Blog Archive
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The Effectiveness of Blurbs
Oct 06, 2009
I have been reading several agent blogs, and while I’ve seen some discussion of getting established authors to blurb your books, I haven’t seen any discussion of how effective that practice is in the modern day. I know it depends on the author and the field, but is there an updated practice of soliciting authors […]
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Shoot for the Stars
Oct 05, 2009
I am an unpublished writer of erotic romance, finally ready to stick it out there to see if anyone grabs hold (pardon the bad pun). Now on to the question. There are several publishers of erotic romance, both paper & e-pub, whose websites state they welcome un-agented submissions. Is this a good route to follow […]
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Editing and Authors
Oct 02, 2009
A reader recently sent me a link to this Editor Unleashed post on Is Editing Worth It? In the article the author talks about an interview she once did with Laurell K. Hamilton in which the author said, “once you become successful as an author, your editor stops editing you.” This link actually came at […]
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National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month
Oct 01, 2009
This post is completely off topic from what I normally write, but it’s a subject that’s very close to my heart and really, sometimes I just need to write about something different. October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, and adopted dogs is something I’m truly, truly passionate about, and with good reason, I’ve […]
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Never Give Up
Sep 30, 2009
The statement, “A bad agent is worse than none” is true. It happened to me. I didn’t sell a book until after we parted company. Now, I have 4 published books and I’m writing for two small but good quality publishers, YA fantasy for one, adult suspense for the other. I’ve been trying, in vain, […]
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When to Query
Sep 29, 2009
There’s no doubt that I’ve discussed queries at great length in this blog, and yet there’s also no doubt that the entire process can be confusing and daunting to even those who have been loyal blog readers for quite some time. When discussing when it’s time to query, I’ve done multiple posts on when to […]
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Adding Religion to Your Book
Sep 28, 2009
I’ve got a question about religion in non-inspirational romance. My heroine is from a small town in the Bible belt – it would be in-character for her to attend church on Sunday mornings. However, I am not writing for an inspirational romance line (I love a good steamy sex scene!), and I don’t plan to […]
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The Anatomy of a Coauthor
Sep 25, 2009
As some of you have noticed and pointed out to me, more and more often it seems that New York Times bestselling authors are coauthoring books with lesser-name writers. In many cases, in fact, the bestselling author’s name is the only name recognizable on the cover. After reading such a book, based on the NYT […]
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Series Contracts
Sep 24, 2009
Let’s say a fiction writer was signed to a 3 book deal. She’s written the first book, obviously. Now it’s time to get started on the second. I believe that typically she would write an outline/proposal/synopsis (not sure which of those terms is most correct here) for the second, but I’m curious: how closely does […]
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Planning a Future Income
Sep 23, 2009
I read somewhere that romance authors are some of the lowest paid, and $30,000 per book was the example given. But to me, that is a lot of money. I’m sure the pay varies greatly between authors, but is there a certain range for solid authors who develop a decent following? I have to admit […]
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When to Update Agents
Sep 22, 2009
Sometimes when I get letters from readers I instantly know the response and can launch right into my blog post. At other times I have to think a little harder and balance what I would really want as well as what I think other agents would really want as well as what makes sense. Recently […]
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Male Protagonists
Sep 21, 2009
I’m writing a novel that I believe would be read predominately by women and has romantic elements (though the romance is not the central plot). It’s a story about family and faith and hardship. The protagonist and main POV character, however, is a man. Does that automatically preclude the novel from being considered “women’s fiction”? […]
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