Writer's Digest

This year has been defined by disruption layered on growth. Book sales surged in romance and darker genres, with Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros setting a historic sales record. But the business also showed cracks: NaNoWriMo shut down, major arts funding was withdrawn from authors and publishers, and mass-market paperbacks are disappearing from retail. Most noteworthy of all, AI copyright rulings have introduced uncertainty for years to come. The year highlights the paradoxes of today’s market: Readers are buying more than ever, but the foundations that sustain publishing are shifting underfoot. Onyx Storm Becomes Fastest-Selling Adult Title in History Onyx Storm, the latest installment in Rebecca Yarros’ romantasy series, sold 1,288,300 hardcovers, including both deluxe and standard editions, during its first week on sale, based on Circana BookScan figures. That’s…

Every once in a while, I encounter an author whose writing style vibes with my own, and I feel a deep, almost spiritual connection with that author. A few years ago, I was reading a novel by Michael Crichton and found myself really connecting with his writing style. One night while writing my novel, I came to a tricky cliffhanger. I wondered what Crichton would have thought about it and how he would’ve handled it. Later that night, while reading, I encountered a similar cliffhanger in his novel that was almost identical to the one in my novel, and it answered my question! Crichton handled the situation gracefully, with a technique that I wouldn’t have thought to use. The experience taught me that mega-bestselling authors operate on a completely different…

When a story isn’t working—when you know it’s not quite coming together, when beta readers and critique partners confirm your fears but can’t put a finger on why, or you’re not getting offers from agents or publishers—savvy authors start trying to diagnose the issue by examining its component parts, like characterization, plot, and stakes. But often, the problem is both more intrinsic and overarching than any one storytelling element; authors get lost in the trees and can’t quite get a grip on the forest. If you know your story lacks something, the problem may be a missing, vague, or undefined central story question. What a Story Question Is (and Isn’t) The simplest way to think of your story question is as the main unknown that readers are reading to find…

I started college in an art conservatory, but after a string of straight Cs, quickly learned that life wasn’t for me. In search of a new calling, I decided I wanted to write novels. But instead of creative writing, I switched my major to journalism. Because, I figured, that’s where the real money was. (If you find it hard to trust anything I say at this point, I wouldn’t blame you.) I got my degree, and after college got a job at a local paper, chasing calls on the cop scanner. I didn’t make much money—but it taught me a number of things suited for a career writing novels: how to meet a deadline, how to work quickly, how to collaborate, how to navigate a crime scene, how to be less…

Oh, my goodness, how writing income has changed in only a few years. Once upon a time, a writer simply found the masthead of a magazine and emailed the editor, or sent letters of introduction to a company with a few clips. Today, there are job boards galore, and quite reputable ones. What’s even better is that gig managers and employers know how to use these sites now. A recent difference is sites incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their job-seeking equation. AI initially reviews many writing résumés to match need to talent, and the dynamic seems to work. Many of those jobs expect a writer to understand AI as well. And social media? Between LinkedIn and X, Reddit and Facebook, one can’t not find writing jobs. And freelance job announcement…

Many individuals and groups helped participate in compiling the information for the pay rate chart below. Here are a few of the groups: American Literary Translators Association – LiteraryTranslators.org American Medical Writers Association – AMWA.org American Society for Indexing – ASIndexing.org American Society of Journalists and Authors – ASJA.org American Translators Association – ATANet.org American Writers & Artists Institute – AWAI.com Amy Suto – AmySuto.com Association of Independents in Radio – AIRMedia.org Best Writing – BestWriting.com/jobs Behance – Behance.net ChillSubs – ChillSubs.com Contena – Contena.co/jobs Contra – Contra.com Diana Kelly Levey – DianaKelly.com Editorial Freelancers Association – The-EFA.org FlexJobs – FlexJobs.com Freelance Success – FreelanceSuccess.com Freelancer FAQs – FreelancerFAQs.com Freelancing Females – FreelancingFemales.com Freelance Writing – FreelanceWriting.com FundsforWriters – FundsforWriters.com GTS Translation – GTS-Translation.com Indeed – Indeed.com Investigative Reporters &…