By Ann Batchelder Writing the truth has long been standard procedure for memoir authors. But truth is not fact. For every story, there might be several points of view. Memoir narrators assume readers understand that their book is one version of what happened. Still, it is the memoirist’s job to remain honest. My memoir, Craving […]
By Lee Knapp Somewhere on my old MacBook Pro that ran on Snow Leopard OS are dozens of files from around 2009 entitled “Tucker Book,” where I sketched out a vague idea about my old high school being a microcosm of America itself. With my marriage in turmoil, in 2003 I returned to teach history there. I […]
The Summer of Love and Death (A Ford Family Mystery Book 3), Marcy McCreary “Refreshingly smart, witty, and sophisticated . . .” —Natalie Symons author of Lies in Bone, on The Disappearance of Trudy Solomon “Propulsive, addictive, with lush, visceral prose and richly-layered characters . . .” —May Cobb, author of My Summer Darlings, on The Murder of Madison […]
By Kate Robards When I sat down to work on my second thriller novel, I knew only one plot point: a teenager would go missing from a place called the Bird Haven, a wildlife sanctuary where she worked part-time after school. As a dedicated plotter, I finessed this idea through multiple iterations of outlines, but […]
Hello Readers & Friends, It’s been steamy hot around most of the country, but July was a great time to lose yourself in the pages of a good book. Here are the stories that got me through: some old, some new, French, memoir, and a summer splash. If you need a break from the world, […]
Nancy Taber What to do with an article about an 18th century ancestor during the Acadian Expulsion, an almanac excerpt about a 19th century bank cleaner (possibly) turned thief, and research about 20th and 21st century military women? Blend it all into a historical novel with three protagonists and three timelines. Throw in a phantom […]
By Kate Michaelson It’s a good bet you know at least one woman with a complex, ongoing health issue—whether it’s an autoimmune disease, endometriosis, or something not yet diagnosed. Maybe you deal with an issue like this yourself. I’m one of those women too. In fact, my own quest for a diagnosis is part of […]
Gerry Wilson I came into the world loving stories. I’m still amazed that my parents allowed me to “write” in my books when I was a little girl. I still have my Winnie the Pooh books with my drawings and awkward attempts at cursive scrawled on the pages. I would have been three, maybe four. […]
By Carla Seyler The catalyst for my debut novel, A Place Unmade, was an article in the New York Times called Save our Food Free the Seed. When I say catalyst, what I mean is I felt as though my hair caught on fire. In 1980, the Supreme Court allowed living organisms to be patented. […]
By Ginny Fite No one pointed to you in fourth grade and said, “You are a writer.” Well, maybe some of you, but mostly writers are self-anointed. No one makes us do this. So, why do we engage in an activity that often gives us such angst? After a decade of full-time fiction writing, I’ve […]
About You Shouldn’t Be Here: Two strangers search for the truth behind bizarre occurrences no one else dares to discuss—only to discover that they’re connected by secrets that could destroy them both. A thrilling and twisty novel by the acclaimed author of the Mindy’s Book Studio pick I’ll Stop the World. When sixteen-year-old Angie Stewart […]
Heather Webber sat down for an interview with her character Tessa Jane Fullbright from her latest novel, but it turned into a confession… A Certain Kind of Starlight In the face of hardship, two women learn how to rise up again under the bright side of the stars in A Certain Kind of Starlight, the next […]
ASKING FOR A FRIEND This charming YA rom-com follows a strong-willed, ambitious teen as she teams up with her childhood frenemy to start a dating-advice column, perfect for fans of Emma Lord and Gloria Chao. Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things: 1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love. 2. She is […]
CIVILISATION FRANÇAISE When recent college graduate Lily Owens enrolls in the Civilisation Française course at the Sorbonne in 1982, she hopes to put a difficult childhood behind her and to find direction for adulthood. She moves into an historic mansion on the place des Vosges where her job is helping elderly, half-blind Amenia Quinon, another ex-pat American. Unbeknownst to […]
DAUGHTER OF THE LOST When the freshman party ends, the sophomore hangover hits. Trinity Tachel has no use for society’s rules. Not after the New Orleans police failed to investigate the murder of her sex-worker mother. Not after she was abandoned to the Louisiana foster care system as a child. And certainly not after fighting […]
Why is Book Marketing So Damn Hard? I offer a marketing mastermind for writers, called 12 weeks to Book Launch Success. In this group program, I guide novelists and memoir writers to develop a successful launch plan for their book. (If this sounds interesting, more details at the end!) Before developing my program, I interviewed […]
Things I wish I’d known about book marketing: A few specific tips for the author who wants to sell books as well as write them! (1) When people ask me how I found my agent, I tell them about Publishers Marketplace https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/. This is an enormous database that lists (nearly) every book deal, as well […]
I was at a low. I’d just broken up with my literary agent after three years, and it felt as if my publishing dreams would never come true. I couldn’t sleep. I was cranky. When The Secret by Rhonda Byrne was published in 2006, I didn’t read it but at 2am one night the Netflix […]
By Anju Gattani They say cats have nine lives but life doesn’t offer a second chance, at least not in the world of publishing. One book gets one release date, your baby’s out in the world and there’s no turning back. Now, what if I told you that’s not true. Would you believe me? What […]
I thought my romcom writing career would last forever. I didn’t make much money on my first book, She Sins at Midnight, during its debut year. But I knew going in that would probably be the case. Sales wouldn’t go gangbusters until my second book, The Reinvention of Mimi Finnegan. Which is exactly what happened. […]
