It’s actually one of my favorite questions to ask in my author spotlight series on WritersDigest.com. Over the years, I’ve noticed some trends—like that debuts tend to take longer from idea to publication than later books in a series, and that one author’s concept of “taking a really long time to complete a project” is actually warp speed for another author. 

“I started working on this book in the summer of 2018,” says Nancy Reddy, author of The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom (St. Martin’s Press). “My older son, who’d just finished kindergarten as I began, will be well into his first year of middle school by publication. So, the research and writing and thinking in this book really spanned my kids’ entire elementary school years.” 

For some authors, like Marianne Cronin, author of Eddie Winston is Looking for Love (Harper Perennial), the process speeds up with practice: “Eddie Winston is my second novel, so the process was a lot quicker than with my first novel, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, which took seven years from initial idea to publication! Once I’d had the inspiration for Eddie, things happened quite quickly. I started writing in November 2021 and by March 2022, I had 50,000 words to share with my agent and editor.” 

However, other authors find that their process just takes time regardless: “I hope this isn’t disheartening, but every book takes me about 10 years from first thought to last word,” says Erika Swyler, author of We Lived on the Horizon (Atria). “I’m actively writing one novel while another is floating around in the back of my mind.”  

Still, other authors just aren’t even sure: “It’s gotten harder over the years to pinpoint exactly how long any one project takes since my best ideas usually hit right in the middle of deadlines where I’m already working on something else,” says Kayla Olsen, author of The Lodge (Atria). “This one I think took around two years?” 

Self-Publishing at the Speed of Light 

One thing becomes obvious early on: Self-published authors can move from idea to publication on a faster timeline than authors—even the speedy ones—on the traditional publishing track. Plus, many of the successful self-published authors still get traditionally published in roughly the same timeframe as an author going through the regular submission process. 

“The Bones Beneath My Skin was originally written in 2017, and then self-published in 2018,” says TJ Klune. “From there, it was picked up by Macmillan/Tor to be republished in 2025.” 

Meanwhile, Jillian Meadows says, “It took me about nine months to write Give Me Butterflies (Avon), and I originally self-published it. Now, it has gone through a few more rounds to get to this traditionally published version. So overall, it has been a little over two years since the idea began.” 

“I began writing the series toward the end of 2021, and I self-published the first book in June of 2023,” explains Penn Cole, author of Glow of the Everflame (Atria). “About a year later, I partnered with Atria Books on the print edition of the series, which is rolling out over the next few months. Altogether, it has been about three years from deciding to write the books to seeing them on bookstore shelves.” 

Agents Can Help Ideate 

While not every literary agent is game for helping authors brainstorm ideas, some agents definitely thrive on facilitating the creative process. 

“My agent and I brainstormed the initial premise in July of 2022, but it took three drafts for me to become confident in who the killer was and figure out how all of the characters were connected,” says Ande Pliego, author of You Are Fatally Invited (Bantam). “Total, it took around two and a half years.” 

Edward Underhill, author of The In-Between Bookstore (Avon), also found brainstorming with his agent was helpful: “I started discussing the concept of the book with my agent in late 2022, and then once I’d written the first few chapters and a full synopsis, we sent that as a proposal to my publisher in early 2023. Then I had to write the rest of that book, which I actually did in about a month and a half! It was insanely fast, and I’m honestly not sure I recommend drafting at that pace; but one good thing was that I had no time to overthink anything. There simply wasn’t time.” 

Of course, most projects aren’t going to be written that fast. Some are sure to take time and might even be hidden from an agent until they poke and prod their authors enough. Such was the case for Sarah Perry, author of the essay collection Sweet Nothings: Confessions of a Candy Lover (Mariner): “At first, ‘the candies’ (as I came to call them) were a project of private creative rehabilitation. I just wanted to enjoy making sentences again. So, I resolved to write each morning, for 100 mornings, about a different kind of candy. I’d get up, still sleepy, and say, ‘Today is about Reese’s Pieces.’ And I’d let it rip, just kind of following my morning brain wherever it wanted to go before my editor-brain woke up. One day, my agent Jin Auh called me and asked what I’d been working on. I actually felt like I didn’t have much to say for myself, but I eventually ‘confessed’ that I had a ‘secret project’ that had somehow grown to 65,000 words. She insisted I send her the manuscript later that day, and she loved it. We sequenced it by color and submitted it to my publisher for first look, and we got an offer pretty much right away.” 

Keep Your Ideas Alive 

Nearly instant success is nice but do your best to stay balanced and in this thing called writing for the long haul, because some success stories take longer than others. The most important factor for writing success often is patience. 

“In some ways, I’ve been working on this book since 2008,” says Megan Collins, author of Cross My Heart (Atria). “At some point, maybe two books ago, as I continued to let it simmer on the back burner, I thought of a really cool … thing—that’s all I’m willing to say—that could happen in it, but I was unsure if I had what it took to execute it. Finally, in late December 2022, I needed to present a new idea to my publisher, so I committed to plotting it out … by April 2024, it was off to production!” 

And remember that everything is relative. “I feel like it took eons,” says Virginia Feito, author of Victorian Psycho (Liveright). “It took five years.” 

The post How Long Does It Take to Go From Idea to Publishing a Book? appeared first on Writer's Digest.

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We first connected with Mazey Eddings for her debut novel’s publication and featured her in our March/April 2022 Issue‘s Breaking In column. Now that her next publication hit shelves yesterday, we’re reconnecting with her for a quick Q&A.

