You have a wonderful idea for a story. Maybe it’s a mystery novel, a children’s middle grade story, or a picture book. Maybe it’s a young adult. You know what you want to say, or convey, and you start typing away. This is the beginning of every story. But, we should backtrack a moment and…
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Ghostwriting Warning – Don’t Try This at Home
Why Hiring a Ghostwriter for Your Children’s Book is a Good Idea By Suzanne Lieurance, Writing Coach As the author of over 30 published books (most of them for children) and a former instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature, where I taught a course in writing for children and teens for over 8 years,…
Submitting Queries – Be Specific and Professional
All writers face the dreaded query. Did I put enough information? Did I put too much? Did I have a great hook? Am I submitting to the right publisher or agent? These are just a few questions that run through a writer’s mind when mailing or clicking the send button for the query. So, how…
Writing a Book – 6 Tips to Hiring a Freelance Editor
Will hiring a freelance editor ensure you pitch the perfect game? In writing terms, will it ensure you get published? Do you need an editor? There are a number of pros and cons related to whether you should hire a freelance editor. Some writers benefit greatly from the experience while others have a difficult time…
Writing to Get Published – 5 Power Tips
All writers have one primary focus—to get published. What makes each of us different is our slant or perspective on the story we’re telling, and how we tell it. It’s true that anyone can write, but writing to get published is another story. To accomplish this, there are four steps you need to include in…
The Author Website – Keep it Simple and to the Point
As an instructor of online classes that teach how to create and build an author online presence, of all the lessons, the most popular one, and the one that sparks the most questions, is how to create an effective author website. While some marketers still lean toward the effectiveness of long copy, especially for sales…
Book Marketing – Do Not Be Taken to the Website Design Cleaners
5 Tips on Creating an Author Website as the First Step in Your Online Marketing Strategy There is an abundance of website design and hosting services on the internet. You can get services that handle both the design and the hosting, or services that provide one or the other. Whatever your needs, there is a…
Writing – Trimming The Fat
Guest Post by Penny Lockwood (Ehrenkranz) If you check market resources both for printed and online publications [picture books], you’ll find a number whose word limit is below 1,000 words. How do you trim the fat from your manuscript to fit within the tight confines of those word limits? These are words that writers use…
Writing a Book – To Publish Traditionally or Self-Publish
Whether to publish traditionally or self-publish is the question I get most from my ghosting clients. Most new to the writing arena don’t understand what’s involved with either path. This article will hopefully shed some light on the topic. TRADITIONALLY PUBLISHING With traditional publishing, you submit your EDITED and PROPERLY FORMATTED manuscript to publishing houses…
Self-Publishing: 3 Tips to Help You Avoid the ‘I Want It Now Syndrome’
(What’s a ‘Wannabe’ Author to Do?) Self-publishing is a ship everyone wants to sail on. And for good reason. This publishing avenue is quick and cheap. Yes, self-publishing is fast. There’s no more submitting to a publisher or multiple publishers and waiting for (possibly) months for a response. Will they accept your manuscript that you’ve…