I've been getting a lot of word count questions from Pitch Wars hopefuls, so I though I'd write everything out in a post for ease and convenience. These ranges are generalizations and there are always outliers. If you have a book that is a little bit outside these ranges, it's an extra hurdle and your … Continue reading Word Counts for Children, MG, YA, and Adult books, by genre

Rae Chang and I were just chatting on twitter about what phrases in queries are giant red flags for us. Some of these may seem obvious, but I guarantee anyone who has read slush has seen them more than a few times. If you find yourself writing any of these phrases into your query, it may be a … Continue reading 15 things to leave out of your query

You've booked an author signing event. Congratulations! Now what? In my dayjob as a library event planner, I host at least four Local Author Festivals every year, featuring at least ten authors per event. I deal with a lot of authors who are doing their first signing ever and am frequently asked questions like, "What … Continue reading How to Prepare for an Author Signing Event

Our topic this month is "Kill Your Darlings" so I'm here to talk about social media practices you should murder and leave in a ditch somewhere! 1) Twitter auto-DMs when someone follows you I follow someone on Twitter because I think they're fun/nice/entertaining/informative. Within minutes, I have a private message from them. Which seems nice, … Continue reading Authors: Kill These Bad Social Media Habits