In today’s episode, we’re going to do something fun and a little different. Since we’re nearing the end of 2024, I thought it would be fun to continue with last week’s theme of lessons learned over the last twelve months. I hope some of the lessons you’ve learned this year came from this podcast,...

Whether you want complete creative freedom, better royalties, or a faster speed to market—get the clarity you need to choose the right publishing path for your novel. Your novel is (or nearly) complete; now it's time to choose your publishing path. Whether you're drawn to big traditional publish...

If you’re serious about becoming a published author, determining your novel’s genre is one of the most important things you have to do.  Not only do you need to know what readers expect from a story like yours, but you’ll also need to know how your novel fits into the marketplace to determine wh...

Selling 5,000+ copies of a debut novel in 18 months (without a massive social media following) might seem out of reach to most aspiring authors. But, in fact, it’s not. And our incredible podcast guest is here to show you how it's done. We welcome Jennifer Lauer back to the show in this Student ...

It’s no secret that one of the biggest roadblocks to getting traditionally published is the dreaded literary agent rejection. But to find the right literary agent for you and your story, you have to go through the process of querying various agents—which means you should expect to get a handful o...

Have you ever Googled things like “how many words should be in a novel?” Or “how many scenes should a novel have?” If so, you’ve probably gotten answers like “80,000 words.” Or “somerhwere between 40 and 60 scenes.” Easy enough, in theory…But if you’re like most of the writers I’ve worked with, ...

Do you ever wish you could take a peek behind the scenes of other people's writing process? If so, you’re in for a treat!  I reached out to some of my Notes to Novel Season 4 students and asked them to share the number one thing they learned about outlining and writing a first draft, while actua...

As someone who’s worked with hundreds of authors, I see people making the same mistakes over and over and over again. Mistakes that are easily avoidable once you know they’re mistakes. In this post, I’m sharing some of these mistakes. Specifically, the 10 things that will NOT make you a better w...

Ever wonder how Rowling created such a fantastic, three-dimensional story world for her Harry Potter series? That’s exactly what you’ll hear in this week’s brand-new podcast episode! Join me, Abigail K. Perry, and Tim Grahl, as we discuss the world-building in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Sto...

Ever wonder how Rowling created such a wonderful cast of quirky and relatable characters in the Harry Potter series? That’s exactly what you’ll hear in this week’s brand-new podcast episode! Join me, Abigail K. Perry, and Tim Grahl, as we discuss the characters in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s...

How soon is too soon to start marketing your book? Is podcast pitching a good strategy to help you get your book in the hands of your target reader? Tune into this episode of the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast to hear my conversation with Michelle Glogovac—THE Podcast Matchmaker™. She works w...

When it comes to querying agents and editors, there’s only one thing that matters more than your actual manuscript: your query letter.  But because most agents and editors want queries that are short and to the point (and ideally, less than a page long), they can be exceptionally difficult to cr...