The reader is looking for a reason to purchase your book. It’s up to you to hook them. If thousands of books are being published every day, how will you make your book stand out? It’s been said that the average person spends 8 seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds on the [...]

When most people think of publishing, the big publishing houses in New York and London come to mind. However, self-publishing is also an option, and although most successful self-published works are classics of literature written and produced before the advent of the major publishing industry, self-publishing is becoming popular again—among a wholly different crowd.
If you’re [...]

You’ve written undergraduate papers and even graduate-level papers, but now you’re getting ready to work on the biggie: your master’s thesis.  Panic sets in as you realize that this is beyond the scope of your previous academic research and writing experience…and maybe even skills, you’re thinking now. “What was I thinking?” you groan, clutching your [...]

The first of a series of articles about technical editing …
Most commonly used in the liberal arts and humanities studies, MLA (Modern Language Association) style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and using the English language in writing. MLA style provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in their essays and [...]

Editing, whether it is for an academic journal, a short story submission, or a non-fiction manuscript for publishing, always follows basic rules of grammar and punctuation. This article will be the first in a series to help you enhance your writing skills.
Basic editing skills are a must for any writer or editor. Good writing is [...]

That research project you’ve been slaving away over for months is done, complete, written up…and now you want to submit the fruits of your labor to the appropriate professional journals for publication. But where to begin?

It’s actually not a difficult process; in fact, it can be quite easy if the following five steps are followed.
1.  Know—and [...]

Editing your own work can oftentimes be a daunting task; however, there are some basic guidelines you can follow while writing/editing your work or that of others, which can make the process much less challenging. The following guidelines, as well as some accompanying examples, have been cited directly from William Strunk JR. and E.B. White’s [...]

What a query letter IS and what it is NOT
Query letters are a critical step to getting your writing published or seen. Whether you’ve written an article, non-fiction book, novel, or screenplay, without an effective, attention-getting query letter, your work may never be seen or read by anyone. In the coming weeks I’ll be delving [...]

I believe that nearly any author or publisher can promote a book to bestseller status. All it takes is a little patience, a good plan, a fantastic editor and a whole lot of following up on the details.
Since every book is different, and there are many market niches, it is impossible to use a “one [...]

Author bios are one way for the reader to get to know you, the author of their favorite story, article, or book, a little bit more intimately. This is your time to sell yourself to potential readers and editors. Including your author bio with queries and submissions enables editors to get to know you; who [...]