Blog Archive

  • What Makes Your Hero Sexy?

    Feb 14, 2007

    It’s Valentine’s Day, and who better to give us a definition of the ultimate sexy hero than romance writers? So we asked our clients, What makes your hero sexy? and here’s what they told us. . . . Kimberly Dean Book: Taming Him (including “Fever” by Kimberly Dean) Publisher: Pocket, January 2007 Hero’s Name: Wouldn’t […]

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  • It Isn’t Whether You Win or Lose . . .

    Feb 13, 2007

    How you “play the game” becomes very important when you’re entering a writing contest. I’ve put together this list of tips to help you get the most out of your contest experience. * Do your research. Treat your contest preparation much like you would your submission process. Find out who the final-round judges will be. […]

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  • The Truth About Contests

    Feb 12, 2007

    Many of my clients have had a lot of success on the writing contest circuit. There’s a ton of them out there. Some are genre specific, such as the dozens of Romance Writers of America chapter contests, while others are open to a variety of books, like the SouthWest Writers Contest. I’ll admit it. Quite […]

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  • BookEndsTalks with Barbara Gale

    Feb 09, 2007

    Barbara Gale Book: Finding His Way Home Publisher: Silhouette Special Edition Pub date: February 2007 Agent: Jessica Faust (Click to Buy) Barbara Gale is a native New Yorker whose themes reflect not only her love affair with her beloved city, but with rural New York, also, where she does much of her writing. Author Web […]

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  • Reader Question: Thoughts on e-Books

    Feb 08, 2007

    What does the publishing industry and agents think of e-books? If you’re published by an e-book publisher, do the paper publishers look down on you? Do agents work with e-book published writers that want to break into the world of paper publishing? Is it easier or harder to get into paper publishing after being an […]

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  • Reader Question: “The Numbers”

    Feb 07, 2007

    Are “the numbers” for different pseudonyms kept completely separate? I’m considering writing both contemporary and historical fantasy series, and anticipate that the audiences and sales might be pretty different. Yes and no. Nora Roberts is a good example. It would be silly to keep her J. D. Robb pseudonym completely separate because it only benefits […]

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  • Reader Question: Flaming Corpses

    Feb 06, 2007

    Borrowing a colloquialism from Miss Snark, do you (or your slush-pile reading assistants) tend to look for “flaming corpses on page one”? Do you expect first novel writers to get right to the conflict? Would it be fair to say that these are the query sample pages to which you extend invitations to a partial? […]

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  • Reader Question: Switching Genres

    Feb 05, 2007

    What do you say to an author you represent who wishes to write something in another genre that you don’t represent, for example, a chick lit author who is wanting to write a fantasy? Just curious how that situation works with agents. I say, “Let me take a look at it and we’ll see.” If […]

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  • BookEnds Talks to Joe LoCicero

    Feb 02, 2007

    Joe LoCiceroBook: Streetwise Business CommunicationPublisher: AdamsPub date: February 2007Agent: Jacky Sach (Click to Buy) Joe LoCicero is a Los Angeles-based author, TV writer, columnist, and marketing consultant. He has been integrally involved with the marketing strategy for hundreds of network and cable television programs, as well as numerous consumer products. He has put his marketing, […]

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  • Reader Question: Author Meetings

    Feb 01, 2007

    I know you’ve done blogs on pitching and querying, but I haven’t seen anything about your first meeting with a new client. Do you ever meet with authors whose projects interest you but who you, in the end, decline to represent? Or do you only meet with authors you have already signed? Well, to be […]

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  • Reader Question: New Publishing Lines

    Jan 31, 2007

    What do you think of publishing companies who open a new line—examples might be the Flux line or the new Carolrhoda YA line—is this a good thing, in your experience, for new authors? Or can it stall their career if the line itself doesn’t take off? It’s always a good thing when publishers decide to […]

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  • Writer’s Block

    Jan 30, 2007

    I got an upsetting email from a client not too long ago. She was suffering from writer’s block and asked if I knew of anything that might help or if I had ever had other clients experience something like this. Unfortunately, while I’m sure I’ve had many clients experience writer’s block, I didn’t feel I […]

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