Including dialogue in your memoir is a great way to bring those pages to life and add authenticity to your account. While the topic of memory and conversations in memoir is important to consider, this post focuses solely on the mechanics of punctuation in the dialogue, covering the basics to get you started. Where does the comma go? When do you use capital letters? What’s a dialogue tag? You’ll have the answer to these very questions by the end of this post! Certainly one t

Yes, I am mentioning Christmas in August. But seeing as Christmas is a popular deadline for launching books (who doesn’t love getting a book for Christmas?), let’s see what’s involved to get your book published for Christmas. I imagine you’re thinking that August to Christmas gives you LOADS of time for publishing, but if Christmas is a deadline you’re working towards, there are several factors to consider. While I am referring to self-publishing your book in time for Christm

When you’re writing a book, at some point you will need to review its structure. This approach varies from writers who do this at the very start of their book process and continue refining it as they write their book, to those who just start writing with a very loose agenda. A well-structured book is crucial to its readability: too much jumbling and flitting from one point to the next and your reader will have a hard time keeping up – at worst they will stop reading the boo

Copyediting is your book’s final edit. It’s the line-by-line edit that amends any grammatical or spelling errors, and makes revisions to improve flow and readability. This means once you receive your book back from the copyeditor, you are expected to focus on which revisions you agree with, rewriting or deleting huge chunks of your book. Once your book has been copyedited, the next stages in the publishing process are typesetting (formatting your manuscript into a book) and

Knowing you want to write and publish a book is one thing, working out how to get your book published is another. These days, there are three routes to publishing your book: 1. Traditional 2. Self-publishing 3. Hybrid There is no ‘right’ way to publish your book. It all depends on the goals for your writing and book, along with your lifestyle and spare time (I know, I know, what’s that??). I advise you go through each of the publishing options in turn

Do you write the book you want, or the one you think you should? I hadn’t planned it this way, but the start of a new year (January 2026) is a natural time to think about writing or publishing a book. New year, new goals might be a bit of a cliché, but we just can’t help setting new or revised goals for the year, and for many aspiring authors, this will be the year you write your book. But before you start on chapter one, there’s an important question to consider: are you g

When it comes to publishing your book, I bet you’ve heard of editors (hi!), book cover designers, proofreaders, and marketers. But have you heard of beta readers? You’re not alone if you haven’t. Most first-time authors I speak to haven’t heard of beta readers, but it’s something I recommend any self-publishing author adds to their publication timeline. By the end of this blog post, you'll know: - What a beta reader is - Why you should use beta r

Self-publishing is a tricky balance between rushing and procrastinating. It’s all about setting realistic deadlines and understanding how long each part of the publishing process takes, such as how long editing a book takes. Once you’ve found a book editor you want to work with, you need to work out when your manuscript will be ready for editing. Submit it too soon, and you’ll end up paying for extra services like more time needed on the first round or paying for additional

Microsoft Word is still regarded as the industry standard for writing and editing. There’s nothing to stop you using the likes of Google docs or Apple’s Pages, but they won’t have the full capability offered by Microsoft Word. However, it’s important to stress here that writing and editing is not the same as publishing. When it comes to formatting and getting content ready to publish, you need to remember that Microsoft Word is a word processor. So it’s top dog for writing

Self-publishing a top-quality book involves more than just writing great content. One crucial element that could make all the difference to producing a professional and polished book is including the right front and back matter – from the contents page to the acknowledgements, and how to get those wonderful reviews for your front cover. Executing this with finesse will elevate your book so it’s on an equal footing with traditionally published books. This blog post will guide

The amount of time it takes to self-publish your book will depend on many factors, including word count, budget, and deadline. One element that is constantly underestimated is how long it takes to edit a book. That’s why understanding what’s involved in the editing process from final draft to published book is imperative for self-publishing authors. The editing process is the longest stage of self-publishing a book (after writing it, of course!) Knowing exactly what’s involve

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been sharing my thoughts and advice on how to switch your mindset towards your first draft, so that you can expect less and achieve more. Here, I collate my various analogies and reminders so you have somewhere you can turn to the next time you think ‘This book is rubbish!’. Read on to find out why your book is like a pancake; the difference between a first and final draft; what the first draft is for; why I don’t want to read your first draft,

The world of publishing can be completely overwhelming when you first enter it: from all the unique terms (‘what is copyediting?') to the different job titles used in the editorial business, it’s no wonder most first-time authors just don’t know where to start, or how long it takes to edit and self-publish a book. Knowing what’s involved in each stage of the editing process and how long each one takes means you can plan for them and allow enough time for each part of the edit

Rachel Ann Cullen has published four non-fiction books. Her first two books were published by Blink Publishing, whose featured authors include Josh Widdecombe, Katherine Ryan, and Lou Sanders. Her first book was published in 2018 and her second followed in 2020. Her third book was published in 2022 by Vertebrate Publishing. In December 2022 I received an unexpected Christmas present. It was clearly a book, but I didn’t recognize the return address. When I opened it on Chris

I’m sure you’re aware of the power of storytelling in your non-fiction book, especially if you’re writing a memoir. But are you telling stories or simply stating your version of events? Here’s what I mean to explain the difference. Version 1 I finally got an appointment with the physio. She identified the cause of my knee pain and gave me some exercises to do, and was hopeful I’d recover in 4 to 6 weeks. Version 2 After 19 long weeks I finally got an appointment with the phys

… and why you should write a non-fiction book! Up until early adulthood, I associated non-fiction with fact and textbooks, reserved solely for STEM subjects: reading for pleasure always took the form of fiction. During these teen and early adult years, when I first imagined myself becoming a book editor, I assumed I’d edit adult or children’s fiction. I first enjoyed reading non-fiction in my final year as an undergraduate student and then during my postgraduate master’s degr

1. You don’t have to stick to one genre One of the most common reasons authors decide to self-publish is because they’ve been told (or they assume) the concept for the book crosses over multiple genres[AS1] . If you’re known for a certain niche (due to your business or personal history), you don’t have to worry about fitting your niche into pre-determined genres or book types set out by a publisher. With self-publishing, you can bend the rules of what’s expected from certain

I launched my proofreading and book editing business from our local Aldi car park on 19 July 2022. By that I mean I published an Instagram post which told everyone I was officially open for business. Launch day! 19 July 2022, from my local Aldi car park. Photo credit: Siân Smith Here’s a recap of my clients and projects from July 2022 to July 2023: First-time author, Lisa Towers, who felt her original book edits could be improved. (Simply Anxious, 30,000 words). First-time au

Spellcheck, Grammarly, and other editing programs can be incredibly useful. Professional copyeditors and proofreaders use at least one proofreading program when working with written content (often two or more). Certainly, it’s best to run your written content through one or more of these programs before you press ‘publish’, as they will catch errors that would otherwise have been missed. However, editors and proofreaders don’t rely on JUST those programs. We allow for the won

The most common concern I hear from authors during our discovery call is the worry that an editor will change their book beyond recognition. I’ve spoken to authors who have received sample edits from other editors and been disheartened by the number of changes to their writing, causing them either not to proceed with that editor or not to publish their book at all. First, it’s really important to understand that there will be numerous amends to your manuscript. Many of these