Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Advice for New Writers

Do You Know How to Sell Your Sword?

As an author, it’s important for you to know how to sell and market your book. Because there is no shortage of books and articles on the subject, I’d like to tackle the subject of marketing your book from a more metaphorical approach. (If you’ve ever heard me speak, you should know I’m pretty big on metaphors to help you better understand topics in a different way.) In your case, I feel that it’s not only important to understand how to sell, but also understand a little bit more about a typical sales cycle.

Tags: online marketing, selling book online, selling books

Victoria Strauss — The Perils of Searching For Publishers on the Internet

Imagine you’re a new writer. You’ve just completed your first manuscript, and are on fire to get it published. You don’t know a lot about the publishing world, or how to identify a good publisher for your book–but that’s okay. You have the Internet.
So you open a search engine–Google, let’s say–and type “publishers” into the [...]

Tags: Writer Beware

Reading Aloud

There are few things that can destroy a good story faster than a bad reading. At the same time, a really good reading can make an audience excited and drive sales. Short of a background in theater, how can authors improve their reading skills?

Tags: Mary Robinette Kowal, reading aloud

Writer Beware wins big as frivolous lawsuit rejected by court

A Massachusetts Superior Court judge has awarded costs and attorneys’ fees to Ann Crispin and Victoria Strauss, the principal operators of the Writer Beware website, soundly rejecting a frivolous lawsuit filed by a purported literary agent.

Tags: Writer Beware

Apex Magazine newest SFWA qualifying market!

Today the board of directors of SFWA unanimously voted to add Apex Magazine to the list of SFWA qualifying markets. When Apex moved online in June of 2008, one of editor Jason Sizemore’s reasons was to be able to pay his authors SFWA pro-rates and to get them a wider audience.

Tags: Apex Magazine, Ben Bova, Glenn Lewis Gillette, Jennifer Pelland, qualifying market

Where Can I Send My Stories?

Today, thanks to the internet age, it is no longer necessary to pore over pages of microscopic script in order to learn where to submit your fiction. There are a number of online venues that specialize in providing just such information. Allow me to share some of my favorites.

Tags: Duotrope, Fulda, market listings, Nancy Fulda, Ralan

Murder Your Darlings

It’s the nature of writers to fall in love with words, particularly their own. Clever turns of phrase excite us; we beam like proud parents when our protagonists take on lives of their own; a shapely plot twist can turn our heads. There is nothing wrong with indulging in the occasional fling-as long as it stops in draft. When time comes to make that final revision, however, you must harden your heart, sharpen the ax and murder your darlings.

Tags: james patrick kelly, revising, revision

The Sobering Saga of Myrtle the Manuscript

From March, 1986, until its untimely demise in February, 1989, I was the Editor-in-Chief of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, and Editorial Director of its “twisted sister” publication, Night Cry. During that time, we received an average of one hundred manuscripts per week, in addition to a backlog of more than 2000 manuscripts left behind by my predecessor.

Tags: manuscript, Publishing, Tappan King

Manuscript Preparation

Article by science fiction writer Vonda N. McIntyre on manuscript preparation for SF/F genre fiction authors.

Tags: manuscript, McIntyre, Vonda N. McIntyre, writing

TANSTAAFL and the Novice Writer

Article by Elizabeth Moon on advice for novice writers. Novice writers have to take some responsibility for their own careers. The good information is NOT that hard to find. The novices who don’t find it–and don’t find it repeatedly–are resisting the truth.

Tags: Elizabeh Moon, Intermediate, Moon, writing

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