What was the time frame for writing this latest book?

Time is such a blur, and publishing time is a different beast entirely, so I’m not 100 percent sure! I know the first hints of Well, Actually came to me in September 2022 as I was heading on tour for my sophomore novel Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake. I jotted down a bunch of ideas about this second chance romance that starts with a viral callout, and then didn’t touch it again for quite some time until it was sold on proposal in August 2023. Because publishing contracts are weird, and my situation was somewhat unique in having multi-book contracts I was navigating plus severe writer’s block on one that was due, Well, Actually was supposed to be my eighth published book and come out in 2026/27. But my main characters, Eva and Rylie, were so loud and rompy and irreverent, and I wouldn’t let me work on anything else, and I got the greenlight to bump their story up in the cue, and I turned in the initial draft in April 2024, and it is my sixth published book.

Has your perspective on the publication process changed since your debut was published?

So much. I think I’ve come more to terms with how little is in my control when it comes to publishing. I’ve spent the last five years since my debut got picked up by my publisher, pushing and grinding and saying yes to anything and everything that came my way and spending so much time strategizing and agonizing on what I could do to make a book “successful” or a “break-out.” The reality is there is nothing I alone can do to really change the trajectory of one of my books. All I can focus on is creating a story that I genuinely love and hoping that it finds the readers that will love it too. Being hungry and pushing and asking for things in publishing is good and important, but I’ve learned not to feel so much despair when that pushing doesn’t yield the results I would hope for.

What was the biggest surprise while getting this book ready for publication?

How much more excited readers seem for it! As I’ve mentioned, this is my sixth book, so none of this process is new to me, but early readers seem to be responding differently to Well, Actually compared to my past books. I have no idea why things seem to be different this time around, though!

What do you feel you did really well with this novel?

I honored my characters’ voices, particularly my heroine. Eva is an extremely prickly and irreverent female main character, and her sass and crass are a protection mechanism, but I knew while drafting that she would be deemed “unlikeable” by many readers. I decided early on that if Eva didn’t care how she was perceived, then I wouldn’t be the one to water her down! My characters feel very real to me—and Eva is a particularly precious one—and I had so much fun discovering what she would do next, and I like to think that by being true to her character, she’ll feel real to readers as well.

Anything you would have done differently?

With this book? Not at the moment. The more time and space I get from each novel, the more I realize what I could have changed or tried, but I also am a firm believer that once a book is done, it’s important to allow it to just be. I think of my books as little time capsules for where I was as an author at different stages. There are things I would change and edit down or fine-tune if I were writing past stories now with more words under my belt (fingers?), but who am I to edit the purple prose of 25-year-old me? She needed to be gratuitous and sweeping and play with words as she did. 

Would you like to share some advice for our readers?

I think this is advice I shared with WD readers in the past, but protect your joy of writing at all costs. This job is brutal, creating art is brutal, so it is imperative that you fiercely defend and safeguard the joy it brings you.

What’s next for you?

I’m not sure how much I can say at this point, so I’ll leave it at an angsty, sapphic romance dedicated to Stevie Knicks and inspired by her singing “Silver Springs” at Lindsey Buckingham live in 1997. It releases August 2026.

Where can our audience find you online?

Newsletter: Mazey.substack.com
Instagram: Instagram.com/mazeyeddings
Threads: Threads.com/@mazeyeddings

The post Breaking Out: Mazey Eddings appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(How to Brainstorm Your Book Proposal.)

However, when a proposal has too many errors—aka distractions—the reader may never even consider the content. That is why formatting is so important. You want to present your proposal as professionally as possible, so you make it easy for the decision-maker to move forward.

Here are some key “Dos” and “Don’ts” for your book proposal formatting.

6 Book Proposal Formatting Dos

Remember the basics.

Use Times New Roman font throughout your book proposal. Use one-inch margins. On all but the title page, your document needs to be double-spaced (except perhaps for bullet points), use 12-point type, and be left aligned (not justified) on the first line of each section, and then indent the paragraphs below.

Start your proposal with a title page.

It needs to include your book title and name—centered, a few lines down from the top. This can be 14 to 18 point type, Times New Roman font. If you have relevant credentials—for instance, your role in a/your company, certifications, “known” status, previously published noteworthy books, won awards, and/or appeared in mainstream media—include that under your name.

TITLE
BY, YOUR NAME
CREDENTIALS

Put your contact info—including address, phone number, email, website, and standout social media profiles, such as your LinkedIn—in the lower left hand corner. This is 12-point type, Times New Roman font and can be single spaced.

ADDRESS
PHONE
EMAIL
WEBSITE
SOCIAL MEDIA

Add the splash page.

The splash is a graphic—photo or in some cases a collage—that is representative of the content in the book. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, that is your splash.

Create a table of contents.

Use the Table of Contents (or TOC) function, so all of your section headers are linked within the document. To do this, highlight each section title, go to Home and then Styles. Click on “Heading” (use “Heading 2” for sub-sections) to apply the format. 

After you have done this for all sections, create the TOC. Go to the third page (after the title page and splash). Then, go to the References tab. Click Table of Contents. Choose a style (“Automatic” or “Custom”), and Word will automatically generate a TOC using your Heading and Heading 2 styles.

After you finish your proposal, go to your TOC page and click to Update Table.

Customize your header.

You will want to start using a header on page 4—right after the Contents page. To do this in Word, insert a Section Break by going to the Layout tab. Click Breaks and, under Section Breaks, choose Next Page.

