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An anonymous commenter on Friday wrote: “It’s hard to know if agents/editors are rejecting you because of the economy or genre or market or what. All they say now is they doubt they can sell it – well, then I don’t want a lazy agent anyway.” I’m sure most agents reading that would just have…

In the comments to Friday’s post, February Grace said: “I wish that there was a standard query procedure to follow. That’s all. A uniform cover letter plus a sample from the work or synopsis or both.”First, I want to apologize on behalf of all agents, because apparently we’ve made it seem way too hard. It’s…

I appreciated everyone’s responses to my question on Friday about what frustrates you in the publishing industry right now. Everyone has valid concerns, many of which I share, and I’ll address some of them on the blog in coming days. I’m thinking that since it’s summertime (and the livin’ is, supposedly, easy) I want to…

Speaks for itself, doesn’t it? I think it points to an interesting topic: What’s frustrating you about publishing at this very moment? Have fun. And be nice! Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent

Here are some quick answers to reader questions that don’t require entire blogposts unto themselves: If you have more than 2 POV characters, are your chances of publication lessened?→ Not unless your book is really bad. If you live near a major publisher, and your book takes place in the same area, does this help…

I have a confession to make: In addition to spending a great deal of money purchasing new books, I also love to hang out at libraries and used bookstores. It’s better on the budget, no doubt about it. But it’s more than that. There’s just something cool about holding a book in my hand and…

We’ve been talking about contradictory messages all week, so for our last day, I wanted to address a topic that is integral to the life of anyone trying to create something artistic – and then sell it. There’s a constant tension between art and commerce, isn’t there? How do you balance the amount of time…

Yesterday we started our week of discussing mixed messages, so today I want to continue by addressing some contradictory advice on signing with an agent. With so many agents and others writing blogs, it’s natural that many of us are saying things in opposition to one another. As a writer, it must be hard for…

I frequently receive questions about all the “mixed messages” writers get in the course of writing and publishing their books. So we’re going to spend this whole week talking about it. One of the kinds of mixed messages we have to deal with is getting contradictory responses to our work. You may hear one thing…

What’s more important? Being happy with your work, or getting it published? Tell me. I’ll be interested in your answers (and no, this is not a test). See you on Monday! P.S. Today’s question was suggested by @LeftyWritey on Twitter.

Hello Rachelle,I received a formal letter from [Name Deleted] Publishing stating that they want to publish my book. The company looks solid. However, I self published my first book and really want to work hard until I can land an industry recognized publisher this time around. How do you find out if a publisher is…

This past weekend I spent about three hours browsing around my neighborhood Borders. I try to do this once every couple of months at least – not just make a quick trip to the bookstore, but spend a good deal of time there. As writers and publishing professionals, we all need to get to the…

Today I’m offering some thoughts on a few of the one-sentence summaries that were entered in the contest. Sometimes it’s helpful to see what’s not quite working, in order to learn how to do it better. Maybe these examples will help you spot something you can improve with your own pitch. We’ll group them according…

Wow! We had nearly 500 entries in last Wednesday’s contest. I’m thrilled, because this means 500 of you worked on creating a concise summary for your book, something most writers find difficult. But it can be done, right? I hope this served as a helpful exercise for you. Of course it was very difficult narrowing…