Rachelle Gardner

1. Reveal that you’re related to Harper Lee and that she has finally decided to publish her second novel and she wants you to recommend a good agent, preferably someone you’ve worked with and whose first name starts with the letter “R.” 2. Make sure spellchek is on when writing. 3. Start a blog dedicated…

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.Charles Swindoll The biggest news in our world today is the economy, and many are suffering the effects. Last week we were bombarded with news of difficult realities in the publishing industry. What should our response be? I…

THANKS to everyone for your jokes! They were SOOOO funny and I had lots of LOL moments, as I’m sure all the readers did. Thank you for contributing! (If you haven’t read the jokes, click here for Friday’s post and read the comments section. It’s hilarious!) It was *hard* picking a favorite, but I did.…

STATS It’s been awhile since I added up any stats. I didn’t do them for October, so here they are, along with November’s numbers. Total queries received in the two months combined: about 720 Pass letters sent: 358 Request for partials sent: 7 Queries unanswered in my query box: 262 Hard copy queries/proposals sent via…

by Robyn Martins If I were one-dimensional, I could define myself with a single word or phrase. I am a mother, or I am a graphic designer, or I am a musician. I cook. I knit. I read books. I like to sing along with James Taylor and The Eagles. I voted for Obama. I…

If you’re trying to sell a book to a publisher, or an article to a magazine, you’re familiar with The Art of the Query Letter. Many of you have asked me to write more about query letters, be more specific about what “a good one” looks like, maybe give examples of query letters that got…

This is the first in my new “10 Things” series to (hopefully) appear weekly, for awhile anyway. If you have ideas for future “10 Things” posts, please let me know. Many of you might be looking for an agent… and it can be hard to know exactly what to look for in your literary representation.…

“The best time for planning a book is when you’re doing the dishes.” -Agatha Christie Lately I’ve been having conversations with a friend about the importance of the menial, everyday tasks in our lives, and how they provide wonderful opportunities to let our minds loose to roam, explore, and process. We live in such a…

Yesterday we discussed advances and there were several questions, so today we’ll talk about them some more. First, what is an “advance” anyway? An advance is a “pre-payment” of the royalties the publisher expects you to earn on your book. Let’s say the publisher has agreed to pay you a royalty of 8% on the…

I’d like to know your perspective on advances. What is the average advance, in CBA versus ABA? How are advances paid out? Is an advance negotiable, and if so, to what degree? It’s impossible to give an “average” advance in either CBA or ABA. They’re wildly all over the map depending on so many factors.…

That “no blogging on Wednesdays” thing didn’t last very long! I couldn’t help myself, had to post a blog today. You’ll see why… Another milestone to report! Today marks exactly one year since I made my first submission to publishers in my role as agent. In celebration, I wanted to share some impressions of the…

Kristi asked: How often do you turn down projects from your clients because you don’t think you can sell them? If you have a client who’s written a good book, will you submit the book even if you think it might not sell? If you won’t submit it, is the client free to sell it…

ANNOUNCEMENT: I will only be blogging FOUR days a week until further notice. I plan to blog Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesdays and weekends are off. Thanks for being here! We’ve had a lot of talk on this blog about publishers and bookstores wanting “more of the same” rather than unique and original books.…

My blog just crossed two milestones and I didn’t even notice! First, last weekend marked ONE YEAR since I started the blog. Happy blog-birthday to Rants & Ramblings! Second, my cumulative “unique visitors” count just rolled over 100,000. I sure never expected that! So, thanks to all of you who visit the blog, whether you…