To unlink the Header from the Previous Section (since you do not need one for pages 1-3), double-click to get into the header area on page 4. In the Header & Footer Tools ribbon, click Link to Previous to turn it off. This breaks the connection between headers in Section 1 (pages 1–3) and Section 2 (page 4 onward).

With your cursor in the header on page 4, type your last name, book title. Underneath it, go to insert page number to add the page number.

NAME, TITLE
PAGE #

Send a PDF.

Unless otherwise requested, save your document as a pdf to send.

3 Book Proposal Formatting Don’ts

Rely on visuals to get your idea across.

Unless your project is photo-centric in nature, the only image you want to include is on the splash page. Book specs is where you put your bulleted list of items that are in the book. That’s where you can write down how many photos or other types of images you plan to include.

Make your book proposal difficult to read.

A book proposal can run anywhere from around 25 to 50 pages or more (depending on the length of the sample chapters). Be cognizant of page breaks and paragraph breaks.

For instance:

• Your Overview is a snapshot. It needs to be one page, no more than two. Each section builds on each other. You can go into more detail in the other sections.
• Avoid run-on sentences and super-long paragraphs. Find ways to be more concise or break up your content.
• Try to contain your sections, so they do not run one or two lines over onto the next page.

An easy-to-read proposal is something that’s also skimable. Before doing your final save, view your document at around 50% magnification, so you can catch weird formatting things, like blank pages and overlong bundles of text.

Forget to spell check.

Spell check is your friend. Use it! And then use it again.

One More Thing

Most agents and publishers accept what’s the standard for book proposals, in both order of sections and content. However, some have certain preferences. Before submitting your proposal, check the website to see if they have submission guidelines. Read them. And adjust as necessary.

Good luck!

Click to continue.

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(Write What You Don’t Know.)

I also didn’t get anywhere with my writing. Yes, I improved, and I had encouraging beta readers, but I could count the number of full requests I received from agents over multiple books on one hand. It started to feel like this dream wasn’t going to come true.

While querying one book, I started another: The One and Only Vivian Stone. As a lifelong lover of old Hollywood, particularly movies like Gone with the Wind and the sitcom I Love Lucy, this was a compelling time to explore. I wrote the book in first-person POV, but the feedback I received from beta readers was that they didn’t particularly like my main character. Despite spending a whole book with her, they felt like they didn’t know or understand her. There wasn’t anything making them want to keep reading because they didn’t care about her. Ouch.

They were right, though. I tried to model my main character’s personality after what I’d read about Lucille Ball—she had to work very hard to be funny and wasn’t like that off-screen; she was also, supposedly, prone to anger and pettiness. I struggled to write a character like this, and my readers picked up on it. There was a wall in my mind between me and Vivian, and I didn’t know how to break through.

In the beginning of the book, Vivian is an actress struggling to break into the film industry. Surrounded by a sea of talent, she would have had to be worried that a nobody like her would never be taken seriously, would never stand apart from the rest. How long would it take to get somewhere? Would she ever? How long before she threw in the towel?

And then, it hit me: This was how I felt about writing, with those exact worries and questions. Only I hadn’t been leaning into it because I’d been too focused on creating a particular kind of character, one I didn’t truly understand. I needed to tear down the wall between us and rebuild the character was from the ground up—using my own emotions. I needed to become vulnerable for the sake of the character.

Is this obvious? In hindsight, it feels like it. But I’d written three books—four if you count this one before my rewrite—without ever really connecting on a deep, emotional level with my characters. Once I shifted my mindset, the writing became cathartic and so much fun.

“Write what you know?” I finally did.

Click to continue.

The responses from readers were completely different from what they’d been the first time. Vivian had become someone readers rooted for, someone they related to.

I tried to be more strategic about querying this story than I’d been with my previous books. First, I scoured every resource I could find about writing query letters, then I wrote and rewrote mine. I sought feedback and kept fine-tuning. Queries were always a mystery to me. I understood what they required, but I couldn’t figure out how to write a compelling hook and show the character’s wants while also picking out the most important plot strands. But after about a hundred attempts (not an exaggeration), I had a letter I felt confident about.

I also looked for opportunities everywhere: I submitted my query and first pages to The Shit No One Tells You About Writing podcast, which ended up getting chosen, giving me valuable feedback. I submitted to a mentorship program called RevPit. All of the mentors rejected me, but I received a lot of encouraging messages. I also posted on Twitter/X for #moodpitch, which isn’t around anymore but involved posting a mood board and an elevator pitch. I’d done these kinds of contests for previous books, without any success, but this time I received interest from about a dozen agents. These were all great, low-stakes ways to test the waters.

If there had been more opportunities, I would have tried them too. Yes, a lot of people apply, and yes, it’s easy to get lost in it all. But there is also the chance that it can go very well. I had already put so much effort into the book, so why stop there?

Finally, I started querying, confident that I’d done all I could do but still worried because an agent liking a pitch is not the same as them liking the whole book. And while I received plenty of rejections, I also received several offers.

As I’m drafting my next project, I wonder if it ever gets easier to “write what you know.” I hope so. There continues to be the question of which parts of myself to bring to the character and a resistance to the reflection needed to figure it out. What I do know is it’s essential, even if it can feel vulnerable.

Check out Melissa O’Connor’s The One and Only Vivian Stone here:

Bookshop | Amazon

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The post How I Found Success With the Writing and Publishing Process appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(All My Friends Are Co-writing Without Me.)

