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Category Archives: manuscript assessors
Finding an expert you can trust
If you’re an indie writer, these days you’re often dealing with people you’ve never met and probably never will – cover designers, interior designers, manuscript assessors, editors. I have never met the woman did the cover and the interior for … Continue reading
Posted in advice about writing, advice for indie publishers, advice for writers, Australian manuscript appraisers, Danielle De Valera, editors, fiction editing, good editors, how to find a good editor, manuscript assessments, manuscript assessors, Patrick de Valera, Uncategorized
Tagged advice for authors, advice for writers, editing, editors, fiction writing, indie publishing, self-publishing, writing advice
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Collateral Damage as Amazon Applies the Thumbscrews to Reviews
Have you spent more than $50 on Amazon in your lifetime? (I think it’s in your lifetime.) They’re now instigating this rule where they won’t let you post a review, even though you’ve bought the book, unless you have spent … Continue reading
Posted in advice about writing, advice for indie publishers, advice for writers, Amazon reviews, Australian manuscript appraisers, Danielle De Valera, indie publishing, manuscript assessors, Patrick de Valera
Tagged advice for indie writers, advice for writersriters, Amazon reviews, Danielle de Valera, editors, fiction editing, fiction writing advice, manuscript appraisers
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Those pesky possessive Ss
with possessive Ss I think we all know that an apostrophe is used before the possessive of singular common nouns, e.g. the boy’s bike. So far, so good. But what if the noun being possessed (as it were) isn’t singular, … Continue reading
Posted in advice for indie publishers, Australian manuscript appraisers, Danielle De Valera, editing, editors, fiction editing, manuscript assessments, manuscript assessors, Patrick de Valera, possessive Ss, re-editing
Tagged Advice about apostrophes, advice for indie publers, advice for new writers, apostrophe Ss, editing, fiction editing, fiction writing advice, indie publishers, indie writers, manuscript assessors, possessive apostrophes, writing advice
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Foreword v. Preface v. Introduction
Last month, a client of mine asked me to edit his non-fiction book, a series of vignettes about his time in rural Australia in the 1950s and Papua New Guinea in the ‘70s. One of the first things I noticed … Continue reading
Posted in advice for indie publishers, forewords, indie publishing, introductions, manuscript appraisers, manuscript assessments, manuscript assessors, manuscript presentation, Patrick de Valera, prefaces
Tagged advice for authors, advice for indie publers, advice for writers, fiction writing advice, Forewords, introductions, manuscript assessors, manuscript presentation, prefaces, self-publishing, writing advice
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The Thumbs Down Publishers List
What indie writer trying to juggle the demands (and costs) of cover design, ebook design, print book design, and possibly a full time job as well, hasn’t been tempted to toss the lot to one of those publishers who promise … Continue reading
Posted in advice about writing, advice for writers, Australian manuscript appraisers, Danielle De Valera, editing, editors, getting published, indie publishing, manuscript appraisers, manuscript assessments, manuscript assessors, Patrick de Valera, publishers
Tagged advice for authors, advice for indie publers, Danielle de Valera, editing, editors, fiction editors, indie publishers, manuscript appraisers, manuscript assessors, self-publishing, Thumbs Down Publishers List, Victoria Strauss, Writer Beware, writing advice
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The Pros and Cons of Preorders
Although Amazon accounts for around 70% of e-book sales on the web, the stores Smashwords distribute to account roughly for the remaining per cent. This post by Mark Coker, CEO of Smashwords, presents a convincing case for using his preorder … Continue reading
Posted in advice about writing, advice for writers, Australian manuscript appraisers, Danielle De Valera, manuscript assessments, manuscript assessors, the pros and cons of preorders
Tagged about preorders, Danielle de Valera, indie publishing, manuscript assessors, Smashwords, Smashwords preorders, the pros and cons of preorders
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What’s in a name?
When it’s the title of your novel, a great deal, if you plan to publish on the web. A writer has only four chances to attract readers. These are: ~ the cover ~ the title ~ the story as revealed … Continue reading
Posted in advice about writing, advice for writers, Choosing a name for your novel, manuscript appraisers, manuscript assessors, titles of novels
Tagged advice for authors, advice for writers, choosing a name for your novel, fiction writing advice, manuscript assessors, self-publishing, titles of novels, writing advice
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Spontaneity in fiction
How important IS spontaneity in fiction? The answer is: It depends. Some works benefit from having a style that appears spontaneous. However, in my experience, when emerging writers talk about spontaneity and the fear of losing it by redrafting, they … Continue reading
Posted in advice about writing, advice for writers, Australian manuscript appraisers, editing, editors, fear of losing spontaneity, fiction editing, getting published, manuscript appraisals, manuscript appraisers, manuscript assessments, manuscript assessors, traditional publishing
Tagged advice for writers, drafting redrafting, editing, fear of losing spontaneity, fiction editing, fiction writing, re-editing, spontaneity in fiction
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“Real” Dialogue
Good dialogue in novels is not real dialogue, which is often very boring, containing as it does a lot of batting about of unimportant information between the two parties. Too often, writers get led astray by their desire for realism … Continue reading
Posted in advice about writing, advice for writers, advice on dialogue, Australian manuscript appraisers, Dialogue, editing, editors, fiction editing, manuscript appraisals, manuscript appraisers, manuscript assessments, manuscript assessors
Tagged advice for writers, advice on dialogue, dialogue, editing advice, fiction writing
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The Manuscript Assessor - Tips for Writers 