Word counts for proposal submissions
A reader writes to ask: I am submitting a short story collection, but the publisher requests just the first 50 pages. How do I handle this in terms of what I would write for word count?...
SubmissionsA collection of 14 posts
Confusing book design with manuscript formatting
A reader writes to ask: I came upon your blog when asking a question about short story indentation at ask.com. I don't know if you'll ever read this, but if you...
Copyrighting your work
A reader writes to ask: At the end of your podcasts, you include the important fact that your podcasts have a Creative Commons license on them, and I'd like to ask how I can...
Chapter 42: "Words and Phrases You Must Never Use in Airports"
Back up to 848 ms pages. Manuscript goes in the mail to my agent first thing tomorrow. Or today, rather....
Shrinkage
Okay, I've taken the memoir about as far down as I can go now, from 947 pages to 833. That a little more than 12% shrinkage, or almost an eighth of the book. Wow!...
Missionary Man
So my agent has an editor at HarperCollins interested in the memoir. Unfortunately, a different Harper editor has already rejected it, so the title has to change for this new submission. Therefore, the book henceforth is...