We have a punk-rock relationship to composition. We write daily, fail fast, and are willing to accept a better idea. Maybe this method of collaboration is inevitable when a rockstar (Buechner), craftsman (Mueller), and teacher (Ward) decide to write a book together?

Good, bad, or other, having three people in the room to tell stories means we never have to find someone to give us notes. There are plenty of opinions in the writing room and we are quick to share them. Our friendship helps drive us, and honestly it’s nice to have each other to lean on. 

A few weeks ago our first book in a three book series, The Unraveling The Counsel of Crows was published by Th3rd World Studios with distribution from Simon and Schuster. We are even luckier because Recorded Books picked up our project and will release the audiobook on July 15, 2025. Talk about dreams coming true, right?

Beneath the seeming miracle of getting a great publisher, distribution, a PR firm, and an audio book lies one of the simplest and most difficult realities of writing: we had to be extremely patient. None of this was served to us overnight. To be clear there is a difference between being patient and waiting.

We worked for seven years with no promise of publication. We wrote and drafted, edited and redrafted. We found an artist to illustrate our book and he created an outstanding book cover (even before we had a publisher). We started our social media presence, paid someone to design a website and called everyone we knew to offer insight into our project. We secured domains, email handles, found beta readers, and pull quotes for our book. In short, we were patient, but we didn’t wait for someone to do this for us. 

Click to continue.

Writer’s are told to believe in their work. Believe against all odds that your work is worth it. We like that idea, but we might suggest clarifying the word belief. Belief in the absence of action isn’t worth all that much.

If we’d simply believed in our characters and the settings they inhabit while waiting for someone else to bring them to readers we bet we’d still be waiting around. We thought once our book arrived on shelves and was available at all the online chains we could sit back and enjoy the view.

Nope.

That’s not a thing.

The day the book dropped was when the really hard work started. In addition to writing the series we were also booking podcasts, bookstore and school talks, signings, conventions… Oh Lord, it keeps us busy.

Believe mightily in your work, and take the action necessary to allow others to believe too. And keep believing and acting for months after your book comes out. It sounds difficult, we know, but take heart writer friend, we offer this advice because we found that we could do it. Swear on our moms, if we can you certainly can.

Check out Buechner, Mueller, and Ward’s The Unraveling The Counsel of Crows here:

Bookshop | Amazon

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(5 Ways to Write Better Copy Than ChatGPT.)

So my first recommendation to my fellow copywriters is to figure out your AI policy, make it plain to see for the companies you write for, and post it on your site.

Mine reads:

“ChatGPT does not write copy for me or my clients.

“It never has. And I will never allow it to do so.

“I occasionally, though not very often, turn to ChatGPT for ideas, research, and outlines.

“But I do NOT use ChatGPT—or any other AI tool—to write copy.

“Either for my client projects. Or for my own products.

“No prompting. And no ‘training’ ChatGPT to write in my (or any other) voice.

“Nor do I subcontract to other copywriters—or have ‘copy cubs,’ ghostwriters, or anyone else write copy for my clients.

“When clients hire me, I write every word of the copy myself.

“In fact, I have written all the copy—for my clients and my little info marketing business—all by my lonesome, for more than 4 decades.

“And dozens of these clients say it has worked out pretty well for them—and for me—so far”:

https://www.bly.com/newsite/Pages/testimonials.php

*****

I will probably soon add a bit more explanation of the limited ways in which I do use ChatGPT, which are:

• For web search—in addition to, but not instead of, Google.
• To come up with multiple points for either making or proving a logical argument.
• Asking for further details or clarification of things I already think, believe, or know.
• Vetting of “big idea” promotions, most often for investment advisories but also for alternative health and certain other offers.

For example, when there was talk of Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a strong promotion for a stock newsletter promotion on oil occurred to me and many other writers.

With a few queries to ChatGPT, I quickly got logical and cogent arguments of how this blockage would affect global oil supply, the U.S. stock markets, energy, and prices for gasoline and heating oil—with trends, forecasts, and conclusions backed by facts and data.

Then ChatGPT asked me whether I wanted specific stocks to invest in and also which ones to sell now—which I did. In short, everything a copywriter needs to write a strong promo on the effects of the current geopolitical situation on energy stock investing. That ChatGPT came up with loads of good ideas, information, data, and proof points vetted the big idea in a positive way.

On the other hand, if ChatGPT had produced a paucity of evidence or worse, thought the idea was weak and told me so, I would have concluded that the big idea had not passed the vetting process. So the odds of a winning Strait of Hormuz oil profits opportunity and a promotion based on it would have been too thin, weak, and risky.

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Comp titles—short for “competitive titles” or “comparable titles”—are the books you name in your query or proposal to show that readers are eager for books like yours. They’re a shorthand way to discuss your book’s themes, subject matter, cultural relevance, or the way readers will feel when they experience your story.

(Check out recent successful queries here.)

Finding the right comps means reading, doing market research, and understanding why people (including yourself!) buy books. Unfortunately, the process can be tricky and tedious when you first start looking, and two common feelings come up.

Ignorance Is Bliss (But Won’t Sell Your Book): “My book is totally unique! There’s nothing like it on the market!”

I have sad news: If your book is truly unlike anything ever published, it’s either revolutionary genius or (more likely) unpublishable. Fortunately, it’s more likely that your book is just fine, and you’re not looking in the right places, or with the right mindset.

