“Reading and writing go on, in new forms, forever!” That’s the rallying cry at Stanford this week, where book and magazine publishers from around the globe have gathered for the 33rd annual Professional Publishing Course. It’s my 12th year on the faculty, and I’m witnessing a new level of … [Read more...]
The blog for writers
The Book Deal
Choosing a title for your book
Editors pray for the perfect book title: a tight high-concept combination of words that crystallizes the content and intention of the work. A title so scintillating and irresistible that millions of readers want to run out and buy this book immediately. Eureka! It happens. Think of Chicken Soup … [Read more...]
Ask the editor: Constructing the “narrative arc”
Q:My writers group thinks I need to strengthen the narrative arc in my novel. How can I do that? A:The “narrative arc” is a fancy way of saying that every story needs to have a beginning, middle, and end. Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, you need an act one, act two, act three. Take … [Read more...]
Clay Felker’s impact on a young book editor
I’m among the publishing veterans who admired and benefited from the creativity and courage of Clay Felker, who died this week at the age of 82. This celebrated and deeply influential editor made a big difference at the start of my own career when he assigned his young star reporter Tom Wolfe to … [Read more...]
How Hunter S. Thompson beat back his writer’s block
Writers sometimes suffer bouts of major paralysis. They want to write, are desperate to get down something great, but it's just not coming easily, in fact not at all. No one had a worse case of writer's block than Hunter S. Thompson. After the presidential election of November, 1972, his … [Read more...]
The book proposal — here’s what publishers want
It's the #1 question aspiring authors ask me: How do I get your attention? Here's how: Send me a compelling, convincing book proposal that knocks my socks off! For those who've heard that a query letter should always precede a proposal, my view is that you may want to skip the query entirely … [Read more...]
How Guy Kawasaki got his cover for Art of the Start: Q&A
Like many authors, Guy Kawasaki has struggled with his publishers to get the cover designs he wants for his books. But unlike anyone else before him, he decided to take matters into his own hands and hold an online contest to recruit and select the best possible jacket for his book The Art of the … [Read more...]
Eulogy for Cody’s Books
The sad demise of Cody’s Books, the iconic independent bookstore in Berkeley that closed this week, is a loss for readers, authors, booksellers and publishers everywhere. The reasons for this unfortunate event are many and complex – Amazon, over-expansion, fiscal mismanagement, the negative impact … [Read more...]
Literary destination: Martha’s Vineyard
Chappaquiddick, MA ~ I'm writing today from this remote sandy outpost off Martha's Vineyard, the most famous literary island in the US. I can't think of anything better than spending the day in a remote location. Sometimes, I even find that I can do some of my best work when I'm in a place that … [Read more...]
No response to your query letter? Try this instead
M ost agents and publishers recommend a brilliant and scintillating letter that pitches and pleads for the right to send a full proposal and sample of the manuscript itself, but frankly I don’t encourage it. Break this rule! The only thing writing a query letter demonstrates is how well you can … [Read more...]