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Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

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Dan Brown

All about pen names

December 8, 2009 by Nathan Bransford 149 Comments

Pen names

Aside from fiddling with fonts, contemplating acknowledgments sections, and/or finding the perfect quote to precede the start of the book, dreaming up pen names is a favored procrastination tool for many aspiring authors out there. As a result, I receive a whole lot of questions about them: should I include my pen name in the […]

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Filed Under: Book Marketing Tagged With: Dan Brown, Facebook, How to Find a Literary Agent, How to Promote a Book, Stephenie Meyer, Twitter, writing advice

Comparing Your Book to Other Books in the Query

November 10, 2009 by Nathan Bransford 90 Comments

One of the very most common questions I receive: how/whether to compare your book to another book or books in the query. I personally don’t mind at all if you compare your book to another book or author or two to put me in the right frame of mind. This is completely optional, so don’t […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Dan Brown, Harry Potter, How to Find a Literary Agent, How to Write a Query Letter, Twilight

Making Taste Overly Personal

October 6, 2009 by Nathan Bransford 149 Comments

In the annals of Great Ways to Annoy Literary Agents (TM), saying you wrote your book because you couldn’t find any good books to read (or, its crass corollary: because so many books are “trash”) may not be in the top 10, but it is at least in the top 5,000. (The list is infinite, […]

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Filed Under: Literary Agents Tagged With: Bestsellers, Dan Brown, Publishing Myths, Reading Like a Writer, Stephenie Meyer, writing advice

This Week in Publishing 10/2/09

October 2, 2009 by Nathan Bransford 86 Comments

This………… weekinpublishing First up, for those who are in the San Francisco Bay Area and who also happen to write suspense or thrillers or related materials, I will be meeting with the SF Sisters in Crime tomorrow at noon out in the Sunset. Dana promises to follow with details in the comments section, so if […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Charles Dickens, Dan Brown, E-books, Facebook, Future of Publishing, Publishing Myths, This Week in Publishing, Twitter

This Week in Publishing 9/18/09

September 18, 2009 by Nathan Bransford 62 Comments

This week! Publishing! Lots of good stuff this week in publishing, but first, I thought I’d lead with a tremendous post by my friend Kristin at Camels & Chocolate, who has some tough, honest, real-world advice about freelance travel writing. She should know – she’s extremely good and successful at it, which does not come […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Dan Brown, End of Publishing As We Know It, Google, literary agents, Self-publishing, The Bachelor, This Week in Publishing

Will Authors of the Future Need Publishers?

September 15, 2009 by Nathan Bransford 144 Comments

One of the theories I’ve seen espoused about recessions is that they are really about a massive reordering of the economy. Lingering inefficiencies suddenly become glaring and are trimmed, weak companies fail, the work force reorders itself, and the strong companies either extend their dominance or retrench. The economy reemerges more efficient and ready for […]

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Filed Under: Publishing Industry Tagged With: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Dan Brown, E-books, Future of Publishing, Publishing Economics, publishing industry, Self-publishing

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About Nathan

Hi, I’m Nathan. I’m the author of How to Write a Novel and the Jacob Wonderbar series, which was published by Penguin. I used to be a literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. and I’m dedicated to helping authors chase their dreams. Let me help you with your book!

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My Books

How to Write a Novel
Cover of How to Publish a Book by Nathan Bransford
Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapo
Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe
Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp

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