Outdated & Overrated: “My book is Bestseller A (published 2002) meets Book No-One’s Heard Of (published 1998).”

These authors are trying! They’ve found a genuine connection between books that inspired them, that they want to be shelved with, and that share story elements. But markets change, and already-famous authors have a head start. Comps that are too old, or too famous, don’t tell agents and publishers how your debut novel or memoir will sell right now.

Books need context. They need friends. And just like humans, they need friends their own age, in a social class they’re ready to run with. Your book is making its way in the world as a freshman. The head cheerleader’s prom-date prospects aren’t a yardstick for your own social life—just like your mom’s dating advice from 20 years ago isn’t entirely useful now.

Good Comp Titles Serve 3 Essential Purposes

Comp titles are your book’s clique.

They tell agents where your manuscript belongs in the vast publishing world. Without comps, your book is standing with a lunch tray, wondering where to sit. Comps say, “I’ll be in the Home Ec room after school with the other cooking memoirs.”

Comps prove you’re not delusional.

Appropriate titles show you understand your place in the market. That other first-time writers were successful with books like yours. Comparing your debut thriller to Gone Girl or your literary fiction to Toni Morrison is aspirational; believe it with all your heart and keep it inside your head. Pick a cafeteria table with people who will actually talk to you (and maybe blurb your book!)

Comps are shorthand for your book’s vibe.

Your best comps telegraph tone, style, and reader experience faster than a three-paragraph plot summary ever could. “It’s HOW TO SAY BABYLON (2024) meets SOLITO (2022)” immediately conjures a specific type of memoir about personal transformation through challenging circumstances.

Find Your Book’s BFFs (Without Losing Your Mind)

Step 1: Stop Overthinking and Start Looking

The biggest mistake authors make is treating comp titles like a desperate search for the holy grail. Your comps won’t be perfect doppelgängers of your book—they just need to share meaningful DNA.

Head to a physical bookstore or library (yes, leave your house) and look for where you’ll be shelved. What else is there? Read back covers. Read opening pages. Take photos of promising titles. (And note these author’s agents as people to query yourself—check the Acknowledgements)

While you’re there, ask the bookseller or librarian: “If someone liked these books, what else would you recommend?” Booksellers are walking comp-title machines. Use them. (And buy a book.)

Step 2: Get Specific

Your ideal comps are:

• Published within the last 2-3 years (5 years absolute max)
• Moderately successful but not mega-bestsellers
• Similar to your book in at least one significant way (theme, tone, style, structure, audience)
• From traditional publishers (if you’re querying traditional agents)

Don’t get trapped trying to match your exact plot. Think laterally. If you wrote a memoir about rebuilding your life after losing your job, your comps might include books about divorce, health crises, or starting over in a new country—the emotional journey matters more than the specific circumstances.

Click to continue.

Step 3: Dive Into the Digital Treasure Hunt

Start with those books that are too old and too famous. Look them up on Amazon and scroll down to the category rankings:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,742 in Books

• #42 in Travel Humor
• #156 in Adventure Travel
• #89 in Travelogues & Travel Essays

Click on those categories for lists of similar books. Look for titles ranking between #10,000 and #100,000 in overall Books—popular enough to show market viability but not so big they’re unicorns.

For those same books, scroll to the “Readers also enjoyed” section, and explore anything published in the last three years.

Step 4: Test the Vibes

For each potential comp, ask yourself:

• Would my ideal reader also enjoy this book?
• Does this book have a similar emotional impact to mine?
• Does this comparison make my book sound intriguing rather than derivative?
• Would I be proud to have my book next to this one on a shelf?

If you answer yes to at least three, you’ve found a comp contender.

Mastering the Comp Statement

Now that you’ve found your comps, don’t just list them. Showcase your book’s unique position in context.

Instead of: “My book is like LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY and WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING.” (Too famous, too vague, becoming dated)

Try: “My memoir of Malay childhood combines deep-dive research like Stephanie Foo’s WHAT MY BONES KNOW (2024) with the wry familial observations of Michelle Zauner’s CRYING IN H MART (2022) as I navigate discovering my father’s secret second family at my mother’s funeral.” (Specific, current, shows tone and content)

For fiction, get creative: THE BOOK OF DOORS (2024) meets THE SICILIAN INHERITANCE (2024) in my dual-timeline novel blending traditional folklore and a generational mystery.” (Specific, current, shows the book’s place within the genre)

Exceptions Prove the Rule

Querying in the UK, or just very confident in your “inappropriate” comps? Embrace it, while knowing you’re an outsider. “My book is SCREAM meets THE SECRET HISTORY”—comping mass media and a huge bestseller, both outdated, might still be what sells your book. But break those rules purposefully, because you’ve already investigated more current debut books. Remember those quirky drama nerds? They didn’t put those capes on by accident. But they, too, could see who was Trying Too Hard.

The Power of Finding Your People

Comp titles aren’t just for querying—they’re your future clique as a published author. The writers whose audience you’ll share, whose events you might appear at, who may blurb your book. Follow them on social media. See how they promote their work. Notice which publications review their books. Map your future literary neighborhood.

Your best comps are like your best friends—it’s worth the work to find them, and maintaining those connections can be powerful. Best of all? Unlike high school, the clique doesn’t choose you. You get to pick, and your book’s best friends are out there waiting to be found.

Check out Allison K Williams’ Seven Drafts here:

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(4 Ways to Write Hooks for Books.)

