Publishing

We’ve talked a lot on this blog about trends in publishing, what’s hot and what’s not, and the fact that agents and publishers are always basing acquisitions for the future on what has sold in the past. Because of this, people are always asking me: So what’s hot? What are the trends? But I’m admitting…

I will not be accepting any queries in the month of July. Any I receive between now and August 1st will be deleted with no response and you will be blacklisted forever. Just kidding. I’ll delete any queries I receive after today, and hope to hear from you in August! Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent

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…

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…

Winners of the One-Sentence Summary Contest will be announced TOMORROW, Monday. On Tuesday, I’ll be discussing one-sentence summaries in further detail, and critiquing a handful of the entries. Be sure and let me know if you DON’T want your entry critiqued on the blog (just in case I choose yours).

The Real Reason Dinosaurs Became Extinct Have a great weekend! Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent

I’ve said many times on this blog that we are all salespeople. Everyone along the chain of writing, publishing and selling books has the ultimate goal of getting the book into the hands of the end user – the reader. In order to do that, we have to sell our stuff. From the query letter…

I got an email last week from a guy who turned down my offer of representation a year ago in favor of another agent. He said he thought he’d made a mistake, was pretty unhappy with the agent, and wanted to talk to me again. The agent had submitted his non-fiction proposal to a round…

I’m teaching a webinar this coming Thursday at 1pm Eastern, all about queries, elevator pitches, taglines and all the ways you sell your work to agents and editors. There are some simple strategies to make sure you’re presenting your work in the best light. Learn what they are! The webinar is both audio and visual…

Today’s my kids’ last day of school, so summer is officially starting around our house. I love summer – the hot weather, the vacations, the feeling of “freedom” that I experience vicariously through my kids. When I think of the summers when I was growing up in California, I remember spending days at the beach…