Why your second act sags, and the three questions that fix it
Almost every first novel we assess has the same structural problem in the middle third. It is diagnosable in about twenty minutes…
Craft & Editing
Practical writing on craft from the editors who work on manuscripts every day structure, pacing, revision and the problems that recur across almost every first draft.
6 articles in Craft & Editing
Your business book is too long, and shortening it is the highestreturn edit available
Business readers are busy and sceptical. A tight 45,000-word book beats a comprehensive 90,000-word one almost every time, and the reason is…
Memoir is the art of leaving things out
Everything in your life felt significant because you lived it. A reader has no such attachment, and a memoir that reports everything…
Turning a thesis into a monograph: what actually has to change
A thesis proves competence to a committee. A monograph makes an argument to peers. The conversion is more substantial than most new…
Factchecking your own book: a working method
A copyeditor is not a factchecker. If your authority rests on your accuracy, checking it before publication is cheaper than being corrected…
What editors look for in your first fifty pages
Not whether it is good. Whether it is doing the four things an opening has to do and most manuscripts miss at…
Beyond reading
Bring your actual manuscript to the conversation
Articles help. A person who has read your specific pages helps more, and the first read is free.