I'm still here...

For those arriving here for the first time, or other readers who haven't been for a while: I have stopped blogging here, though all the info is still here for you. I have a new blog, Heartsong, which will include advice for writers as well as more personal and general stuff. So, do hop over to my brand new sparkly website where you will find the Heartsong blog beautifully embedded by my wonderful designer, Andrew Brown of Design4Writers.

Meanwhile I wish you an exciting and fulfilling 2013. May your words flow and your heart sing and your readers be all agog. And may we all achieve almost everything we deserve! Well, I wouldn't want to achieve it all - then I'd have nothing left to hope for in 2014...

All my advice about publishing and writing

This is the last post but one. After tomorrow, there will be no more crabbit!

Before I go, I want to make sure that you know that my advice is still available. I've deleted some irrelevant blogposts but left everything else intact. I may still do some workshops and events, but please don't ask me any more Dear Crabbit questions or email me for advice. I just can't do it any more, or not if I want to return to being a children's writer. I know most of you understand and you've been terrifically supportive.

However, the best advice is in my books for writers. These are not rehashing of blog posts: books are different. My books are coherent, structured, deeply considered, and professionally edited. Even the short ones took a great deal of time and care - it often takes longer to write something short than something long!

For a comprehensive guide to catching that elusive deal with agent or publisher, try Write to be Published. This is in print and ebook format and is published by Snowbooks. Scott Pack, publisher with Harper Collins, said, "I receive a lot of emails from authors asking for guidance on how to take the next steps to publication. In future I will just point them in the direction of this book.” And Joanne Harris said "Nicola Morgan is made of awesome!" Sorry, can't help mentioning that :)

For a detailed guide to writing a synopsis, an ebook described by top agent Carole Blake as "pure gold", try Write a Great Synopsis. It aims to remove all fear and even make writing a synopsis a satisfying process.

For a detailed guide to writing the query letter or covering letter, an ebook described by another top agent, Oli Munson, as "packed with sage advice," you need Dear Agent.

And for a guide to how Twitter can work for you, Tweet Right - The Sensible Person's Guide to Twitter will do the trick. From an Amazon review (not written by me!) - "A really straightforward, funny, no-nonsense look at twitter and how to do it. I've found it invaluable and it gave me the confidence to try tweeting. It's also good on the etiquette so you don't make a fool of yourself or annoy people."

Don't forget: you do not need a Kindle or any special reading device to read an ebook. You can download free software to buy Kindle books or epub versions from eg Lulu. All my ebooks are available in Kindle and epub versions.

Two last questions for DEAR CRABBIT

Ellie asked:

I know you've been published by a range of presses but, I was wondering, how many agents have you had? I'm currently working on my novel but after it's done I'll be going back to my Christian non-fiction book and then my children's book ideas. I'm thinking, in addition to needing different publishers for each of these I will need a different agent also. Is that correct?

Yes, we are all independent

We're all independent, we authors. Whether we are self-publishing, or publishing with trade presses, or a mixture. Some people use the word "indie" for self-publishing, which reveals a misunderstanding of what being a "published" author is. And, for those of you who are looking for a publisher for your work, it's important to know.

DEAR CRABBIT: question about covering letters

As this blog winds down, I have a final question for Dear Crabbit:

Dear Crabbit
I've just finished reading Dear Agent, and I wish there had been such a straight forward, helpful book around when I first started submitting my writing to publishers and agents!

I hope you don't mind but I have a query about the 'cook paragraph'. I don't have many writing credits - 2 e-published short stories (via [name redacted]). One is erotic horror and therefore relevant in regard to my supernatural suspense novel. The other is gay fiction - again it's supernatural suspense, so relevant - but there is a stronger erotic element (however, it is not erotic romance). I am simply not sure whether to include this information in my covering letter... or how to include it, exactly.

Avoiding negativity online

Today I'm over on the Awfully Big Blog Adventure.

A new blog baby: Caroline Young

Just as this blog approaches retirement, I'm delighted to introduce to you a new blog baby. (A blog baby is a blog-reader who gets a trade publishing deal and says that the advice on this blog helped her/him to that.)

DEAR CRABBIT: what if I can't afford professional editing?

From a blog comment:

Dear Crabbit,
It would be great if you did a post on the best things we can do if we can't afford a full-editing service, Nicola. I'm on a strict family income and spending on my writing just can't take centre stage. I can save and build some money to use, and would love to know the best way to spend it to get the best advice for my work. I can see how important outside proof reading and editing can be, so I want to get it right with my limited resources!

Dear Agent: Extract 5 - What not to say

As well as containing step-by-step advice about how to write every part of the letter that you hope will catch you an agent and/or publisher, Dear Agent highlights many of the things not to do, the often-invisible pitfalls that so many writers fall into.

To coincide with the workshop I'm giving about pitching, today at Edbookfest, here are some of them, in the fifth of my free extracts from the book (before proof-reading):

Will the real Nicola Morgan please stand up?

Dear readers and new visitors,
Since I'm aware that many people are being sent over to this blog to see what I do - thanks to the upcoming Edinburgh World Writers' Conference - I may as well tell you something.