Blog Archive
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Black Lives Matter
Jun 01, 2020
BookEnds stands in solidarity with the Black community against systemic racism and injustice. We are committed to raising up Black authors, illustrators, and publishing professionals — now and always. Black stories matter.
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Rules of Resubmissions or Re-Querying Agents
May 28, 2020
You pulled the trigger too early. You finished your book, you were excited and proud, and you sent that query immediately. Too immediately. Now, months later you realize your mistake. You forgot to edit the book and you had no idea how to write a query. Now what? Are you allowed to query those same […]
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A Literary Agent Doesn’t Guarantee Publication
May 26, 2020
Authors often think that getting an agent is the end of the battle, but the truth is it’s just the beginning. Getting an agent doesn’t guarantee a writing career or even a sale to a publisher. What an agent does give you is a business partner, an expert, a career manager, and a support network. […]
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Rewriting a Self-Published Book
May 21, 2020
I’ve talked in blog posts and on YouTube about the viability of selling your self-published book to a traditional publisher. The news was not necessarily good for those looking to do just that. Once authors understand why agents are reluctant to take on self-published books, they tend to want to know if things change if […]
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Top Ten Query Tips
May 20, 2020
James and I did our first social distancing video on Top Ten Query Tips and when we were finished he turned to me and asked if I was writing a blog post. So I guess I am. 1. Know Who You Are Querying This means doing the research. A blind list of agents won’t give […]
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BookEnds Query Policy
May 19, 2020
The BookEnds query policy is that you can query all agents at BookEnds, just one at a time, please. If you get a pass from one, you can still query another, and another, and another. A pass from one is not a pass from all. How BookEnds Shares Queries A frequent question is whether BookEnds […]
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Buzz Books 2020: Romance
May 15, 2020
We are in love with Publisher’s Marketplace Buzz Books 2020 Romance edition! It features excerpts from next season’s best romance titles by many best-selling authors and debut authors, including BookEnds’ very own Mona Shroff and Devon Daniels! Congrats to literary agents Kim Lionetti and Rachel Brooks! Be sure to go onto Amazon and download the […]
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Finding a Literary Agent
May 14, 2020
You’ve written a book and now you need a literary agent, but where do you start? How do you find a literary agent? Finding a literary agent must have been so much easier before information was so readily available on the internet. Back in the early days of BookEnds the only options available to authors […]
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There are No Shortcuts to Querying
May 12, 2020
Querying is a process that works. No matter how much you try to convince agents otherwise, we prefer queries and 90% of the authors we sign and later sell come from queries. No matter how hard you try to convince us, there are no real shortcuts to querying. It is still the best way for […]
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New Client Alert- Cristina Oxtra!
May 08, 2020
Name: Cristina Oxtra What you write: Picture book, middle grade magical realism/fantasy, early chapter book, graphic novel, historical fiction, and nonfiction Agent: Tracy Marchini Why BookEnds? BookEnds was highly recommended by other authors. I also watched videos the agency has created and read blogs on its Web site. All of them give helpful advice to […]
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The Effectiveness of Conference Critiques
May 07, 2020
At a writers’ conference, there are typically two ways an author can (guaranteed) meet face-to-face with a literary agent. One is through a pitch session, the other through conference critiques. Pitch Sessions A pitch session is usually a 3-10 minute meeting with an agent with the sole purpose of pitching your book. This means describing […]
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Line of Sight is a Top 10 Crime Fiction Debut on Booklist!
May 06, 2020
We are beyond excited to share the news that James Queally’s debut novel, Line of Sight, is one of the novels selected by Booklist for their Top 10 Crime Fiction Debuts! A big round of applause for James Queally, literary agent James McGowan, and the team at Polis books, who worked on this remarkable debut! […]
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