Design brief

Men don't just think about the Roman Empire - they're also more likely to want to read about it.

Mashing genres can be a tricky business. Do it right, and you've created a short story, book or movie that remixes those respective genres' elements in new and exciting ways-for instance, Philip K. Dick memorably using a detective narrative to explore the post-apocalyptic setting of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

Who is the primary readership for your book? And have you stretched it too far or too thin in your book proposal's target audience section?

Jo Nolan takes a wry look at the fine art of self-publishing

One of TikTok's defining subcultures is arguing over whether books are political, "red-listing" authors, and looking for guidance in speculative fiction.