THE RYW Blog

WRITING, SELLING, AND BALANCING YOUR LIFE

Rock Your Query: sample critique, “Dead On Arrival”

I critique a lot of proposal packages for clients who want to improve their query letter and synopsis prior to submitting to agents and editors.  I thought I'd show you guys a peek under the hood of how an actual critique works. (Note:  this is going to be a regular...

When writing, is your “best” too much?

"I would never put out anything less than my best!" I've been reading this a lot lately, in blog posts, in comments, on social media. Usually, it's referring to self-publishing ( "I would never publish anything less than my best!") or to querying ("I wouldn't possibly...

Is Your Story An Experience?

I've been reading a book on game design (not because I want to design a game necessarily, but because that's how I roll) and the author made a really fascinating observation.  When you're designing a game, you need to think about the experience you want the player to...

How to Survive a Publishing Trend Cycle, Part 2

Last time, we talked about how a publishing trend cycle works, generally speaking. Given that snapshot, you might ask yourself:  why would anyone in their right mind try to chase the trend? There are a number of reasons people chase a trend cycle. For some authors who...

How to Survive a Publishing Trend Cycle, Part 1

Publishing is cyclic. Everyone knows this. No one can predict when a genre is suddenly going to become "hot" -- just like no one can predict when it will abruptly, and inevitably, cool.  But everyone knows that nothing stays uniform.  Cycles simply happen, like the...

How to Figure Out Your Book’s Genre

"How do I know what genre my novel fits into?" I see this question a lot. It's not that authors aren't familiar with genres -- although with the proliferation of sub-genres cropping up daily, it's hard to keep up -- but often it's because they feel their books could...

3 Ways to Prevent Publishing Agony

Recently, literary fiction author Ted Heller wrote an article for Salon called "The future is no fun: Self-publishing is the worst."  In it, he describes his misadventures in self-publishing his latest novel, specifically the difficulty he's had promoting it. I am not...

Sell books (without being an asshat.)

I read two interesting blogs recently.  First, "Are Writers Badgering Readers?" over at Huff Post Books.  That post was a response to Book Riot's "Readers Don't Owe Authors Sh*t." The two seemed to encapsulate the writer's dilemma.  Nobody wants to badger readers --...

Is Your Writing a Business, or a Dream?

My son, a.k.a The Boy, does not always want to finish his meals. I don't force him to clean his plate.   That said, there's one rule:  no veggies, no dessert. If you're not hungry enough to eat your veggies, you don't get sweets. He will occasionally plead his case,...