Blog Archive
-
Put on Your Game Face
Aug 31, 2010
We have a joke among my friends that there’s Work Jessica and just plain old Jessica. Hopefully all of you really only ever see Work Jessica. Work Jessica is my game face. It’s the image I want to present to the public. It means that I dress a certain way and act a certain way. […]
View More -
Are you Superstitious
Aug 30, 2010
I don’t like to think of myself as a superstitious person, primarily because it seems kind of silly. That being said, I’m superstitious, whether I want to admit it or not. For example, years ago I made a decision not to tell anyone in the office about a book I was excited about until I […]
View More -
Brainstorming
Aug 26, 2010
Once, long ago, a reader made a comment on my blog that agents should just stick to selling books, that she didn’t want an agent who would “tell her what to write” because that’s not an agent’s job. Obviously this comment has stuck with me, not because I was hurt by it in any way, […]
View More -
An Author’s Seduction
Aug 25, 2010
I’m a big fan of marketing guru Seth Godin. You may have heard me talk about him before, and if you follow me on Twitter you’ve definitely seen me retweet his posts. Seth tends to write very short blog posts, but in a few words he is really able to get me thinking. His recent […]
View More -
Work of Cover Art
Aug 24, 2010
Queries aren’t the only thing I’m behind on. I’ve also fallen behind on my Bravo TV watching, and since Bravo seems to take up the majority of my DVR space, that’s saying a lot. Finally though I’m catching up and watching Work of Art, the Bravo reality show for competitive artists. Believe it or not, […]
View More -
The Reason for “Rules”
Aug 23, 2010
Believe it or not there is a reason behind every “rule” agents have when it comes to querying. The reason isn’t to make your life crazy, but to help give you a better shot on the road to publication. On the BookEnds website we advise all authors to put the word “query” or “submission” in […]
View More -
Query Friday
Aug 20, 2010
I haven’t done a status on my queries lately, I guess because I’ve been closed. But for those who don’t follow me on Twitter, I thought I should update you. As of a week or so ago (I’ve totally lost track of time) I’m fully caught up on queries, although still closed. That means I […]
View More -
Do We Impress You
Aug 19, 2010
Have any of your bloggers impressed you so much by their comments, or how they wrote them, it created a head slapping “I should represent this writer” moment, or conversely, “I should steer clear of this nut-case”? I have learned on your website that content of the story is as important as the caliber of […]
View More -
Referrals from Clients
Aug 18, 2010
In my post A Different Way of Doing Business, a lot of discussion occurred in the comments section about the referring author’s responsibility and how I dealt with my client if a “bad” referral came in (for lack of a better word). The minute you get a book deal, heck, the minute you get an […]
View More -
An Agent’s Creative Side
Aug 17, 2010
Do you ever have those days when too many distractions make writing nearly impossible? Maybe it’s a day better spent researching or working on marketing and publicity or maybe it’s a day you just need to take a break from writing to get those other things done that are clogging your brain? I don’t know […]
View More -
More on Product Placement in Books
Aug 16, 2010
Oh, what a difference a year makes. Last year I wrote a post about the possibility of product placement in books and whether or not authors would consider being paid to include products in their books and how readers might feel about that. At the time, it was a bit of a pie-in-the-sky idea. However, […]
View More -
Individualizing the Query
Aug 12, 2010
I was wondering what you think is the most important aspect of a query. I’ve read a ton of articles which all cite different things and I get the feeling that rather than emphasizing hook over plot, or characters over events, based on an article, I should strive to find out what it is that […]
View More