by Jamie Chavez | Feb 19, 2018 | The Book Biz
I might not have been blogging last year but boy, have I been editing—content, line, copy, you name it. Fiction and nonfiction, too, which is what we’ll discuss here.* I love it all, and I’ve been very busy. But I’ve noticed a disturbing trend: I’ve received several...
by Jamie Chavez | Nov 21, 2016 | Miscellany, Words & Language
Stationery is an old-fashioned word. Or maybe I just think it’s old-fashioned because I learned it a long time ago and I don’t see it used much any more, given our electronic culture. But no, my fave dictionary lists it as having appeared in 1688—which is old enough,...
by Jamie Chavez | Oct 2, 2016 | The Book Biz
This article has been around for a while and you may not have seen it. Excerpted from My Mistake: A Memoir, by Daniel Menaker (2013), it’s a humorous recap of Menaker’s rise and fall in the biz we all love. (Right? We love it, don’t we?) Too much here to choose a...
by Jamie Chavez | Jul 4, 2016 | The Book Biz
The title of a book is a big deal. It’s the first thing readers see, so it’s an important marketing tool. But there’s no magic formula to creating a good title. Whether fiction or nonfiction, the title should be catchy, interesting, unforgettable; it should get the...
by Jamie Chavez | May 23, 2016 | Books You Might Like, The Book Biz
Sometimes you come across miraculously insightful information where you least expect it. Like, in the pages of your Entertainment Weekly magazine. I’ll explain. Every writer I know—published or unpublished, experienced or less experienced—wants to know the magic...