Rachelle Gardner

I’ve belonged to several book groups over the years, and some time ago one of my groups started a new book that I hadn’t helped select. I began reading and quickly pegged it as a Really Bad Book. Not that I’d tell anyone, of course. (Just you.) But I couldn’t stop thinking about how poorly…

I had fun collecting stats on my sidebar polls last week. Thanks to all 1,453 of you who answered the questions! Turns out: → 93% of you are writers→ 85% of you are writing fiction→ 73% of you are not yet published→ 77% of you are writing for the general (not Christian) market By far…

1. What’s the best book you’ve read lately? 2. What are you sick of reading about on blogs? 3. Who are your favorite publishing bloggers? (Besides me, of course.) 4. Are you excited about the all-new-and-improved blog design I’m going to debut in a couple of weeks? and most importantly… 5. Who is going to…

13 Ways to Screw Up Your Query 1. Address your letter to Dear Sir/Madam or Dear Agent or To Whom It May Concern. 2. Write “I believe you are the perfect agent for me” even though it’s obvious the same email was sent to fifty agents. 3. Pitch a mainstream novel of 40,000 words… or 250,000…

It’s time once again for me to learn more about you. To the right in the sidebar, there are FIVE questions. Please answer each one as accurately as you can by clicking in the bubble. Then in the comments, tell us either: –Something interesting about your current work in progress (WIP); or –Something interesting about yourself.…

(Maybe Not) Continuing on the theme of how publishing is evolving, you probably know that many people are comparing our current situation to the music industry’s revolutionary changes over the last dozen years. If we’re smart, the wisdom goes, we’ll carefully study how things have gone in that medium and see what we can learn from it. I’ve read many, many articles…

In the midst of all the talk about the changes in publishing, the question often arises: What will the role of agents be in the future of publishing? I’ve received emails and blog comments from those who assume agents must be running scared because we’re going to be out of jobs soon. I’ve heard from…

I thought the response to Friday’s post was phenomenal and I loved reading everyone’s reasons for pursuing traditional publishing. These days, many writers feel bombarded from all sides by people screaming “Self-publishing is the way to go!” so I wanted to give everyone a chance to speak their minds, and your comments were full of…

No matter what I blog about lately—no matter where we go in the blogosphere as a matter of fact—somebody always turns it into a conversation about two things: (1) Publishing is dead or at least in its final death throes; and (2) Everyone should pursue self-publishing and if you don’t, you’re an idiot with your head…

A surprising percentage of queres fail to give me any sense of the book being pitched, or the author's qualifications, so here's a simple, straightforward set of instructions for queries.

When I first started this job, I was repeatedly surprised at how often it seems to bring a sense of failure. Whether or not I’m truly “failing,” it’s amazing how often I feel like I am. I don’t sell every project I take on. I get rejection letters from editors every day. I can’t always meet…

Dealing With the Tough Stuff, Part 1 If you read my blog regularly, you might be tempted to think the pursuit of publishing is all rainbows and butterflies. (‘Cause I’m just so darn nice all the time.) But think again. Sometimes it’s barbed wire and snarling dogs. This week we’re going to talk about the aspects of being a writer…

Updated January, 2012 I represent books for the Christian market (CBA) as well as for the general market, and I’m now accepting queries for both. Please note: Read our Submission Guidelines before sending a query! My query policy: While we would like to respond to all queries, our policy is that if you do not…

But “Yes” Seems to Take Forever For the last couple of days we’ve been going over some basics of fiction writing – things that someone editing your book might be looking for in their efforts to help you produce the best book possible. But acquisitions editors – and agents – won’t be spending time analyzing…