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This goes beyond writing! Given the how deep ingrained denying failure is public live, setting example by talking about it openly, is about the most valuable contribution one can make in all walks of life! Given the important role social media play in the lives of young people, videos like yours are invaluable!

How can I make a website, where everyone can come and write their own stories and ideas, like websites like wattpad?

Um, I still don't get it.

Very helpful! Thank you 🙂

Didn’t really get the answer to the question in the title here..although encouraging video

Subscribed 🎉🎉

From some one that does software related tutorials, your tutorial was EXCELLENT. Thank you!

I am a physically disabled author that has self published a children's book on Amazon KDP that teaches kids about disability empowerment and adaptive play. I have plans to write many more books related to disability and would like to have a large traditional publisher pick them up but this seems to be a niche that big publishers are not interested and I'm not sure how to even find an agent who deals with these types of books which will range from picture books, motivational/faith based and memoirs. I began writing many years ago as a form of therapy, I started with poetry and short stories which I still love to write but it has grown beyond that. I find writing to be very meditative and my goal as a writer is to make people ask the right questions so they can get to the right answers. I also enjoy speaking, with my children's book I present to classes and teach them about disability etiquette. But my goal is to finish the book im currently writing and speak to crowds based on material from that book. How would all this play into getting a book deal?

Just started writing and had someone suggest using this tool. Def following you now in case I need to circle back later!

I've been writing novels for five years and just switched to Scrivener, and I honestly feel like I just exited the stone age 🤣 convincing writers to download this software is now my new special interest!

Very helpful thank you :)

3:32 (for those looking for the tutorial part)

"Learn Scrivener in 20 minutes" C'mon, the manual is a 711 page pdf file. Just opening a book in Scrivener takes about a minute. 😂

Ok but the question remains... Is there a dark mode?

I don't see the word count button what am I doing wrong lol

I've been using scrivener for a while, but I didn't write for a while so I wanted to remember how everything works and found this video, and OH MY GODS THE NAME GENERATOR!!!!!! I can't tell you how much time I spent going insane over finding surnames, this is gonna be such a lifesaver from now on. Thank you so much!!!!

I just finished my debut book and while I'm waiting to do the revision which another author recommended doing already working on the 2nd installment of the series. I love your amazing story of your journey, it inspires me. You're from NYC right? I'm from Long Island.

Hi Lauren! Thank you so much for this helpful video! You mentioned writers mentoring competitions/programs. Do you have any recommendations for programs to consider/apply to? Thank you so much!

Thanks, Lauren. Just found you this morning. Super helpful info and you have such a kind way about you.❤ I came here for the writing, ended up with ideas for the IG I’m creating for my comfort dog. He visits hospitals and veterans and Hospice. (I’ll get around to setting up my author account soon enough!)😊

Can I send my book to agents outside my country?

I have learned enough to know I need to spend more time with it. I got the free trial and tried to read through the tutorial, but gee whiz is it time consuming and not that easy to visualize. I appreciate the information you have provided here; some feedback for the next Scrivener vid is maybe slow it down slightly for those of us who are truly brand spankin' new...I will need to go elsewhere to get even more basic information for how to get started, but I do appreciate the quick and engaging tour of many cool features.

My debut novel is a series that ends on a cliffhanger! That's a bad and certain sign why I have been rejected by many agents? isn't it?

Where did you got an agent in the first place? Is impossible!!! 😢

Since the advent of internet and all of its adherants who have the attention span of a frozen pea; do you not think that this arbirary word count of over 60,000 words before it can be classed as a novel, and that a lesser submission, is categorised as a Novella,( which literary agentsare not too keen to accept) is bit out of date? I am thinking of many classic novels that were well below that count, and yet we think of them as novels because they were so good and told the story, imparted their message without the fluff of wading through interminable word building, but clever enough to build their worlds in a concise way........ "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll - Approximately 27,500 words "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson - Approximately 26,000 words "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck - Approximately 29,160 words "Animal Farm" by George Orwell - Approximately 29,966 words "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway - Approximately 27,000 words "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka - Approximately 22,000 words. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Approximately 47,094 words "Sula" by Toni Morrison - Approximately 46,582 words "The Crying of Lot 49" by Thomas Pynchon - Approximately 28,055 words "The Eye" by Vladimir Nabokov - Approximately 24,000 words "Antwerp" by Roberto Bolaño - Approximately 17,000 words "Child of God" by Cormac McCarthy - Approximately 52,000 words "Hotel du Lac" by Anita Brookner - Approximately 55,000 words "The Driver’s Seat" by Muriel Spark - Approximately 27,000 words "Offshore" by Penelope Fitzgerald - Approximately 50,000 words "A Month in the Country" by J.L. Carr - Approximately 22,000 words. I wonder how many young and talented writers are put off by this arbitrary word count imposed by literary agents.? In fact, the general advice of You Tube 'experts too 'kill your darlings' and do not bore the readers with excessive world building, and to move your story on to avoid boredon, seems to me.... is quite contrary.

