’s not the man he portrays himself to be. We find out the shocking truth halfway through the novel, but before that point, the reader constantly wonders whether he’s good or bad — and if the latter, to what extent exactly. 

Of course, this ambiguity is carefully calculated on Flynn’s part. That’s how she’s able to maintain it for so long, even with Nick’s super-close first-person point of view, which would normally let readers in on everything. It helps that Nick’s POV alternates with his wife’s old diary entries (another example of flashbacks), which completely contradict his perspective. 

So if you want an ambiguous character to boost your suspense, make sure you have their arc figured out from the beginning — seamlessly skirting the line between good and bad, known and unknown, isn’t something that just happens. That said, if you can pull it off Flynn-style, you might just be on your way to your own David Fincher adaptation.

4) Use cliffhangers (but not too many)

Speaking of movies, you probably associate cliffhangers mostly with films and TV shows — especially soap operas that are always trying to entice you to watch the next episode. While I agree that totally far-fetched cliffhangers are a cheap trick that actually degrade suspense rather than add to it, I do believe they can be very effective when done right.

A cliffhanger in a book doesn’t have to be terribly dramatic, it just has to facilitate a little tension. For example, if you have multiple narrators, one character’s section might end in a cliffhanger, then another character might take over for just a few pages before the cliffhanger is addressed. Another common tactic is to have flashback scenes end in small cliffhangers, each of which then resolves in the next flashback scene, after a bit of present-day narration. 

Queen of suspense Liane Moriarty does this in several of her books, but I’m going to use Truly Madly Guilty as a clear-cut example. Just about every chapter ends with an intriguing statement or cliffhanger, like: “There was a piercing yell from upstairs.” 

However, each cliffhanger is then resolved within a few pages (in the case of the piercing yell, it was just two kids getting into a scuffle). This demonstrates how cliffhangers can be a great way to provide those “baby carrots” for readers. They wait in suspense for a bit, but they’re soon rewarded with a dose of insight… which suggests that the long wait for the story’s ending will be proportionately rewarded, as well.

5) Always stay one step ahead

Of course, the number-one tip to writing amazing suspense for your readers is to stay one step ahead of them at all times. As you’re constructing a scene, not only should you be depicting those particular moments, but also laying the groundwork for the next scene and, ideally, the rest of the narrative. 

This is why it’s crucial to map out your book’s suspense as much as possible before you start. Otherwise, your ambitious attempts will just lead to plot holes, pacing issues, and abandoned story elements that take forever to fix. You have to figure out what each character’s arc will be, what level of foreshadowing you want, how to intersperse flashbacks, etc. — and yes, it might seem like overkill now. But if you want your suspense to deliciously build and crescendo in a satisfying way for your readers, trust me, you’re going to need those blueprints.

If you have any doubts about your structure and planning, the best way to learn is by studying other great suspense writers! Read some Agatha Christie, some Patricia Highsmith, some Dean Koontz, or anyone else I’ve given as an example here. Try to be extremely conscious of how suspense waxes and wanes throughout the narrative — what specifically does the author do to make that happen, and how can you apply it to your own story?

Whether you write horror, thriller, mystery, or some combination of the three, suspense is imperative to your readers’ experience of the story. And indeed, learning how to write suspense is a valuable lesson for any writer who wants their narrative to be truly compelling (which, I’m guessing, is every writer). So take these tips and hold them dear; you never know when you might need them

Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories. Naturally, she’s a big fan of plot twists (when they’re done right).

The post #5onFri: Five Tips for Writing Nail-Biting Suspense appeared first on DIY MFA.

Sure, I might’ve had an easier time finding a job if I’d majored in computer science. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of interesting, relevant career possibilities out there for English grads. I still spent a year in other part-time positions before I found a writing-based job, but that’s only because I didn’t have the knowledge I do now.

Hence why I’m sharing the fruits of my labor with you today: here are five crucial tips for English majors on how to wade through post-grad uncertainty to find a writing job. Whether you’re graduating soon or you’re already long out of college, these tips will help you pinpoint the perfect career path and go after it with everything you’ve got!

