Category Archives: Editing—Publishing—Writing
Marketing Your Book
It’s a common complaint among authors that their publisher doesn’t do enough publicity for their book: the book tour is too short, if it exists at all; the advertising is too spare, if there is any; the reviews are too … Continue reading
How Do I Get My Book Published?
Once a week (at least) I receive an email from a friend who has a friend who’s written a book, and has no idea how to get it published. Can I help them? my friend asks. They don’t know what … Continue reading
A Berryful of Berry
I’m quite proud that everyone I’ve published at Lantern Books is still talking to me (when they haven’t died, that is), isn’t badmouthing the company (at least, not so I know—thank you, authors, for your discretion!), and receives royalties and/or statements twice … Continue reading
The Rights and Wrongs of Translation
Authors contact us at Lantern Books frequently because a devotee in another country has either offered to translate their book or has already done so and is looking for a publisher. What should we do? the authors ask. Consider this … Continue reading
Show Me the Money!
Occasionally, a prospective author will ask us at Lantern whether we give advances. Our answer is “no.” Here’s why. An advance is in effect an interest-free loan to an author. It’s meant to provide them with financial resources to enable … Continue reading
Reasons to Write a Book #3: The Medium Demands It
I’ve already touched on the compulsion one has to write and third-party credibility as a reason to write a book. Another, perhaps subtler, reason I like to give for writing a book is that it demands certain disciplines and constraints … Continue reading
The Em-Dash, En-Dash, and Hyphen
Among my many faults as a writer, I tend to overuse the dash—the em-dash, that is. A colon would work just fine in beginning a list or creating a long enough pause to make the phrase or clause that follows … Continue reading
Editorial Pet Peeves #2: Have You Finished Yet?
I receive a lot of manuscripts that the author tells me he or she’s finished with. This is usually a very loose translation of one or more of the following: 1. I’ve written around 75,000 words and that seems to … Continue reading
Editorial Pet Peeves #1: The Double Space After the Period
One of the first acts I perform when I receive a manuscript electronically is to find-and-replace double spaces with single spaces. It takes only a few seconds and it removes all those unnecessary gaps between words that will only irritate … Continue reading
Sometimes “Said” Should Be Taken as Read
When I was writing my zombie–P. G. Wodehouse spoof Bertie Wooster and the Lizard King, I decided to set myself the extra challenge of never using the verb “say” following direct speech. In other words, no “he said,” “she said,” … Continue reading
Martin Rowe 
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