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I’m taking a blogging break this week. Hope you enjoy this post from my archives. When I decided to become a literary agent, I received advice from several wise people who knew what I was getting into. They told me it would be a steep learning curve, it would be challenging to build my business…

We talk so much about the business of publishing on this blog, but it always has to come back to the writing, doesn’t it? I can’t overstate the the importance of taking the time and effort to master the craft. So how does an author objectively know the quality of their writing? People are constantly…

Thanks to the 100 people who contributed poems in Friday’s contest! They were all very entertaining and it was difficult to narrow it down. First, let’s start with some honorable mentions. In no particular order… Best Concise Overview of Publishing:Glynis No thank you, thank you no,We enjoyed the giggle,Now off you go. Best Brief Rejection…

Most of you are probably a bit tired of reading about the e-book/self-publishing revolution, but today I’m going to jump into the fray with a question I’ve been thinking about. As traditional publishing is no longer the only or even the best option for writers to get their work published, more and more people will…

Dear Rachelle, I’ve heard you talk about how difficult it is to sell a “personal story of overcoming adversity.” You’ve mentioned you won’t consider this kind of memoir unless the author has a significant platform and the story has built-in marketing potential and an obvious media hook. Would this include being a cancer survivor (two completely separate cancers) at…

Whew, it’s been a grim week here on the blog, hasn’t it? All this talk about difficult conversations between authors and agents. I think it’s time to let you put your own spin on all of this. (And hopefully add some humor to the situation.) So I was thinking we should have a contest. How about…

“Don’t Take This Personally – But It’s Personal” So this week we’ve been covering “difficult conversations agents have with their clients.” We’ve already discussed “This book isn’t going to work” and “I shopped your project but I can’t get a publisher to buy it.” Phew, heavy stuff! Oddly enough, I dread today’s difficult conversation more than any of…

“I Shopped it Till I Dropped, But Nobody’s Buying” Let’s start with the obvious: I only take on projects I believe I can sell. So it’s pretty depressing to go through two or three rounds of submissions to publishers and not get any interest. Believe me, this happens. Because of the rapidly changing marketplace, we…

“This book isn’t going to work.” I know many of you worry that agents gossip about writers behind the scenes. I don’t find this to be true, but what I’ve found is that agents often commiserate with each other about the hard parts of the job (like people in any kind of job). And one…

“When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time.”~Kurt Vonnegut “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor. Perfectionism will…

Agents get questions through email and in our blog comments every day. Most of us respond as we’re able, either on our blogs or via email. But there is one kind of question that an agent (who isn’t your agent) can’t answer for you. That question is: What should I do? I get this in a few variations:…

Do You Have to Sign One? In my May 3 post, “Will Your First Book Be Published?” I mentioned multi-book contracts, and blog reader Marion asked: “Do you have to sign for a multi-book contract?” Her concern was mainly that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be locked into deadlines since her first book took…

Dear Rachelle,I’m a bookstore owner and have developed a pretty good rapport with an author with whom we’ve done numerous booksignings. I want to show him some of my work to get his opinion, but I don’t want him to think that I’m just using him to get signed with an agent. My question is this: What is the proper…

I’ll start posting things there!Click HERE.Thanks!