The definitive source of information, insight, and advice for creative writers, from the nation’s largest and most trusted organization for writers, Poets & Writers. For half a century, writers at every stage of their careers have turned to the literary nonprofit organization Poets & Writers and its award-winning magazine for resources to foster their professional development, from writing prompts and tips on technique to informative interviews with published authors, literary agents, and editors. But never before has Poets & Writers marshaled its fifty years’ worth of knowledge to create an authoritative guide for writers that answers every imaginable question about craft and career—until now. Here is the writing bible for authors of all genres and forms, covering topics such as how to: -Harness your imagination and jump-start your creativity -Develop your work from initial idea to final draft -Find a supportive and inspiring writing community to sustain your career -Find the best MFA program for you -Publish your work in literary magazines and develop a platform -Research writing contests and other opportunities to support your writing life -Decide between traditional publishing and self-publishing -Find the right literary agent -Anticipate what agents look for in queries and proposals -Work successfully with an editor and your publishing team -Market yourself and your work in a digital world -Approach financial planning and taxes as a writer -And much more Written by Kevin Larimer and Mary Gannon, the two most recent editors of Poets & Writers Magazine, this book brings an unrivaled understanding of the areas in which writers seek guidance and support. Filled with insider information like sample query letters, pitch letters, lists of resources, and worksheets for calculating freelance rates, tracking submissions, and managing your taxes, the guide does more than demystify the writing life—it also provides an array of powerful tools for building a sustainable career as a writer. In addition to the wealth of insights into creativity, publishing, and promotion are first-person essays from bestselling authors, including George Saunders, Christina Baker Kline, and Ocean Vuong, as well as reading lists from award-winning writers such as Anthony Doerr, Cheryl Strayed, and Natalie Diaz. Here, at last, is the ultimate comprehensive resource that belongs on every writer’s desk.

This bestselling book names the editors at over 500 publishing houses, listing each editor's specific areas of interest, and provides over 121 insightful interviews with agents.

The bestselling Emotion Thesaurus, often hailed as “the gold standard for writers” and credited with transforming how writers craft emotion, has now been expanded to include 56 new entries! One of the biggest struggles for writers is how to convey emotion to readers in a unique and compelling way. When showing our characters’ feelings, we often use the first idea that comes to mind, and they end up smiling, nodding, and frowning too much. If you need inspiration for creating characters’ emotional responses that are personalized and evocative, this ultimate show-don’t-tell guide for emotion can help. It includes: • Body language cues, thoughts, and visceral responses for over 130 emotions that cover a range of intensity from mild to severe, providing innumerable options for individualizing a character’s reactions • A breakdown of the biggest emotion-related writing problems and how to overcome them • Advice on what should be done before drafting to make sure your characters’ emotions will be realistic and consistent • Instruction for how to show hidden feelings and emotional subtext through dialogue and nonverbal cues • And much more! The Emotion Thesaurus, in its easy-to-navigate list format, will inspire you to create stronger, fresher character expressions and engage readers from your first page to your last.

Every writer wants to publish as widely as possible, and this book gives writers the tools to achieve a competitive edge and break into a wide range of markets. The second edition has been updated throughout and expanded to cover e-mail pitches, letters of introduction, pitching to international markets, how to pitch agents at conferences, and new markets such as greeting cards. This sprightly guide enables readers to expand their markets and increase sales by learning how to make the perfect pitch to magazines, publishers, corporations, and other potential clients. This indispensable resource provides writers with successful approaches to such topics as how to craft a query letter, create a nonfiction or fiction book proposal, approach newspapers with a column or syndication idea, get corporate freelancing jobs, and win a writing grant. Interviews with experts in a variety of fields and dozens of new examples of successful pitches, queries and proposals enliven and illustrate the text. Beginning and experienced writers will find this the perfect one-of-a-kind, desktop reference for developing the market approaches they need to sell their work.

The Most Trusted Guide to Getting Published! Want to get published and paid for your writing? Let Writer's Market 2020 guide you through the process with thousands of publishing opportunities for writers, including listings for book publishers, consumer and trade magazines, contests and awards, and literary agents—as well as new playwriting and screenwriting sections. These listings feature contact and submission information to help writers get their work published. Beyond the listings, you'll find articles devoted to the business and promotion of writing. Discover 20 literary agents actively seeking writers and their writing, how to develop an author brand, and overlooked funds for writers. This edition also includes the ever-popular pay-rate chart and book publisher subject index! You also gain access to: • Lists of professional writing organizations • Sample query letters • How to land a six-figure book deal