1) Determine your ideal work situation

Before you do anything else, sit down and think about what you really want. I realize this is somewhat unglamorous, guidance counselor-y advice — however, ruminating on your priorities before you start applying to jobs will save you a lot of stress down the line.

There are two critical things to consider at this juncture: firstly, what kind of content or material you want to write, and secondly, what working conditions will help you thrive. Right now it might seem like any position where you get to write would be a godsend, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you’d be happy with any field or environment. For example, if you’re technically challenged and can’t understand the simplest of IKEA instruction booklets, you probably would not enjoy writing manuals. Or if you’re a solitary person who needs quiet time to focus, you might not want to work for a super-hectic startup.

When I decided to crack down on finding a writing job, I knew that I wanted to work in publishing and that I would perform best in a fairly calm office environment, ideally with flexible hours. This prompted me to apply for internships at magazines and various online platforms, several of which were remote. My search eventually led me to Reedsy, where I’ve been for almost a year now—because I knew what I wanted and didn’t compromise on a job that wasn’t a good fit.

So yes, it may take you some time to figure out what you want, and even more time to research and apply to the right places. But trust me, the investment is well worth it, especially for a writer. You don’t want to end up hating the content you spend 40+ hours a week creating!

2) Take advantage of every possible connection

You probably already know that statistic about how 70-85% of jobs are found through networking, rather than job sites like LinkedIn and AngelList. I regret to inform my fellow introverts that this claim checks out; most people I know who have a job in their preferred field got it through personal networking.

So brace yourself for interaction, because it’s time to get out there and utilize every single connection you have. This is a tip you’ve heard before, but it bears repeating — especially because many English majors don’t realize how many contacts we have at our fingertips. To name just a few, there are:

• Your professors and teaching assistants
• Your older English major friends who have already graduated and now have jobs
• Your parents’ friends and colleagues
• Your friends’ colleagues and parents

And literally any other acquaintance that works in your target field (journalism, publishing, advertising, etc.). If you think there’s even the slightest chance someone could get you an interview, don’t hesitate to drop them an email!

Reaching out to ask for favors and connections is always hard, especially for the more diffident among us, and especially to relative strangers (or actual strangers). However, the stats don’t lie; if you’re really committed to getting a writing job, you’ll need to actually talk to other people who know their stuff.

3) Look in unexpected places online

So, you’ve exhausted every last one of your IRL connections, down to your best friend’s cousin’s boyfriend’s mom — where else can you find job opportunities? As we’ve said, typical job search platforms aren’t necessarily the most reliable. But that just means you have to get creative with where you look.

For instance, experiment with non-professional social media. Use Instagram and Twitter to follow people you don’t know, but with whom you might like to work, in case they ever post about any openings. You can also take to online writing communities and ask where their members work, if it’s related to writing, and how they got the job.

Also, anytime you submit to a contest or publication, see if the platform hosting it has any paid positions available — especially if your work gets a positive response from them! You can use this to leverage your job application and help it stand out. For example, when I applied to Reedsy, I made sure to mention that I’d won one of their weekly short story contests in the past.

4) Keep reading and writing on your own time

Even though filling out job applications and writing cover letters can be a real slog, keep writing as much as you can in your free time. It’ll help you stay sharp and practiced, so that when you do enter the workforce as a writer, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running. Plus, many writing jobs will ask for some kind of sample to demonstrate your skills. If you already have samples written, you can quickly reply with a polished portfolio. (Bonus points if you can actually manage to get your work published!)

Don’t forget to read a lot, too! This is a surprising boon for anyone hoping to obtain a position that’s even remotely literary. Not only is it important to keep track of trends if you’re going into publishing, but reading new material can also help you adopt new creative methods and refine your own voice. Plus, “what have you been reading lately?” ​is a surprisingly common interview question.

