Writing
Advice and Tips

When you approach a publisher or agent, they aren’t just reading your book — they’re looking at you. In non-fiction, the author is part of the product. Publishers want writers who show up, take a stand, and are already in conversation with the world. A platform doesn’t have to be huge, but it does need to be alive. They want voices that are visible, engaged, and unafraid to be heard. They’re also asking practical questions: What’s the big idea? What does the reader gain?

Still midway through the book? Or stuck on your first version? Or it’s still sitting unfinished. Oh boy does it take a lot of real grit to finish a book. Starting is the fun bit. I start with great enthusiasm and a spring in my step. Its really fun getting all the information into the right place and doing the interviews and research.

YOU WANT TO FINISH? Stick to these rules 1. Set a deadline to start ... this means to stop plotting and planning and start writing. This means starting your story at page 1, and not turning back again. 2. Have targets that are outcomes-based not hours-based. Many writers say they will write for an hour a day. On my mentorships I set targets at 25,000 words a month. 3. Set a realistic deadline to complete your first draft of the book. Then stick to it. A good goal is to h

Writing can truly change your life. You have heard this before, right? Writing all of mine changed my life in very unexpected ways. Hint - it wasn't ever about my bank balance. So often we think the endgame of writing a book is becoming an author or having a bestseller. Well, most of my authors find the real reward is so much more intangible and subtle. One thing I do know after 20 years in the book business is that it is absolutely never about money. Writing is not often

I always used to tell writers NOT to write about themselves. For years and years. This was in the interests of cultivating good fiction authors. And before memoir stormed the charts. I still believe you shouldn't.... but that's for FICTION (or a novel). Because if you write about yourself in fiction, you really only have one story to tell. It is also a totally misunderstood maxim of writing that you must ‘write what you know.’ Many writers misinterpret this to mean – write ab

Who are the writers that actually get published? Starting a book? That is the (relatively) easy bit. Keeping going is a bit harder. You start off with a bang, writing every day, working on your plot. But as the months drag on and the going gets tough you start to make excuses. Work is pressing, kids are demanding, too much travel, family coming to visit. No time. You will do it later…. Now is not the right time for you. Next year…later in the year.What really happens? The

I was stopped at a recent Literary Festival by a debut author who ran up to me, waving wildly. She had just released her book and was very excited. She told me that she had a publishing consultation with me many moons ago, and I had told her to go back on her book, relook at it and ‘take her time'. I had (apparently) told her that her book was not ready yet. “I will meet you in the middle of your story,” I had told her. “But you need to do the work first. Take a year”