Intended for writers who need authentic background for their writing, but makes a hipper-dipper read for the rest of us palookas, too. Covers popular slang as well as the terms and lingo specific to Prohibition, the Depression, WWII, the crime world, transportation, fashion, radio, and music and dance. Includes chronologies of events, movies, books, and songs. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The 2022 edition of firstwriter.com’s bestselling directory for writers is the perfect book for anyone searching for literary agents, book publishers, or magazines. It contains over 2,500 listings, including revised and updated listings from the 2021 edition, and over 400 brand new entries. Finding the information you need is now quicker and easier than ever before, with multiple tables and a detailed index, and unique paragraph numbers to help you get to the listings you’re looking for. The variety of tables helps you navigate the listings in different ways, and includes a Table of Authors, which lists over 3,000 authors and tells you who represents them, or who publishes them, or both. The number of genres in the index has expanded to over 600. So, for example, while there was only one option for “Romance” in the previous edition, you can now narrow this down to Historical Romance, Fantasy Romance, Supernatural / Paranormal Romance, Contemporary Romance, Diverse Romance, Erotic Romance, Feminist Romance, Christian Romance, or even Amish Romance. International markets become more accessible than ever, with listings that cover both the main publishing centres of New York and London, as well as markets in other English speaking countries. With more and more agents, publishers, and magazines accepting submissions online, this international outlook is now more important than ever. There are no adverts, no advertorials, and no obscure listings padding out hundreds of pages. By including only what’s important to writers – contact details for literary agents, publishers, and magazines – this directory is able to provide more listings than its competitors, at a substantially lower price. The book also allows you to create a subscription to the firstwriter.com website for free until 2023. This means you can get free access to the firstwriter.com website, where you can find even more listings, and also benefit from other features such as advanced searches, daily email updates, feedback from users about the markets featured, saved searches, competitions listings, searchable personal notes, and more. “I know firsthand how lonely and dispiriting trying to find an agent and publisher can be. So it's great to find a resource like firstwriter.com that provides contacts, advice and encouragement to aspiring writers. I've been recommending it for years now!” ~ Robin Wade; literary agent at the Wade & Doherty Literary Agency Ltd, and long-term firstwriter.com subscriber

Engage with the Next Generation of Writers! Wattpad is an online storytelling community where users can post their writing, such as articles, stories, novels, fan fiction, and poems. This platform offers writers the chance to connect directly with readers, fans, and story enthusiasts. With the ability to release stories and chapters one at a time, authors can receive continual encouragement and real-time feedback on their work. The Wattpad staff supports successful writers through their Stars program, which provides them opportunities to work with successful brands, publish to print, connect to film and television industries, and more. The potential of Wattpad for writers is limitless, and, for the first-time ever, the staff, writers, and stars of Wattpad have created the guide to help you launch and sustain a successful writing career through this platform. In The Writer's Guide to Wattpad, you'll learn how to: • Get started using Wattpad, prepare your writing to be published, and develop a unique cover design. • Interact with readers, use multimedia to enhance and tell stories, and leverage social media to create a stronger platform. • Attract the attention of an agent or publisher and sell copies of your work elsewhere. • Tap into the brand of Wattpad to understand their Stars Program, brand campaigns, and what success looks like. Written to be accessible to beginners and veterans alike, The Writer's Guide to Wattpad is your essential companion to navigating the Wattpad platform and brand, and leveraging your writing to millions of users worldwide.

The wonderful and fascinating details of the 1800s have been gathered into one interesting volume, in which McCutcheon has included quotes from 19th-century citizens concerning or describing hairstyles and fashion, favorite swear words and slang, jokes of the period, courtship and marriage rituals, and more. A must for both fiction and nonfiction historical writers.

From Sex to Schizophrenia: Everything You Need to Develop Your Characters! What makes a person commit a white-collar crime? Who is a likely candidate to join a cult? Why do children have imaginary friends? How does birth order affect whether or not a person gets married? When does mind over matter become a crippling problem? Writer's Guide to Character Traits, 2nd edition answers all of these questions and many others. With more than 400 easy-to-reference lists of traits blended from a variety of behaviors and influences, you'll gain the knowledge you need to create distinctive characters whose personalities correspond to their thoughts and actions - no matter how normal or psychotic they might be. In this updated and expanded edition, you'll also find: • Comprehensive instruction on how to use this book • New statistical information to help you create true-to-life characters • Corresponding exercises that show you how to put the material to work in your stories • A quick-reference index to make cross-referencing a snap • Idea sparkers to get your thoughts out of your head and onto the page Plus, you'll learn about common - and not so common - psychological, physical, and relationship disorders; delve into the minds of criminals; find out what it takes to be a professional athlete, scientist, and truck driver; discover what life is like for a gang member, suicidal teen, and alcoholic; and more. In Writer's Guide to Character Traits, 2nd edition, note psychologist and author Dr. Linda Edelstein takes you beyond generic personality types and into the depths of the human psyche where you're sure to find the resources you need to make your characters stand out from the crowd.