Chad S. White

This vs. that: Novel-writing books

Chad S. White on February 28, 2026

I’ve read more than 40 books on novel-writing and publishing. Every book has been worthwhile, but some books are more worthwhile than others. To help you prioritize and make good reading choices, I’d like to do some head-to-head comparisons.

First up, I want to compare The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell vs. The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler. Believe it or not, The Hero with a Thousand Faces inspired The Writer’s Journey. However, The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a deep, deep dive into myths from around the world. Great sourcing. A deep, deep dive. The Writer’s Journey breaks down storytelling, breaks down characters. It really gives you the tools you need to make a great story.

Next up, The Fantasy Fiction Formula by Deborah Chester vs. How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy really covers a lot of the basics—not a lot of deep knowledge—but it’s a very solid primer. The Fantasy Fiction Formula goes much deeper, gives you way more tools. There are exercises in here—lots of helpful stuff about plotting, about characters, about all the key elements you want to know about when writing a great science fiction or fantasy novel. This is the one you want.

And then lastly—and this might be the most controversial—Stephen King’s On Writing vs. Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. Now, I hear On Writing recommended a ton. However, for me, I really didn’t see myself in here at all. You know, it’s great that Stephen King—who’s obviously massively accomplished—but it’s great that he has all this free time to structure his day, to structure his weeks to get the most out of it. I didn’t find a lot of useful advice here since I am not already an established author who’s doing it full time and has all this time to structure my life. I have a day job and I just didn’t see myself in here at all, whereas I did see myself in Bird by Bird. I found this way more helpful. So, for me, this is the one to read.

I hope that helps you make better reading choices. Again, all these books are worthwhile, but those are my picks.

Book review: ‘The Writer’s Journey’ by Christopher Vogler

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Confession: I love Post-it notes

Chad S. White on February 21, 2026

I use them all the time. My desk is littered with Post-it notes. If you’ve wanted any of my video book reviews, you know that I use Post-its to mark the really important sections of books that I’m reading. I also use them as bookmarks and then I just tear them in half when I want to mark a page as being particularly important.

My friends and family members know that I love Post-its as well, so they give them to me as gifts, including these really cool ones. And although this technically isn’t a Post-it, it’s transparent so you can put it over copy in a book and then you can write on it to circle or point arrows at exactly what you want to highlight.

I have Post-its on my desk and in the hallway and on my nightstand so that anytime I have an idea I can quickly write it down and not lose it. I also put them directly into my notebooks when I am, you know, looking to record ideas. So I’ll just stick them right in the notebook along with everything else.

So I use them constantly all the time. I probably go through a pack or two a month. I really love Post-its.

Confession: I’ve written all my books in Microsoft Word

Confession: I love em-dashes

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How I use beta readers

Chad S. White on February 14, 2026

Compared to developmental editors, copyeditors, and proofreaders, beta readers have a much more amorphous role in the book-writing process. Ultimately, they’re a group of readers that align well with the ideal reader you hope to have for your book. So, if your beta readers have problems with your book, then your book will struggle to satisfy your intended audience.

Beyond that, however, beta readers can be used in a variety of ways and at various times during the writing process. This means that authors need to recognize their choices and guide expectations to get what they need.

Where to find beta readers?

Some authors use for-hire beta readers they find online or recruit beta readers via social. I used family members and friends. Regardless of the route you go, there are a few requirements you need from your beta readers:

They must have some familiarity with whatever genre you’re writing in. My trilogy is dystopian sci-fi, so I only asked folks who liked reading in that genre.
They must be able to provide honest feedback. It doesn’t have to be mean, but they have to be able to point out stuff that’s not working for them. If they’re overly concerned with hurting your feelings, then it’s probably not going to be useful for either person.

On that second point, your instructions to beta readers are vital.

What kind of feedback to ask for?

Even though my beta readers absolutely found typos and missing words and other mistakes, I told them that I was most interested in:

Anything that was confusing, in terms of what was happening or why
Inconsistencies, either in the story or in character behaviors
Moments that seemed underdeveloped or overdone

I said I was happy to have them point out exchanges and scenes they enjoyed, but sharing the stuff that didn’t work for them or jarred them out of the story was more helpful. The feedback from each one of my beta readers led to changes, both big and small. I think that was partly due to when I used each one.

At what point to use beta readers?

