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Discover fun, effective boots-on-the-ground book marketing strategies for authors—from author panels and podcast pitches to companion articles and live readings. Real-world tips to connect with readers and boost book sales.

Learn how to implement clear project management systems and processes to streamline your freelance editing business. Discover essential processes for client intake, project organization, and completion to ensure smooth workflows and timely delivery.

Your book's introduction is key to grabbing attention and enticing readers to continue. Avoid overexplaining and dry, academic openings—focus on creating a compelling hook, promising value, building trust, and providing a roadmap for what’s to come. Craft an introduction that speaks directly to the reader's needs, sets the tone, and sparks curiosity. Whether through anecdotes, bold statements, or thought-provoking questions, a strong introduction is the first step in making a lasting impression.

Confused about commas, dialogue tags, and action beats? Learn the essential punctuation rules for punctuating dialogue correctly—including how to handle em dashes, question marks, and common mistakes to avoid.

Want side characters who feel real without stealing the show? Side characters add depth, challenge protagonists, and reveal key themes—but if they overshadow the main cast, they can derail your story. Learn how to write side characters with just the right amount of detail to keep the spotlight where it belongs.

Avoid embarrassing grammar slip-ups! Dangling modifiers can make your sentences confusing—or unintentionally hilarious. This guide breaks down what they are, how to spot them, and the simple fixes to keep your writing crystal clear. Don't let a dangling modifier trip you up—learn how to catch and correct them today!

Unleash the power of storytelling in both fiction and nonfiction! Learn how to craft relatable characters, create narrative arcs, and evoke emotion to connect with readers. Transform dry facts or flat stories into unforgettable writing that captivates and inspires.

A brand helps you be more recognizable, stand out from the crowd, and generate loyalty. Learn how to create the non-visual and visual elements of your brand as an editorial freelancer.

Yes, we learn through repetition, but purposeful repetition and redundancies are different. Redundant content annoys readers, so learn how to avoid redundancies and how to fix common trouble spots.

Master time management with practical tips tailored for editors. Discover strategies to boost productivity, schedule your day, meet deadlines, and maintain work-life balance while handling the complexities of editing.

The first chapter of your novel often determines whether the reader will keep reading. It is crucial that this first chapter hook and keep the reader engaged until the very end. Learn the elements to include and the mistakes to avoid in your first chapter.

Matching singular to singular and plural to plural seems basic enough, but when it comes to subjects and sentence complements, either way can seem wrong. Learn how to handle these situations.

Self-editing should involve many revision passes. One or two passes should be reserved for implementing feedback from your beta readers and/or critique partners. Learn how to find these people and how to implement their feedback in this tutorial.

The editing community is full of helpful people, so don’t go it alone. Ask your questions, get answers. Then go a step further and find others to mentor swap and collaborate with. Learn why and how to do this!

Commas are used around antitheticals. Learn what those are and the exceptions to the rule.

Marketing a book can be tough, but if you become a white hat pirate, it will be a cinch. Follow these 17 tips teaching you how to become a book marketing pirate and sell more books today.

Client management doesn’t need to be stressful and time-consuming. Create clear systems and processes and you’ll feel on top of your client relationships in no time.

No more forgetting to send a client a message, no more wondering where you put their information … Instead, create your repeatable processes and stick to them.

Your main character(s) can make or break your book, so it is worth the time to get it right. Learn how to create a compelling character that will keep your reader turning the pages.

A misplaced modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that is separated from the word it describes. Learn how to spot them and fix them to avoid confusion and unintended humor.

Too many boring nonfiction books exist. Don’t add to the pile. Instead, write a good nonfiction by making your book more reader friendly, using these tips.

Bookkeeping and filing taxes don’t need to be stressful. Create clear systems and processes and you’ll feel on top of your finances in no time.

No stuffing receipts or invoices into a drawer or digital file. Instead create your repeatable processes and stick to them.

