Search Results: query
| Agents, Publishing
A Splash of Cold Water
Some of you may have read the post from agent Kristin Nelson last week about agents fighting over writers. She wrote that every single time she offers a writer representation lately, she ends up competing with several other agents who want the same client. You can go read her post now: Hot Commodity In response…
Read More | Publishing
It’s Not Like Other Businesses
I get weary of hearing people complain about publishing, comparing it to other industries and saying, “In no other business…” followed by whatever their complaint is. People even go so far as to claim the entire publishing industry is “incompetent” because it doesn’t work like other industries with which they’re familiar. To me, those complaints…
Read More | A Writer's Life
Keeping Track of Things
Yesterday I wrote about treating your writing like a business, and being professional about how you deal with the finances and tax ramifications of that business. Continuing along those lines, today I want to suggest a couple more things you can do to stay organized in your writing business. If you’re in the querying stage,…
Read More | Submitting, Writing
Writing a Series
(Today’s peek into my mailbox.) Dear Rachelle, I’ve been writing a series of novels, and have completed six books. My question is: How do I go about submitting a series? I have a query that describes the series an includes an excerpt from each book. Would this be the correct way to present the series?…
Read More | A Writer's Life
Be a Writer
It’s Encouragement Week here on my blog! I’m featuring posts from years past, each offering a little inspiration for your writing journey. I’ll be away from the blog to observe Holy Week, but I’ll be back next week with all-new posts. I hope you enjoy this series. *** Many of you know that my kids…
Read More | Q4U
Q4U: How Do You Decide?
One of the questions I get asked most often is, “What makes you say yes to a book?” I usually try to evade the question because (1) it’s so subjective and (2) there are so many possible answers, depending on the book. Plus, sometimes I’m not even sure. I start reading and I like it.…
Read More | Publishing
My Approach to Christian Worldview
Lately people have been confused about what I mean by “Christian worldview” and what kinds of projects I’ll consider representing. My experience the last seven years has been in CBA and for the first couple years of being an agent, most of my sales have been to CBA publishers. As many of you know, I’m…
Read More | Publishing
Common Questions Answered
Thanks for all the questions you sent me on Friday’s post! I answered most of them in the comments, so be sure to check that out. But there are a few questions that I seem to get repeatedly, so I’m addressing some of them here. What is the appropriate length of time to follow up…
Read More | Agents, Submitting
It’s a Relationship
Last month I wrote a post on the Top Ten Query Mistakes. The first two points were all about personalizing your query to the agents. They were: #1. Not making me special, and #2. Not caring who I am. Now if you didn’t know me, those might seem like kind of narcisistic statements, and believe…
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| Popular Posts, Writing
How To Title Your Book
Lately I’ve been coaching several of my clients through the process of coming up with a good title for their book, so I thought I’d share my tips with you. Let’s start by acknowledging a few things. The publisher is usually responsible for the final decision on title, and in the query stage, it’s not…
Read More | Agents, Submitting
Reasons for Submission Guidelines
As you know, almost all agents have Submission Guidelines posted on their websites and/or blogs. Agents who blog and Twitter always remind writers to follow guidelines, and some agents reject without responding if you don’t follow them. But why are the guidelines so important? Are we just picky and anal people, obsessed with power and…
Read More | Agents, Writing
Saying No After I’ve Requested Your Manuscript
We spend a lot of time on these blogs discussing what makes an agent say “yes, I want to see more” or “no thanks” after reading a query. And last week I tried to give you some idea of the things I’m looking for in a manuscript, things that make me want to keep reading…
Read More | Publishing
Q4U: Learning the Biz
Like everyone else in this business, published authors included, I frequently receive emails asking for advice. Not specific advice, but sweeping, general requests for advice like: “How do I get published?” Usually the person writing has just finished writing either a novel or a memoir, and somehow they got my email address, and they want…
Read More | Publishing
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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