What you read can also factor into what you end up writing at your job! Content writing positions tend to be pretty autonomous, so it’s good to have an arsenal of literary topics at your disposal if you end up having to pitch outlets independently. Basically, keep reading and writing all you can, because it can quite literally pay dividends in your new job.

5) Apply even when you’re not fully qualified

This one’s for all my ladies out there. Did you know that men are much more likely to apply for jobs they’re underqualified for? Women do this virtually none of the time, but we should — especially since women account for ​nearly 70% of English bachelor’s degrees​ as of 2014, and being an English major often causes one to feel underqualified.

But if a job sounds intriguing to you, apply anyway! If you can show them that you’re a hard worker, a fast learner, and an overall competent and productive team member, it likely won’t matter if you’re missing a qualification or two. Most writing jobs can train you in the specifics; employers just want to know they’re not wasting their time on someone who won’t retain it.

In any case, most employers (the sane ones, anyway) won’t expect you to have the resume of a CEO. They and your colleagues should be willing to work with you, guide you, and help you adjust to your position. If they aren’t, you don’t want to work for them anyway.

More than anything, have confidence in your abilities. English majors often feel like we aren’t cut out for the workforce the way other majors are—we think we’re ugly ducklings who’ll never turn into vocationally graceful swans. But all you have to do is stay persistent and focused, and success should come your way.

Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories. During the summer, you can usually find her sitting outside with an iced coffee, trying to will herself to work.

The post #5onFri: Five Tips to Turn Your English Major Into a Writing Job appeared first on DIY MFA.

We all know that writing is notoriously difficult during summer—which is partly why we tend to concentrate our creative efforts during fall and winter (such as NaNoWriMo in November and for New Year’s resolutions in January). But just because the weather is warming up, doesn’t mean it has to melt you into a puddle of unproductivity! Besides finding an air-conditioned coffee shop to work from, you can also use certain techniques to help you focus and write faster. And of course, once you’re meeting your writing goals head-on, you’ll be able to actually enjoy that time by the pool, without feeling like you’re putting off important work.

To that end, here are five tried-and-true hacks to help you write more this summer—not least so you can reward yourself with a nice cold piña colada.

1) The Comic Sans hack

You may have already heard about this one, as it’s been popping up pretty regularly on Twitter lately. Some people love it, some hate it, but most have begrudgingly admitted that it works… even if it’s not exactly pretty.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Comic Sans hack, it goes like this. Rather than using the favored 12 pt Times New Roman or Arial to write, you change your settings to 14 pt (or larger) Comic Sans. That’s right; Comic Sans—the eminently mockable typeface, the Jerry Gergich of the typography world—might just be the key to unlocking your creative potential.

The idea behind this hack seems to be that, while “serious” fonts like Times New Roman can be mentally intimidating, “fun” fonts like Comic Sans allow us to loosen up a bit and write more freely. As this article on font psychology notes, Comic Sans was “designed to feel fun and playful, and that’s a tough emotion to resist”—especially when you’re slogging through your third hour of writing and you’d gladly sacrifice your firstborn for the smallest hint of joy.

So when writing starts to feel like a chore, give this hack a try. Swallow your pride and embrace the possibilities of a font that resembles your elementary school handwriting: it might just help you slip back into that carefree mindset again.

2) The FocusWriter hack

On the other hand, sometimes when writing, you find yourself having a bit too much fun—switching back and forth among ten different fonts, falling into a Wikipedia hole while “doing research” etc. If you’re like me, you definitely have days when you basically need a sensory deprivation tank to keep yourself from getting distracted.

Enter the FocusWriter hack. Again, you’ve probably heard of this one in some capacity; FocusWriter has been around for about a decade now, and many writers swear by it. So now are you wondering what the “hack” is? Well, it’s the extra couple of things you can do with FocusWriter to get the absolute most out of it.

Firstly, you can set a timer (under “Tools”) for a given number of minutes, during which you’ll concentrate solely on writing—similar to what you would do for the Pomodoro technique. Secondly, you’ll always want to use the app in full-screen mode to minimize distraction. And thirdly, if you still find yourself thinking about the tantalizing prospects of the Internet, consider using a website/app blocker to restrict your access…or simply disconnect your WiFi.

