The 2025 London Book Fair included a panel discussion featuring two hugely successful independent crime fiction authors: JD Kirk and LJ Ross. They shared their self-publishing journeys and insights into creating bestselling books.
Get your writing year off to a flying start with this masterclass packed full of advice and inspiration from the
How many words in a novel? Here are the average word counts and page numbers by genre – so that you know what to aim for!
The 2025 London Book Fair included a panel discussion featuring two hugely successful independent crime fiction authors: JD Kirk and LJ Ross. They shared their self-publishing journeys and insights into creating bestselling books.
You need to market your book. But what if you really, really, don’t like marketing? You became a writer to write, after all – not to sell. Here are some ways to approach marketing if you really don’t like marketing.
If you want to get traditionally published, you need to submit a compelling book proposal to agents or publishers. This masterclass with Scott Pack will maximize your chances of success.
The 2025 London Book Fair included a panel discussion featuring two hugely successful independent crime fiction authors: JD Kirk and LJ Ross. They shared their self-publishing journeys and insights into creating bestselling books.
Nicola May is a self-publishing sensation, and the author of a dozen romantic comedies. In 2019 she hit the #1 Kindle bestseller spot in the UK with The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay. Now she’s signed a three-book deal with Hodder. Jon Reed asked her why.
How to write a book proposal and what exactly it needs to include are two of the questions I am asked most frequently as a literary agent – and not just by new writers. Even seasoned authors and experienced journalists may not have written a book proposal previously. In any book submission process the competition will be immense and the turndown rate high, so it is worth taking the time to get a proposal right. But what does that mean?
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Do you have writer’s cramp yet? Or typist’s tremor? Have you entered the annual November writing marathon that is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? If you did, did you finish, or did you give up exhausted halfway through the month?
Read MoreWhen people ask me what it takes to write a book that sells, I tell them it is 50% writing and 50% marketing. As an author you are marketing yourself as well as your book. The challenge is to find your audience and then connect with them. If they like you and your book, they will spread the word.
Read MoreMany good self-published books are let down by the quality of their cover, which can scupper the chances of it selling as many copies as it deserves. So how can you give your book the best possible chance?
Read MoreAfter a disastrous launch, Ben Hatch’s book Are We Nearly There Yet? went to number one in the Kindle non-fiction charts. He tells is us how his book became a bestseller thanks to the support of his Twitter followers.
Read MoreWhen science fiction novel The Red Men was first written, ebooks and video sharing were futuristic tools. Now, as reality
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Not all romantic novelists dictate their novels reclining on a chaise longue. Liz Fenwick tells us where she writes –
Read MoreDid you miss this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair? Never fear – our intrepid Bologna Correspondent Lucy Coats shares all
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Romantic fiction authors share their tips in issue 4. Issue 4 is available as a print-on-demand magazine from MagCloud and a
Read MoreEbooks and blogs are changing not only how we read but what we read, says Brian Burton. In today’s time-poor
Read MoreAs November eases into December, and NaNoWriMo ends in delivery or defeat, there’s a new seasonal online writing event to act as a mini come-down from the demands of bashing out a novel in a month. And you don’t need to write 50,000 words: you only need 140 characters.
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November can mean only one thing: it’s NaNoWriMo time!
Whether you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year, saving your writing marathon for another month – or against the whole idea – there’s something for you in this issue.
We have two bestselling authors who used NaNoWriMo: Elizabeth Haynes and Julia Crouch; plus bestselling indie author Linda Gillard, who challenges the idea that churning out verbiage for an entire month has to be a good thing. Writing coaches Tom Evans and Sarah Salway are here to boost your productivity, and Jon Reed looks at some digital tools to help you write.