One, I’d never written a novel before. Didn’t even know where to start. And two, I was building a photography business, working full time in the corporate world, and co-parenting two rambunctious toddlers. I had enough on my plate. The novel would have to wait.

Spoiler alert: That novel, Soulmatch, publishes July 29th with Simon & Schuster. So, how’d I get from there to here? Photography made me do it.

In 2013, three years after my lightbulb moment, I left my corporate job and became a full-time photographer. I specialize solely in portraiture, which may sound strange coming from someone who self-identifies as an introvert. But I love meeting people, hearing their stories, and looking through the lens to capture the very essence of who they are…their souls, if you will.

My business grew and prospered. I won awards and was fully booked six-to-eight months in advance. Then, as was the fate of most small business owners, it all came to a screeching halt in March 2020. Photography is not an essential business, but it was essential to me. I went from spending 12 hours a day taking and editing photos, emailing clients, marketing, and keeping my business running to doing absolutely nothing. The jarring change was enough to bring about my first-ever panic attacks.

My kids were twelve and fourteen and didn’t need or want constant supervision. My husband was on back-to-back Zoom calls, and I could only make so much bread. Lying in bed one night, discussing our fears and brainstorming ideas, I blurted out, “Well, I always said I’d write that novel if I had the time.” I said it as a joke, but the next day, halfway through a Photoshop workshop on CreativeLive.com, I hit pause, took a deep breath, and searched their site for “how to write a novel.”

The only result was a three-day workshop called “Wired for Story: How to Become A Story Genius,” led by Lisa Cron. Sounded perfect. I pulled out a notepad and clicked “Buy.” By the end of the exercises, I had a rough outline for a character-driven novel and held the reins to a dystopian world I could bend to my will. Turns out that was the perfect remedy for someone struggling to comprehend their dystopian reality. 

Click to continue.

My work ethic took over. The hours I used to devote to taking and editing photos were spent typing and editing words. I shared each new chapter with my husband and best friend the way I shared galleries with clients, reveling in their encouraging compliments. Two months later, I had a first draft and was obsessed with it. I was humble enough to know the story needed work, but I also felt deep in my bones that Soulmatch would be published someday. I just needed to figure out how.

Launching my photography business required years of research, trial and error, sleepless nights, and dog-headed determination. But I’d accomplished a lofty goal once. I could do it again.

I contacted a published friend for a primer in the industry, another for help with my query letter. I joined the once-flourishing writing community on Twitter. And revised, revised, revised. The rejections kept mounting (whew, that was tough), but fortified by the support of friends and family, I pushed on. Maybe next time. Maybe this pitch. Maybe this revision.

Finally, I signed with an agent. Hoorah! Surely a book deal was close behind!

Ha. Did I mention I‘d written a YA dystopian novel? In Soulmatch, teens report to the government on their 18th birthdays to learn about their past lives and if they have a soulmate. Because I’m fascinated by stories where a new world order emerges from advancements in existing technology, the method for identifying souls stems from improved photo resolution. Perhaps someday we’ll be able to zoom in enough to see the unique markers of someone’s soul. Believable… and terrifying if the government holds souls accountable for past crimes. They could literally capture souls.

But in 2021, YA dystopian was not selling.

Nor was it in 2022.

In March 2023, I pulled up Publisher’s Marketplace, saw an announcement for Jill Tew’s The Dividing Sky, and sat upright. Though her debut was described as “sci-fi romance,” I saw it for what it was. Futuristic Boston? Memory dealer? Corrupt government? Oh yeah, dystopian all the way. Hope blossomed once again. (Side note: The Dividing Sky is incredible. Highly recommend.)

Around the same time, my agent asked if I wanted to try another round of submissions with Soulmatch or begin submitting my next manuscript. I sent her Jill’s announcement and said I wasn’t ready to give up. We had a book deal a month later.

I’ve often claimed Soulmatch’s main character is nothing like me. But I take it back. She gets repeatedly knocked down, her plans subverted, her heart broken; but her tenacity, family, and friends keep her going until she finally attains her happily ever after. If I knew from the outset five years would pass before Soulmatch hit the shelves, I’m not sure I would’ve stuck with it. Coincidentally, it also took five years of blood, sweat, and tears to become a full-time photographer. Now that I’m on the other side of both, I don’t regret the pursuit of either.

As a photographer, I have the honor of capturing the beauty of my clients’ souls. I’ve poured my own into pages you’ll soon be able to hold in your hands. May the story elicit the same emotions as a meticulously crafted portrait, and may it help you see the world through a new lens. But if you’re simply pleased with the final product, I’ve done my job.

Check out Rebecca Danzenbaker’s Soulmatch here:

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For so many reasons besides that belittling criticism I received, I could never get past the first 30 to 50 pages of more than a dozen novels I began and then abandoned in the following decades. It was all too easy to lay the self-doubt aside and settle for a day job that was less challenging and less fulfilling than the calling I could never put behind me. 

When my husband and I moved to Spain in 2019, I intended to take one more run at writing fiction part-time while teaching English. Then, during Covid lockdown in 2020, I tricked myself into short daily writing sessions that were sometimes frustrating but still better than the boredom of sitting stuck in an apartment with nothing better to do. A novel emerged—at last I had found a way to quiet (if not silence) the inner critic and proved to myself that I could do it. 