Self-help is an oversaturated market so your book may flop, but it also has a built-in audience, which can help your book soar—if you write a good one that is. So learn 6 tips for writing an effective self-help book that will reach audiences and do well.

While you may know when to use commas with coordinating conjunctions, when the conjunction is interrupted with a phrase or clause, comma placement can be tricky. Learn this more advanced comma rule and be in the know.

Save money on your editor and learn to edit for the most common word- and sentence-level issues in fiction. You will learn to be a better writer for having gone through this process and you will save money.

Email templates can save you a lot of time spent emailing so learn how to create them and what templates you may want to create for your editorial business. This blog also contains free email templates for you to download and modify.

When the organization of your nonfiction book is random and ideas seem disjointed, it impedes flow and makes it harder to follow your ideas. Even if your ideas themselves are clear, the lack of organization can muddle them. So learn how to determine chapter order, use headings and subheadings, and write effective transitions.

Commas can be tricky. Learn when you do and when you don’t use a comma with participial phrases.

Readers want to know your characters even in a plot-driven story. They don’t have to like your characters, but they have to know your characters. So how do you make this happen? By revealing character interiority. Without effective interiority, you hold your readers back from really engaging and immersing themselves in your story. Learn all about one of the secrets to a compelling novel, interiority: what it is and how to use it effectively.

Editing is a cognitively demanding skill, and with so much to think about, it is easy to overlook tasks to do and edits to look for. Checklists keep you organized and on track. Learn the power of checklists and how to create and use them.

Crime novelists need to make sure they get the details right when it comes to police work. So in this blog, learn the steps the police go through once a theft is reported to find the criminal and charge them with larceny, burglary, and/or robbery. And as a bonus, learn how to spice up detective work, so it isn’t too boring.

Whether you put punctuation inside or outside quotation marks depends on the punctuation and which regional rules you are following. Learn which punctuation marks go inside, which ones go outside, and which ones sometimes go in and sometimes out in US English.

Free indirect speech is a powerful tool when writing in third person. It gives you the intimacy of first person but with the flexibility of third person. Learn what it is and why you want to use this tool.

Self-publishing is not for the faint of heart. Because there are a lot of steps in the process, it can be a steep learning curve. Learn how to do each step well and the supporting help available to aid you in your journey.

If you are confident you can’t end a sentence with a preposition, shouldn’t split an infinitive, never should use the passive voice, and more, then, I have news for you: your English teacher may have led you astray.Let’s put those so-called grammar rules to rest, like the zombies they are.

“Show, don’t tell” is popular writing advice, but it can be tricky to understand what it really means. Telling is not always bad. But when it takes the reader out of an immersive experience or seems dry, you want to revise to show, don’t tell. This blog shows you how to do that in a variety of ways with clear examples.

Capitalizing words in titles and headings follows a set of style rules. It isn't as simple as capitalize the "big" words and lowercase the "small" words. This blog will walk you through those rules with clear examples.

Apostrophes help form the genitive, possessive, form, and while it seems straightforward to add an apostrophe to make a noun possessive, many of the rules are nuanced or misunderstood, so it's good to clarify. Learn when to use the apostrophe and s versus just the apostrophe and how to handle joint possession and gerunds.

While writing is highly subjective, some objective guidelines for good writing exist. For one, if you start too many sentences in a row with the same pattern (not necessarily the same word), your passage can sound monotonous or choppy. This isn't always the case. But it is a general objective guideline that good writing entails varying your sentence beginnings. Learn the various patterns for starting a sentence and when it's fine to have several in a row start the same way and when a rewrite may be in order. 

While double quotation marks have a lot of functions, in US English single quotation marks are only used in a few instances. Learn when to use single quotation marks effectively. 

No story can be complete without some telling. The advice "show, don't tell" should really be know when to show and when to tell. Learn when it is okay and even preferable to tell.

