28,000 subscribers

Video content is an excellent way for authors to reach new audiences, who frequent platforms like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Vimeo. Book trailers, narrated videos, and reels of writing advice have become an incredibly useful way to market yourself. Here’s how to reach more readers. Why Make Video Content? Video reaches broad audiences, across multiple […]

Some years ago my Philadelphia-based agent received the following letter of decline from Michael Pietsch, a New York–based editor: Dear Mary Jo, I was very impressed by the subtlety and loveliness of Vincent Czyz’s writing, and by his ability to bring a large cast and several distinct settings to life. But for all the author’s […]

Hubby came home from shopping and showed me a glossy magazine. “Do you still write for magazines like this?” I said I did, if the idea popped into my head and the publication seemed worthy. I looked at the magazine. Hook & Barrel, The Lifestyle Magazine for Modern Outdoorsmen, was pretty slick. One might wonder how […]

We read everywhere about what to give a writer as a holiday gift. But let’s turn that idea on its head and envision what a writer could give others as a gift . . . and still underline the fact they are a writer. If you have the gift of words, find the innovation to […]

I’ve sold many articles through the value of sheer persistence. Asking, pitching, and adapting is key to being a career writer. Editors who say no might have a different answer to another pitch in the future. Yes, rejections can be a future opportunity. Here’s how to turn negatives into positives as you turn rejections into […]

Fact: I am a novelist and travel writer. Fact: I have published nine novels. Fact: I don’t have an agent. Fiction: The path to publication is straightforward. Imagine a labyrinth. Erase the walls. That’s publishing. After my MFA program I stepped into the maze-less puzzle—lost. I queried the novel I had completed as my thesis. Rejection, […]

Just last night, I was assisting a grandson on how to write his paper for class. It was a paper in which he was to do research, actually do an experiment, and come to a conclusion. He wrote it per guidelines. He clearly wrote it for a teacher. That opened the conversation about defining who […]

I spoke at the Marlboro County Library in Bennettsville, SC this week. It was a two-hour drive, but hubby and I needed to get out, and I simply adore a good book club visit. I have been to a lot of book clubs. Each has its own temperament. This time, I was headed to a […]

I was asked to review a short story collection called NSFW by David Scott Hay, and in the process learned that, surprisingly, the manuscript was entirely written and edited on a smartphone. Smartphones are capable of writing and editing stories. While they’re distinctly different from computers or desktops, phones are very effective tools when used […]

I like to scan emails on my phone, sorting and culling what I have to take action on. Then I go back to my desktop where my massive screen and lots of space makes my writing life easier to handle. What I wind up doing is deleting a lot of email on the fly, with […]

The great thing about the Internet is the wealth of information that teaches us about writing and publishing. That’s also the worst thing about the Internet, because you become inundated with the latest and greatest advice. About the time you feel you have grasp how to accomplish or succeed in an aspect of the business, […]

While at my annual Edisto Beach retreat recently, partially to work and partially to get away, I picked up the local newspaper. It’s published monthly and is sort of informative, sort of gossipy, and partially public service announcements. It provides me a flavor of the beach and its people, though, I’ve learned I have to […]