Publishing

The first step toward getting your poetry published is to get the Poets Market, a print resource also available on Kindle. It includes hundreds of publishing opportunities specifically for poets, including listings for book and chapbook publishers, print and online poetry publications, contests, and more. . Before trying to get a whole book of poetry…

  🌹🌹 This beautiful book from debut author Kat Armas is out in the world, and I’m excited for you to read it! . What if some of our greatest theologians weren’t theologians at all? “Abuelita Faith” tells the story of unnamed and overlooked theologians in society and in the Bible–mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and daughters–whose…

  Is there anything you should avoid in a query that would lead to an automatic rejection? . People ask me this question all the time, and I want to start by saying that every agent is different, and we probably have different things that make us immediately decline a query. . For many agents,…

  Writers are often told, “write what you know.” Is this good advice? . Absolutely! It’s great advice… if you understand what it means. . You can’t take it literally to mean something like, “Only write about things for which you have specialized knowledge.” Nobody has specialized knowledge of fairies or monsters or vampires, and…

💋Excited to announce this January release!!💋 I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to tell you about this book. Candice Benbow writes about Black spirituality and Black womanhood like no one else. She draws you in from the first page and doesn’t let you go. Her personality shines through and she balances depth and humor…

  When you are looking for an agent, how many queries should you send? . The short answer is: as many as it takes! . There are several hundred literary agents out there. Once you’ve narrowed it down to agents who rep your genre, you’ll probably still have a pool of 100, 200, or more.…

📚 First, it’s important to know that a memoir is not your life story (that’s an autobiography). Your memoir is a piece of your story, centered around a particular time or event in your life that sent you on a different trajectory. 📚 Make sure you know your theme. Is it a coming of age…

If you’re looking for an objective opinion—one that doesn’t come from your writing partner, critique partner or your best friend—then paying a professional editor may be a good idea. Someone who hasn’t been involved all along in your brainstorming and writing process can look at your book with a fresh mindset and point out things…

Beta readers are a writer’s taste-testers. After your manuscript is complete and you’ve gone through a couple rounds of revisions with your critique partners, and you feel like it’s as “final” as it’s going to get, you give it to 1 or 2 beta readers before submitting to agents and/or publishers. Many contracted authors use…

This is kind of like that old show “The Price is Right.” Do you want the new living room set, or the unknown behind door number two??? It’s a tough decision, not knowing exactly what your choices are. . First, ask yourself: In my heart of hearts, do I WANT a large publisher, or will…

  . If your goal is to publish your book with a medium to large traditional, royalty-paying publishing house—then you want to seek agent representation. Very few large houses these days accept submissions from unagented authors. . Getting an agent is one way to know you’re on the right track. If you get a yes…

The dreaded comps! When you’re trying to interest an agent or publisher in your book, you’re often asked to provide “comps” — other books that could be compared to yours, or books that might compete with yours. A good book proposal always has a “Competition” or “Comparable Books” section, and even if you’re self-publishing, it helps…

by Kara Leonino, Tyndale House Publishers When she walked over, all the signs were there. I could tell that her smile was trying to say, “I am excited to be here,” but fear was hovering close. As she sat down, I could see the subtle shaking in her hands and the lilt of her voice…

Word counts! Here are some ideal word count ranges. If you’re trying to break in, stay within these guidelines to decrease your obstacles to getting published. Adult fiction: 75k-100k words (sweet spot is 80-90) Sci-fi or fantasy can be up to 120k. YA fiction: 50-90k Nonfiction: 70-80k Memoir: 75-95k Self-help: 40-55k Children’s picture books: 300-1000…