In March 2011 I was asked to speak to the Mendocino Writers Club. I was so struck by the similarity of the questions I was asked to those I’m asked every day by clients and blog-readers and commenters that I compiled the top four into a series of posts:
Wordcount, Genre, Dumbing-Down: Do You Have to Do It?, in which I discuss a number of rather eye-popping fads going on these days among new agents and whether you need to listen to them or give them the raspberry.
Identifying the Best Independent Editors, in which I tell you how to tell a shyster from a real editor. This one has actually turned into a huge problem even in the year since I wrote it, as the lemmings have begun flocking to the shores of independent editing in hopes of making big bucks off you innocent aspiring writers. Every week I hear from a new aspiring writer who’s been burned by a fake who took their money and gave them either nothing or—worse—destroyed all their hope in their novel. Know the difference, you guys!
Line Editing in the Twenty-First Century, in which I explain exactly what Line Editing is and why people who tell you not to worry about it are, um, idiots.
Publishing, POD, eBooks, Self-Publishing, in which I give you a detailed illumination of what the heck is going on and show you your options in the field. This one never stops being a hot topic, as it’s based on both technological advances and the collapse of the traditional publishing industry, both of which are escalating at a whirlwind rate. Yes, it’s changing even as I write this—everything is getting even more so.
These are excerpted from a longer list that I call: