Publishing

How Do You Become an Agent or Editor?

Believe it or not, I occasionally get emails from people who are interested in becoming a literary agent. (Don’t laugh, I’m not making this up.) Why anyone would want to join the ranks of the hated and maligned poor stepchildren of the literary world, I don’t know. Maybe the same reason some people become lawyers.…
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Dang Greedy Agents… (Not)

So here’s my response to Chuck’s post yesterday: Personally I wouldn’t favor the kind of fee structure he proposed. But I thought Chuck did a great job of thinking outside the box and proposing some options, and I liked the idea of putting it out there to stimulate some discussion. (Chuck’s not even an agent,…
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Guest Blogger: Chuck Sambuchino

Editor, Guide to Literary Agents Would You Pay More For An Agent? Money. It’s always a touchy topic—in any environment—and no one’s really started an intelligent discussion on agents and commissions … until now. About a year ago was the first time I heard an agent discussing a change to her commission structure. Wait—what? A…
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Email Protocol

Since we all deal with so many pieces of email everyday, I think it’s important to be able to use it efficiently and effectively. Many people don’t use email in a professional capacity very often because their job doesn’t call for it; if this is you, it might be helpful to go over the basics…
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Word of Mouth – Who Knew?

So our poll on Friday (see sidebar) led to some spectacularly predictable results. Exciting! It appears we find out about books mostly through various recommendations, either online or from friends or acquaintances. Otherwise known as word of mouth. We also find a lot of our books through browsing the stacks (physical or virtual) and picking…
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A Culture of Free

Yesterday I speculated on one aspect of the future of books, the idea of how technology will (or won’t) affect the presentation of a book. Today my speculations are more about the market and the changing perceived value of a book. One thing that concerns me about our current Internet culture is that it’s conditioning…
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For the Love of a Book

Last week Publishers Lunch featured a guide to the latest eReaders coming down the pike (here). It’s fascinating and makes me think of all kinds of possibilities for the future. The new readers will have terrific uses in business, for games, for keeping up on news, for editors and others in publishing, and many more.…
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The Book’s the Thing

I’ve been thinking about all the information for writers available now on the internet. It’s great for writers because although getting published has never been more challenging, there has never been so much information available about how to do it. But there are so many people giving advice that it must get overwhelming sometimes. Getting…
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Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Today we have a glimpse of my daily mailbag. Er, inbox. The following is an example of some recent correspondence with a writer I didn’t know. Hi Rachelle. I have a problem and I need your help. I’ve been writing a novel for nine years, pouring sweat, blood, and tears into it. Recently an acquaintance…
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Merry Christmas!

. May your life be blessed with love and laughter this season. See you Monday!.
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Let’s Git ‘Er Done

Last Saturday night, Brian and I went to the Christmas party and awards ceremony of the Wescott Fire Department, where Brian is a lieutenant and volunteer firefighter. (Brian’s paid job is firefighter for the Colorado Springs Fire Department.) The ceremony was presided over by Fire Chief Jeff Edwards, a highly respected leader who serves not…
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Update on Julie Hadden Book Giveaway

I’ve given away all my copies of Julie Hadden’s Fat Chance for those who’ve agreed to blog about it. If you emailed me, you’re on the list and will be getting a copy. Thanks to everyone who wrote!
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Finances of Publishing:

Answering Questions from Last WeekI’m glad my two posts last week, How Do Book Royalties Work? and Is Your Book Worth It? seemed to be helpful. There were quite a few questions, a few of which I’ll try to answer here. Sara asked: If an author wants to help sell their own books (lectures, readings,…
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(Possibly) Bad Advice I’ve Heard Lately

Like most of you, I do a fair amount of reading on the web. I keep up with what’s going on in publishing and I like to read what industry professionals are saying. However, sometimes I cringe when I read advice that doesn’t square with what I’ve experienced. It might not be wrong, per se,…
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