I began querying that novel in 2022, and all the advice-givers on YouTube agreed a newsletter is a great way to build an author platform. For new writers today, I would emphasize starting one as soon as you first begin drafting your novel, preferably sooner. While the cold-querying process to agents still produces success stories, the ability to engage with readers and show that you are already a robust citizen of the literary world is an increasingly important selling point that novices ignore at their peril.  

Unfortunately, I also came late to the newsletter and author platform game and didn’t yet have that crucial piece in my querying package. Despite a few full manuscript requests, all my queries were declined; that I managed not to take those 60 rejections personally was a testament to how far I’d come from that crushing earlier experience. While I let those No’s marinate, I embarked on a newsletter platform I’d heard about in a writing workshop: Substack. 

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Never mind monetizing—a secondary consideration for a fiction writer trying to connect with readers—the real magic of Substack is in the relationships you build with like-minded hopefuls, many of them also just starting out and looking to build a rapport with someone, anyone, who shares their dream of joining the community of people playing with words. I call it a writer incubator, even though there are more experienced writers and recognized names on the platform all the time, either courted by Substack or just finding their way through attrition from traditional media. 

Whether it’s finance, civil rights, or news, popular media, erotica, or New Age meditations, there’s a niche for everyone—and by all accounts, deciding on a niche is the first task at hand when you are initially choosing categories for yourself. I picked Fiction and Literature, but for the first 11 months I published no fiction. I was testing the waters. I busied myself with thought salads, book reviews, and stories of my life—clearing my throat while I figured out what I was really doing. 

Six months into posting on Substack, the self-imposed weekly deadline did wonders for my motivation, my subscribers increased five-fold, and feedback that was supportive rather than hypercritical helped repair my confidence further. I began to form connections with other writers, including several who were testing out serializing novels. I saw how non-traditional narratives presented in episodes resonated with readers, that the process of writing and reading fiction in digestible bites could be as satisfying as sitting down to the five-course meal of a book in hand. 

Eager to begin a new novel, I decided on a different approach—drafting and publishing each chapter as I went along. Lamb: A novel in snapshots is experimental and non-linear, interlocking stories with the same characters tracing an arc from high school days to the mysterious disappearance and untimely death of the title character. The story unfolds years later when his best friend, the unnamed narrator D, reminisces about their life together in the 80s and 90s while sorting through journal entries, poetry, and short stories left behind by Lamb, a sensitive, misunderstood soul and frustrated writer. 

The main advantage of this method (rather than finishing the novel before posting) was that I could post episodes of the story in real time, without much fear that developments later would necessitate seismic shifts in the earlier chapters. Drafting my first novel had been a process of iterations, blind alleys, and revisions; it had also taken two years.  

Another advantage, besides a deadline, was the need to frame each episode as its own engaging scene with a satisfying conclusion that still left the reader wanting more. Writers serializing on Substack often find their individual chapters are tighter and more suspenseful within the constraints of the format. 

The main disadvantage of serializing? Perhaps the perception that a novel self-published on Substack is disqualified from agent representation or a traditional publishing contract. I was interested in giving self-publishing a shot, and serializing it first seemed the perfect way to build an audience who might also be interested in buying or at least telling others about the book version later. 

Of course, there are still opportunities to publish traditionally even after self-publishing, Andy Weir and The Martian being just one wildly successful example. At least two memoirs (Kimberly Warner’s Unfixed and Mary L. Tabor’s Who By Fire) and a novel (Eleanor Anstruther’s Fallout) first serialized on Substack have been offered publishing contracts by Alisa Kennedy Jones’s new women-centered imprint, Empress Editions.  

The brilliance of Substack as a platform is not just the readers you find, but the relationships you’ll form with writers at all levels of the game. Eleanor, who’s now been both traditionally and self-published (she is leading the charge for a rebrand to “independent” publishing as an increasingly worthwhile path in the evolving marketplace), is a generous, prolific Substacker who also provided me a blurb for Lamb. 

There are a few caveats to just firing up a new Substack and starting to post chapters. Build up an audience of consistent readers first, who can be depended upon to Like and Comment on each new installment. Provide clear signposts along the way, with a separate introduction and table of contents pinned to a special section for your novel, and in-post links to previous and subsequent chapters. Know that most readers on Substack are unfailingly kind, and their positive comments should not take the place of beta readers and honest, constructive criticism. Expect that some readers will fall away in the course of the serial—rather than be disappointed, consider that these might be the very people who would prefer to read your story in book form; use it as motivation to set a swift deadline to bring it to market. 

As I’m turning the corner with the book I started on Substack, now released into the wild, the experience of building my platform there is sending ripples out into the wider literary landscape. While it’s not a magic pill, the doors it can open are proliferating for the new writer hoping to be welcomed into a fellowship of mutual support. 

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You don’t have to give up on these, but are you hankering to try something different? There’s a world of unique writing opportunities out there. Finding them is the tricky part.  

I didn’t realize how diverse the freelance universe is until I was tapped by someone who had heard about my writing and editing skills and offered something I hadn’t done before: Edit copy for an international pop music album cover. Now, I enjoy music, but I’m no musician, as I explained to the young guy emailing from another continent.  

“No worries,” he replied in slightly accented English. “In fact, it’s better if you don’t know the technical side of the music industry. Read and respond like a fan so they will know what my songs are about.”  

I listened to all his songs and liked most of them! Reading his basic lyrics and descriptions, I added action verbs, stronger nouns, and shorter sentences. Voila! He loved my ideas and later sent me two more album covers to edit. I’m still no music expert, but I have a better understanding of his techno style and his fans. Last I heard, his sales were doing fine.  