Quotation marks are used for more than just dialogue. They can be used to mark a word used as a word, indicate sarcasm or irony, and around titles of short works. Learn when and how to use them correctly with these examples with practice and answer key.

Using narrative distance effectively improves your readers' experience. Its important to know when to close the distance and when to go wide. This tutorial will teach you how to do so.

Most people know to use a comma after the city and before the state, but did you also know one comes after the state? Be in the know and master commas with cities and states.

While editors strive to do their best, it isn't realistic to expect perfection. So you will still find errors, but just know that some of those "errors" you found aren't actual errors. This blog discusses these issues and your options. 

A comma goes after introductions before the main independent clause. Learn 6 types of introductions and how to punctuate them.

Many authors hit marketing hard during launch, but then stop. Learn eight strategies you can use to continue to market your book post-publication.

Em dashes have become a much beloved punctuation mark. But they can't be placed anywhere, though they have much more room for stylistic expression than some other punctuation marks. Learn the one rule for when they have to be used and all the times you can opt to use one and why you might or might not want to.

“Show, don’t tell” is often repeated advice. This advice can frustrate writers because they believe they are showing when, in fact, they are telling and because no story can be complete without some telling.

This tutorial will focus on the first point of frustration: believing you are showing when you’re not.

Use a comma before relative clauses when they introduce a nonrestrictive phrase. Don’t use a comma when they introduce a restrictive phrase. Learn this rule with clear examples to help you punctuate like a pro.

I get that a heavily edited manuscript can look like an editor bled all over your work, but it often looks much worse than it is. Tracked changes can look overwhelming, but then when you dive in, you will see that a lot more of your original was retained. Learn how to effectively deal with a manuscript that looks like a battle zone, but really isn't because the editor is on your side.

En dashes have limited specific uses, and often people mistakenly use a hyphen instead. Learn when to turn that hyphen into an en dash.

Using these strategies, you can learn to write more concise, powerful sentences. Learn how to get rid of unnecessary wordiness through a variety of strategies.

A great stylistic choice is to use a colon between two independent clauses in specific instances. Learn in what situation this works and why it can help your work read better.

Action beats reveal a character’s movement, emotions, and motivations; affect the rhythm and tension of the scene; and can establish the setting. Learn how to write effective action beats and use them purposefully. 

A colon is used to introduce lists. Learn how to use them and test your knowledge with a practice and answer key.

If you can afford full editing services, you should do so. With that said, the more thoroughly you do self-editing, the less your full service editing services will cost you. This blog outlines five self-editing tasks you can do to reduce your editing costs.

Commas have three specific rules for using them with dates. Learn the rules, see examples, and practice your knowledge.

Semicolons are useful when you have wieldy, complex lists. Learn how to use them and practice your knowledge in this tutorial.

Authors sometimes think they need an proofreader when really they need an editor. Learn the difference between proofreading and editing, why proofreading comes last, and what proofreading includes.

Commas surround interrupters. This tutorial gives you examples of regular interrupters and how to punctuate them. Complete with practice and answer key.

Editing is expensive, but it helps if you understand the reason behind the cost. This blog explains why you aren't being ripped off and why paying rock-bottom rates may not be a good idea. It also outlines various ways you can save on the cost of editing if you have budget restraints.

Appositives are a specific type of interrupter, and like all interrupters they talk commas. Learn what they are, how to punctuate them, and test your knowledge with the practice and answer key.

Increase your book sales by creating an author newsletter. This blog walks you through 6 steps to building your newsletter and growing your audience.

Direct addresses are a specific type of interrupters. All interrupters take commas. So learn what these are and how to punctuate them, then test your knowledge with the practice and answer key.

Authors often include unnecessary explanations, which can annoy and frustrate readers. Trust your readers to follow your plot and your characters' development without explanations. This blog discusses five types of unnecessary explanations and gives examples so you can avoid overexplaining your novel's plot and characters.

