by Cathy Yardley | Business
If you’ve ever read an interview with an agent or editor, and someone asks “what are you looking for?” you’ll notice they often say things like “we’re always looking for a good story” or “I want to see more stories like (whatever’s popular).” They may say they want...
by Cathy Yardley | Business, Writing Life
Note: this originally was run in my newsletter, but given the responses, I thought I’d post it here on the blog as well. Is writing full time a viable option? Around 80% of the people I work with have mentioned that, ideally,eventually, they want to be able to...
by Cathy Yardley | Business, Craft
Strangely, I often see the question “is it okay if I curse in my novels?” The easy answer is: it depends. It depends on the genre. If you’re writing a mystery-thriller or something with a bunch of Navy Seals in it, cursing probably seems pretty...
by Cathy Yardley | Business, Craft
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...
by Cathy Yardley | Business, Craft, Writing Life
“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!”)...
by Cathy Yardley | Business, Writing Life
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...