My favorite writing and editing projects are those where I learn something while helping the client adjust the language and tone for the target readers. 

Soon, my mind began to open to projects I wouldn’t have considered before due either to lack of interest or lack of confidence. Before long, I was working on a variety of exciting projects that nudged me out of my comfort zone into the challenging territory of new formats and high-profile clients.  

Travel Writing 

One of the most exciting projects I accepted through a writing agency in Canada was to revise and edit a travel blog for a minor European celebrity. His blog’s premise was to travel throughout the U.S. on the platform of “kindness” to see how people responded to a low-income tourist without knowing of his popularity in Europe.  

The blog featured his responses to interesting encounters with locals and lesser-known places of interest. He invited me to L.A., which included visits to Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, and paid expenses for a couple of all-day writing sessions as his blog neared completion. I made a side trip to San Francisco to see a family member, a bonus.  

Speaking of travel, I’ve been offered paid visits to Eastern Europe, Africa, Israel, and Saudi Arabia to write an adventure novel, a conservatory documentary, a philosophical treatise, and a family history. While those projects seemed a little beyond my then-expanded wheelhouse, I may consider similar initiatives in the future. I’ve also written travel guides for beautiful U.S. cities of my choosing. 

Tip: Don’t hesitate to consider new opportunities. Contact travel agencies to offer writing assistance for their materials or website to gain experience and offer your writing and editing skills to travelers who want to summarize their experiences for loved ones or local press. 

Business Writing 

Business is another area where I had little personal experience, so I previously hadn’t looked for writing work beyond newsletters and Web content. That changed when I was approached about writing a family business history through three generations. Was I up to it? I wasn’t sure and started asking questions.  

It turned out the head of the company wanted a series of eight or 10 interviews with his descendants currently running the business along with key employees who had facilitated the transitions. Although I expected the finance industry project to be mundane, it was anything but! Snowstorms, earthquakes, and a White House invitation enlivened the family’s story to where I felt it would make a great movie—starring Robert Redford in the lead role!  

The project turned out well and boosted my confidence. I began to ghostwrite or edit business books for international travel, the mortgage industry, and gas and oil, among others. Executives often like to publish books about their company or sector to be seen as industry leaders. The publicity helps with promotions, bonuses, and title enhancements.  

Tip: Check out local companies or online businesses of interest and contact them to offer your services to write a company history, a family biography (for family-owned businesses), or the business’s contribution to the industry. 

Professional Services  

A psychologist who worked with the state prison population wrote case summaries for each of his clients. He asked my help to review the summaries and revise or edit them as needed. This was another interesting project because I learned a lot about the backgrounds of prisoners (they were anonymous in the reports) and why they were imprisoned. The psychologist also explained their goals and outlook. Later, he asked me to design a brochure for his services.  

Tip: Contact professional offices or social service agencies to offer writing services like editing reports (especially those submitted to the government) or other documents that need to be highly accurate and easy for readers to understand. 

Other Freelancers  

You may think it presumptuous to edit another freelancer’s work. But some are overloaded with projects and eager to share (for a percentage of the fee) with another freelancer. When my cousin became a freelancer on different projects than I was used to (fantasy novels and movie scripts), she asked me to edit her work, and I obliged.  

Again, I learned much from exploring other genres and exercising my editing skills to reinforce her writing abilities. She was grateful, and I got paid! Eventually, one of her clients offered me additional work, with my cousin’s full support. 

Tip: Get acquainted with writers in local or online writing groups and let people know you have experience in writing, revising, editing, and proofreading. The local chamber of commerce is another way to meet area professionals who may need writing help for their companies. 

Invent a Niche 

One of my earlier vocations was teaching. Based on experience, I felt parents could benefit knowing more about classroom expectations and student experiences. I offered a local newspaper a weekly column of about 500 words each: “From the Teacher’s Desk.” It was readily accepted and published. I felt good knowing I was helping families and students understand classroom learning from a teacher’s perspective.  

Tip: Reach out to sectors or industries where your expertise can help. If you have experience with a loved one in a nursing facility or hospice care, offer an article to a facility’s newsletter, blog, or website about family expectations or concerns for a loved one in that situation. You can think of numerous topics to suggest that can bridge the gap between care providers, an aging patient, and the family. 

Individual Projects 

A friend of a friend asked me to write his memoir about a terrible accident that left him a paraplegic. It was a sad story, but it was heartwarming to see him triumph over adversity. He was making plans to start a business with a girlfriend who was helping him. However, he was so busy that the book plans were put on hold. He later developed a serious illness and passed away.  

Other friends have asked me to help them write their life story or novel, and I’m waiting for their plan to develop. Many people have great ideas for a book, but they’re not sure how to organize it. I’ll make suggestions, but the ultimate decision is up to them.  

A basketball coach at my son’s Christian middle school did an excellent job of teaching the students how to play the game well and to show respect for the other teams along with additional life skills. That age can be difficult, right? I was so impressed with his work that I authored an article, with his permission, which was published in a youth group leadership magazine.  

Tip: When you discover someone or something that impresses you, consider ways of sharing your admiration through publication. If you have a byline, someone may contact you about writing a similar topic.  

***  

Ready to leave your wheelhouse? Pack up your laptop and head for the great unknown! A world of freelance opportunity awaits your inventive and creative capabilities!

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