Blog Archive
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BookEnds Talks to Heather Webber
Jun 01, 2007
Heather Webber Trouble in Bloom Publisher: Avon Books Pub date: April 2007 Agent: Jacky Sach (Click to Buy) Agatha-nominated author Heather Webber writes humorous mysteries featuring landscape designer Nina Quinn, who has a penchant for digging up trouble . . . and bodies. Heather lives in southwest Ohio with her husband, three children, adorable hamsters, […]
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How I View a Synopsis
May 31, 2007
In a recent post on the synopsis I gave you some advice on writing your synopsis. After reading a number of comments and questions, I want to expand on that post and give you a look from the other side. How important a role does the synopsis play in my decision-making process and what happens […]
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Query Critique #7
May 30, 2007
I offer you KILBOURNE, a psychological thriller of roughly 78,000 words. The manuscript has been vetted by a district attorney and a psychologist. It is loosely based on a true incident more than forty years ago in Texas. Furthermore, I suspect readers of James Patterson and Dean Koontz will find this topic of interest. Snooze! […]
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Slave Labor
May 30, 2007
I’m attending a number of writers’ conferences this year, more than I had planned, and am always fascinated by how differently each of them is run. Some are more professional and better organized than others, some are considerate of their guests, and some are just looking for slave labor. When we first started BookEnds I […]
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Query Critique #6
May 29, 2007
It begins with a box of paperbacks sent by a dead man. Great opening. You instantly grabbed my attention. “Still Waters” (I think you could come up with a stronger title) is a completed 70,000 word romantic suspense that includes blackmail, murder and betrayal. I would move this sentence to the end of your letter. […]
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Interviews
May 29, 2007
I just got off the phone with a Columbia journalism student who was doing an industry profile for a class of hers and chose me for her interview subject. She said she came across the blog. Isn’t it weird the things that come through marketing? I do a lot of interviews for different blogs, web […]
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Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
May 25, 2007
We’ll be closed at BookEnds Friday afternoon through Monday to celebrate Memorial Day and mark the unofficial start of summer. Have a great holiday, and we’ll see you when we resume posting on May 29. —Jessica, Jacky, and Kim
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Query Critique #5
May 25, 2007
Six months past Hurricane Katrina, barista extraordinaire Alice Baies is finally enjoying a normal workday at Café Au Lait in uptown New Orleans when she discovers the corpse of a co-worker painted with a blue X stuffed under the café’s back steps, thus forcing Alice to unravel a trail of deception and murder in the […]
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BookEnds Talks to Marie H. Browne, Ph.D., R.N. & Marlene M. Browne, Esq.
May 24, 2007
Marie H. Browne, Ph.D., R.N. & Marlene M. Browne, Esq. You Can’t Have Him, He’s Mine: A Woman’s Guide to Affair-Proofing Her Relationship Publisher: Adams Pub date: May 2007 Agent: Jacky Sach (Click to Buy) Marie H. Browne, R.N., Ph.D., a licensed marriage and family therapist and professor of psychiatric nursing for thirty-four years, maintains […]
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Query Critique #4
May 24, 2007
I am a regular reader of your blog and am impressed by your knowledge of the industry and willingness to give struggling writers great advice. Thus, I would like you to consider my completed contemporary romance manuscript, HIDE AND SEEK, for representation. Flattery can in fact get you everywhere. It helps to give a little […]
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What Does an Agent Do?
May 23, 2007
I get asked all the time what a literary agent does, and my standard reply is, “I represent authors in the sale of their work to publishers.” That’s usually boring enough to stop the conversation (which is my goal). While I love my work, I get tired of explaining it to laypeople and really tired […]
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Choosing a Genre
May 22, 2007
Last Wednesday I did a post on the Encyclopedia of Sub-Genres and heard from a lot of you who disagreed with my definitions which I think proves a very, very good point. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Decisions on how a book is categorized or marketed is made by the […]
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