Comments for Rachelle Gardner

Comment on Freelance Editor Recommendations by Nathan Bransford

Nathan Bransford — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 18:35:25 +0000

Thanks for including me, Rachelle!

Comment on New Release Spotlight: Kathy Escobar by Macy Dale McMichael

Macy Dale McMichael — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 15:51:52 +0000

I really enjoyed this article. It resonates with some experiences I’ve had recently, and your advice provides a lot of clarity. Keep up the fantastic work!

Comment on Need a publishing coach? Let’s talk! by Laurie Beach

Laurie Beach — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 04:24:13 +0000

Hi Rachelle! I’ve been a fan of yours for years. I am (finally) a published author with Tule Publishing. My first book just won the Maggie award (my second book was also a finalist). I would like to expand my career and would love some advice on how to do that. I have never had an agent.

Comment on New Release Spotlight: Amanda Held Opelt by Kristen

Kristen — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 02:55:36 +0000

Fascinating subject matter! Thank you for featuring this book. I will need to take a look at this one, and possibly review it on my website. Thanks, again!

Comment on New Release Spotlight: Kristy Cambron by Tara Maya

Tara Maya — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 18:24:50 +0000

Very intriguing! I’ve been on a binge of reading WWII fiction lately.

Comment on Kristy Cambron joins Gardner Literary by Morgan Tarpley Smith

Morgan Tarpley Smith — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 03:19:05 +0000

Welcome, Kristy! So excited for you!

Comment on Does a Fiction Author Need a Platform? by Ariel J. Smythe

Ariel J. Smythe — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 02:46:14 +0000

This is very reassuring! Sounds like being savvy about and also set-up on social media and establishing presence/being poised while also finalizing a well-crafted and polished manuscript will serve- and once ms submitted for agent consideration, returning full focus to promotion via those channels. I’m watching how other authors are doing it. ???? Thank you, Rachel, so much; I just exhaled (but not taking a nap…????)

Comment on Does a Fiction Author Need a Platform? by Oona Cava

Oona Cava — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 20:50:06 +0000

This has been my approach as well. I am a bit haunted by the many people I respect who talk about setting up your platform waaaaay before your book is ready to shop around but it hasn’t driven me to do anything about it (yet). In the meantime, I will continue to happily devour craft books and share work with my editing group. 🙂

Comment on How Many Queries Should I Send Out? by Mark Murata

Mark Murata — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 03:23:54 +0000

I have to admit it is very easy nowadays to send out queries to agents. but each one has to be unique, especially if I ever heard that agent speak at a convention.

Comment on How Many Queries Should I Send Out? by Neurotic Workaholic

Neurotic Workaholic — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 15:05:33 +0000

It’s always encouraging to me to read about successful authors who sent out dozens (and in some cases hundreds) of queries before they finally got agents. It showed their perseverance and dedication to their work, and it also gives hope to other struggling writers.

Comment on How Many Queries Should I Send Out? by Les Edgerton

Les Edgerton — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:48:34 +0000

I sent out 86 queries before I found a buyer for my first mss… and that was in the snail mail days where it often took up to six months (and beyond) before you received a reply. Not to mention the cost. Today’s writers push a button on a computer and it’s zipped off. BTW, that novel won the Violet Crown Book Award. It just makes me shake my head when I see what current writers see was a “lot” of queries… It was the first fiction published by the University of North Texas Press and the only reason it got taken was that the editor’s assistant spilled the coffee she was bringing to the editor and she had an extra ten minutes, so she idly picked up the first page (and, yes, we sent in partials with queries in those days which was costly as you also had to send in return postage) and she spied the name of her home town and kept on reading and fell in love with it. It took more luck to even get it to that point as two weeks prior, I was invited to take place in a workshop with Mary Evans, the agent for Michael Chabron, and during a break she asked if I was having trouble getting responses to it and I told her absolutely and she nodded and said Mr. Chabron had the same problem with his first novel for the same reason. His (and mine) protagonist’s were both teenaged boys, so agents and publishers saw them as YAs and there was little market for YAs in those days and to compound the problem, they were both teenaged boys. In those days (early 90’s) and that was the kiss of death as teenaged boys were the single worst demographic in publishing. Young boys, said Mary, just didn’t read. They were the worst market for books and the single best market for movies. (This was before Harry Potter( which changed everything.) She advised me to transform it into a frame book, as had Chabron, which I did, and the very next editor to see it was UNT’s and a week before she wouldn’t have seen the name of her home town as it wasn’t there. Just to show you how much luck has to do with things in publishing. Sorry for the length of this, but hope it helps someone to persevere, perhaps. Rachel, I’ve followed you for many years and am also a lover of dark chocolate. Blue skies, Les Edgerton, Author HOOKED, FINDING YOUR VOICE and others.

Comment on What would make my memoir stand out to a publisher? by Neurotic Workaholic

Neurotic Workaholic — Sun, 23 May 2021 17:24:01 +0000

I’ve always liked reading memoirs; my bookshelves are full of them. Do people prefer memoirs with happy/optimistic endings? I’ve noticed that most of the memoirs I’ve read seem to end on that note.

Comment on What are Beta Readers and What do they Do? by T. Powell Coltrin

T. Powell Coltrin — Wed, 05 May 2021 10:53:00 +0000

Taste testers for writers. Love that comparison. This is great information on the expectations of a beta reader.

Thank you!
Teresa

Comment on What can an agent do for me? Do I need one? How much do they cost? by Rachelle Gardner

Rachelle Gardner — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 00:33:01 +0000

In reply to Maz Green. We are typically referring to authors who don't yet have a book published by a traditional publishing house. But as you know, there are many definitions of "published."