Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

Helping authors achieve their dreams

Angie Thomas

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

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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 […]

How to choose a pen name (This week in books)

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This week! Books! First up, I had the good fortune of stopping by the Red Sneaker Writers podcast to talk about advice for the publishing journey and my work as a writing coach and consultant. Give it a listen! What’s in a pen name? In a world of social media and Google-able everything, I’m getting […]

Ways to make a difference in the book world (This week in books)

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This week! Books! Also justice! We’ve had an incredibly distressing week in America, and I know a lot of people are wondering how to get involved and support this movement to end systemic injustice and brutality. There are tons of exhaustive resources out there, from bail funds to proposals for reform to call scripts for […]

Literary agents behaving badly (This week in books)

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This week! Books! First up, congratulations to Angie Thomas, whose wonderful novel The Hate U Give just marked three full years on the New York Times bestseller list! Incredible. (Here’s my interview with Angie from a few years back). The fallout from the COVID-19 coronavirus hit the Bologna Book Fair, an important venue where agents […]

How five authors are changing the YA world (This week in books)

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This week! Books! I really loved this feature in Elle on five amazing authors who are reshaping the young adult fiction landscape: Tomi Adeyemi, Akwaeke Emezi, Elizabeth Acevedo, Angie Thomas, and Nic Stone. Daniel Frank took a look at the most beloved and most hated classics according to Goodreads users. The Godfather at 4.37 and […]

6 ways to build intimacy between characters

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Some relationships sizzle right off the page. Some strain belief and feel like duds. What separates the Darcy/Bennets of the literary world from all the countless unmemorable pairings? Here are some ways to build a sense of intimacy between your characters when you’re writing a novel. Validation One of the most primal human needs is […]