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1868 The Ladies' Man Mark Twain went looking for love and discovered the modern book tour along the way Samuel Clemens wasn't the only nineteenth-century writer to employ the then-young [...]

Dara Horn In the Image Norton (Sept.) Dara Horn's intricate first novel weaves back and forth in time to tell the story of a young New Jersey woman named Leora [...]

THE NOVELS Mama Day by Gloria Naylor, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Topper by Thorne Smith and The Sweetheart Season by Karen Joy Fowler portray vastly different times and [...]

Whitaker BookTrack has produced its annual bestseller charts for the Total Consumer Market (TCM) this week. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Bloomsbury) by J K Rowling was the [...]

Publisher's choice of voice can make a big impact on marketability As any audio listener knows, a great audiobook is not simply a book read aloud, but a virtuoso interpretation [...]

WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A LITERARY agent, and what does an agent really do? I like to think that an agent is the writer's best friend--or should be [...]

With the increasing reliance of publishers on agents, writers need to know about the role of the literary agent, and how to shop for and acquire an agent. In order [...]

Despite the prominent roles that literary agents play in the publishing industry, many writers remain confused as to an agent's precise function, or at least how to go about getting [...]

Getting started in the book writing business isn't getting any easier. To the great frustration and annoyance of both writers and literary agents, many large publishing houses no longer accept [...]

Next time you unload your cart at the supermarket, check out what enquiring minds are reading. Headlines tease with the triumphs of Madonna and the travails of Princess Di. In […]

Over the last several years, children's book authors and illustrators, like their counterparts in adult books, have taken to the road to promote their books. While traveling is nothing new [...]

LAST MONTH'S COLUMN looked at ways to promote your book through an author Web site. This month, we'll look at some other, more interactive ways to get the word out. […]

Publishers are demanding creative proposals, proven track records COMPETITION FOR author readings has intensified across the country in recent years as chains have joined in the increasing demand for writer [...]

THERE ARE THREE KINDS OF WRITERS: those who write solely for self-expression, those who are published occasionally, and those who make writing a career. Many aspiring writers think you begin [...]

To understand what we are trying to do at FamilyFun, you must first understand our readers. The parents of kids ages three to twelve, they are a determined lot. Despite [...]

In the Internet age, you can still sell your self-published books the old-fashioned brick-and-mortar way. To do so, you must convince the independent bookstore owner your book will sell by [...]

Readers flock to the Web to find information on upcoming releases and appearances from their favorite writers. Yet rather than making readers do the work, many writers take matters into [...]

With book pub publishers slashing publicity budgets and more and more bookstores closing their doors, it makes sense that novelists and other authors are now turning to book clubs to [...]

You've poured every bit of yourself into writing your novel, signed a contract with a publisher, and sent the revised manuscript off to the editor. Finally, you can step away [...]

LET'S START WITH THE PAINFULLY obvious: Indianapolis Monthly is a magazine about--ta-da!--Indianapolis (and, to a lesser extent, Indiana). Like other city and regional magazines, we stake out our journalistic turf [...]

SO YOU'VE DECIDED YOU WANT to write fantasy, but you don't know where to start. That's easy. Start by reading. Not just fantasy. Read everything: fiction, nonfiction, cereal boxes -- [...]

"I have never been a title man. I don't give a damn what it's called." Fortunately for Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath came to mind. Gone with the Wind was […]

When meeting a writer, many people comment that they've always wanted to write. The question is, do they really want to write or do they want to have written? There […]

Even in this bad economy, first-person books are more popular than ever. The public is hungry for passionate personal narratives, whether they're about marital meanderings, blog projects (like Julie Powell's [...]

WHEN YOU decide to lead the marketing effort for your book, you're taking control over the fate of your own creation. The publisher (if you have one) is risking his [...]