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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Sep 3

Any time I work with a nonfiction client, I ALWAYS refer them to Eric’s resources. If you’re writing nonfiction, this workshop is absolutely sure to be gold.

Eric Smith @ericsmithrocks.bsky.social · Sep 3

Since my summer query one went so well, I’m doing another workshop in the winter.

Come hang! The goal is to help get a nonfiction book proposal wrangled up and polished.

These workshops will help fund my free events in the New Year. www.ericsmithrocks.com/blog/2025/9/...

Winter Workshop: Building the Nonfiction Book Proposal — ERIC SMITH

Hey friends. So my first attempt at a self-run workshop this summer was a really wonderful success. A few dozen folks signed up, we worked on query letters and opening pages, and at the end of the si...

www.ericsmithrocks.com

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Sep 3

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Aug 9

“Agents can’t possibly tell if they’re gonna love the book in just the first five pages!!!”

Right. But they can tell if it’s not right for them in that amount of time. Sample pages are a filtering tool, and if the agent isn’t hooked, then they’re never gonna fall in love the way they need to.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Aug 8

Today I told A Man what I do for a living and in the course of that conversation he laughed at the phrase “self published rapid release romances”

So, in case you need some spite and rage to fuel your work today 🫡

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Aug 7

Literary agents are paid on commission. When you receive money from a publisher, your agent takes a 15% cut.

They do not charge reading fees or submission fees or maintenance fees. Do not pay for representation up front.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 30

Well that’s a delightful new thing to worry about.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 28

It keeps coming up with some version of “I buy SOME books so it should be okay that I only steal SOME OTHER books” and that just simply isn’t how ethics work

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 27

I don’t know why the pro-book-pirating crowd keeps popping up in my algorithm but I don’t support piracy.

Use your library. Shop used. Borrow from your friends. Ask for books/bookstore gift cards as gifts.

Unless you live in a place where the book is literally illegal:
Don’t. Steal. Books.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 23

It’s always a different question. Sometimes it’s about stakes, sometimes about structure, sometimes motivations.

But there’s always *something* the author couldn’t see and I love helping them see it.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 23

I’ve been doing “premise and plot” chats with authors, helping them work through stories that are giving them trouble and it has to be some of the most rewarding work I’ve done.

There’s always one question that the author hadn’t thought of that unlocks the whole story. It’s like magic.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 15

This is the truth

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 15

Prologues, but on youtube instead of tiktok this time. And they decided I was too ugly to be taken seriously at my actual job so that’s fun too 🙃

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 15

And also… they can just do a hard thing and ignore the lady on the internet!

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 15

Absolutely love when someone asks for advice and I give advice to that person and basically the advice is “that’s gonna be hard to sell and here’s why” and dudes come from all over to tell me I’m wrong because their favorite something something whatever did it forty years ago so I must be stupid

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 14

I’m a “training wheels” and “bumper pads” kind of parent so we slowly introduce elements of smart phones but when I was a teacher I was genuinely shocked by how many kids just … had the whole internet in their pocket with no supervision at all

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Reposted by Gina Denny

Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · Jul 14

1. Scam alert thread! 🧵

Watch out for out-of- the-blue emails from supposed marketing experts claiming they just happened on your book & are eager to promote it. This is something I'm seeing more and more of. Marketing scams aren't new, but this is a new twist.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 12

I’m just an editor, standing in front of your manuscript, begging you to stop making your characters wink every couple pages

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 11

The medium and big publishers have huge marketing departments. Watch BookJobs.com for marketing job opportunities

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This page has been generated automatically. If you are the server administrator and you feel that you have reached this page in error, then try completing the following steps. Please consult the (mt) KnowledgeBase articles below for more information.

BookJobs.com

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 10

The same as more than half of all vowels I say: uh. Which is also how the “a” sounds in that word

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 10

So much of it is just a bunch of unsexy business decisions and people do not want to hear about it

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 9

If you think traditional publishing doesn’t do *any* marketing, you might just not understand what marketing is.

They can and should do more, especially for their marginalized authors and mid list authors. But they are never doing “nothing”.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 8

If you start writing a new wonderfully weird idea, but you run into trouble executing that wonderfully weird idea, there are two possible causes:

1. it’s a dumb idea that won’t work
2. you’re a visionary genius & the only person who can pull it off

The only way to know? Keep writing.

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Reposted by Gina Denny

Eric Smith @ericsmithrocks.bsky.social · Jul 7

Woke up to lots of A.I. and… em dash discourse?

If you’re a new writer getting stressed over that, please know using the beloved em dash, en dash, or just a regular ol’ dash is normal and perfectly fine.

Don’t let social media twist you into knots over here.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 4

This is what unilateral control of the federal government looks like. And it’s bad.

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Gina Denny @ginad129.bsky.social · Jul 4

My ten-year-old is playing Fortnite in his Homer Simpson slippers with headphones on, singing along to Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack at the top of his lungs and it’s the cutest thing to happen in my house in a long time

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