Writer Unboxed

Craft! Platform! Craft!! Platform!! It’s a debate that might span eternity: how much time should you devote to writing versus platform building? I don’t know if there was ever a real beginning to this debate, but if so, it was when editors and agents started telling nonfiction authors that their book was only viable if [...]

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Kimberly Reid is author of the Langdon Prep series of YA novels about a girl detective named Chanti Evans whose mom is an undercover cop. Chanti lives in the hood but goes to a private school in a swanky neighborhood. The 2nd in the series, Creeping With the Enemy, pubs today! A little of what [...]

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Dear Fellow Sandwich Generationer: When you found out you’d become an official caregiver for two generations of people (one older, one younger), and hence a member of the “sandwich” generation, did the news come via a phone call? Mine did, as I sat writing in the deceptively soft, grey light of a winter morning. It [...]

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Therese butting in for a second to make the happy announcement that the ever-talented Sarah Callender will be joining WU as a half-time contributor! We’re thrilled and honored to have her with us! Last month, some girlfriends and I took the train from Seattle to Portland (home of Powell’s City of Books and Voodoo Donuts [...]

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Therese here. It’s the second Thursday of the month, which means it’s #IndieThursday–a day dedicated to independent bookstores here and at Beyond the Margins, an esteemed blog we hope you’ll add to your daily visits. I’m honored to introduce a post written by Bob Proehl, Director of Operations at an independent bookstore in Ithaca, NY, [...]

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As a writer, you may think you have the market cornered on this. This is one job where you can plug away for twenty years without positive reinforcement from the industry. Then one day, everything changes. Instead of an endless string of no-thank-yous, you get a yes, please. That sale or signing with your agent [...]

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No matter what you write – whether it’s romance, literary fiction, fantasy, or the increasingly popular genre of historical vampire chick-lit zombie western mystery – at some point each of you will be called upon to write about the same thing: yourself. There’s no avoiding it. If you’re writing with the goal of publication, it’s [...]

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Therese here. Today’s guest is a former monthly contributor with Writer Unboxed, NYT’s bestselling author Allison Winn Scotch. I’m so pleased to have her back here today to celebrate the release of her new novel, The Song Remains the Same. What’s the book about? One of only two survivors of a plane crash, Nell Slattery [...]

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Heads up: Today’s post is one of the most inspirational I’ve ever read here on Writer Unboxed. (Therese here, by the way.) I’m so pleased to bring you our guest blogger, author Robin LaFevers. Robin is a multi-published author and the co-founder of a blog I’ve long admired, Shrinking Violets–a site geared toward introverted writers. [...]

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GIVEAWAY: I am (again) excited to give away a free copy of the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents to a random commenter. Comment within one week; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. Good luck to all! (Update: Mari won.) When I’m teaching at a writers’ conference, occasionally someone will raise [...]

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Kath here. Today’s guest is C. Hope Clark. She is editor of FundsforWriters, selected by Writer’s Digest for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past eleven years. She’s been industrious in platform building and social media outreach, and her newsletters reach 43,000 readers weekly. But the soul of her writing is in the mystery [...]

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The oars were silver, Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made The water which they beat to follow faster, As amorous of their strokes. Antony & Cleopatra, II, 2   It was St. Paddy’s Eve, after all, when London-based agent Bonnie Jonny Geller let out with his Agent’s Manifesto. This prominent man [...]

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