Even lesser-known authors can experience legal issues if they don’t perform their due diligence while writing and revising their books.

A Choctaw author offers tips on researching and connecting with First Americans in order to write respectfully and without stereotypes.

Consider the benefits and limitations of each POV, along with the feel each might lend to your story and how well it fits the tone, tenor, and genre.

Bridging the gap between research and personal experience can become a book’s greatest strength—but it might require Herculean effort.

Three successful authors who are outside of Wattpad's key demographic discuss why they contribute to Wattpad and how it’s furthered their careers.

Having a gut-punch reaction to being edited is part of the cost of doing business for writers. Here’s advice on how to survive the process.

In a new feature, our Ask the Editor column reviews the first pages of an unpublished work.

When her indie publisher goes AWOL, an author finds the community and resources she needs to pick up the pieces and persevere.

It’s hard to get someone to take a risk on an unknown author. A giveaway can make your book known to thousands of readers in one fell swoop.

To truly put your reader in the emotional position of your POV character, focus on conveying body language and internal narration.

Acknowledgment pages allow us to peer into authors’ lives, and reveal the fascinating web of the publishing world.

There is no formalized career path for freelance editors. From the hosts of the Independent Editor Podcast, here are tips on what to expect.

Memoirists can take steps throughout the writing and publishing process to minimize fallout and family strife.

Marketing your book to bookstores—like marketing your book anywhere else—requires research and shoe leather.

Here’s how two self-published authors have been successful in their marketing and promotion efforts on TikTok.

Writers often view themselves as without power, but you can’t wait for permission or the “right time” to negotiate a better deal for yourself.

Jeff Herman is the author of Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents, 29th Edition.

Every effective brand—even an author’s—has three essential characteristics: uniqueness, consistency, and authenticity.

A book map—a visual representation of your book’s structure—will help you maintain momentum and ensure a smooth journey for your reader.

Planning a book launch can be daunting for introverts. But finding strategies that fit with your skills and personality can make it easier.

Although writing and editing are very different skill sets, much of what you can do to master one will serve you well in the other.

When hosting a retreat, whatever the subject, providing small, achievable steps lets your participants feel that what they’ve done matters.

If confidentiality prevents a freelance editor from sharing samples of prior work, how does an author gauge who to hire and what to expect?

Focus on the main story’s forward momentum, and use backstory as the seasoning that makes the stew.

The key to creating successful content as an author-creator lies in the same ingredients that make your stories so great.

Your audience won’t remember the chapter where your hero took a breather. What’s memorable are the forces of antagonism, and how your hero reacted.

Before spending time on a story that doesn’t work, ensure you’ve addressed the critical questions of character, plot, goals and motivations.

If you have reason to suspect your story is not quite “there” yet, a professional edit may be what’s needed to push you across the finish line.

Three editors discuss the types and stages of editing, whether publishing industry experience matters, hiring guidelines and much more.

Even with an excellent query and opening pages, you’ll still get rejections. A lot of them. Success comes to those who refuse to give up.

If we were to reposition blurbs as affirmations as opposed to marketing tools, would that also shift the way we traffic in them?

More than just a tool to sell your book, your synopsis is a roadmap to making the next draft of your manuscript much stronger.

Like writing, editing and revision are skills that take time to learn, and they develop only with practice.

Here are four ways to help create the mindset that we can realistically accomplish something we’ve never tried before.

To build an audience, close the gap between your offline-self and online-self by showing up with consistent value on your core topics.

It might not be essential to impose a standard arc structure on a character who’s non-traditional or isn’t affected by the story’s actions.

We writers know that critiques are an integral part of improving our work. But we rarely learn how to receive feedback or what to do after.

The author of dark- and paranormal romance discusses negative attitudes toward the genre, why sex scenes are the hardest to write, and more.

Central to most of Michael Lewis’ works are larger-than-life characters who find themselves at the center of major industry or societal shifts.

When completing a readable draft left one author exhausted and overwhelmed, these three steps helped him start writing again.

Good editors are expensive, so the best time for a full manuscript review is when you’re pretty sure your book is ready for publication.

If your subject already has a large existing fandom, how can you quantify that audience, using the data to impress agents, publishers, and editors?

Whether you’re a planner or a pantser, this brainstorming document can take your story to places it might not have gone otherwise.

A prologue can open the door to your story and entice the reader in, or throw up a barrier that delays or prevents their engagement.

A great villain character should have complex motivations and be able to evoke sympathy from readers.

The writers who get their books into the world are those who find a middle ground between refining their work and endlessly tinkering.

Switching POVs within the same scene should only be tackled by experienced fiction writers, and only when it reveals something important.

Science says these three techniques can draw your readers in, keep them engaged, and provide them with a compelling experience.

If your agent or publisher wants to pitch your book to Hollywood, they need to know the rules—or at least, the rules of the day.

You can mine the first paragraphs of well-written novels for four critical components that keep readers hooked.