I love regularly reading tips and advice articles in certain subjects — particularly writing and publishing. I don’t always need the information right then, but I know that it’ll eventually come in handy. Or at least, I hope it will.
I know there are a lot of other people out there who feel the same way I do, but sometimes it can be difficult to find every useful advice article that’s out there. So I thought I’d bring you a few.
Here are the tips and advice articles that jumped out at me the most over the past week.
1. Query Question: more on earning out, from Janet Reid: Even though authors are concerned about when they’ll earn out their advances, whether or not it will actually happen is hard to predict. So it’s important not to get too caught up in figuring out when you’ll manage it. Excerpt: “It varies, seemingly indiscriminantly from one book to the next. Not even from one author, but book by book.”
2. The Structures of Harry Potter, from Book Riot: Certain genres follow a strict structure — romances, for example, always need to end with the protagonists ending up together. The first few Harry Potter novels followed the structure of the mystery genre, but the last few deviated from this. This change worked for the Harry Potter series, but that doesn’t mean it would work for every series. Excerpt: “The first interesting thing is the existence of the mystery plots in Harry Potter, and also the fact that eventually the series departs from them. That there is this split in the series is a point of ongoing fascination for me and is again something I talk about a lot.”
3. Put Your Best Work Out There: Avoid These 25 Newbie Writer Mistakes, from Jody Hedlund: Every new writer makes their share of mistakes. But it’s important that you learn to correct those mistakes. Excerpt: “When I’m judging contests, I can usually tell from the first page whether the writer is new (as in working on the first book or two), or whether the writer is more seasoned. In fact, most of the time I can tell a writer’s level of experience from the first paragraph or two.”
Miranda Burski 
Wow, that’s sorta scary about being able to judge a writer’s experience right off the bat. I guess it completely pays to make sure those first five are shining bright like a diamond. And now I have Rhianna stuck in my head… 😉
It scares me a bit that people can do it, too. Definitely need to make sure those first five shine.
…and now you have Rhianna stuck in my head, too, lol.