When you mentioned Olivia and 7 years, (plus a guy called Sebastian!) I immediately thought of 12th Night. ;)

Yh, that's all fine and good, but as a writer myself, I'd say that the main two thing that a writer needs above all else, is passion and consistency. You got these two things, and you will get there eventually 👌

Hey. I've written a book called Murder's No Big Deal that discusses a fictional island that took drastic measures to have people forget about death and move on. Alex comes from America to attempt to right the wrong, but realize that he's getting persuaded by these people. The point of the book is that you only believe something is right or wrong so strongly because you've never heard ideas to the contrary. If anyone knows somebody that might be interested in representing a book like that, please tell me!

Thank you so much for doing this video! The video that comes with it isn't very good and is hard to follow.

Sometimes I wonder how many great stories have just been tossed in the trash, because the query letter wasn’t up to snuff.

thank you, Lauren. Really appreciated hearing the real 'low down' :)

It appears to me that they want fluff and not really good books. They want fluffy feel good books that are written by people who have degrees and connections. Amazon is destroying the very idea of literature. Just like with music - crap filling the air waves. Is literature dead?

Not inclusive or diverse? Something like 80% of fiction published today is from female authors.

This video is so encouraging! Thanks for sharing your tips and so many free resources. It was a breath of fresh air!

Your video is beautiful. This video I saw is great.(((5 Shocking Reasons Your Book Isn't Making Money))) How to profit from books by avoiding common mistakes of authors. It is explained so beautifully. Really great content! 👏"You can watch this video if you want. I hope everyone will benefit a lot.............

1. Why were you told not to share this? 2. Literally your second book, or the second book you submitted?

You made an author webpage before you got published? Hmm, I haven’t thought about that. To me it just strikes me as a bit arrogant, like fake it before you make it 😂 not saying that’s what you did! But that’s how I’d feel about doing that for myself. Anyway, thanks for all the great advice! It really lifted my mood. Subbed.

Thank you, good video. I've been getting back into Scrivener recently after a gap of a few years. I wanted a refresher but you've shown things I didn't know Scrivener can do. As you say, it's a BIG program and while there's no need to know it all, it's interesting to learn new stuff.

I wrote an amazing book that has no cookie cutter aspects, so there is my first hurdle. I don't have an MFA or even a BA. I feel like I'll be excluded because... publishers might think that people who haven't reached their level of education should be excluded. I am highly frustrated and intimidated by the process of publishing. Not looking to be an 'also ran'.

8:55 If you don't earn out your advance, your publisher is unlikely to pick up your next book. That's not stable.

Do they only want cookie cutter feel good comfort books or is literature still alive??

Scrivener is 60 dollars

Scrivener costs 60 dollars, docs is free

This is such a great video. You covered so much helpful ground, and you made it entertaining with your endearing personality. Thank you!

WOW. What a great video. Lots of information I needed to start off. I signed up for your Writer Toolkit. Noting came through. So I did it again. Nothing in any inbox or spam. It went to your class sign up page after. Perhaps I doing something wrong?

Thank you so much for your honesty. Your passion for your work has rewarded you. Keep going im your biggest fan. I know how the writing journey is. Its tough, rough, sometimes you regret coming up with idea of being an author, but one thing i love about this process is the more you discover, the better you become.

Gate kept... This strikes home as a male romantacy author. Really sucks being asked to take on a feminine pen name, changing so much in my novel just to be told, "we don't need you. "... Sadly, I signed contracts and my novel is stuck in limbo now. There's no space for men in the trad pub romance industry anymore(even high fantasy is shifting against its target audience). Toxic.

Oh, I'm surely grateful for this! I just started writing my first serious book after I've dedicated a good six months to write an extended synopsis on an actual notebook 🫠 The compile thing is still quite a nut to crack, but your video sure made it easier to understand some parts I haven't until now. Thank you! ❤

My dream is to earn the best selling author title, I can care less about the money, honestly i just wanna be recognized and wanna prove myself.

Very good advice and excellent explanation of how to get the best out of a query letter.

How to get 8 offers on your manuscript: write a decent query letter for literally any female-driven YA novel. It’s the only fucking thing that anybody’s buying, and they buy it with abandon.