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Oh, how the industry loves a shiny new debut author! And wasn’t instant success the dream for most of us? And longevity! Don’t we all want to be that author whose readers wait with breathless anticipation for our latest and greatest? But while publishers may fall all over themselves for the fresh face or the perennial bestseller, the fact of the matter is, publishers can’t round out their catal…

It’s (finally) the end of 2025, and here we stand, with another year of marketing our books behind us … and an empty calendar ahead, waiting to be filled. If you do your planning annually, December seems to be the logical time to plot your marketing course for the next year. While I’ve toyed with the notion of running my promo year from February to February, giving myself the month of January f…

Sometimes, I think I might be a little psychic—and not always in a good way. Earlier this summer, I chose our topics for the fourth quarter of 2025. Marketing dread is something I’ve been thinking about for a while as I hear friends and colleagues gripe about how much they do NOT like that aspect of publishing, so that fit for October. Planning for a new year was also a natural fit for December…

Logitech’s ERGO K860 wireless ergonomic keyboard. Credit: Logitech Over the next few months, I will be transforming one of my bedrooms into a home office. My goals for this project include creating an inviting space and maximizing comfort. Authors spend numerous hours sitting at a desk staring at a computer monitor, wh…

We all want to write fast-paced, energy-packed dialogue, but like everything else related to being a novelist, what looks the most effortless from the outside is actually the most challenging. The magic of sizzling dialogue lies in what’s not said—an invisible tension beneath the words. Omission, misdirection, and precision make otherwise mundane conversations come alive. The goal is dialogue t…

Life as a published author, although immensely satisfying, can be fraught with day-to-day stressors that writers may not anticipate in their pre-published days. These stressors are the things I think of when new writers ask me what I wish I’d known 20 years ago. Let’s explore a handful of things that can influence success and emotional stability in an extremely competitive business. The lonelin…