Improbable Press Blog

By Dr Matthew Yap Potential Hell Discovered Probably Highly Depressed Pounds Head on Desk Permanent Head Damage These are some of my favourite PhD acronyms. They certainly make more sense than Doctor of Philosophy. I chuckled when I first heard these acronyms years ago. But having recently completed my PhD, I can attest that they’re all accurate descriptions of the postgraduate experience. During my third year as a postgraduate, I considered writing a PhD survival guide. I put the project on hold because research and writing were all-consuming. Now that I’m done, I hope to demystify the PhD for anyone...

Oh the boons of age! You've learned Some Things. You do fewer Unwise Things. This means you can maybe say, "Hey, dear writing friend! What you just did in front of me and my sandwich? It's Unwise! I used to do it and suggest you don't!" The thing I'm talking about, the unwise thing, is asking editors to tell you why they rejected your work. Why Your Story Was Rejected: 2 Reasons an Editor Won't Tell You I know it doesn't feel great not knowing. Yet as a working editor I also know there's at least two good reason we...

Secret time: We don't always love our book's cover right away. As a writer for whom covers have been created, and an editor who commissions covers for others, I know this is so very true. Book Cover Expectations: Let's Go Back In Time When I was a teen, Casey Kasem hosted a weekly top 40 radio show; I listened for years before I finally saw a photo of Kasem himself, and: No. Nope. Nada, that's not what Casey Kasem looks like. Except. Except what did I think he looked like? I don't know. I'd had no idea I even had...

By Atlin Merrick A writer recently asked what we mean by 'we're editing your book,' and though we've talked about the overall book editing process on this blog, we never covered the nitty gritty of how the editing process goes. We're about to do that right now. How We Edit Your Book You've sent your completed novel to us. We've never seen those words before. We're excited! Though the precise process depends on the editor, for Improbable Press, this is how we edit: While we read, we're making note of big things like 'this story starts too early… begin the...

I think a prompt is everything that motivates you. It can be anything, and it doesn't have to have anything to do with what you go on to create, it's simply a catalyst. Maybe that's what this semi-regular column should be called: catalyst. Whether you're writing a poem or a polemic, if you're noodling on a novel or stewing over the next step in a short story, sometimes a lyric is enough to propel you forward – I know lyrics can often help me as I walk around grumbling to myself about a plot point – and speaking of point,...