Semicolons can be quite useful in joining sentences together. But they don't join just any sentences together. Learn when you might want to use a semicolon.

This tutorial walks authors through the process of creating their own style sheets. At the end of the blog, I have included some free downloadable style sheet templates.

Semicolons can be quite useful in joining sentences together. But they don't join just any sentences together. Learn when you might want to use a semicolon.

When a copyeditor works on your manuscript, they will prepare a style sheet. Learn what it is used for and how it can be helpful if you provide one for your editor.

Many incorrectly always use a comma with a dependent clause, but you don't always need them. Learn when you do and when you don't and then practice your knowledge and check the answer key.

Learn this basic rule of using commas with coordinating conjunctions (Fanboys) and you will be on your way to conquering commas.

Before starting the editing process, it helps to know what to expect from your editor. Having realistic expectations sets you up for a sucessful author-editor relationship.

Use a comma in between coordinate adjectives; do not use one in between cumulative adjectives. So what the heck are coordinate adjectives and how do you know when to use a comma? This tutorial will teach you and comes with a practice and answer key.

Readers do not enjoy info dumps. Learn what info dumps are, why it is a problem, and how to fix them.

Head-hopping is an easy trap to fall into. If you head-hop, it can pull your reader out of the scene and leave them feeling disoriented. So learn what it is, how it differs from an omniscient narrator, how to avoid it, and how to correct it if you do spot it. 

If too many of your sentences start the same way, your writing can begin to sound choppy and monotonous. This article explains how to vary your sentence beginning sand how to know when to do so.

A resume should help sell your unique skills, not just list what you did at your job. The vast majority of job seekers list their job duties, but this tutorial gives you five strategies to liven up your job bullets by highlighting your unique skills. So read this blog and start highligting your unique skills.

Knowing and using correct punctuation is useful. This blog posts teaches a basic grammar principle: using commas with coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS). Learn when to put a comma before "and," "for," "nor," "but," "or," "yet," and "so" and when you don't need the comma. 

Word's Track Changes is the industry standard for editing your manuscript, so it's important you know how to use this tool well.

Dialogue reveals character and moves the action along, but poorly written dialogue can have the opposite effect. This article explains how to avoid common dialogue mistakes, when to use internal dialogue, and gives examples of good and bad dialogue.

Many writers tend to overuse "be" verbs. While we need these words, strong writers often reword sentences to eliminate them, choosing powerful verbs instead. This article provides specific methods to eliminate them. Read and apply these strategies to strengthen your writing.

When writing dialogue tags, authors often fall into these common pitfalls. Avoiding these pitfalls will strengthen your dialogue tags, improving the pacing and characterization. So read this blog to discover how you can avoid these pitfalls and write better dialogue tags today.

Editing is essentially broken into four levels. This article will help you make an informed decision on the levels of editing you need, regardless of the term being used, and what to budget for your project.  Click here to learn what type of editing you may need and what to expect to pay for it.

Claims are thesis statements for argumentative essays. They should be debatable, but stated like a fact. This article gives examples of good claims, how to write a claim, and discusses types of claims. Read on and start writing powerful claim statements today.

This article will help you see how an editor works with you to make your material the best it can be in the time available. Understanding this will help you have realistic expectations and a better collaborative experience.

When writing an essay or a nonfiction book, it is important to have transitions connecting your topics together. This blog post describes how to do that in easy to follow steps, and then provides examples from essays and nonfiction books.

Every academic paper needs a clear, strong thesis statement. Learn how to write an effective theis statement for your paper.

Your career summary is prime real estate on your resume. Learn how to write an effective one that helps get your foot in the door for that interview.

People often say "good" when they mean "well," and grammar nazis often correct people who are actually using the right one. Learn which word to use.

This tutorial walks you through writing the hook and background information in an introductory paragraph for a variety of essay types.

This blog walks you through showing instead of telling your skills. Anyone can say they have a certain skill. You need to show it.