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.

Horton hears a huh? (This week in books)

This week! Books! Your weekly culture war freakout is brought to you by Dr. Seuss. After the Seuss Estate announced that they would let six of his titles with racist caricatures go out of print, quite a few people seemingly lost their freaking minds and opted to stick it to the Seuss Estate by... uh... buying lots of Dr. Seuss…

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Be precise about a character's motivation (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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What is an author platform?

"Platform" is a perennially buzzy term within the publishing industry. Particularly if you're writing nonfiction and hope to be published by a traditional publisher: chances are you're going to need a platform. It's helpful (but not mandatory) for fiction too. In this post I'm going to cover: What is an author platform?Which types of authors need a platform?What are publishers…

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RIP Lawrence Ferlinghetti (This week in books)

This week! Books! Just want to say a quick thing that while the horizon seems to be brightening as many people receive vaccines, it's also still a deeply strange and stressful time because we're still in it and a lot of people are still struggling. Hang in there, keep reaching out to your loved ones, get your vaccine if you're…

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Make details vivid in a query letter (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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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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