Publishing Process

Ask the Agent: The Process of Acceptance

Laurie wrote: A publisher requested my manuscript several months ago. I suspect he’s passed it to someone else to read. Does the reader make a report? Is it discussed by a committee? I’m wondering if my “precious” writing is on a shelf somewhere or being used as a convenient footrest under someone’s desk. All I…
Read More

What You Don’t Know

I was talking with one of my clients who is currently in the midst of a two-book contract with a major CBA house. This is her first book deal and although she’d spent many years networking with authors and publishing types, she’s been shocked by how much she didn’t know about publishing before she signed…
Read More

When a Publisher Makes an Offer

I’ve been writing a lot of posts geared toward the unpublished author. But I know many of you are published, or at least agented, and hopefully the rest of you are getting closer to publication, so you have questions about the process after you receive an offer from a publisher. I’m going to start interspersing…
Read More

Ask the Agent: Query Publisher or Agent?

Chatty Kelly asked a common question on Friday: Why would you query an agent over a publisher? What are the pros & cons? Okay, in the first place, fewer and fewer publishers are accepting unagented submissions. So if you want to get published, it’s becoming less viable to do it without an agent. Agents are…
Read More

The Editorial Process

Several of you have been curious about the editorial process inside a publishing house. Rosslyn asked:What is the role of freelance editors in the publishing process these days? I’ve noticed cases recently in which published authors had in-house editors AND freelance editors working on their novels. Do publishing houses hire these freelancers, or do the…
Read More

All About Timing

Today I want to share a couple of tidbits about timing in the publishing business. First, we’re now about ten days away from the ICRS convention, which is where many people involved in Christian publishing will be from around July 11 to 17. This may seem irrelevant if you’re not going to be there, but…
Read More

Ask the Agent: Having It Made

How about shedding some light on whether getting published and “having it made” are synonymous. It seems to be the feeling among writers that once you get a contract and have a book or two published, all you have to do is run up a decent proposal and your publisher will buy it. I hear…
Read More

Agenting & Editing – Part Deux

Last week I explained that it’s not considered ethical for literary agents to benefit financially from the editing of their clients’ books. (Agents should not profit from their clients in any way except for selling the rights to their books.) As part of my mission to clear up some misconceptions about how WordServe operates, I…
Read More

Does the System Work?

Last week, Christine posted a comment in response to Monday’s blog post, “Dreams” and I thought it would be interesting for you to weigh in on her thoughts. As you might guess, I have my opinion (and if you’re really nice I’ll consider sharing it), but I thought it would be more interesting to hear…
Read More

ASK THE AGENT: How I Get Clients

“How do you get most of your clients?” As you know, I’m in a “building” phase of this agenting gig, actively looking for clients. It’s been about three months and I’ve brought 16 writers into the agency. I thought you might find it interesting to know how I got each one. Obviously a great deal…
Read More