Rachelle Gardner

I believe that as an author, you can expect certain rights when it comes to dealing with agents and publishers. I also believe that rights come with responsibilities. Here are a few that come to mind: 1. You have the right to decide whether or not to seek agency representation, and which type of publishing…

I’ve blogged about failure a few times, and I’ve read dozens of other posts about it. As I wrote in this post, “Turns out, everyone and their brother has blogged about failure. And every successful person in history has a quote about it, too.” But recently, an author wrote poignantly about being in the middle…

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Ah, the English language. You would think one’s native tongue would be easier to master. But alas, there are simply too many land mines in our little lexicon. Just today I read an email in which the writer hoped I “excepted” his submission, and another in which someone wanted to pay me a “complement.” It…

Have you been on Skype lately? Had a meeting via Google+ hangout? Done any video-blogging? These days more of us are communicating via video rather than just voice or the written word — and I highly recommend it. People seem to like it because  communication is more effective and memorable when you can see the…

People often ask me what I do for a living. If I say “I’m a literary agent,” I’m likely to receive a blank stare. I quickly tell them I work with authors to help them get their books published; sometimes I’ll say, “You know how actors and athletes have agents? Well, authors have agents too.”…

Authors often express frustration that their rejection letters don’t contain any hint of the real reason the project wasn’t accepted (save for something generic like “the project doesn’t fit my needs at the present time.”) A writer told me she’s not asking for much — just “one word, maybe two” of explanation at the end…

If you’re like most people, you’re probably uncomfortable with the idea of “self-promotion.” As a blogger, an author, a public speaker, or a business person, you need to promote your offerings so that people will know about them. But you’re self-conscious about it. You don’t want to bombard and annoy people, and you don’t feel right…

You can’t promote your book without first having a platform. However… A platform is not enough. To sell copies of your book, you have to actually promote the book. Shocking, huh? You can have a huge platform — thousands of Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and blog readers. Maybe you’re even a public speaker, have a popular…

Most business is done by email these days. And why not? It’s convenient and it’s non-intrusive — you can write or respond to emails on your own schedule. I’ve noticed that many of us have even become phone-averse and actively avoid the phone in favor of email. But I think something has been lost when we…

1. Write primarily because it’s what you love to do. 2. Resist comparing yourself to others. When you find yourself doing it—pull yourself back, pray, meditate, practice mindfulness or whatever you do to find calm, and remind yourself of all the reasons comparison is futile. 3. Understand that getting published for the first time is…

One of the most common pieces of advice writers are given is: Get outside feedback. Published or not, writers typically show their work to beta readers, critique partners, friends, family members or anyone who will read it, to get feedback before submitting to an editor, agent or publisher. I’m one of those who frequently gives…

I’ve been asked this question countless times. Several high-profile self-published books have made industry news when they were picked up by big publishers. It’s easy to imagine that editors and agents can now just sit back, watch the self-pub bestseller lists, and find all the “hits” they could ever want. But not so fast. Some…

Each day, we all receive countless bits of information, some useful, most not-so-much. Some of it comes in without our seeking it: billboards, radio commercials. Much of it enters our brains because we invite it: we listen to radio news, we watch television, we browse news websites, we read blogs. I am a voracious reader…