You’re ready to take the next step, but manuscript submission can feel overwhelming. (Am I the only one who hadn’t heard anyone use the word ‘query’ in a hundred years before entering publishing?) Let’s take a zoomed-out look at what manuscript submission is and look at some resources that can help you with the process.

NYT Bestselling young adult and middle-grade author Jonathan Auxier joins Mary Kole to discuss visual writing, worldbuilding, and how different media use dialogue to create action.

CEO of independent publisher Girl Friday Productions Leslie Miller talks all things publishing, marketing, and building your platform as an author. She discusses the differences between traditional publishing, self-publishing, indie publishing, and hybrid publishing, and how to know which option is right for your project.

A conversation with Cidney Swanson, sci-fi author and recipient of the 2020 Good Story Grant.

On this month's episode, children's author Anna Staniszewski chats about her path to publication, writing for different age groups, and what it takes to make it as a full-time author.

Negative feedback can be confusing and hard to hear. Turn what feels like “no” into a mission to “go”!

You’ve written a killer query, researched your comps, and crafted your bio. Your opening is polished, and you slogged through the synopsis. Your submission package is ready! Now, how do you go about finding a literary agent for your children’s books?

Story Mastermind is a five-month small group workshop intensive. The deliverable is a fully workshopped novel draft and submission materials. We’ll give you a taste of how we discuss story in Novel Mastermind: from the premise, the elevator pitch, the logline; to theme, character objective, and stakes.

It may seem weird to talk about failure and rejection in writing context as a good thing. But I really want to help you reframe it, because the actual writing journey is rather long. If you don't enjoy the actual writing process, you're gonna have a tough time because there is so much rejection and failure inherent in that journey.

One way you might think about how to write a query letter is as a cover letter. It has its own rules and formatting for the literary world, but essentially you are pitching your project to your potential employer. So, what are the rules? How do you start?

If you have spent any time on the submission trail, you will notice that there are manuscript length guidelines for manuscripts that you may want to submit, and they are very category-specific. Here’s a run-through of children's books guidelines to get you started.

Writers are usually advised against braving the publishing world without an agent to represent them. Yet, unagented submissions exist for a reason, and there’s a time and place when they work—when they might even be the best option.

As a debut author querying a potential series, you’re in a much stronger position if you write one amazing manuscript with “series potential” than you are if you were the one needing multiple books to get your story told.

Decades-long agent, Rachel Orr, talks about real life clients as she shares what agents and editors are looking for, what to include in your query letter, and how to challenge the status quo.

Thinking about finding another literary agent? Here are some tips to help smooth the transition.

You have an offer of representation from a literary agent--now what? Here are some crucial questions to ask before you sign on the dotted line.

Here's what you need for a strong novel submission package that'll stand out to agents and publishers.

Writing a novel series? Here are some valuable tips on planning and executing your series, as well as how to pitch it to publishers.

Will agents and editors consider a revision of a manuscript they've already rejected? Check out this week's video for tips on resubmitting a revision to an agent.

You are so familiar with your story’s opening, you’ve created blind spots. You’ve most likely rewritten this part more than any other, so in your mind it might still contain information you deleted four iterations ago. So how do you know whether your first ten pages are submission-ready?