Vote in the 🎁Holiday-Edition🎄 Book Battle:

+ Editors & tips to help you with that rough draft you wrote this year!

Great books more people should know of…

(that I wish someone had bought me for Christmas)

I love the random selection of books from the library to read that expands my overall “novel exposure,” but I also love sharing amazing books that deserve more publicity. All of these books are so good that I keep them on my Kindle for rereading (I’m very picky and keep very few books on there).

Here are the 3 page previews of each:

Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold

Historical fiction/ Murder Mystery about magicians in 1920s - 1930s California

An excerpt from the middle:

And onto the end (this part is just before the epilogue because wow, the end of the epilogue is something you must read for yourself)

The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G. Drews

Contemporary YA fiction with a lead character who has autism, set in Australia

Onto the middle page:

And for the finale:

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice

Cozy historical fiction with romance and mystery in 1950s England

The middle page:

And for the final paragraphs:

Alright, the poll is open for a week starting now, so tell me:

So you’ve finished a book draft this year. Now what?

I can highly recommend from experience that putting the first draft away for more than the measly one week advised by many is critical. You need detachment to revise a book, and then doesn’t come quickly when you’ve poured your heart and soul onto a stack of pages. Since self-editing is painful to do alone, you’re better off getting some outside perspective to save yourself a tremendous amount of time and energy.

These are people I trust to give helpful feedback for revisions:

Samuel Keir – Excellent for LGBTQA+ sensitivity reading, expertise in UK English, and an all-around great editor for both story structures and line edits.

Erin Grey – Wonderful editor for cozy mysteries, fantasy, and romance works of all kinds. She has experience in UK English and American English. Her specialties include sensitivity reading for neurodivergent characters.

But wait…what if I’m a DIY-type of person or can’t afford an editor right now?

Then go check out NYT bestseller Susan Dennard’s SubStack of writing advice. Scroll down to the header “On Revising” for actionable steps you can follow.

Susan Dennard

has a great newsletter in general for all things writing-related.

(⚠️Warning: If you have never revised your work before, this process is very challenging, so I would still buddy up with someone to study these things with. Swap your work with other beta readers because outside perspective is priceless.)