The result should be a completely immersive, distraction-free writing interface. You’ll end up writing for however many blissful minutes straight (don’t worry, the FocusWriter timer will send you a notification when the time’s up). Then you can allow yourself a break—or if you’ve managed to enter “the zone,” which I’ve found happens pretty frequently with this particular hack, simply reset the timer and keep going!

3) The Tetris hack

Of course, we all need to take a break occasionally. That’s where the Tetris hack comes in.

I’ve experimented with many different types of breaks to come up with this one (well, “experimented” being a generous term for “procrastinated”). As you might expect, I’ve found that watching Netflix or scrolling through social media tends to be a little too enticing (i.e. you won’t actually go back to writing when your break time’s up). On the other hand, meditating or doing laundry isn’t enough of a break to clear the mind: I usually just keep thinking about my work, which doesn’t help if I want to come back to it with fresh eyes.

Luckily, playing three to five games of Tetris turns out to be the perfect balance of satisfying and structured. You enjoy the game, but it’s not so interesting (no offense, Alexey Pajitnov) that you get sucked into it for hours and hours. It requires physical and mental concentration, so you’re forced not to think about your work. Yet you remain in a goal-oriented state, which makes it easier to transition back into writing when the time comes.

In other words, Tetris is just the ticket for breaks, especially if you’re doing a prolonged writing session. I like the Free Tetris platform online, but you can also try downloading it on your phone, so long as your other apps won’t distract you. Speaking of which…

4) The iPhone Notes hack

The iPhone Notes hack is pretty much what it sounds like: instead of drafting on a desktop word processor, draft on your phone’s Notes app. (Any smartphone will do, but I have an iPhone, so that’s how I’ll be referring to it.) This one works best if you’re often stuck on public transport with nothing else to do, but can be just as useful if you’re looking to shake up your general routine.

Similar to the Comic Sans hack, the iPhone Notes hack relies on the psychology that a slightly different aesthetic presentation will encourage you to write—though in this case, it’s not so much the typeface as the associations of the phone keyboard that motivate you. Because what do you use a phone keyboard for? Sending texts—which are typically much easier to write than full-on stories. If you can get into that same relaxed mentality, your writing will start to flow as quickly as texts to your friends.

The main downside of this hack is that you might not have your previous work loaded onto your phone for reference. However, this can actually be a boon if you’re the kind of person (like me) who tends to get caught up in editing rather than actually writing.

And on the days when you find it hard to write anything, you can pick up your phone and just start freewriting, or take a look at some writing prompts to inspire you. Ironically, sometimes letting go of restraints—like your standard word processor and current project—is just what you need to get back on track.

5) The Hemingway hack

Finally, we have the Hemingway hack—named so because Hemingway himself used this tactic back in the day! (Nothing to do with the Hemingway app, though I’d definitely recommend the latter if you have trouble with purple prose.)

All you need to do here is: every time you take a break, stop writing in the middle of a sentence, and ideally in the middle of a paragraph/section, too.

It might seem counterintuitive to intentionally not finish something before a break, but if you already have some idea of where it’s going, it’ll be that much easier to get back to it. If you stop writing only when you’ve run out of ideas for the time being, you’ll feel accomplished…but then when you sit down to write again, you’ll realize it’s a lot harder to start something (e.g. a new chapter) than to pick up where you left off.

Hemingway said, “Always stop while you are going good, and don’t think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time.” I can’t vouch for the subconscious part, but I do know that this hack works damn well.

Of course, everyone has their own quirks, preferences, and optimal strategies as a writer. So feel free to pick and choose among these, depending on what you need—just remember that summer is no excuse for unproductivity. Trust me, that piña colada will taste so much better when you’ve really earned it.

Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories. During the summer, you can usually find her sitting outside with an iced coffee, trying to will herself to work.

The post #5onFri: Five Hacks to Help You Write More This Summer appeared first on DIY MFA.