Beta readers can be used at any time during the writing process once you believe you have a solid draft. What really helped me was staggering my beta readers. Rather than having a bunch of them likely pointing out the same problems, I shared my manuscript with one or two beta readers at a time. Then I fixed the issues they identified and shared the revision with the next beta reader, and so on.

Author Nicole Janeway recommends starting by sharing just the first chapter, because it lowers the initial commitment and gives you a chance to see if the person is a good fit. She also says that the first chapter is critical, so putting more emphasis there is wise. On that point, I couldn’t agree more. I wish I’d done that. I would have revised the first chapter and then asked them to read it over again when they got the full manuscript.

I have a few beta readers in reserve that I want to share the book with after I’ve finished incorporating the feedback from my developmental editor. They’ll get the cleanest experience with the book, so I’ll be expecting the feedback to be much different. (Fingers crossed.)

How long should beta readers have to give feedback?

Everyone’s time constraints are different. Because I knew pretty early on that I wanted to at least draft the entire trilogy before publishing the first book, I knew I had time, because when I wasn’t editing book 1, I was drafting book 2.

Staggering my beta readers and editing between rounds took around 9 months for book 1. In most cases, I gave my beta readers a couple of months to read my manuscript. They’re all busy people. I had a similar process for book 2, which has been seen by all my beta readers at this point, too.

You may need much tighter turnarounds if you have firm deadlines.

How many beta readers should you use?

Obviously, approaches vary. Janeway recommends as few as 8 to as many as 20. Meanwhile, in Before the Bestseller, Alex Strathdee recommends throwing door open to beta readers—like 200!—and listing them as “contributors” in the acknowledgments. He says many beta readers end up being part of the book’s launch team to help promote it.

This is a great idea for nonfiction books (wished I’d done that), but seems less appropriate for fiction. That’s because a novel can change much more dramatically during the editing process, and because ARC readers seem to fill some of that promotion role for fiction.

For my part, I’ll have at least 8 by the end, but probably not many more.

Do beta readers replace a developmental editor?

In my experience, there’s no comparison between beta readers and a developmental editor. They’re for different purposes.

Beta readers are, well, readers. So, the feedback is from that perspective.

Meanwhile, a developmental editor methodically breaks down your plot and characters, and also compares it to genre standards. The volume of feedback is much higher and much more technical. My developmental editor gave me 35 pages of feedback, plus in-line comments, plus recommended I read four books on novel-writing and shared several articles on craft. Beta readers can’t and won’t do that. That said, beta readers will tell you how you’re connecting with average readers.

7 questions you should be able to answer before working with a developmental editor

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How many point-of-view characters is too many?

Chad S. White on February 6, 2026

My dystopian sci-fi trilogy (WIP: T.A.G.) has a large cast of characters, including a female and male protagonist. Those two are the point-of-view characters for most chapters, but not all. A variety of secondary characters have POV chapters and scenes. And the antagonists have multiple scenes in each book where they’re driving the perspective. In total, I have nine POV characters in book 1.

Full disclosure: It was 11 before my developmental editor advised me to cut two of them that were one-offs. One didn’t have enough payoff, while the other one spoiled some suspense.

Justifying the need for so many POV characters

From the beginning, I envisioned my trilogy as being cinematic in its presentation. So, having multiple POVs opens up opportunities for cut-scenes, where you get more than one perspective on the same action, as well as perspectives on action taking place away from where the protagonists are. Several of my beta readers spontaneously said they could see the story as a movie or TV series, which means they were totally picking up the vibe I was going for.

Those additional perspectives allowed me to show some of what Deborah Chester, the author of The Fantasy Fiction Formula, refers to as the hidden story. That’s the part of the story that’s occurring away from the protagonists. I find it’s a great way to build suspense by forecasting danger for our heroes.

While everyone loves a good plot twist, a lot of tension can be created by forecasting danger—being careful not to spoil things by being too specific. It makes readers anticipate and worry about what’s coming, especially when you set a countdown for the calamity to hit. Forecasting has the secondary benefit of warding off the disbelief that can accompany some surprises.

Another reason I’m enjoying having so many POV characters in this story is that it’s full of antagonists in gray, rather than straight up villains in black. I want readers to understand my antagonists and there’s no better way to humanize them than to put readers into my antagonists’ heads.

