How I Met My Literary Agent

If you’ve ever tried to get a novel published without a literary agent, you know how daunting it is to get any editor or publisher to pay attention to your work. I’ve written before about why your literary agent is  hands-down the most important partner in...

Where can I get reviews for my self-published book?

It’s a question I hear frequently: where can I get reviews for my self-published book? One way, of course, is to offer free ebooks through social media in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, free ebooks are a dime a thousand. Here’s a way to...

A Writer’s Confession

I was doing an annual authors’ dinner at a Bay Area library a couple of nights ago. It was a beautiful event organized by the Friends of the Library, with a cocktail hour, silent auction, nice meal by candlelight, good company, etc. During the pre-dinner reception,...

5 Habits of Highly Effective Writers

Be a reader. Read widely and well. Read in the genre in which you are writing, but also break away from it. Read essays, crime fiction, flash fiction, poetry. Read investigative journalism. Read diaries from the nineteenth century. Read a book you remember from...