Tell Us About Yourself

In order to provide encouragement, advice and support to new and emerging writers, OnceWritten.com publishes interviews and essays that focus on the publishing experience. Our users enjoy reading words of wisdom from those authors that have already navigated the publishing waters.

If you have a few minutes to tell us about yourself, OnceWritten.com in return will publish your essays on our website and promote them in our weekly Writing Sparks newsletter, which is distributed to 9,000 writers and readers around the world.

Keep reading to learn the various ways you can tell us about yourself.

Publishing My First Book

This new section at OnceWritten.com is quickly becoming a reader favorite. Traditionally published authors share their experiences in getting their first book published with OnceWritten.com readers in the Publishing My First Book section.

Catherine Coulter

Catherine Coulter

I wrote my first book while aboard the ark during those hot summer afternoons with elephants scrunching peanuts in my ears. A friend in New York where the ark happened to land told me about the primo editor of the primo imprint Signet (NAL), so I wrote her this dumb letter about a mystery set in Regency England -- in truth rather gothic in nature, but with a really cool earl as hero, and a first person heroine with curly red hair. Three days . . .

Catherine Coulter on Getting Published


To be included in this section email us one or two paragraphs that answer the question "Tell us about your experience in getting your first book published." (Please note that this section is only open to traditionally published authors and self-published authors should check out how to submit a "Meet the Author" essay below.)

Meet the Author

One of the most popular sections at OnceWritten.com, the Meet the Author page provides an in-depth look at the experiences of today's new and emerging authors.

Timothy Schaffert

Timothy Schaffert: Tirelessly Submitting his Manuscript

After my third martini that morning, I jotted down a few sentences on a cocktail napkin—my idea for a novel—then put the napkin in my shoe for safe-keeping. Though all I wrote was “girl goes to Paris. No, scratch that, girl goes to Barcelona. Girl falls in love. No, falls out of love. No, was in love, lost love, goes to Paris. Or Barcelona. (note: visit Paris or Barcelona; evaluate cities for their potential as setting for novel),” I was . . .

Meet Timothy Schaffert now


To be considered for this section:

This essay should be no less than 500-words and only first-person narratives will be accepted.

This is a human interest piece so make it relevant to our readers. If writing and publishing was a painless process for you, we're thrilled, however many first-time authors face numerous obstacles, and as such they are looking to be inspired by your stories.

For this section, we don't care if you are self-published or traditionally-published, however we do prefer that your book be available at Amazon.com.

Space preference is given to OnceWritten.com advertisers, but all authors are welcome to submit their essays.

Feeling stuck? Take a look at some of our Sample Questions listed below.

If you agree with the above terms, send your narrative piece or a query to the email address listed at the bottom of this page.

Getting Interviewed at OnceWritten.com

We are delighted that you are interested in being interviewed by an editor at OnceWritten.com. Our Author Interviews page is generally NOT the right place for self-published authors, who may utilize other promotional opportunities at OnceWritten.com.

Specifically, we are looking to interview authors published by a traditional press (large or small) in the past year. If you meet these requirments, we would be interested in conducting an interview with you, time permitting. Please note that we are conducting very few interviews these days, due to timing issues, so you may wish to look into one of our other promotional options first.

Lani Diane Rich

Interview with Lani Diane Rich

OnceWritten.com editor Monica Poling chats with Lani Diane Rich, writer of the romantic comedy EX AND THE SINGLE GIRL.

Q. Did you face any major obstacles/frustrations in finishing your book? If so, what helped you stay with it?

*** Not with EX AND THE SINGLE GIRL, that was a gimme book, one that just flows from your head to the page and it's done. But, yeah, the more I write, the deeper I find I have to reach to make it fresh for me as well as for my readers, and that's challenging. What helps me stay with it is usually the fact that I've already cashed the check, and I don't want to give the money back. ;) But in general I find that you have to have an extreme amount of faith in your ability to finish the book. Having struggled through some books to find that, in the end, I'm really proud of the product is what gets me through the next challenging phase.

Meet Lani Diane Rich now


To request an interview, send us an email at the address listed below.

Advertise Your Book at OnceWritten.com

While we offer plenty of free promotional opportunities at OnceWritten.com, the best way to promote your book on our site is to buy one of our cost-effective advertising packages. Our ads start at just $25 and can reach up to 50,000 viewer impressions. Learn how you can Advertise With Us now.

No budget? No problem, keep reading to learn about the free promotional opportunities available to you.

Ideas for Your Meet the Author Essay

If you are having a hard time coming up with an idea of what to write, here are some sample questions you may consider answering in your narrative. (While you may use these questions as a guideline, please don't put your narrative in Q&A format, as we only accept essay-style pieces.)

How long did it take you to write your first book?

What was the back story behind the novel?

Who was the greatest motivator in helping you finish your book?

What was the biggest obstacle in finishing your book?

Describe your writing habits.

How did you publish your book? (ie self-published, e-book, etc.)

How long did it take, from the time you submitted your manuscript, to publish your book?

Do you have an agent? Did you try to find an agent? How did you find your agent?

Describe your experience with the rejection process?

How was the publishing process?
(Talk about the process of self-publishing or working with a traditional publisher)

What have been some of your most effective promotional/marketing activities?

What is one piece of advice you would give to new authors, just starting the process?

Contact OnceWritten.com

If you have questions, need more information, would like to query us, or would just like to confirm that there actually is a live, responsive person on the other side of this website, send an e-mail to:

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