About Me

Books I’ve Sold

Last Update: June, 2011 My permanent “deals” page is under construction. In this temporary post, I’ve included all my deals since I began agenting in 2008, in reverse chronological order. Fiction: Inspirational Erica Vetsch’s A BRIDE SEWS WITH LOVE IN NEEDLES, CALIFORNIA, taking place during WWI in which a young woman works with the Red Cross to…
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Books of the Year: Non-Fiction

It’s almost the end of 2009 so it’s time to talk about books we loved this year! Today we’re talking about our favorite non-fiction books from 2009. (Next week we’ll do fiction.) Here are a few of my recent faves. Columbine by Dave Cullen is the most captivating piece of non-fiction I’ve read in years.…
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The Power of Words

I’m glad we had a good conversation on the blog yesterday. Yes, a few people got snarky. But I only had to delete a couple of comments. I thought we had some necessary dialogue, and it was enlightening. Do I agree with all the commenters? No. Do I like everything I read? No. But I…
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Agent Query Policies: Stop the Griping!

Ever since I’ve been an agent, I’ve listened to writers complain about the unpleasant aspects of the publishing industry. Part of my job is helping authors navigate these difficult waters. I try to talk my clients through the hard parts of publishing; and on this blog, I do the same for many writers who aren’t…
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Change or Die

I was amazed at the comments on my Friday and Saturday posts, not just the number, but the depth, the passion and the thoughtfulness in many of them. It shows how diverse we all are, and how many different opinions and ideas we can have about the same topic. Again, I want to say I…
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Self-Publishing: A Rant and a Q4U

This week another major publisher, Harlequin, announced their entry into the self-publishing business. The blogs have lit up over it and there’s a lot of interesting reading out there. I think Victoria Strauss gave a great overview on the Writer Beware blog (here.) I have to admit that the idea of all these major publishers…
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Friday Fun: What’s Surprising About You?

Don’t you love how daily life offers so many great decent ideas for blog posts? This week I was being interviewed for a magazine article and one of the questions was, “What is something about you that writers would be surprised to know?” Of course, I share so much about myself on the blog and…
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About Me

My name is Rachelle Gardner and I’m an agent with WordServe Literary Group based in Denver, Colorado. Click on this link to visit our website; or to meet the other members of the WordServe team, see this post. I love books, authors, publishing, and talking incessantly about them. My passion is partnering with authors to…
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Putting Up with Impatience

A couple weeks ago I was having dinner with a group of novelists (who also happened to be my clients). We were talking about the terrible waiting that’s always involved in publishing. At every step of the journey, whether you’re agented or not, published or not, there seems to be a huge need for patience.…
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Go Ahead – Prove Me Wrong!

On Friday, in his This Week in Publishing post, Nathan Bransford gave a nod to my post last week on proactive vs. reactive protagonists. (Thanks, Nathan.) One of the commenters on Nathan’s blog said: Whenever I read something like: “you have to have a proactive protagonist,” I immediately want to go out and write a…
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No blog post today!

Today is Labor Day. Plus, yesterday was my birthday and I’m getting really, really old. Don’t you think I deserve a day off? Yep, I do too. See you tomorrow!.
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If Only I Had Some Advice for Writers

*Snark Alert! So the other day this guy tweeted me: “Any advice for a new author trying to find a literary agent?” I feel really bad for the guy. I’m sure he’s nice enough, and a good writer, and he’s doing his due diligence researching agents. But in the moment, the question dumbfounded me and…
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My Comment Policy

One of the most helpful blog posts I’ve read in awhile was yesterday on Michael Hyatt’s blog: 8 Blog Tips from Tim Ferriss. I’m going to try harder to put some of the tips into practice. But it was tip #6 that really got me thinking and re-examining. “Practice zero tolerance for negative comments.” I’ve…
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No Post Today, Sorry!

Drat, I simply couldn’t come up with a post for today. But I have a cool fireworks picture right? And ten really good excuses reasons for no post. 10. Way too busy Twittering and Facebooking. 9. Negotiating deals for four of my clients this week… it’s taxing, you know! 8. Sunshine beckons. Must. Get. Outside.…
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