Theo Marchetti

To fix a saggy middle in a thriller, you diagnose where momentum breaks, then rebuild that stretch around a real deadline, a genuine midpoint … Read more

How to revise a mystery novel draft: run eight passes in a fixed order — story structure, plot causality, clue visibility, red herrings, suspect … Read more

If you want the short version: how long should a crime novel be? Most crime and mystery manuscripts land somewhere between 70,000 and 90,000 … Read more

To write a compelling book description, build it from four parts: a hook that earns the first line, a synopsis that raises the stakes … Read more

You get book reviews for a debut novel by building a targeted list of reviewers eight to twelve weeks before launch, writing each one … Read more

An author platform is the collection of online presences you own and control — your website, email list, social accounts, media appearances and speaking … Read more

A conference pitch for a crime novel is a two-to-three minute spoken summary you deliver to an agent, editor or bookseller during a scheduled … Read more

To find a literary agent for crime fiction, you need a finished manuscript, a one-page synopsis, a short bio, and a list of 20 … Read more

To self publish a crime novel, you take on the publisher’s job: revise the manuscript, hire or source editing and cover design, format the … Read more

A paying market for short fiction is any magazine, journal, anthology or online venue that pays writers a stated fee, usually a per-word rate … Read more