Just a few thoughts on something you may not think you need, but then spend a day kicking yourself when the opportunity pops up and you’re caught by surprise.

You’ve plowed through 4 drafts, wrestled with two copy editors, and finally put the finishing touches on that book you started writing two years ago. So you think you’re done, right? I don’t think so.

Now you need a stop-them-in-their-tracks query, so it’s back to work. You spend the next month perfecting the hook and…

Continue

Some of my earliest memories of reading center on the excitement I found in the pages of the Sherlock Holmes stories. I was just a lad, so I was forever looking up those huge words Sir Athur Conan Doyle used in his narratives with Holmes and Watson. I couldn't pronounce most of them, and I was quite sure they would never come up in conversations with my school mates, but I was determined to understand every aspect of the stories. Doyle made quite an impression on me, and that excitement has… Continue

It takes talent, patience and a skilled editor to make a good book great. This is a friendly reminder in an age of POD and the “you can’t get it out there fast enough” attitude. Don’t let the enthusiasm to see your name in print allow you to sidestep these three elements. Getting it out there fast might satisfy your ego, but the last time I checked, egos don’t buy books.

Here you are, two years of your life spent compiling the pages of your first novel. Think about all the research… Continue