There are six major publishing conglomerates in the United States. Each conglomerate controls any number of subsidiary publishers. Rupert Murdoch, for instance, owns HarperCollins, William Morrow, and Avon, which, more or less, work as a unit, sharing resources and personnel. My first novel, Pretend I’m Not Here, is a romantic suspense published by HarperCollins in […]
My freelance writing career began with a poem that I never submitted. My father (also a writer) had sent it in on my behalf when I was 24. The interesting thing was, it was a poem I wrote at age 16. When the acceptance letter arrived, I thought, “Wow! If I can get something published that I wrote at age 16, what could I do now?”
Every career writer has been there: weeks without a single check arriving in the mail, nails chewed down to the knuckles worrying whether you’ll be able to eat this month, let alone pay the rent. In a perfect world, checks would arrive precisely on the due date, every single time. Unfortunately, our dear old world […]
When I quit my day job two years ago to jump into the perilous pool of freelance writing, my co-workers gave me retirement cards. Little did they know how many 50- and 60-hour weeks I would spend at the keyboard, searching for markets and taking on-spec assignments. I had no idea, either, which explains why I was so excited at the prospect of making a living as a writer.
I don’t own a copy of Writer’s Market (the book published by Writers Digest Books). No offense, but I already have access to more markets than the book provides without the additional cost. Here’s how. By using the right combination of keywords and search techniques you can find new markets to query all day long. […]
The old bait ‘n switch book review scam!
Picture an actual playing board with plastic pieces and a spinner in the middle. The spinner is important because it will remind you how much is left to chance. The best writer with the best novel still has to submit to the luck of random numbers. You obviously begin at Square One. For a realistic […]
When it rains, it pours. My first taste of success happened a year ago, in April 2001. My essay “The Silk Robe” won in the 2001 National Literature Competition sponsored by American Mothers, Inc. The essay about my Mom placed first in North Dakota and second at the National level. Seven months later, my booklet “The Silk Robe” was published.
These days, publishers and editors can be pretty creative when coming up with reasons to not pay writers. We’ve heard it all at WritersWeekly.com Warnings!
I’ve only written one query letter in my life. Never got so much as a form letter response. I’ve never written a manuscript proposal or created an outline for anything. Yet, I’m a writer. It’s in my blood and in my dreams. The fuel was there and fear kept me from igniting it until this winter.
