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Platforms: Your Background Matters–Writer’s Digest magazine (April 2008)

In today’s highly saturated book market, a strong publicity and marketing campaign requires authors to have a solid platform to get the kind of media attention necessary for sales. But what is a platform, how is it used, and how do you go about building one? How can it affect the advance a publisher offers you and whether you get an offer at all? Why does a platform help you sell more books? What kind of platform is right for your project? I explain all this and more in my article “Platforms: Your Background Matters.”

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The Care and Feeding of Editorial Assistants–Writers’ Journal magazine (Sept/Oct 2007)

Few writers know this, but editorial assistants (EA) are the gatekeepers of publishing. In the world of towering slush piles and deep agented-submissions bins, EAs are often the first to look at submissions. They screen calls and fend off anxious authors and would-be authors. In book publishing (and, I would guess, magazine publishing as well), the proper care and feeding of editorial assistants is the key to gaining an editor’s attention and developing a solid relationship with your publisher.

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Begin at the Beginning–Writers Weekly (June 2007)

So you’ve sent a fascinating query letter and the agent of your choice has asked you to send three chapters of your novel. But he didn’t specify which chapters! Do you send the first three, the last three, a random selection?

A member of the online writers’ group I participate in recently posted that she’d…

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The Streets of San Diego–J3tlag.com (December 2005)

For the now defunct travel website J3tlag.com, I wrote a travel piece on San Diego’s history as a city of ill-repute as learned via walking tour.

The bright and shiny SoCal mecca of San Diego is known for its glorious weather, fine beaches, and laid-back, come-as-you-are vibe. Oh, and Sea World. In other words, it’s thought to be warm, inviting, and, well, sort of bland. But San Diego was founded on the backs of seedy bars and brothels. For under $20, you can spend an afternoon traipsing the streets on a guided walking tour that will take you through back alleys and inside grand hotel lobbies, revealing the city’s secrets in a way no museum can…

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SparkNotes’ Philosophy 101 (SparkNotes, 7/05)

Busy students need the themes and concepts of coursework explained in simple, easy-to-understand language. This book addresses nineteen major Western philosophers, from Plato to Sartre. Concise biographies introduce each philosopher, followed by overviews of the major themes, arguments, and ideas that run through each philosopher’s work. Each chapter also provides in-depth summary and analysis of…

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