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October 08, 2015
How to Make a Book Soundtrack
I’ve always thought that if I ever make a movie, choosing the soundtrack would be one of the things I would be most excited to do.So I figured why not do the same for a book?Even though I’m not big ...
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October 05, 2016How To Make a Great Book Cover
The most important lesson I learned when I self-published my first book was that readers do judge a book by its cover. This is often framed as negative but as author and illustrator Annie Mok recently ...
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June 08, 2017How to Make an Audio Book
So there I was in the studio, listening to actor Pascal Langdale tape the narration of my novel Mad Richard for an audio book.Born in England, educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, ...
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December 17, 2019How to Make and Keep Writing Resolutions
Resolutions. I’ve made them. You’ve made them. We’ve broken them the next day, the next week, a few months into the new year. We’ve even forgotten about them. A resolution involves making a decision ...
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December 28, 2020How to Make Your Longest, Darkest Nights Shine
The Winter Solstice is happening as I write this column. It’s the shortest day of the year and the longest, darkest night of the year. But during this time, every night often feels like the longest, ...
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September 04, 2025How to Receive Useful Writing Feedback
For many writers, giving and receiving feedback can feel like the most difficult part. It engages a part of our writerly brains that exists a bit outside the work, much like the editing process. In ...
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March 25, 2019How to Secure a Literary Agent
With spring just around the corner (we hope), there’s a renewed sense of optimism in the air. Writers are slowly emerging from the depths of their hobbit holes, and some have manuscripts ready to be ...
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April 21, 2022How to Start a Writers’ Group
I spent years working on a novel about a lifeguard who was terrified of drowning. Years, of sitting in the same corner of the same coffee shop bashing out draft after unreadable draft. And the only feedback ...
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October 30, 2015
How to Start an Author Blog
A lot’s been made about “author platforms” over the past few years. Marketers love jargon and “platform” is just another word for presence.“The line between writer and creative entrepreneur ...
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November 08, 2022How to tame your nerves at a live/online reading
The other week, I stood on the edge of a stage down at Harbourfront, waiting for my cue. I wasn’t nervous about reading. After a year of online events, I was excited to read to a live audience, but ...
