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Do I Need a Platform and If So, How High?

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In 2010, when I first dipped my toe into the publishing world, the biggest mystery to me was—besides figuring out the difference between a query and a synopsis—this thing called a “platform.”

At the time, I was writing about killer mermaids. I didn’t know how I was going to go about becoming enough of an expert on the subject that a potential editor would take me seriously. Imagine my utter relief when I learned that it was only the non-fiction writers who required a platform. All we fiction writers had to prove was that we had an imagination, a way with words, and that we understood the shape of a story.

That blissful world is no more.

These days, even debut fiction writers are being asked by would-be editors about their platforms. What they’re really asking is: [Read more…]

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Guest Post: Hilary Davidson on Taking That Big Leap of Faith–In Yourself

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David Corbett, here. I’m teaching at the History Writers of America Conference in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia today, so I'm handing over this month’s post to a writer I very much admire, Hilary Davidson. Before she became a full-time, award-winning, bestselling novelist, Hilary was a journalist, starting as an intern at Harper’s Magazine in New York then joining the staff of Canadian Living magazine in Toronto. After deciding that she’d rather write than edit, she left her day job to … [Read more...]

Writing the Query Letter: Dos & Don’ts

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It's fall! You know what that means--it's submission season. My inbox has flooded with client requests to help shape their queries and synopses. I’ve been seeing many queries, in particular, with similar mistakes or less-than-optimal structuring so I thought I’d share my laundry list of what makes a query juicy, what to avoid, and a few other points to making your query a slam-dunk success. WHAT'S IN A QUERY? A PROPER GREETING: The only acceptable greeting is "Dear Agent". This is not the … [Read more...]

About a Book (Panicking and Pitches)

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This happens more often than I'd like to admit: I'm sitting around with friends or acquaintances or random strangers, and the fact that I'm a writer comes up. (I never noticed before just how often people say, "What do you do for living?" until I started answering that question with "I'm a writer.") From there the conversation usually moves to what genre I write, what I've published, when my next book is coming out, and then like a hand grenade tossed into my lap: "What's your book about?" I … [Read more...]

30 Things I’ve Learned About the Writing Life

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On Thanksgiving, I celebrated 30 years since the sale of my first book.  It’s a crazy milestone and made me consider this writing and publishing life with a sense of bemusement. To celebrate, I have collected 30 things I’ve learned in those three decades. 1. Persistence is more important than talent. 2. Be nice to everyone. It’s a very small world. The meek editorial assistant of today will one day be running the prestigious imprint you most want to break into. 3. No one actually knows what … [Read more...]

Bucket List for Writers

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I believe it's healthy to have goals. After all, having something to aim for can give us a sense of purpose, and can help us keep our efforts focused. We often hear of "the writer's journey," and I think it's an apt metaphor, because this can turn into a VERY long trip. For those who manage to stay on the path, there are many milestones along the way - along with many hurdles. While a writer might start out with a single goal (e.g., write the damn book), if that writer is serious about … [Read more...]

When Zero Is Greater Than One

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During the early days—correction, decade—of my writing career, before I had either an agent or a publishing deal, I often felt a kind of desperation. When would it finally be my turn? When would I see my work in print? Would my day ever come? I wrote, I researched agents and publishers, I pitched and queried, and—like everyone—I received rejections. Rejections upon rejections, until I almost dreaded opening my email for fear of finding another missive that began, “Although I enjoyed your … [Read more...]

If I Knew Then What I Know Now

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I get approached from time to time by aspiring new writers, asking for advice on how to get started. The longer I've been doing this, the harder it gets to answer them. At this point I've been in the game nearly 20 years, so how do I condense what I've learned into a quick conversation or a brief email? And what if they are interested in a completely different type of writing than the kind that has made me as rich and famous as I currently am? (Hmmm - now that I think about it, that wouldn't … [Read more...]

How to Write an Effective Hook (Plus: PITCH SHARE w/ agent Mark Gottlieb)

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Please welcome literary agent with Trident Media Group Mark Gottlieb to WU today, speaking about something most writers need to understand: How to write (and even verbally deliver) an effective hook. More about Mark from his bio: Mark attended Emerson College and was President of its Publishing Club, establishing the Wilde Press. After graduating with a degree in writing, literature & publishing, he began his career with Penguin’s VP. Mark’s first position at Publishers Marketplace’s … [Read more...]

What a Writer’s Conference Really Buys You

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I just attended the Writer’s Digest Conference and as always, I returned home tired and full of inspiration. But there’s something that has stuck in my mind that is nagging at me. Saturday afternoon, I was sitting in the lobby, chatting with several aspiring writers who had a lot of questions about the industry and genre categories among other things. At one point, I overheard a conversation between two attendees adjacent to me. One of the writers turns to another and says, “Isn’t this so great? … [Read more...]

In Which a White Guy Talks about Cultural Appropriation

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DISCLAIMER: The views presented in today’s post do not necessarily reflect those of Writer Unboxed or its other contributors. They are solely the opinions of the author of this post, and should not be read while flossing, practicing goat yoga, or ghost-writing a book for James Patterson.  Last September - before being eclipsed by our current all Trump, all the time zeitgeist - a flurry of conversations erupted across the internet focusing on cultural appropriation. Fanning the flames of this … [Read more...]

What Agents & Publishers Want and Why

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I have written a lot about the value of collaborators in your creative work. How there is a difference between creating art for the sake of your own personal experience, and in wanting to share it with the world. In working with hundreds and hundreds of writers, I often hear things like: "An agent said they wanted to see me have at least 10,000 Twitter followers." Today, I would like to share my impression of what agents, publishers, and any collaborators want to see from you and why. … [Read more...]

Actively Defending the Passive Voice

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As writers, we are told about many rules we’re supposed to follow. Avoid adverbs. Don’t start with a prologue. Eschew the passive voice. Don’t use words like “eschew.” On the off chance that someone does say “eschew,” say “gesundheit!” Okay, maybe not all of those are well-established rules, but the first few definitely are. And I have a problem with rules like these (to be fair, I have a lot of problems, as some of you likely have guessed). But today I’m going to write about the problem I … [Read more...]

Basic Tips for Writing an Email Query That Actually Gets Read, All the Way Through.

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This post is not about what content to include in a query letter, it is about how it should 'sound'--the professional tone the letter should take. It discusses how to address an overburdened agent, editor, or publisher in a manner that makes them consider you a potential business partner, not a supplicant, a novice, an egomaniac, or desperate. That increases the chances that your query letter will actually get read, perhaps even all the way through. In my day job, I work with a researcher who … [Read more...]