top of page
Articles
Search
Sally Collings
Oct 20, 2022
Fall in love with your book proposal: especially for memoir writers.
You’ve written your memoir. Now what? Finishing your memoir is not the end of the path to publication. You’re going to need a book...
Sally Collings
Mar 28, 2022
Why every author should visit a bookstore.
What with pandemics and such, it’s been a good while since I visited my local bookstore. I continue to spend inordinate amounts of time...
Sally Collings
Mar 7, 2022
Craft an elevator pitch for your book.
Every author needs an elevator pitch. A brief but irresistible description that condenses the spirit of your book into a few sentences. ...
Sally Collings
Jan 31, 2022
What’s your author persona?
A writer’s persona communicates to their audience who they are. It’s not only a chance to give writing a little personality, it is also...
Sally Collings
Jan 4, 2022
How much ego is too much in your book proposal?
Getting the balance between humility and hubris in your nonfiction book proposal is hard. Many authors are naturally self-effacing...
Sally Collings
Dec 28, 2021
Show off with your sample chapters.
It’s easy to think of a book proposal as entirely separate from your book manuscript. Truth is, your book proposal must include a solid...
Sally Collings
Oct 25, 2021
Three ways to a literary agent’s heart.
In the past year, I’ve collaborated on three nonfiction book proposals. All three have been picked up by leading literary agents within a...
Sally Collings
Oct 1, 2021
What’s in it for your readers?
When a reader picks up a nonfiction book, they expect to get something out of it—a solution to a problem, a way to improve their life, or...
Sally Collings
Sep 13, 2021
Who are you writing for?
You might be wondering why you need to be so specific about your target readers. Narrowing down your focus to a specific group will allow...
Sally Collings
Mar 26, 2021
Some authors are landing big deals.
The talk soon leads to doom and gloom when authors discuss how hard it is to land a deal with a major publisher. Much of the doom talk is...
Sally Collings
Mar 5, 2021
Panic time. Who’s going to publish your book?
The word on the street is that in these pandemic times, literary agents have more time to consider new projects, so now is a great time...
Sally Collings
Feb 17, 2021
Let’s get real about dragons.
“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.” —JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit Honestly? I’m not even...
Sally Collings
Feb 10, 2021
Publishers hate manuscripts.
As a rule, if there’s one thing most publishers and literary agents really hate to see, it’s a manuscript. You’re probably surprised by...
bottom of page