Julie Artz works with both award-winning and newer authors across the publishing spectrum from Big Five to small and university presses to indie and hybrid. She is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach, a sought-after speaker and writing instructor, and a regular contributor to Jane Friedman and Writers Helping Writers, and a regular instructor for AuthorsPublish, IWWG, ProWritingAid and more. Her work as a Pitch Wars and Teen Pit mentor, a former SCBWI Regional Advisor (WWA), and her memberships in The EFA, the WFWA, AWP, and the Authors Guild keep her industry knowledge sharp. A consummate social and environmental justice minded story geek, Julie lives in an enchanted forest outside of Redmond, Washington, with her husband, two strong-willed teenagers (when they’re not off at university!), and two naughty furry familiars. She’s built a thriving book coaching business based on her values, her editing chops, and her knowledge of story. Check out her weekly newsletter, Wyrd Words Weekly, and subscribe today.
[Wyrd Words Weekly] Are you ready to pitch? I can help you figure it out!
Hello Reader,
The single most common mistake writers make is querying before their manuscript is pitch-ready. I hear it all the time. If only I'd waited. If only I'd sent it to one more reader. If only I'd hired a book coach before I queried...
Querying too early burns your chance with your dream agent, leads to crickets in the inbox, and can lead to you shelving a viable story that truly just needed one more round of deep revision to shine.
That's why I'm passionate about keeping writers from pitching too early!
But how can you know for sure if your manuscript is ready? It's a tough question. And one I can help you answer for yourself without investing in a costly full manuscript edit or coaching package.
If there's one thing I learned from reading hundreds of query letters during my time as a Pitch Wars mentor, it's how to identify common story-level issues just from reading the pitch. And next month I'm going to teach you all my tricks when it comes to auditing that query for story-level issues.
Join me on October 9 at 4pm Pacific / 7pm Eastern for the next installment in my quarterly $25 webinar series: Is Your Manuscript Ready to Pitch?
I'll walk you through the four questions your query (and your story) must answer in this 75 minute workshop full of examples and tools, with plenty of time for Q&A at the end.
Hope to see you there!
Warmly,
Julie
PS - I'm also going to be teaching Planning, Plotting, and Drafting Your Novel alongside friend and fellow book coach Emily Colin for Authors Publish this fall. If you're looking for one-on-one feedback in a supportive environment this fall, this class may be for you! Check it out.
Julie Artz | author, editor, book coach, dragon
Julie Artz works with both award-winning and newer authors across the publishing spectrum from Big Five to small and university presses to indie and hybrid. She is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach, a sought-after speaker and writing instructor, and a regular contributor to Jane Friedman and Writers Helping Writers, and a regular instructor for AuthorsPublish, IWWG, ProWritingAid and more. Her work as a Pitch Wars and Teen Pit mentor, a former SCBWI Regional Advisor (WWA), and her memberships in The EFA, the WFWA, AWP, and the Authors Guild keep her industry knowledge sharp. A consummate social and environmental justice minded story geek, Julie lives in an enchanted forest outside of Redmond, Washington, with her husband, two strong-willed teenagers (when they’re not off at university!), and two naughty furry familiars. She’s built a thriving book coaching business based on her values, her editing chops, and her knowledge of story. Check out her weekly newsletter, Wyrd Words Weekly, and subscribe today.
Hello Reader, I've been neglecting the "What I'm Reading" portion of my newsletter in all the busy-ness of the past few months, so today is a double-header. If you're looking for something to distract you from the news once you get your ballot in, this is the newsletter for you! Even though I'm mostly writing adult fiction these days, my love of middle grade endures. And part of the reason for that is the hope and heart that is so much a part of my favorite middle grade stories. This week,...
Hello Reader, I'm just about on the other side of a month of busy-ness and I'm not going to lie: I'm tired. But I also experienced some deep magic that has rekindled my writing spark. If you've been around here long, you know I'm almost as big a music buff as I am a book nerd. And this past weekend was something I would call once in a lifetime if not for the fact that I got to experience it last summer as well: Joni Mitchell and the Joni Jam. Bear with me, even if you don't love Joni the way...
Hello Reader, Ever since I read Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism this past spring, I've been grappling with my feelings about social media. Remember the good old days of Twitter, when we were a cozy little writing community running pitch contests, giving each other support and feedback, and tagging everything with #amwriting and #writingcommunity? At the same time, I was logging into Facebook daily to see photos of my friends and family instead of endless ads and toxic political memes. Sigh....