The Cost of eBooks

Part 1 Steve Jobs thrilled some people and infuriated others when he announced that Apple’s new eBook app will use the agency model for pricing. Translation: publishers can set the price of their eBooks, and Apple will take a standard 35% discount, or commission. Amazon was up in arms, because it believes eBooks should be [...]

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I did not accomplish all those wonderful things I claimed I would do in 2009. I did not reduce my work day from anytime/any day to nine to five, Monday through Friday. I did not get my house impeccably clean and keep it that way. I did not replace my late mother-in-law’s tank for a [...]

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In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve put out a free eBook: PLOT YOUR NOVEL IN 15 MINUTES OR LESS. It’s not a gimmick or a come-on–it’s a real technique that’s been used in Hollywood for decades. It’s one of the few techniques in SECRETS OF A GHOSTWRITER that I did not personally create. (To download [...]

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…and while we’re on the subject of fantastic writer opportunities, don’t forget to sign up for this year’s National Novel Writing Month at http://nanowrimo.org. Remember, you only have to get 1,700 words done every day to make that 50,000 word goal, so put together your outline and character studies Now and get ready to write [...]

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I just finished giving my Before Copy Editing workshop for the 2nd year at the MUSE Online Writers Conference, a full week of workshops, chats with professionals, agents, and editors, and–new this year–the opportunity to pitch to publishers. As with any conference, there was no way to absorb all the fantastic information being offered FOR [...]

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I’ve run into so many people of late with such cockamamie ideas about writing and the book business that I simply had to pull out an old piece and update it. So without further ado, here’s the 3 Easiest Ways to Trash Your Literary Aspirations: 1. Write an easily rejected manuscript. Don’t clutter up your [...]

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I’ve recently run into the same situation with two novelists: their protagonists were neither sympathetic nor likable. I didn’t want either one to come out on top. In fact, I wished both characters would simply drop dead somewhere around the end of chapter two–which was essentially what happened, because I stopped reading. I am a [...]

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Eerily, I’ve had the same conversation with a series of aspiring novelists in the last month or some, to wit: novels are not movies. They’re about people, not events. Even when they’re wrapped around a real event, they’re about the people experiencing the event, not the event itself. Nonfiction is about events. Furthermore (the discussion [...]

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I love critique groups. I go to two, sometimes three, all the time. I enjoy the camaraderie, the exchange of ideas, the push-and-pull of writers in a community. But a critique group is not a substitute for an independent editor. Critique groups are there to give us encouragement, to point out obvious flaws, to brainstorm [...]

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Yup, that’s right there are three different stages of editing essential to producing a clean, viable manuscript. My BEFORE COPY EDITING online workshop (click the link in the left column) covers the two most often overlooked stages: substantive and line editing. But what do terms mean? Substantive Editing, also called content editing, addresses the manuscript’s [...]

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