Hi friends!

Welcome new friends! There are a lot of new faces around here and I wanted to thank you for subscribing as well as give you a tour of the grounds. There’s lots of information to discover and much more to come.

The sidebar on the homepage is full of posts on oft-requested topics: query letters, finding an agent, contracts, book proposals, author life.

Here’s another list of popular topics, for your perusal!

Let’s pretend you’re a writer just starting out on the agent and publishing journey. You’ll want to start here:

• Here’s how you actually find and research agents.

• Here my three part series on how to write query letters: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

• Here’s how to figure out what genre your book is.

• Here’s my very popular post on what the @#$% a platform is.

• Here’s how to figure out how many agents to send to.

• Here’s how to not mess up your chances with an agent.

• Here’s how to write a non-fiction book proposal.

• Here’s how to write an illustrated-book book proposal.

• And here’s query letters for non-fiction books!

• Here’s when to know it’s ok to follow up.

If you’ve got an agent and you’re looking for publishing advice:

• Here’s some stuff you need to know about contracts.

• Here’s what happens when you get an offer from an editor.

• Here’s how to quit your job and write full time. Or not.

• Here’s when a book sale is actually a sale.

• Here’s how publicity works.

• Here’s the indisputable facts of self-promotion.

• Here’s what happens when your agent quits.

• Here’s what getting “optioned” means.

• Here’s how to deal with jealousy and advances and other people’s money.

• And how to get over professional disappointment.

• Here’s the story of the ten years it took a book to earn out the advance.

And here’s some writing advice!

• Here’s the point of editing, and more on the different kinds of editing.

• Here’s stuff about knowing when you need to hire a freelance editor.

• Here’s how to write a whole novel.

• Do you really need to write everyday?

• Here’s the story of a book that took 5 years and 6 drafts to get published.

• And please, learn to love outlining.

• What if you want to write an essay collection? Or an anthology?

• Don’t forget that hating what you write is totally normal.

And here are the only three publishing questions you’ll never need to ask.

If you’re a new paid subscriber, thank you! Check out the Fifty Queries Club and if you have a question for Q&A Thursday, just respond to any Thursday email and ask away!

NOW, let’s have a thread. We haven’t done that in a while. Let me know what you want to know. Let me know what you’re hoping for—writing and publishing wise—for 2022. Let me know what you’re reading! Ask your fellow readers about their favorite post!

OXOXOXOX,

Kate