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I’m taking the rest of the year off. Happy New Year and see you in 2011!

Here we are in the middle of the holidays and with Christmas over, we’re rushing headlong into NEW YEAR’S which for many of us means… resolutions. I’ve always loved the feeling of starting a fresh year and optimistically making a list of things I want to accomplish, so I usually spend quite a bit of…

200 Christmas cards plus postage … a little money. Christmas gifts for husband, kids, extended family and friends … a bunch of money. Airfare and rental car to visit the family out of state … a ridiculous amount of money. Four generations of family sitting around the table playing “BS” and laughing until tears stream…

(Repost) My query box is getting filled faster and faster these days. I never cease to be amazed at how many people are writing books. Someone recently asked whether I thought that, with all the competition, will all the good writers eventually get published? With persistence and continued improvement of their work, will there be…

(Repost)I’ve written before about how I get tired of writers complaining about all the “bad books” that get published. As a writer, it can be extremely frustrating to work your tail off, trying to master the craft, trying to “follow all the rules” of good writing… then open up any number of books and be…

Like all agents and many published authors, I frequently receive emails with questions from writers. Sometimes they’re specific questions about the business, but often they’re sweeping and general, like: How do I get published? I have several templates I use to answer people’s questions, but I’m getting bored of my same old answers. So help…

Blog reader Melanie asked: How much say does an author have in the final decision regarding the title of a book to be published and in the artwork for the cover? And who are the people that come up with the design/photograph for the covers. Does each publisher have a team of people or a…

“Writing makes a person very vulnerable. It opens you to public criticism, to ridicule, to rejection. But it also opens conversation and thought. It stirs minds, and touches hearts. It brings us into contact with our souls. So how can it possibly be a waste of time, an idle act, a mistake, a betrayal of…

(Repost)I’ve been extra busy lately, what with all the holiday activities, and I haven’t been preparing my blogs in advance like I normally do. So yesterday I was sitting at my desk pondering the 177 emails in my box, and the manuscripts that needed reading, and the proposals I’m preparing for submissions, and amidst all…

The Internet lit up yesterday with the new development over at Amazon—the fact that they’re now giving authors their sales information from Bookscan. If you’re an author with an account at Amazon’s Author Central (if you have a book on Amazon, you’d better have an Author Central page!) then you can now access your sales…

This one’s for non-fiction authors—it doesn’t apply so much to novelists. Ever see the movie Little Miss Sunshine? Richard (played by Greg Kinnear) is a wanna-be motivational speaker who knows that it begins with a book, which turns into speaking, which turns into DVDs, etc. (At least that’s what he thinks.) After his agent, Stan…

There comes a time in every writer’s life when the current book—the one that’s contracted, written, revised and at least partially edited—becomes the single most hated thing in the world. All I really need to say about this is: That’s normal. Almost every author I’ve worked with has told me at some point that they…

A client recently wrote me: I’ve finished my book and delivered it to the publisher. What should I be focusing on right now?That’s a good question. At this point, a writer should be thinking about two things: marketing this book (building your platform), and beginning work on your next book, whether or not it’s contracted.…

Somebody asked me recently, “What turns you off in writers’ blogs?” They wanted to know if there were certain things I saw that would make me not want to represent someone, or at least make me wonder whether I should. So I thought about it, and here are a few of my answers: → A…