Here’s why. You slump, shrink, curl down in your seat, never stand up straight. As if an arrow might pick you off. Not an arrow, a bullet. Not a bullet, a blow. Not a blow, words. Not words, looks. Here’s why. You’re a freak. Four inches in one year? Your father’s colleague says he keeps […]
He wanted you to have this. It was written with exaggerated clarity on a scrap of paper, as if the author was unsure of the reader’s grasp of English. The torn paper, rather than a proper card, another signal from the sender. It was signed Elaine, with a rounded, buxom capital E. On the padded […]
Elaine Walsh Barrington revs up her white BMW and reverses the car out of the double garage behind the house. “I really don’t mind getting a taxi to the station again,” Lorna, her younger sister, says from the passenger seat. “You didn’t have to leave your New Years Day open house like this.” The clenched […]
She’s a woman who discards anything which causes sorrow or blocks her path. A man she cares for does both, and she leaves him. She takes only what she really values, an old set of books, a few china plates of her mother’s, an abstract painting she’d found in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She abhors […]
This is an account of what it was like to be nine years old and on the receiving end of the bombing power of a well-armed enemy. Like millions in London we were evacuated at the start of the war. My father went to Harpenden with the insurance company he worked for, two days before […]
Q&A with Literary Agent ERIN NIUMATA Folio Literary Management, VP and Literary Agent Erin Niumata has been in publishing for over three decades. She started as an editorial assistant at Simon and Schuster in the Touchstone/Fireside division for several years; then moved over to Harper Collins as an editor, and then she went to Avalon […]
Three years ago, I was a freelance writer with an extremely long Word document chilling on my hard drive. Today, those 98,000 words mark my shift from aspiring writer to fiction author: The Lost Night is coming out from Crown. My novel is a thriller about a woman uncovering the dark truths surrounding her best […]
A few days ago I did an interview and one of the questions was did I think having an agent was crucial in this business. The answer for me was a huge, resounding yes. My agent is Carly Watters at P.S. Literary Agency, and I literally wouldn’t be where I am now without her patient […]
A Twenty-Five-Question Interview Published as a Five Part Series Part One Part Two | Hosted by MM Finck | | Anonymously Answered By Agented Authors* with Varying Publishing Career Durations and Successes from Debut to Bestselling and Represented by Multiple Literary Agencies of Varying Sizes | QUESTION ELEVEN Historically, how many story ideas do you […]
A Twenty-Five-Question Interview Published as a Five Part Series. Read Part One HERE | Hosted by MM Finck | | Anonymously Answered By Agented Authors* with Varying Publishing Career Durations and Successes from Debut to Bestselling and Represented by Multiple Literary Agencies of Varying Sizes | QUESTION SIX Did your first agented manuscript sell? If […]
By Peggy Joque Williams If I could claim to have a writerly Superpower, it’s that I am a great collaborator. As far back as sixth grade I was collaborating with friends, spending our summer evenings brainstorming and passing around the notebook as we wrote the next great Beatles movie after A Hard Day’s Night came […]
By Suzanne Kamata I have always loved going to the beach. I grew up near Lake Michigan, and while my family did not live on the shore, I had friends who did. I loved hanging out at their houses, where we’d watch sunsets, hold bonfires on the beach, or just go for long walks, scuffing […]
By Ona Gritz There is a moment I describe in my memoir when my deceased sister whispered a crucial detail into my ear. She had been gone for thirty years by then, brutally murdered along with her husband and infant son, and I had finally garnered the courage and compulsion to learn all I could […]
by HELEN MATTHEWS Did you know that Tuesday 30 July is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons? This is an annual focus on human trafficking and modern slavery championed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. We all need to know about this hideous crime so we can understand why it happens and […]
by Rebecca J. Sanford The year I met the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the organization was celebrating its twenty-fifth year and I was a twenty-five-year-old graduate student conducting field research for my thesis in Argentina. I worked with the Archivo Biográfico Familiar de Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, an initiative founded in partnership […]
By Suzanne Maggio “Buen Camino,” I say as I approach the young man. His dark hair peaks out from below a large tan sunhat. The straps dangle well below his chin. His eyes are hidden behind inky sunglasses but he smiles when he turns to look at me. “Buen Camino,” he answers. “My name is […]
By Robin Finn Reclaiming Your Voice My new book about women, writing, and worthiness, entitled “Heart. Soul. Pen.: Find Your Voice on the Page and in Your Life “ grew out of my own experience returning to writing after decades of believing I was ‘not good enough’ to write and reclaiming my voice as a woman and […]
Welcome to an exclusive character interview with me, Michelle M. Pillow, the acclaimed author of Merely Mortal, and my victim—I mean, main character. Today, we have a special guest, Tamara, the protagonist of my new urban fantasy novel. She’s here to share her experiences and thoughts as she navigates her extraordinary journey. And Tamara, just […]
Being longlisted in a competition is every author’s dream. Unless you haven’t finished the book! Kathleen Whyman describes how she wrote a third of her latest book in 10 days, and retained her sanity. ‘Congratulations! Your novel, Has Anyone Seen My Husband?, has been longlisted for the Comedy Women in Print prize in the Unpublished […]
By Suzanne Court I have no memory of deciding to write the book Soul Connection with Horses: Healing the Mind and Awakening the Spirit through Equine Assisted Practices (O-Books, 2024), or even of starting it. To say it wrote itself would be an exaggeration—and it certainly wasn’t channelled—but it’s true to say it started as […]
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