Spotting Scams for Authors

As I've been advertising more over the past year, I've started getting some questionable messages in my DMs and inbox, so I thought it was about time to outline a few of the scams out there directed at writers. Some of these are out-and-out-fraud, while others are just things that you shouldn't pay for in…

Everybody’s a Critic

It's been a while since we talked agents and querying on this blog, hasn't it? I stopped querying about a year ago now. I just couldn't do it anymore. After years and years of rejection--hundreds of queries on multiple projects--I had to stop for the sake of my mental health. Despite having strong queries, I…

The Writing Process Bonus Edition: Submission Packages

Lately on Twitter I've been seeing a lot of discussion about the writing process, how people go about the actual labor of constructing the book, and how authors revise, edit, and prep their book for submission or self publication. I know I do things a little differently from a lot of other writers, so I…

#MHMon: Staying Motivated Through Rejection

We have all been there. You think you're a shoe in for the job, but you don't even get a call back. You send out the best query letter of your life, but the agent just sends back a form rejection. You get a book deal, only to have the publisher back out. The common…

Querying Multiple Projects: a How-to Guide

The Basic Query Process Pretty much every writer who hopes to be published has to query at some point. A Query letter is an email/letter sent to a publisher or agent, introducing yourself and your work. It may or may not be accompanied by a synopsis or sample pages, based on the requirements of that…