Characters have to earn a POV role

In an issue of Before and After the Book Deal, Courtney Maum said that the Big Five publishers are looking for: “Earned POV—whichever character[s] have a perspective in the book have a solid, plot-driven reason for having that mic time.”

In The Fantasy Fiction Formula, Chester goes a step farther. She says, “Each viewpoint besides the protagonist’s should be developed into a subplot.” That’s a high bar for sure. All of my point-of-view characters clear that bar except one, and I have a good reason for that exception.

Chester also says, “Ideally, a book of large scope needs no more than four viewpoints. A book of huge scale might stretch to encompass six.” Here I’ll claim that since my novel is the start of a trilogy totaling more than 260,000 words, the additional POVs are proportionally in bounds. Ultimately, I think all the POVs make for a richer world and—as my beta readers noted—a more cinematic story.

Villains vs. antagonists

How I use beta readers

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Book review: ‘Understanding Show, Don’t Tell (And Really Getting It)’ by Janice Hardy

Chad S. White on January 31, 2026

This is a book my developmental editor recommended to me after reading my manuscript. I apparently had some opportunities to tighten up my third-person close perspective—and I’ll tell you, this book really helped me understand where I wasn’t quite nailing it.

Now, the book includes an appendix that lists all of the common red flag words that indicate you may be telling instead of showing. However, you won’t need to rely on that, because the book does such a great job of explaining telling versus showing that you’ll be able to easily recognize it when it’s happening.

The title promises that you’ll “really get it” and, for me, that was 100% the case. I give it 5 stars, 12 dog ears, and 2 Post-its.

It’s really about closeness to the POV character

It’s not that telling is bad all the time. Depending on what you’re trying to convey, sometimes a bit of telling can be faster and less awkward than showing. However, telling creates distance between the reader and the point-of-view character. It does that primarily by injecting the author in between the reader and POV character. That’s not ideal, because today’s readers want to occupy the POV character as much as possible.

Dialogue is the most natural way to show, not tell. I have a firm handle on that.

Description is another way to show, but the key is to filter the description through your POV character so their attitudes, tastes, and preferences color what’s being described. I wasn’t doing that all the time. In some cases, I just needed to remove tags like “he sees” and “she hears” and just describe the things seen and heard.

And the final way to show is through internal dialogue. I was the least consistent at using this tool.

A few things happened when I did an editing pass with a focus on using those three methods of showing, not telling:

My descriptions became more interesting because they also helped readers understand the POV character better
Replacing “told” reactions with internal dialogue led to more unique and colorful reactions that felt more organic and in the moment
Chapters got little tighter, with the manuscript dropping around 3,000 words overall

That may not sound like many words to cut from a 90,000 word manuscript, but it’s amazing how much faster a chapter reads when you take two unnecessary words out of this sentence and replace three okay words with great words in the next paragraph—and do that again and again and again.

Book review: ‘The Writer’s Journey’ by Christopher Vogler

Book review: ‘Story’ by Robert McKee

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AI is making these author scams more pernicious

Chad S. White on January 23, 2026

Because they crave attention for the books they’ve worked years on, authors are perpetual targets of scams—and AI is making author scams all the more dangerous. In recent months, I’ve encountered many of the most common ones, including these four types.

1. Book promotion services scams

These prey on authors’ fears that their book is being overlooked. Here’s an email I received about my nonfiction book, Email Marketing Rules. The opening paragraph uses AI-generated text that pulls from my book description and bio (probably from Amazon).

2. Book review scams

Every author wants more book reviews, whether they’re on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads, or by an influencer on social media. I recently followed back a book reviewer on Instagram and was immediately DMed about book review opportunities and cost. That’s fine and, honestly, expected. But then the reviewer claimed they’d already read my book and asked if they could send me a review to look over. And without me responding, they sent me a lengthy review the next day.

Now, the review is spot on. I don’t take any issue with that. But I’m not so full of myself to think this person had actually read my book already. And if they had by chance, no one would proactively invest time in writing a review before knowing if they have a paying customer. But spending a minute to write an AI prompt? Sure. You might proactively do that.

As much as I want more reviews and social media mentions, I want them by real live people who read my books and enjoyed them.

3. Book club scams

These scams have been a frequent topic of conversation in The Authors Guild forums, which are a great resource for new and veteran authors. I received this email purportedly from Kate at UK Book Club. Now, UK Book Club is real, and one of the moderators is indeed named Kate.

