AI-generated image (ChatGPT): depict a woman standing on the other side of a round dining table, looking out of a window, historic and romantic aesthetic. Today’s post is by author and book coach Susanne Dunlap. One aspect of writing that writers have the most trouble with (and, ahem, so do I) is simply the physical presence and movement of characters—in both fiction and memoir—in imaginary spaces: indoors or out, public or private. In effect, choreography. What do they do? Where are they and why? Which direction are they looking? Where do they move to? How big is the space? When you star ..read more

Photo by Dollar Gill on Unsplash Today’s post is by developmental editor and book coach Hannah Kate Kelley. What is a magic system? A magic system is a map establishing where magic comes from and how it works. It contains a structured set of rules and principles of magical powers in a work of fiction. Like geography, historical era, and social customs, a magic system is another element of world building. More often than not, your story will employ magic as an agent to instill conflict and drive the narrative forward—and it’s the system that keeps everything organized for both the writer and th ..read more

Photo by Pavle Stankovic on Unsplash Note from Jane: As many of you know, I recently attended my very first writing retreat in April, on a transatlantic cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2. And I’ve become something of a convert now that I’ve observed the power of writing retreats after 20 years of intense conference speaking. The intimacy and relationships of retreats (and the isolation from “real world” concerns) is powerful. In a total coincidence: Writer’s Digest (where I was once the publisher) is debuting their first overseas retreat this year, in Florence, Italy. I asked Amy Jones, one of th ..read more

AI-generated image using prompt “book publishing executives receiving lots of money from a technology company.” Apart from their love of oversized cash, notice their whiteness. The following article condenses material that I’ve been writing about for the last 18 months in my paid newsletter, The Hot Sheet. The train has left the station, the ship has sailed, pick your preferred metaphor. This week, the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) announced the ability for publishers and other rights holders to include AI training rights as part of licensing arrangements. In other words, they’re giving AI ..read more

Today’s guest post is by Allison K Williams (@guerillamemoir). Join her on the weekend of July 20–21 for the online intensive class Zero-to-Platform Bootcamp. For many writers, platform is a dirty word. You hear “platform” and think selling and shilling and sacrificing privacy. You think of precious writing moments sucked into the gaping maw of social media. You’re not wrong! For years now, we’ve been told by agents and publishers, “Nice writing, but you need more platform to sell this book,” or “I’m not sure where this fits in the marketplace—what’s your platform?” You may be seein ..read more

Photo by Yura Forrat Today’s post is by author and wellness coach Nicole C. Foster (@nicolecfoster). In the summer of 2022, I was a few months into writing the very first draft of my memoir along with a group of fellow writers in book inc’s Memoir Incubator. In these early days of writing my manuscript, the writing process often felt akin to throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. I remember literally throwing spaghetti on the ceiling as a child and watching it fall back down immediately. Between fits of giggles, I wondered, do adults really do this when they make pasta? My manu ..read more

Book publishing is a New York–centric business, to a fault. All of the major US publishers are based there, as are many literary agents. You’ll find prestigious publications, nonprofits, and organizations for writers in NYC—such as The Authors Guild, Poets & Writers, The Center for Fiction, the Council for Literary Magazines and Small Presses, the National Book Award—need I go on? For those who work in publishing but outside of this nexus, it’s exciting to find someone else who has decided to take up the challenging task of running a stand-alone, traditional publishing company somewhere e ..read more

Photo by Elijah Hail on Unsplash Today’s post is by author, book coach and historian Christina Larocco. In “The Voyager Conspiracy,” a season six episode of the television show Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine, a former Borg drone, connects her brain directly to the ship’s computer. All of a sudden, she has access to unimaginable amounts of information—but she can’t make sense of any of it. Have you ever felt like this when you sit down to write after doing a ton of research on a subject? You have all of this information at your fingertips, yet you have no idea what it means, h ..read more

“The Rival Printers” by Catablogger is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 . Today’s post is excerpted from The Untold Story of Books: A Writer’s History of Book Publishing by Michael Castleman. After Gutenberg invented the printing press, Europe’s kings and bishops feared (correctly) that printing might encourage sedition and heresy. They identified material fit for reproduction and offered favored printers the exclusive right to copy it— “copyright.” In exchange, the printers vowed not to reproduce anything the authorities found offensive. But early copyrights were fantasies. Our concept of intelle ..read more

Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash Today’s post is by writer and book coach Monica Cox. There is something invigorating about typing the words THE END on a rough draft. The story has unspooled from your fingers for weeks, months, maybe even years and, finally, you have reached the resolution. You may feel relief, excitement, or even a renewed dedication to the story. You may even be motivated to dive right into revisions so you can share it with the world as soon as possible. But rushing to edit can be the biggest mistake a writer makes. Returning to page one with red pen in hand inevitably l ..read more