Tag: author
-
The Author’s Guide to Pre-Press Procedures
“Pre-Press” describes the processes a book undergoes before it goes “on press,” that is, before the printer starts printing it. It can include all non-printing activities, including editing and design; however, in book publishing you’re most likely to hear it in the context of operations that are done to get the finalized file ready for…
-
Uncommon Tips for Self-Editing Your Book
In this post I’m sharing specialized skills for polishing your manuscript that most people won’t learn unless they train to be a copyeditor. Even when you are going to be working with a professional editor, self-editing is an important step so that your work is as clean as you can make it, leaving the editor…
-
How to get an ISBN in the United States
Every format of a published book needs an individual ISBN. Although you can acquire one for free through sources like Amazon KDP, there are benefits to purchasing your own.
-
How to get an ISBN in Canada
Every format of a published book needs an individual ISBN. Although you can acquire one through sources like Amazon KDP, there are benefits to applying for your own (plus, in Canada, it’s free!).
-
What A Literary Agent Wants Writers to Know
I asked a literary agent to sit down for an interview—an anonymous one, so they could speak with full frankness: How do you impress a literary agent? What are they really looking for in a query? In a manuscript? What factors make them decide to take an author on? What red flags scream “unprofessional”?
-
What it’s Like to Work with a Professional Book Editor
So you’re considering having your manuscript edited, but it’s a daunting decision to make. I know I can’t fully erase the anxiety that goes with handing your book over to someone else, but I hope that I can ease it by giving you a detailed look at the process.
-
Why Your Picture Book Manuscript Got Rejected
Before I was a freelance editor, I worked in house and was often the first pair of eyes reviewing manuscripts. Frequently, I knew within a few lines that a picture book manuscript wasn’t going to be suitable.
-
The REAL way to handle “said” when writing dialogue
You’ve been taught the wrong approaches to deal with the too-frequent use of the word said in written dialogue. Having too little variety in your dialogue tags is only a symptom of a deeper underlying issue: too little variety in your sentence structure. Once you solve for that, your repetitive dialogue tags will clear up…
-
Find Comp Titles Faster with These Publishing-Industry Tools
The same advice is often given over and over to querying authors who are seeking comp titles: talk to librarians and independent booksellers, and leverage recommendations from Goodreads and Amazon. As a publishing professional, I can suggest some tools to make the process faster and easier.
-
Juvenile Fiction: Understanding Lower Middle Grade, Upper Middle Grade, Chapter Books, and More
New sub-categories of juvenile fiction keep emerging to help kids find the right books for every developmental stage. We can break them into two main groups: simple chapter books for emerging readers, and more complex middle grade novels for independent readers. These groups are then broken down further.
Erin Alladin 