However, you might notice some odd things about this email. For instance, the email address is a Gmail address. That’s a common red flag. But also, the Gmail username is katemoderatoor with two O’s. A strange choice. The email itself is full of punctuation errors, including missing commas, apostrophes, hyphens, and a question mark on the closing and crucial sentence.

Oh … and the subject line appears to include an AI prompt with instructions to not use any dashes—you know—because em-dashes are a sign of AI usage. The irony.

4. Outreach from fake author accounts

These accounts follow you and then, if you follow them back, build up a rapport via DMs. Only later do they encourage you to use scam promotion services, scam representation, or something else, which are often pitched as the secret to their success.

I was approached by a fake Lionel Shriver. I’ll confess I’d never heard of her, and her follower counts were similar to mine. But when I followed her back, she quickly DMed me, asking me a question that was readily answered by my profile. So, I did a little research, recognized it as an impersonator account, and unfollowed the account. Apparently, Instagram has also recognized that it’s an impersonator account, because it’s been removed.

While AI didn’t play a noticeable role in my interaction with the account, I’ve heard of cases where AI auto-replies if you respond to the initial outreach. If you’re uncertain, try replying in a foreign language. An AI won’t miss a beat and will respond like nothing unusual has happened.

Of course, there are many more forms of author scams, including fake offers of representation. The January/February 2026 Writers Digest magazine had a doozy of a scam, where a Big Five publisher offered to publish your book. All you had to do is sign on with a particular favored agent … which charged a client fee.

Other times, it’s not an outright scam. Instead, you’ll pay for something that should be free or pay way too much for the little you receive, such as entry fee for an award with zero clout.

In the years ahead, AI tools will make it easier for scammers to target authors and harder for authors to quickly recognize the danger. If you’re not already, be suspicious of everything—especially anything that has the slightest whiff of being too good to be true.

Additional resources about author scams:

Writer Beware

The Authors Guild: Publishing Scam Alerts

Reedsy: Book Publishers to Avoid: 5 Types of Shady Companies

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Why my blog and Substack are called ‘From Nonfiction to Fiction’

Chad S. White on January 17, 2026

Every blog and Substack needs a good name. For mine, “From Nonfiction to Fiction” is the perfect name because it works for multiple reasons.

1. It’s about my journey from a nonfiction writer to also being a fiction writer.

Since 2013, I’ve published five nonfiction books about email marketing, which is the core of my day job in the digital marketing industry. But since 2018, I’ve been working on a dystopian sci-fi trilogy, as well as collecting notes on other potential novels. My latest work-in-progress update.

2. It’s about the nonfiction books about writing fiction I’m reading.

Since I don’t have a degree in creative writing, I’ve had to educate myself by reading more than 40 books on novel writing and publishing. I’ve been gradually sharing book reviews of my favorites, along with how they’ve influenced my writing. And those books are in addition to subscribing to Writer’s Digest magazine and lots of Substack newsletters (here are my faves).

3. It’s about the role of my life in my fiction-writing.

All of my other novel ideas are rooted in the traumas and struggles of my life. After all, they say to write what you know. For example, my dystopian sci-fi trilogy is inspired by my daughter, Samantha, who we lost in the third trimester when my wife suffered a splenic artery aneurysm, which nearly claimed her life, too.

My story is about a family decades in the future that suffers a similar loss, but the daughter that is thought to be lost isn’t dead. While separated from her parents, she becomes—after many struggles—a badass. She’s the heroine of my story and, together with her partner, she saves the world from a horrible fate.

If you’re not already, I hope you’ll follow my journey from nonfiction to fiction by subscribing on Substack.

How to generate writing momentum

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My favorite Substack newsletters on publishing

Chad S. White on January 10, 2026

Substack has a strong community of authors, editors, literary agents, and publishers. Here are some of my favorite Substack newsletters on publishing:

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing
by Bianca Marais, Carly Watters, and CeCe Lyra

These talented ladies create a lot of great articles about craft, in addition to doing interviews with authors. I particularly appreciate the pull quotes they include in their newsletter. I find inspiration from those even when I don’t get around to listening to the full interview.

I quote Paula Saunders’ interview with The Shit No One Tells You About Writing in Why are we trying to discourage aspiring novelists from publishing?

