Search Results: query

Good morning and happy Monday! Let’s address some of the platform issues that have been coming my way lately: Q: If you have developed this wonderful platform and can do all the promotion you suggest, why would you want to give the lion’s share of the profits to a publisher? Why not use a Publish…

(Oops, technical difficulties, my blog didn’t post properly at the scheduled time. Sorry!) If you’ve been reading agent blogs and you follow them on Twitter, you probably know by now that most agents want you to follow their posted submission guidelines when submitting. A significant proportion of rejections happen because the query doesn’t follow the…

Happy Monday and I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend! Today I want to talk about that age-old platitude, “Don’t take it personally.” I think writers probably hear this a lot when agents and/or editors decline to take on their work. But I don’t think you hear what we mean when we say…

Today I’m going to give my thoughts on several questions I’ve been asked the last couple of weeks. Kathleen Elizabeth asked: Should you be basically finished writing your novel before you begin the search for an agent? → If you’re previously unpublished: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. The novel should be finished, edited, polished and…

Sorry for this very long post about nothing. I don’t blame you if you want to skip this one, but I had a few things on my mind tonight that I just needed to get out. Last week I spent some time reading the AgentFail post on the Bookends, LLC blog. It’s not that I’m…

Over the last year, I’ve given you numerous examples of things not to say in a query letter. One of the most unhelpful things you can say in your query is something like, “my book will win the Nobel prize” or “it’s bound to be a blockbuster bestseller.” Or even the more restrained, “This book…

I’ve had some people tell me lately that they’re starting to hate that word platform. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I feel the same way. I sometimes wish the whole idea of platform would just go away and we’d be free to simply publish the books we love. Like you, I wish…

Okay, this might seem like a really nitpicky complaint. I’m sorry. But here goes, a mini rant. Trust me, it’s just one more way I’m trying to help you, dear writers, understand how to begin creating a positive, professional image for yourself, from the very first time you come in contact with an agent or…

Last week, you may have noticed some interesting happenings over on Twitter. Several agents participated in “queryfail” day. They posted “turnoff” lines from query letters, in hopes of helping to educate writers about what we don’t want to see in a query. At first, I wasn’t going to participate, concerned that people might think we’re…

So, you know I love writing this blog, right? I enjoy the dialogue with writers, and sharing tidbits of information, and hearing about your experience as a writer in this crazy publishing world. But I have to tell you my #1 frustration with this whole thing. It has nothing to do with you. Nope. It’s…

If you read Michael Hyatt’s blog or Twitter posts, you’ve probably noticed he frequently refers to his zero-inbox status. Awhile back he wrote a blog post on how to stay on top of email, and occasionally he Tweets about it. My good friend Mary DeMuth also regales Twitter friends with her own zero-inbox status, and…

I was watching American Idol last night (duh) and the judges were bringing contestants in one after the other and telling them either “You made it through” or “You’re out.” That’s how it feels when I’m going through my query box, reading them one after the other. You’re in, you’re out. Just like contestants on…

Stephanie Reed wrote: A fellow CBA children’s author and I heard that, because there are already so many good mainstream children’s novels, there’s not much need for CBA children’s novels. Do you agree? And if so, please tell me how great mainstream novels and great CBA novels for adults have peacefully co-existed for years. My…

Wow, that was an amazing discussion yesterday on the writer’s passion. Thanks for contributing! If you haven’t read all the comments from yesterday, you really should. They offer an incredible amount of invaluable advice and encouragement. And speaking of passion! It’s showing up in my inbox in the form of queries about 10 to 20…