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Monthly blog posts about writing, editing, and publishing
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Nothing pleases an acquisitions editor more than a writer who can articulate exactly who their audience is. Borrow a strategy from business courses to pinpoint yours.
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Writing Romance for Non-Romance Readers
When writing a love story for the masses, you need to get intimate with your story’s central question. If the central question is “will they get together?”, only romance fans will enjoy it.
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The Authors’ Database of AI Spam Emails
In September 2025, many established authors started receiving a deluge of sincere-sounding emails. The writers appeared to have read and loved the authors’ books and were keen to connect about them. Some claimed to represent book clubs; others said they…
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The Marketing Your Traditional Trade Publisher Should Do
Despite increased pressure on authors, legitimate trade publishers do still market books. This post shares the things they must do and a list of things good publishers should do to get your book in the hands of readers.
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How to Find Publishing Companies and Freelancers You Can Trust
Scammers who target authors thrive on the lack of public awareness about how publishing really works, so let’s push back with some information sharing. A little knowledge goes a long way toward helping you avoid these bad actors.
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Writing for Young Adult vs. New Adult
Young Adult and New Adult are similarly fast-paced and accessible, with a distinct narrative voice characterized by the personality of a book’s protagonist. But the two categories have important differences in the protagonist’s life stage, their preoccupations, and the emotional…
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How to Write an Author Bio with No Experience
Publishers aren’t reading author bios to separate the experienced from the inexperienced. Instead, they want to know why you’re the right author for the book you’ve written. Sometimes life experience that connects to your book’s subject matter is a stronger…
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Inside an Author’s Successful Media Campaign
Early in my career, I was a publicist for a publishing company. Now, as an author in my own right, the most effective promotion I do for my books requires no resources beyond a word processor and an internet connection.…
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Finding and Using Theme as an Author—With Examples
If your story isn’t quite pulling together—if it’s unfocused or isn’t connecting emotionally with the reader—it might be suffering from the absence of a clear theme. Theme is the heart of a narrative. It’s the thing you want a reader…
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Building an Author Platform without Meta and X
So you want to break up with Meta and X, but you’ve been struggling to make a clean break because you depend on the discoverability those spaces give you. What can you do to stay true to your morals without…
Erin Alladin 