Counter Craft
by Lincoln Michel

I enjoy Lincoln’s musings on the publishing industry and his interviews with authors. He’s very down to earth, but also uses words like panopticon. Respect.

I quote Lincoln in Confession: I love physical books.

Craft with Kat
by Kat Lewis

Kat provides clear advice on tactical writing issues, often breaking issues down one by one. She gets bonus points for her series of articles on The D&D Method for Better Character Development.

The Creative Shift
by Dan Blank

Dan writes about book marketing and connecting with readers. I particularly enjoyed this article about clarity. Dan gets bonus points for sending 1,000 weekly newsletters over 20 years. Email respect.

Other Substack newsletters on publishing I recommend

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Confession: I gained 15 lb writing my first two books

Chad S. White on January 3, 2026

Writing books is a long-term commitment to a solitary and sedentary activity. If you have a sedentary day job like me, then it can be a double-whammy for your health, as well as your social life.

Weight gain

After collecting notes for more than a year, I wrote my first book in an intense 3-month stretch. The 214-page first edition of Email Marketing Rules consumed nearly every night and every weekend. I gained 5 lbs. during the writing of it.

The second 322-page second edition of Email Marketing Rules took more than 6 months of nights and weekends to write. I gained 10 lbs. this time around.

It wasn’t just that I was sitting for 12+ hours a day. It was also that it was a series of sprints—pushing to get a draft out to beta readers, pushing to get a round of edits done, pushing to get the jacket copy finished, and on and on. For me, hitting those deadlines meant lots of caffeine and sugar to fuel late nights.

Neglect of family commitments

At the same time, I also bowed out of various family outings and pushed more household responsibilities onto my wife Kate. She was understanding with the first book, but not so much with the second.

Kate is super-understanding and supportive, but it’s fair to say that, after 6 months of shouldering an outsized percentage of parenting and household duties, she was pissed. She also knew this wasn’t my last book.

I vowed to do better. I promised not to opt-out of family activities and to wrap up evening writing sessions by 9-ish. For the three subsequent nonfiction books I’ve published and two fiction books I’ve written, I’ve kept my word.

That has required longer time-horizons for books, but I think more planning and development has been better for the quality of my books as well. And it has certainly been better for my health, as I was able to drop all the weight I’d gained.

Resolve to write healthier

Some activities like writing can be hard on your body. Both real and self-imposed deadlines can make them even harder. As you set your goals for the year ahead, make sure you’re not unintentionally sacrificing your health or family responsibilities.

Related posts:

Confession: I love em-dashes

Confession: I love physical books

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Happy Holidays!

Chad S. White on December 24, 2025

Whatever you celebrate, my family and I wish you all the best this holiday season!

In our family, one of our favorite things about the holidays is decorating our Christmas tree. That’s because all our ornaments are mementos from life events and our travels. For instance, when I was scouting book locations in Nashville this fall, we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and picked up a platinum record ornament there.

Book-related ornaments and memories

A number of our ornaments are book-related. In the picture below, you can see four of them, including one based on the view of the Library of Congress’s dome from below. We toured the Library of Congress in 2023 during a vacation to DC. There, we saw where they keep the rare books, a location that was featured in the movie National Treasure.

Clockwise from top: ornaments from the Library of Congress, Planet Word Museum, Hans Christian Andersen Museum, and Poe Museum

Also on that trip to DC, we visited the Planet Word Museum, which has some great exhibits about languages around the world. My favorite exhibit broke down the origins of English words that came from Latin, French, German, Greek, and other languages. There, we got an ornament made from folded pages from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

This past January, I had the opportunity to speak at a conference in Odense, Denmark, which is home to the Hans Christian Andersen Museum. I hadn’t read any of his stories since I was a kid and was shocked by just how many children’s classics he’d written. They include The Little Mermaid, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, and The Ugly Duckling, which I learned was autobiographical. At the museum, I got a glass Hans Christian Anderson book ornament.

And lastly, during a road trip to North Carolina from Boston in 2024, we stopped in Richmond, Va., to visit the Poe Museum. He had a tough childhood and, to my surprise, was into astrology and space. There, we got one of our coolest ornaments. On one side are angels and the other (shown in the photo) are skulls and ravens.

I hope you made some good memories in 2025 and wish you good fortunes in 2026!

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