Blog Archive

  • Update on Jessica’s #BeatRejection Challenge

    Oct 15, 2015

    In my travels I’ve been talking to authors about the #BeatRejection challenge. I’ve also been reading your comments and love that so many of you are participating. I’ve even received a few #BeatRejection queries. One thing that’s come about because of the challenge for me is that it’s not really about seeking a “no” or […]

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  • Why Your Books Are Not Selling

    Oct 14, 2015

    “Why” is the endless question in life, and the endless question of book sales. Why is that book selling and mine isn’t? Why did my first book hit the Times list, but not the second? Why aren’t my sales big enough to get a contract renewal? We don’t know. There’s rarely a real reason for […]

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  • Happy PubWeek to Jessica A’s authors!

    Oct 13, 2015

    Congratulations to Shelly Bell, Andrea Laurence, and Lynne Silver for their fantastic new releases! First up is Shelly Bell’s Blue Blooded, the second full-length erotic suspense novel in her Benediction series. If you want a hot BDSM book, check it out!  https://www.shellybellbooks.com/books-blueblooded.html Next is Andrea Laurence’s Stirring Up Trouble, the third installment in her sassy Rosewood […]

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  • I’m Not Always Excited About Your Query

    Oct 13, 2015

    Agents hear a lot of criticism after rejecting a query. Queries can’t tell you anything about the book. How can you possibly know if you haven’t read the book? You’re short-sighted. You’re only looking for something that’s been done a million times before… The truth is that I request a lot of material I’m not […]

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  • Moving Your Self-Published Books to Traditional Publishers

    Oct 12, 2015

    A Reader asks: I’m curious how you feel about working with an author to publish a “selfie” as it were, in mainstream publishing. This is just a small part of the email the reader sent, but to keep her anonymous I’ve left out the specific details concerning her book. What she is ultimately asking, is […]

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  • Happy release week to NYT bestseller Sofie Kelly and Faux Paw!

    Oct 09, 2015

      Book 7 in the New York Times Bestselling Magical Cats Mysteries is on sale now! Magical cats Owen and Hercules from A Midwinter’s Tail are back and ready to help librarian Kathleen Paulson pounce on a killer art thief… Normally, the arrival of an art exhibition at the Mayville Heights library would be cause […]

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  • The First Undercovered Dish Mystery is now on sale!

    Oct 09, 2015

    Congrats to Julia Buckley on this week’s release of THE BIG CHILI! First in a delicious new mystery series filled with casseroles, confidences, and killers… Lilah Drake’s Covered Dish business discreetly provides the residents of Pine Haven, Illinois, with delicious, fresh-cooked meals they can claim they cooked themselves. But when one of her clandestine concoctions […]

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  • Don’t Start with the Have Nots, Start with the Haves

    Oct 09, 2015

    Sending a query letter is about putting your best foot forward and grabbing the attention of an agent. You need to be positive and confident, you need to go in with the knowledge that you have something this agent wants to see. Which is why I’m always disappointed when I start reading a query that […]

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  • Jessica’s #BeatRejection Challenge Update

    Oct 08, 2015

    It’s been a week Day 1: I was sweating this day since I really had no plan and only a short list of five or so things for the 30 days I’m supposed to be doing this challenge. And then we got an email update from an old intern. She was interviewing for an editorial […]

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  • Managing a Blog

    Oct 07, 2015

    I received a comment last week that I sat on. It was on a post I had written back in 2007 about Bad Agents and, in my opinion, didn’t serve any purpose other than to attack me and other bloggers. For a few days I debated how to handle the comment. Even going so far […]

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  • Never Too Late is on sale

    Oct 06, 2015

    Never Too Late by Amara Royce is on sale now for 99 cents! Get this fantastic historical romance at this price while you can.

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  • Meet this Literary Agent at Bouchercon

    Oct 06, 2015

    I leave in two days for Bouchercon and believe it or not, I have a few openings in my schedule. I’m still talking to editors and other professionals about getting together, but I also thought I’d do something I’ve never done before, I’m going to open my schedule up to five writers. Think of it […]

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