Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

Helping authors achieve their dreams

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Helping authors achieve their dreams.

I'm Nathan Bransford, author, editor, and former literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. I'm dedicated to helping authors find their voice, hone their craft, and pursue successful publication.

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Book Editing You Can Trust

I've been in your shoes.

As a published author and former literary agent who has worked with NY Times bestselling authors, I bring a unique perspective to the book editing process, combining insider industry experience with an author's sympathetic ear.

My services include

Manuscript editing & critiques
Query critiques
Social media & marketing consulting
Coaching on navigating the publishing process
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A few authors I've worked with...

Shadowshaper
by Daniel José Older,
a NY Times bestseller
Rock Paper Tiger
by Lisa Brackermann,
one of Amazon's top 100 novels of the year
Try Not To Breathe
by Jennifer Hubbard,
received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Kirkus
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Recent Posts

My blog is a free resource for everything you need to know how to write, edit, and publish a book.

Agents assume you've researched your novel (query critique)

If you’d like to nominate your own page or query for a public critique, kindly post them here in the discussion forums: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the BlogNominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog Also, if you’d like to test your editing chops, keep your eye on this area or this area! I’ll post the pages and…

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We need to talk about email thread etiquette

If you don't know what an email thread is and why it is imperative that you respect their integrity when corresponding with publishing professionals, well.... please pull up a chair. We need to talk. Literary agents and other publishing professionals are very, very busy people. At any given time, a literary agent may be corresponding with several dozen clients, three…

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Watch out for these publishing scams (This week in books)

This week! Books! Well. It was a week. How are we doing out there? Publishing scams are pretty much as old as publishing, and they're proliferating in our digital and gullible age. Anne. R. Allen has a good roundup of publishing scams to watch out for in 2021, including new ones (manuscript phishing!) and old ones (bogus book deals!). A…

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Don't neglect the broader setting (page critique)

If you’d like to nominate your own page or query for a public critique, kindly post them here in our discussion forums: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the BlogNominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog Also, if you’d like to test your editing chops, keep your eye on this area or this area! I’ll post the pages and queries…

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Action, then reaction

It feels a bit strange posting writing advice into the void given the events of the past week, but since many of you are likely channeling your emotions into writing these days, I wanted to write a quick tip about action. I often see a peculiar writing tic where writers rush and put the dramatic effect of an action before…

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My Books

Check out my guides to navigating the writing and publishing process!

How to Write a Novel

The most important thing to know about writing a novel is this: you can do it. Here's How

How to Publish a Book

Ready to pursue a book deal with a Big 5 publisher or try self-publishing? Get Started

I'm also the author of the Jacob Wonderbar novels, a space adventure series for middle-grade readers.

Jacob Wonderbar Cosmic Space KapowJacob Wonderbar For PresidentJacob Wonderbar and Interstellar Time
About My Books

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