Write Nonfiction NOW!

Why are Some Book Proposals Better than Others?

By

Any aspiring author who has every written a book proposal—or considered writing a book proposal—has wondered what might set theirs apart from the hundreds that show up on an agent’s or acquisition editor’s desk each day. I’ve heard about all sorts of new tactics used to gain attention; most agents tell me they prefer the tried and true formats and…
Read More

Query Letters: Avoiding “The Oops Factor”

By

Today Mike Larsen, a literary agent and author of How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent, offers another post on how to write a successful query letter–one that can gain the attention of an agent or acquisitions editor. He and his partner Elizabeth Pomada run the Larsen-Pomada literary agency in San Francisco. For those…
Read More

Query Letters: The Hook, the Book and the Cook

By

For those WNFIN participants writing books, once you have at least 25 or 30 pages completed and you know what content will comprise the rest of your manuscript, you can think about composing a query letter. This precursory to a book proposal gets sent out to agents or publishers to see if they have interest in reading your proposal. However,…
Read More

Learning to Love Passive Construction

By

When I contacted Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the How To Do It Frugally series, to contribute to WNFIN again this year, I expected a post on marketing. I know her for her book The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won’t. Instead she sent me a post on editing. When I asked her why, she said, “I…
Read More

5 Nonfiction Book Writing Mistakes and Their Solutions

By

Now that you are well into your Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) project, let’s take some time to focus on writing well. While the National Novel Writing (NaNoWriMo) folks say their “contest” revolves around writing any 50,000 words–not necessarily “good” words–in 30 days, here at WNFIN we are looking for good words, well-written words. Hopefully, by the end of the…
Read More

Nonfiction Writers University: Get the ULTIMATE nonfiction writers' shortcut...