Learn how to make technology work for you, instead of the other way around. Why do writers need websites? The answer is simple: to promote their work. Self-published authors quickly find out how difficult it is to rise above the noise of the thundering herd...

I have deliberately refrained from discussing many matters of style in this book, because I feel that writing style is a highly personal and subjective issue.  Frankly, although I have found a style that works for me, I have no interest in trying to impress that upon...

Let’s not beat around the bush here.  Rejection is soul-crushing.  It’s especially bad when you feel like you were rejected because you’re just not good enough, rather than because you’re not a good commercial fit.When I was looking for an agent for Eddie’s Bastard, I...

Do I Need Contacts or Connections?It seems to be a common myth that only insiders and well-connected people have a shot at being published.  The average schlub from some small midwestern town who doesn’t know anyone important and didn’t go to an Ivy League school...

I’ve got an agent.  So now what?You wait.  Let them do their job.  They’ll call you when they have something to say.  You bugging them isn’t going to make them sell it faster.If your agent hasn’t managed to sell your book within a year or so, you may be justified in...

The query letter is a letter you send to an agent by whom you would like to be represented.  It can be sent as an e-mail or snail mail, depending on the agent’s preference.  To find out what an agent prefers, you can look at their website, or check them out in the...

First, let’s review what an agent actually does, in case this is new for you.  In business parlance, an agent is anyone you have appointed to act on your behalf.  In this case, since you are not allowed to just waltz into the offices of any old publisher in Manhattan...

Agents:  Do I need one?  That depends on your goal.  If your goal is publication by a large commercial publishing house with a good reputation and far-reaching distribution, then yes, you need an agent.  The reason for this is simple: lots of other people want large...

They say that if you love to cook, the last thing you should do is open a restaurant, because it will ruin cooking for you forever.  I won’t go as far as saying that becoming a professional writer will ruin writing for you.  I don’t know what it will do for you,...