Blog Archive
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Tired Storylines
May 12, 2010
Girl finds out she’s pregnant. She’s excited and a little scared. Either way she can’t wait to tell boy. He’s the love of her life and it’s a new step for them. It doesn’t matter if he’s a husband, boyfriend, or fiancé, they are together for good. Just as she’s about to tell him he […]
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The Need to Fall in Love
May 11, 2010
Writers struggling to find an agent for their work often get frustrated by the response of many agents that they “just didn’t fall in love with it.” Why do you need to fall in love? they ask. Just sell my book. Why? Because in your perfect world wouldn’t you want a job you love? Doing […]
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Making Comparisons, Part II
May 10, 2010
I’ve also read in a few places that comparing your novel to other published works is iffy at best, and comparing it to best sellers/classic novels is suicide. Are there two schools of thought on this? I think I’ve blogged on this before, but after three years of blogging it’s sometimes starting to feel like […]
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Dream Client
May 07, 2010
We’re kicking back today and putting you in our shoes.If you were an agent, what kinds of books would you want to represent? What author would be your “dream client”?Kim
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Morality Clause
May 06, 2010
Do authors of MG [middle grade] and YA [young adult] have morality clauses in their contracts with either the agent or the publisher? Just curious with all the scandals going on lately. I’m assuming by “the scandals” you mean Hollywood scandals like Tiger Woods and Jesse James. I don’t think I’ve been so out of […]
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Resubmitting Queries
May 05, 2010
Sometimes I feel like I write myself in circles, answering the same questions. I’m sure this is why Miss Snark quit blogging. After a while she had to feel like she’d answered everything at least twice. That being said, I know there are always new readers and I know that sometimes it’s the second or […]
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Wasting an Agent’s Time
May 04, 2010
It’s really irritating when an author decides that the best way to get an agent’s attention is to lie. Ask enough questions and you will learn that the “interest from a publisher” that you need to jump on is not an offer or much interest at all. The truth, though, if you’re looking for a […]
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The Fate of Self-Published Works
May 03, 2010
I just found out something very disparaging that I would love to have elaborated on by an actual agent. It seems that despite strong sales and critical accolades, agents do not wish to take on books that have previously been self-published. Is that really true? I understand that for ebooks, people who have already purchased […]
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Effective Marketing
Apr 30, 2010
At BookEnds, we’ve been working on updating the publicity guidelines we hand out to all of our clients. We try to give them ideas of where we feel their time and money are best spent and will hopefully result in actual book sales. We love to give them specific examples of unique/effective marketing tools. Obviously, […]
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Author-Agent Agreements
Apr 29, 2010
What if a writer on her own gets offered a contract from a small or university press with little or no advance? And what if that writer wants to protect her rights by having an agent look over the contract? Would an agent then agree to taking a small fee from the writer (if the […]
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The Internet and Your Career
Apr 28, 2010
I spent this week thinking a lot about blogging, Tweeting, and the Internet. I read this Huffington Post article by Jason Pinter and remembered when he was fired and the rumors and speculation that followed. I also thought of the backlash that all bloggers and Tweeters have received at one point or another and, most […]
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Query Rejections
Apr 27, 2010
After reading a batch of e-queries, I tracked some of the biggest reasons they received a rejection. I think the number-one reason is that the query just didn’t interest me. The book was in one of my genres, but the story didn’t feel different or special enough. For example, it was a mystery that didn’t […]
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