Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 182

Pitching a Nonfiction Series: The Work Before the Pitch

When I saw that Bearport Publishing was looking for new nonfiction series, I decided to pitch something to them.  There are several things I’ve had to do before I actually start working on the pitch. Read.  It’s a good thing that I like to read because step 1 is reading a serious stack of their […]

Writing Advice: It Ain’t One-Size-Fits-All

Today I read a blog post written by a well-known agent. She was warning people about taking advice from the people in their critique groups. “Just because someone is outspoken, does not mean they are knowledgable.”  I think we’ve all seen it – the outspoken person who has no picture book experience but oh so […]

Hi/Lo: Is This Right for You?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, hi/lo books are high interest with low reading level.  Some of these young readers are struggling.  For someone reason, perhaps dyslexia, reading doesn’t come easily and is often a struggle.  Others are reluctant readers.  Maybe they don’t live in “reading families.”  It can be hard […]

Fan Faves: Writing a Story that Fits into an Existing Universe

Another week spent on rewriting but I’ve also fit in time to watch some more LibraryCon sessions.  Today I watched a session on Fan Faves or writing a story that fits into an existing universe.  The panelists were: Jeremy Whitley who wrote My Little Pony, XMen, Hulk, Wasp and is currently working on Rainbow Brite. […]

Indie Bookstores on the Rebound

Good news for authors and readers – independent bookstores are on the rebound!  Approximately 40% of indie bookstores closed from the mid-1990s and 2009.  But sales are up more than 5% over last year. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, an independent or indie bookstore is a bookstore that is independently owned. It […]

NPR: Best Books of 2018

What?  This is not just another book list. During the fall of each year, NPR Books staff asks for suggestions from staff members as well as book critics.  “Send us your favorite books of they year.”  The responses come in and are reviewed by NPR Books as they take care to eliminate duplicates and work […]

Primary Sources Online: The National Archive and Native American Treaties

Especially if you are writing nonfiction, but also for fiction, it is a good idea to include primary sources whenever possible.  Primary sources are first hand accounts.  Diaries, letters and even photographs are primary sources.  Primary sources are important because they are uninterpretted.  You get what someone at the scene observed. This week when I […]

How NOT to Pitch Your Work

This weekend, I was reading blog posts and came across one by an editor who explained that certain key phrases in your cover or query letter will bring a hasty rejection.  I was surprised because I had seen warnings about some of them early in my career.  Apparently, the world has not wised up. For […]

Happy Thanksgiving

For those of you who celebrate, I’d like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.  Take the time to recharge your creative battery. I don’t know if this is just a MidWest thing but our Thanksgiving day tends to stretch into Thanksgiving Weekend.  Thursday, we have dessert with my Dad and dinner with my sister and […]

Picture Books: Rewriting a Problem Spread

Recently, I had to polish up a picture book and get it out now.  This wasn’t something I was drafting.  These were fine changes.  Fiddling with word sound and rhythm. I read my manuscript out loud. After all, a picture book is like a poem.  It has to work when read aloud. Most of my […]