In this post, I highlight four books that, in my view, offer fiction authors helpful insights that can help them make their own writing better on their own terms.

You can’t just make a cool video and expect it to get people interested in the book.

Say what you mean. It’s so simple in books, right? If it’s an important idea, bold it. Or maybe italicize it. If it’s a section header, make it big. Chapter title, make it really big. That’s all there is to it, right? Not quite. Not anymore.

As my first blog post here, I tip my hand about what gets my goat as an editor of fiction: words of wisdom, usually tossed out at writers by other writers, claiming some thing or other is “against the rules” when that thing is actually just a matter of choice—of authorial style.