As clients finish their books and move from writing and editing to thinking about self-publishing and book promotion, the question of whether they need a website usually comes up.
The answer is a decisive, “That depends.”
Continue Reading
Blogging
I often dread writing my blog posts. I tend to delay for weeks, and then write two to three months’ worth, wondering every time whether I really need to blog weekly. Then I remind myself that the fresh weekly content is one of the reasons my website still usually ranks on the first three pages of Google. So, I suck it up and get to work.
I don’t mind the writing at all. It’s actually fun. I get to explore ideas and experiences, share knowledge, indulge in some humor, and basically give readers a sense of who I am and how I work through what I choose to write about and how I approach my topic. The topic can be the problem. What to write about week after week after week.
Continue Reading
The Elements of a Good Novel
A lot of people have made a lot of money writing about the elements of a good novel. Even more people have spent a lot of money buying those books, looking for a plug-and-play formula. Unfortunately, that’s inevitably going to lead you away from writing a novel that works. So, we’re clearly not going down that path in this post. However, there are some basics to cover when planning a work of fiction.
Continue Reading
“The Last Jews in Berlin” More Relevant Than Ever
Last Monday was the birthday of my dad, Leonard Gross. He would have been 97.
When he turned 87, his book, The Last Jews in Berlin, which had recently been republished by Open Road Media, became a bestseller. He died two days later, and we didn’t get the news about the book climbing the charts until the day after that. Talk about bittersweet.
Dad may not have known about his book’s resurgent popularity, but he was thrilled that The Last Jews in Berlin had been thrust back into the limelight. Now, a decade later, the New York Times bestseller has never been more relevant.
Continue Reading
Writing Lessons From my Dogs: Irrestistable Enticement
My six-year-old pup, Misha, used to be a snuggle bunny. That’s a big part of why we ended up together. Talk about irresistible enticement! I had gone with a friend to meet the puppy she was adopting. Her boss was fostering six Aussie-mix cuties who had been surrendered at just four weeks old and had… Continue Reading
Diary of a Wimpy Kid and a Killer Children’s Novel Series
Writer success stories make me happy, especially when they’re huge and hugely unexpected. Meet Jeff Kinney. Jeff wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist. Although the University of Maryland, College Park’s daily newspaper featured a comic strip he’d created, the job offers didn’t exactly pile up after graduation. Instead, the rejection letters did. Continue Reading
Flow
Diane Allen wanted to do more public speaking. But she needed a book to garner more engagements. It didn’t have to be a long book. It just needed to set forth the scientific principles and positive psychology behind the practice of flow that she teaches her clients. Continue Reading
How to Check a Book Proof
Over the last few months, half a dozen of my writing coach clients have finished their books. After celebrating that accomplishment, we jumped into book cover design consults, reviewed samples of both the cover and the interior pages, asked for tweaks on both and then made selections, reviewed the digital cover and interior pages proof,… Continue Reading
Suspenseful Scenes
I’d had the best conversation with a prospect who, at the suggestion of a current writing coach client, had emailed me looking for help on a book that had been rattling around in her head, as she put it, for almost 40 years. Her protagonist, she told me, was a pro-choice advocate. I was intrigued.… Continue Reading
Writing Lessons From my Dogs: Attitude Adjustment
It was time. Despite family pressure, I decided to clip Moke, my almost 3-year-old English Cocker Spaniel, even if his fur wouldn’t be as silky soft. The call proved to be a good one. Not only was my already super cute pupper instantly cuter but I found a handful of cheatgrass barbed seeds working their… Continue Reading
Literary Agent:
Ted Weinstein
Ted Weinstein Literary Management
Mechanics’ Library Building
57 Post Street, Suite 512
San Francisco, CA 94104
tw@twliterary.com
www.twliterary.com