Blog Archive

  • Agents Doing You a Disservice

    Oct 31, 2007

    It would be great if writers had the power in deciding the agent/writer relationship. Some writers do. Most don’t. Agents will tell writers, “It only takes one yes.” But if that one yes is all a writer gets, options are limited. While Jessica is, commendably, afraid of doing a disservice to a writer she’s not […]

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  • When Agents Agonize

    Oct 30, 2007

    We hear all the time about the pressure authors are under. The stress of finding an agent and the agony of waiting when you have requested material out there. But rarely do you have to hear about the agony and stress you can put agents under. So here’s my story. . . . On Monday […]

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  • Pitch Critiques Round 1

    Oct 29, 2007

    On October 25 I did a workshop of sorts on Perfecting Your Pitch, and if I do say so myself it was a bit of a success. Thank you to everyone brave enough to participate. Over the course of the next several weeks I will go through pitch-by-pitch and give my critique. Feel free to […]

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  • The Power of Platform

    Oct 26, 2007

    There’s a new debate raging in publishing and one that I find more than just a little interesting. It concerns two books that give advice on getting kids to eat their vegetables (and other foods). The first book, The Sneaky Chef, was published in April and written by Missy Chase Lapine, the former publisher of […]

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  • Perfecting Your Pitch

    Oct 25, 2007

    Back in May I offered a Query Critique Workshop. I received over 40 entries and critiqued 10 queries. (See Query Critiques 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10—or enter “query critique” in the search box at the top left and see all the critiques on one page.) I received some flack, […]

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  • Author Beware: Nothing But Cheap Editorialism

    Oct 24, 2007

    As many of you know I have a thick stack of “author beware letters.” These are letters and emails I’ve received over the years from authors clearly unhappy with comments they’ve received from me or work I’ve done for them. This one might be one of my all-time favorites and is in response to our […]

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  • Literary Horror

    Oct 23, 2007

    I was asked by a reader to define literary horror. She had seen the term used on a few agency Web sites and was asking what makes something literary horror as opposed to just horror. I’ll be honest with you, we weren’t quite sure what the answer to this was. Since we don’t represent a […]

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  • More on Exclusives

    Oct 22, 2007

    I would like to know why agents would like to know whether they are seeing your manuscript exclusively. Does it make a difference in making their decision about your work? It does not make a difference in an agent’s overall decision, but letting an agent know she has an exclusive gives her breathing room. If […]

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  • The Branded Author

    Oct 19, 2007

    We talk about subsidiary rights fairly often, and most of the time what we focus on are foreign rights and movie/performance rights. But this question reminded me that there’s a lot more to sub rights than we often talk about with the author. I have an agented, illustrated non-fiction book out to several big houses. […]

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  • Different Agents for Different Projects

    Oct 18, 2007

    I received this question recently, and coincidentally I had a phone call not too long ago with someone in this very predicament. Not a bad position to be in. . . . I am in the middle of writing a YA science fantasy, but have also been approached by a gentleman with platform to ghostwrite […]

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  • To Write Erotic or Not to Write Erotic

    Oct 17, 2007

    I received this very interesting question recently, and like many of the questions I receive it’s one I think the author has to answer herself. . . . I wrote this as an erotic romance because it’s what I know. I read erotic romances, I edit them, I critique them – it’s what I know. […]

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  • Agent Referrals

    Oct 16, 2007

    A reputable agent read my full manuscript and sent me a personalized rejection letter, saying that it was close, but he couldn’t rep the project. But he was kind enough to give me two other agents’ names and contact/query information and suggested that I try them. Let’s call them Agents #1 and 2. Here’s the […]

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