Top takeaways from the Author Nation conference, including using curiosity gaps to hook readers, leveraging new tools and services for authors, and thriving in self-publishing. Learn about marketing strategies, metadata tools, and standing out in the age of AI—plus advice from experienced authors.

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Novel Study is now a book!

My year in review, featuring highlights as well as numbers, for a glimpse behind the scenes of a freelance editing business.

Read about the tools I use every day to keep my business running smoothly.

Learn how AI tools can assist writers and editors with fact-checking quotations. Though you still need to verify results, using AI tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft’s internet-connected Bing can save you time and even provide you with additional context that can enhance your work.

Discover key insights from EFACon2023. From Cathy Hannabach's keynote on "critical generosity" to Ebonye Gussine Wilkins's enlightening workshop on inclusivity in AI-generated text, there's a wealth of knowledge to explore.

Learn how Maggie O'Farrell gets maximum value from historical details in her novel The Marriage Portrait.

Not every scene can end with a cliff-hanger. What other techniques can you use to get maximum impact from your last few lines?

Learn how to use sensory details to bring important introspective moments alive for your readers and help them identify with your point-of-view character.

Learn how introverted writers and editors can overcome the fear of public speaking and make it a powerful marketing tool.

Learn how music producer Rick Rubin’s insights about the creative process can help writers.

My year in review, featuring highlights as well as numbers, for a glimpse behind the scenes of a freelance editing business.

A write-up of the proceedings at PageBreak, a "next-generation" publishing conference, with ideas, tools, and strategies for self-publishing authors.

Learn how to use focalization to show the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters in a single scene with examples from Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait.

See how Maggie O'Farrell uses inventive writing to lure readers into a story whose ending we think we already know.

See how Rebecca Roanhorse uses time jumps to create suspense in Black Sun.

Learn how to seamlessly weave necessary setting information into a scene readers want to experience in this analysis of Rebecca Roanhorse's Black Sun.

See how Rebecca Roanhorse uses suspense to make readers desperate to know more about the fantasy world she builds in Black Sun.

Follow Jesse Q. Sutanto's model in Dial A for Aunties and use multiple plots to keep your readers engaged.