Blog Archive
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But I Was Young and Stupid
Jun 25, 2009
One of the things we’re so frequently warned about is to be careful what we put on the Internet because once it’s out there it’s out there for good. So, if you plan to be a NYT bestselling author and don’t want your readers to someday know the story of exploits on a bar top, […]
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Posting Your Book Online
Jun 24, 2009
I have started my own blog for the purpose of posting a new project as I write it. My plan is to post the entire first draft bit by bit and, hopefully, get some feedback/critiquing along the way. [Someone] alerted me to possible problems. But I wanted to get your take. If I post an […]
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Religious Mythology
Jun 23, 2009
I’ve got a question. My YA novel revolves around some biblical mythology, i.e., angels, Michael and Lucifer, Armageddon. You know, stuff like that. But it isn’t a religious novel by any means. Essentially it is taking that mythology and completely twisting it and taking a fresh spin on it. But I’m afraid that agents are […]
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Twitch Week!
Jun 22, 2009
So, Jessica and I both finally caved and joined Twitter. To get the word out and have some fun, we decided to hold Twitch Week — a Twitter pitch contest. Follow Jessica and me @BookEndsJessica and @BookEndsKim throughout the week to see when we ask you to “Start Twitching!” and respond with your pitch. As […]
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Ready to Query?
Jun 19, 2009
I have a novel I finished last year, and have been holding off submitting queries to agents because I have been procrastinating editing the book. Should I just buckle down and edit the novel, or start submitting queries for the novel with the unedited draft. Should I focus more on writing the pitch instead of […]
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The Confusion of Rejection
Jun 18, 2009
I think most authors don’t realize that agents really do have an idea of how frustrating and confusing rejection can be. Sure, it’s not the project we’ve labored for years to write, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t felt the sting in other ways. Maybe we didn’t write the book, but we have labored for […]
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Changing the Query System
Jun 17, 2009
By this point we’ve all heard the many complaints from authors that the query letter system needs to be changed because, basically, it’s too hard. The reasoning authors use are that agents are too stupid to recognize a good book based on a query and because of that many great pieces of literary fiction are […]
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Pseudonyms
Jun 16, 2009
I’ve been digging into the archives of questions from readers and can only hope that some of those who asked the questions are still around to read the answers. Today’s question concerns a previously published author who was dropped by her publisher, presumably for poor sales. The author now has a terrific new idea and […]
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Polite Communication
Jun 15, 2009
Back in my younger days as an editorial assistant I quickly learned that one of the best ways to become the best I could be was to watch those around me. I paid attention not just to my bosses and how they did their work, but also to other editors. I learned not just from […]
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The Editorial Process
Jun 12, 2009
You hear stories all the time about editors working with authors on books, maybe change an ending, add this, take out that, etc. Is this after they’ve bought the book? I guess what I’m after is, does an editor say, I like this book, but author is going to have to revise the first section, […]
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You Have No Business Writing
Jun 11, 2009
Some time ago I posted a letter from a reader in which she implied that there were certain people visiting writers forums who had “no business writing.” This comment, more than anything else in the letter, caused quite a stir. Many criticized the author for being a snob and not giving a break to newbies. […]
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Write What You Know
Jun 10, 2009
I don’t think I read agent blogs as religiously as many of you do, but I do try to keep up-to-date on what my colleagues are writing and saying, and one of the things I love is that in a weird, blog-like way, I feel we’ve developed our own little community. We often have very […]
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