Publishing

Ever thought about your book becoming a movie? I’m blogging all about it over at Books & Such today. Here’s a preview: Let’s start with this assumption: if you’ve written a novel or memoir, chances are you’ve dreamed of it becoming a movie. Admit it! It’s visual… it’s dramatic… the story is even better than…

In my last post, we discussed “volume” as a key to being able to support yourself as a writer. Today we’ll talk about the second key: Variety. A lot of people are wondering what I mean by this, because we’ve all had it pounded into us that we need to “brand” ourselves, we need to…

I’m blogging at Books & Such today. Here’s a preview… As you know, agents aren’t able to sell every book we decide to represent. But the decision to stop trying to sell a book is always a tough one. We’ve already put a lot of work into it, and we probably really like the client.…

I’m going to make this very simple: The secret to making a living wage as a writer lies in two words: volume and variety. Today let’s talk about the first one. Volume The biggest mistake writers make with respect to their “publishing dreams” is hoping for one big break that’s going to change their lives,…

I’m giving a webinar TONIGHT with book marketing guru @ThomasUmstattd: How to Win Agents and Influence Editors… at a Writers’ Conference. Time is 8pm Eastern… cost is only $15.00 and you get approximately one million dollars worth of material. Okay, just kidding. But we think it’s at least a $100 value. You get: ♦ The live webinar…

I’m blogging over at Books & Such today. Here’s a preview: There are plenty of places online to get tips for using Twitter effectively. (I’ve given you some links at the end of this post.) But today I’m going to give you just ONE tip. I think it’s the first and most important thing you…

Yesterday I gave you a sampling of the blogs I follow in my Google Reader. But there are some blogs and publications I follow on Twitter instead of in my Reader. These tend to be very good at Tweeting new articles and posts, so it’s easier for me to click through from Twitter rather than…

I was talking with a friend who works in the financial industry, and a question came up about what we would each be doing 30 years from now. My friend was anticipating a prosperous retirement at that point, having built up a significant and valuable business. While the financial life of our nation has its…

I’m blogging over at Books & Such today. A preview: Here is a typical email I receive from writers I’m considering for representation, or clients whose proposals are about to be sent to publishers: Dear Rachelle, I’m SO sorry to bother you and I hope it’s not too late. I was looking over my manuscript…

I believe that as an author, you can expect certain rights when it comes to dealing with agents and publishers. I also believe that rights come with responsibilities. Here are a few that come to mind: 1. You have the right to decide whether or not to seek agency representation, and which type of publishing…

I’ve blogged about failure a few times, and I’ve read dozens of other posts about it. As I wrote in this post, “Turns out, everyone and their brother has blogged about failure. And every successful person in history has a quote about it, too.” But recently, an author wrote poignantly about being in the middle…

Ah, the English language. You would think one’s native tongue would be easier to master. But alas, there are simply too many land mines in our little lexicon. Just today I read an email in which the writer hoped I “excepted” his submission, and another in which someone wanted to pay me a “complement.” It…

Authors often express frustration that their rejection letters don’t contain any hint of the real reason the project wasn’t accepted (save for something generic like “the project doesn’t fit my needs at the present time.”) A writer told me she’s not asking for much — just “one word, maybe two” of explanation at the end…