Writing Credits that Boost Your Career

  • By: Jessica Faust | Date: May 31 2017

In my search for blog ideas one Twitter follower had this question:

Yes! Would love to know what kind of writing credits agents value (and those they don’ts) in an author’s bio section of a query. Thanks!

Previous credits that are most similar to what you are pitching are the strongest. Top on the list, of course, would be another book with a reputable publisher (the bigger the publisher the better), but not something that was self-published, literary magazines, or anything that relates to your book. In other words, fiction if you’re writing fiction or nonfiction in the same area as the nonfiction you’re writing.

All of that being said, it’s important to remember that all we care about is the book in hand. These credits might help get you a read when before it could have been a rejection, or might get you read faster, but to us it’s really about this book.

One response to “Writing Credits that Boost Your Career”

  1. Avatar AJ Blythe says:

    Jessica, I’m curious, you say not to list self-published books as a writing credit, but I am sure there must be a line-in-the-sand where it is a positive. Sales over xxx? TV or movie deal?