Publishing

I just returned from my summer vacation and am still trying to re-integrate into normal life so I don’t have any profound insights for today’s blog post. (My last seven posts were pre-scheduled before I left town. I love modern technology.) But I do have a couple of observations from my time away, and here they are: 1. People…

“Don’t Take This Personally – But It’s Personal” So this week we’ve been covering “difficult conversations agents have with their clients.” We’ve already discussed “This book isn’t going to work” and “I shopped your project but I can’t get a publisher to buy it.” Phew, heavy stuff! Oddly enough, I dread today’s difficult conversation more than any of…

“I Shopped it Till I Dropped, But Nobody’s Buying” Let’s start with the obvious: I only take on projects I believe I can sell. So it’s pretty depressing to go through two or three rounds of submissions to publishers and not get any interest. Believe me, this happens. Because of the rapidly changing marketplace, we…

I’ll start posting things there!Click HERE.Thanks!

We’ve had a lot of talk about genres lately, and I’ve tried to discuss which genres you’re writing as well as which genres seem to be selling best. But recently a blog reader mentioned it would be interesting to see which genres you’re READING, not just writing. This is actually a good point, because while I always…

1. What’s the best book you’ve read lately? 2. What are you sick of reading about on blogs? 3. Who are your favorite publishing bloggers? (Besides me, of course.) 4. Are you excited about the all-new-and-improved blog design I’m going to debut in a couple of weeks? and most importantly… 5. Who is going to…

I thought the response to Friday’s post was phenomenal and I loved reading everyone’s reasons for pursuing traditional publishing. These days, many writers feel bombarded from all sides by people screaming “Self-publishing is the way to go!” so I wanted to give everyone a chance to speak their minds, and your comments were full of…

The winner of Mary DeMuth’s book 150 Quick Questions to Get Your Kids Talking is Jane who left her comment on Thursday’s post at 12:18am on March 25. Email me, Jane!

Congrats to Wendy Paine Miller! You’ve won a copy of Mary DeMuth’s 150 Quick Questions to Get Your Kids Talking. Thanks to everyone for commenting on Mary’s guest post Thursday.

It’s that time of year again… Idol is back on, and as far as I can tell, better than ever. I can’t help it – I’m a fan. I love watching people pursue their dreams. I love the idea of talent being discovered. I love seeing people step up, be brave, lay it all on…

Today our country recognizes and remembers Martin Luther King, Jr. Please take eight minutes to watch this clip from his “I have a dream” speech of August 28, 1963. Do you have a dream that is bigger than yourself? What is it?

I’m taking the rest of the year off. Happy New Year and see you in 2011!

200 Christmas cards plus postage … a little money. Christmas gifts for husband, kids, extended family and friends … a bunch of money. Airfare and rental car to visit the family out of state … a ridiculous amount of money. Four generations of family sitting around the table playing “BS” and laughing until tears stream…