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Congratulations to author Cindy Wang Brandt on release day!

    Congratulations to author Cindy Wang Brandt on release day! Cindy’s first children’s book, “You Are Revolutionary,” encourages kids that they don’t need exceptional skills to make an impact. The inspiring words and pictures reveal that kids already have inside themselves everything they need to make big, transformative change in the world – just…
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New Release Spotlight: Kayla Craig

Congratulations to author Kayla Craig on release day! Kayla’s debut book, “To Light Their Way,” is a gorgeous collection of over 100 modern liturgies, giving words to our prayers for our children. From everyday struggles like helping your child find friends or thrive in school to larger issues like praying for a brighter world rooted…
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Gardner Literary is Proud to Represent Kaitlin Curtice!

Congratulations Kaitlin! We are so excited to be working with you and can’t wait for this book.
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Gardner Literary is Proud to Represent Debut Author Amanda Held Opelt!

  I am so happy to announce this book deal for debut author Amanda Held Opelt. Amanda’s a gifted writer in addition to her considerable talents as a musician, singer & songwriter. In her first book, she explores grief and the rituals people have used throughout history to cope. With her talent for storytelling, this…
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How do you determine the difference between heavy competition for agents vs. if your work is just not good?

So you’re sending out submissions with no luck. Why? Well, your query may need work. The book idea itself may need work. OR… Your query and your book might be just fine. But because there are so many other queries in the queue, and perhaps bad luck and lack of serendipity and an annoying scarcity of fairy…
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Gardner Literary is proud to represent author Karen González!

Gardner Literary is proud to represent author Karen González! Congrats, Karen, on your new book contract.
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What’s a good subject line for a query email?

A basic but important question: what do you put in your query subject line? I’m sure there are plenty of possible creative answers to this, but I’m going to err on the simple side. I like a subject line that includes the word “Query” along with your book title, and possibly the genre. Some examples:…
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Gardner Literary is proud to represent debut author Lyvonne Briggs as she signs her first publishing contract!

  Gardner Literary is proud to represent debut author Lyvonne Briggs as she signs her first publishing contract!   Congrats, Lyvonne!
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What’s your advice for someone wanting to publish a first-time poetry collection?

The first step toward getting your poetry published is to get the Poets Market, a print resource also available on Kindle. It includes hundreds of publishing opportunities specifically for poets, including listings for book and chapbook publishers, print and online poetry publications, contests, and more. Before trying to get a whole book of poetry published,…
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SPOTLIGHT ON CLIENT BOOKS – Make a Move: How to Stop Wavering and Make Decisions in a Disorienting World by Stephanie Williams O’Brien

  We make thousands of decisions, and while most of them are relatively simple, we can get stuck in the larger, life-altering decisions, leading to frustration, anxiety, and confusion. “It would be so much easier if life just came with a road map!” Life is full of twists and turns, the unexpected and the unforeseen.…
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SPOTLIGHT ON CLIENT BOOKS – Abuelita Faith by Kat Armas

  This beautiful book from debut author Kat Armas is out in the world, and I’m excited for you to read it! What if some of our greatest theologians weren’t theologians at all? “Abuelita Faith” tells the story of unnamed and overlooked theologians in society and in the Bible–mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and daughters–whose survival, strength,…
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Is there anything you should avoid in a query that would lead to an automatic rejection?

  Is there anything you should avoid in a query that would lead to an automatic rejection? People ask me this question all the time, and I want to start by saying that every agent is different, and we probably have different things that make us immediately decline a query. For many agents, failing to…
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SPOTLIGHT ON CLIENT BOOKS – Love Makes Room: And Other Things I Learned When My Daughter Came Out by Staci Frenes

  When Christian singer and speaker Staci Frenes learned her teenage daughter was gay, she found her dreams for the future—along with her lifelong faith—collapsing around her. Coming to terms with a new reality was an invitation to make room for new things: uncertainty, hope in the midst of loss, awkward and tough conversations, an…
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“Write what you know.” Is this good advice?

  Writers are often told, “write what you know.” Is this good advice? Absolutely! It’s great advice… if you understand what it means. You can’t take it literally to mean something like, “Only write about things for which you have specialized knowledge.” Nobody has specialized knowledge of fairies or monsters or vampires, and most people…
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