There have been several major changes in the Christian publishing market over the last few years, including the rise of Amazon as a publisher and retailer of Christian books, and the demise of Family Christian Stores and Lifeway Stores. Many Christian publishers have pulled back on the number of books they publish, especially fiction. There …
How Many Chapters Should my Novel Have? This is a new question. I’ve often seen people ask how long their novel should be, and I have covered typical word counts in a previous post. But chapters? I don’t think readers care how many chapters are in a book. What matters to readers is the chapter …
Why do authors need to know how to revise and self-edit? Doesn’t the publisher edit? Yes, they do. At least, the good ones do. (I’d steer clear of any publisher that doesn’t edit … or charges you for editing. But that’s another conversation). If the publisher is going to edit your manuscript, why do you …
All authors want book sales. They also want book reviews (especially Amazon reviews), because readers use reviews in making their purchase decisions, and because advertisers like BookBub look at reviews and ratings before deciding whether to accept an advertisement. I’ve been actively reviewing books online since 2011, and I now have over 1,000 published reviews …
I’ve recently worked on a couple of novels that used a lot of flashbacks to “show” the character backstory to the reader. This got me thinking: are flashbacks a good way of sharing backstory? Should authors flashbacks? I’ve talked about backstory before, about the need to keep backstory to the back of the story, or …
Last week, I introduced the concept of tropes, and discussed ten popular romance tropes. Today I’m introducing more popular romance tropes, and giving some examples. Best Friend’s Sibling The hero falls for his best friend’s (usually younger) sister, or the heroine falls for her best friend’s (usually older) brother. This is similar to the Friends …
Most genre fiction uses some kind of trope as a shorthand way to hook a potential reader. So what is a trope? What is a Trope? Tropes are plot devices, characters, images, or themes that are incorporated so frequently in a genre that they’re seen as conventional. (Source: Reedsy) Many genres have tropes. For example, consider …
Some proverbs or old sayings are eternal (like the Book of Proverbs in the Bible). Some have less longevity … like this old saying: Don’t judge a book by its cover. That might have been true when all books were hardcovers with little more than the title and author name. But in the modern age, …
Over the last few weeks I’ve discussed various legitimate and less legitimate ways authors are encouraged to spend money. Today we’re discussing anthologies. First, what is an anthology? An anthology is a collection of short literary works chosen by a compiler or organiser. It may be short stories, plays, articles, poems, songs, excerpts, or a …
Over the last few months, I’ve come across several people asking if they should pay an agent or editor or publisher for X or Y or Z. Today I’m answering some of these questions. Should I pay an agent a reading fee? No. The Association of Author Representatives clearly state that literary agents are not …
