The Chopping Blog

Publishers Marketplace is a goldmine for authors who want a better understanding of the current market.

Join our mailing list or watch the blog for more announcements about upcoming writing contests!

Children’s books can provide a master class in how to tell a complex story in a short space.

Agenting is ideally a long-term relationship, so it’s important to connect not just on that one manuscript, but on the author’s ideas and concepts for the future.

The Darling Axe is launching a new project—Darling Indie.

I love my authors above all else. I find them all to be quirky and engaging and smart and challenging and awesome.

The plot of Jane Austen’s most famous novel of manners, Pride and Prejudice, is remarkably intricate for a book that has been described as “just a bunch of people going to each other’s houses.”

All the craft in the world won’t help you if you don’t spend time filling the blank page with words.

Reedsy has chosen the First Page Challenge for their list of the Best Writing Contests of 2021.

Authors who write concise, punchy query letters with clearly outlined stakes for their protagonists are more likely to make me flick to their pages the moment I get their email.

For the first time ever, we will be offering optional feedback on contest entries.

I’ll follow a lively, bold, and saucy voice anywhere.