Hi everyone, I have finally managed to get my act together enough to make a newsletter, and you can be the first to sign up here! By joining my newsletter, you agree to receive occasional emails from me with all my up-to-date book news, giveaways, book recommendations, publishing industry insights, and writing tips. You can… Continue reading Win a free copy of my book!
Category: writing
The Girl Next Door
I am finally able to reveal the cover for my second book, The Girl Next Door! I love this jacket so much - the designer Anna Sikorska has done an amazing job. It's always so nerve-wracking seeing your cover for your book (and this was actually not the first one I was shown) but I'm… Continue reading The Girl Next Door
Writing a Psychological Thriller
I did a workshop a couple of weeks ago at the lovely Chiswick Book Festival (which if you've never been I'd really recommend, it happens every September I think and there's a huge range of brilliant talks - everything from cookery demonstrations to author panels and discussions) - anyway, my workshop was on how to… Continue reading Writing a Psychological Thriller
Upcoming book events!
I am speaking at a couple of literary festivals this summer which I'm very excited about! I am also running a workshop on writing a psychological thriller on September 15th at the Chiswick Book Festival, so if you think you have a novel in you, please do come along! Tickets here (booking advisable). For those… Continue reading Upcoming book events!
Two more books!
One of my dreams came true this week, which was to be able to tell everyone that I have signed up for two new books with the fabulous HQ Stories, a commercial division of HarperCollins. You can read the release in The Bookseller here, and The Girl Next Door will be published on April 4th,… Continue reading Two more books!
Responding to edits on your book
As an editor, part of my job is to send authors feedback on their novels and let them know what I think is working well, and what perhaps needs a little more work. As a writer now too, I’ve also experienced this from the other side and I wanted to do a quick post about… Continue reading Responding to edits on your book
Restructuring your novel
Someone on Facebook recently posted to ask me about how to restructure an entire book if it needs a bit of an overhaul. This is something I work with authors on at Avon, and it’s also something I had to do for my own book, so I do have a few tips on the best… Continue reading Restructuring your novel
On being kind to each other
I recently had a bit of an odd experience in an author Facebook group, and it got me thinking about the wider writing community. I suppose I have been lucky – this was the first time I’d ever been subjected to online hate, and let me tell you, it wasn’t a picnic in the park!… Continue reading On being kind to each other
Writing a first draft
I had someone ask a question recently about how to write a first draft and thought I'd do a blog post on this. The short answer is: you just have to write it! That's not the most helpful piece of advice in the world, but it is the truth. Writing out that first draft can… Continue reading Writing a first draft
Writing a Synopsis
When I first started trying to write, I spent ages agonizing over how to craft a good synopsis to send to literary agents. It was before I worked in fiction publishing, so I didn't have as much knowledge about how it all worked as I do now. But after a question from the lovely Rae… Continue reading Writing a Synopsis
Happy new year!
I wanted to just say a huge thank you to everybody who has been following along with my little blog so far - it's been a lot of fun writing about the publishing world and I hope to do more in 2018! This year has been a very exciting one book-wise, and The Doll House… Continue reading Happy new year!
Plotting vs winging it
Whenever I speak to other writers, one of the things I'm always endlessly curious about is whether they plot out every stage of their novel, or simply start writing and see where the book takes them. I'm definitely in the latter camp, although I did try to plot as much as I could for my… Continue reading Plotting vs winging it
The 2018 First Novel Prize
I'm really honoured to have been asked to judge the 2018 First Novel Prize next year alongside literary agent and author Sam Copeland. Sam and I will be reading manuscripts next summer and entries open in February 2018, so if you are an unpublished or self published writer (i.e. you own the rights to your… Continue reading The 2018 First Novel Prize
Self-publishing vs traditional: author interview with Mel Sherratt
I'm so delighted to be hosting the wonderful writer Mel Sherratt on the blog today. I've had quite a few people asking me about self-publishing over on Facebook, and because my experience is only in traditional I decided I needed a bit of an expert to step in, and Mel very kindly agreed to answer… Continue reading Self-publishing vs traditional: author interview with Mel Sherratt
Managing your writing time
One of the things people ask me quite often is about time - how there's time to write, especially when you have a full time job/several other jobs/children or a family to look after. I don't have kids so I can't currently comment on that, but I will say that I have the utmost respect… Continue reading Managing your writing time
Phoebe Morgan 