Posts

Every time I post anything about building a platform, blogging, or creating an online presence, I inevitably get a few grumbles and complaints about why this is necessary. Some people want proof that all these activities can actually sell books. I also get “what-if” and “but-I” and every possible argument from writers who don’t want…

I’m amazed at how many party animals showed up at my little shindig on Friday… and kept coming all weekend! Thanks for coming, and thanks for leaving your contact information. I hope you take advantage of it, visit blogs, follow people on Twitter, and make those connections with other writers! That was a fun party.…

So, it’s Friday and I just feel like hanging out, shootin’ the breeze, and getting to know everyone. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Come on in, grab a beverage (cooler’s over there) and start mingling. How do we do that on a blog? It’s easy. In the comments, leave your blog and/or website URL, Twitter…

Yesterday I was talking to one of my clients, the uber-talented Patricia Raybon, about building an online presence and using blogging and social networking to build a platform (all the things we’ve been discussing on the blog lately). She said she’d been reading all the recommended websites about blogging, and even got the book Blogging…

Any of you who write a blog, or participate in blogs like this one, know that it feels like an ongoing conversation. I’m having this conversation with all of you; you’re talking to one another as well. It’s pretty cool the way we’re all sort of hanging out talking to one another every day. I…

Last week at the Write-To-Publish conference, the one topic that kept coming up in conversations, panels, and workshops was AUTHOR PLATFORM. Yes, the hated p-word! I explained again and again that publishing just ain’t what it used to be. Gone are the days when publishers were solely responsible for the marketing of a book. Today’s…

I’m a great believer in reading. Shocking, huh? I believe that you, as a writer, should read lots of books in the genre or category in which you are writing. If you write literary fiction, you should read literary fiction. If you write suspense, you should read suspense. It’s a great way to learn. I…

Jill asked: Say I’ve been doing the research, investing an agent’s website and following the blog for a while and I’ve decided I want to query that agent. Would it be better to do a cold query (following all the submission guidelines, of course) or wait for the possibility of an appointment at a conference,…

On the Way to my Query Box Last week, as you know, I was away at a conference. I was responding to email the best I could on my Blackberry. I have my email structured so that queries won’t appear in the regular inbox; instead, they get filtered into the query box. They receive auto-replies…

I just returned from four days at a writers conference. I had something like 30 one-on-one meetings with writers, taught four 1-hour workshops, ran two late-night critique groups, had a few lunches/dinners/coffees with editors, and still managed to get out each morning for a 2-mile jog to and from Starbucks. Phew! I really enjoyed this…

Remember a couple weeks ago when we had Help Your Fellow Writers Day? Well, you stepped up to the plate and it was a rousing success. Since you all did such a great job of offering advice, I decided to let you do it again. This time, the theme is “Help your local literary agent.”…

Alexis Grant asked: Would you consider a post on memoir guidelines, since memoir falls somewhere between fiction and nonfiction in many ways? For my travel memoir, should I query when I have a proposal and several sample chapters, like nonfiction, or wait until the manuscript is complete, like fiction? What’s the usual word-count window for…

Rachel asked: Do you have any tips for managing your time? I know you have kids and other responsibilities. I’m always interested in how other people manage to keep being productive with those competing interests in play. Well, Rachel, I wish I had some great advice based on my own fabulously successful time management skills.…

A whole bunch of people have asked me this question recently. I can’t figure out if it’s because they are interested in becoming an agent… or because they can’t figure out how the heck I became one. I suppose it could just be curiosity, and I think it’s valid. It makes sense that, as a…