Steps to Find the Right Book Agent to Represent You

If you are writing a book, you would need to publish it somewhere. And for that, you need a publisher. If you are new in the industry, you surely wouldn’t have too many contacts and your network must be small, so you need a literary agent to get to the publisher.  Literary agents act as middlemen between book authors and publishers and simplify the whole process. They make it easier for both the parties to find each other.  It…

I've mentioned the Salt Cay Writers Retreat I'm organizing for October in the Bahamas here before - we've been busy over the past several weeks, and there are a number of items I wanted to share.

After making a site visit to Salt Cay in April with my agent, who is helping to shape the retreat program, we now have a detailed program schedule on the website: http://saltcaywritersretreat.com/program/

I've also posted pictures…

Manuscript critiques, cocktails for 4 at Folio Literary Management's NYC offices, a scholarship to the Salt Cay Writers Retreat, and more including my offering: signed books and rocks from my research trip to Chaiten Volcano!

Bidding for the Brenda Novak charity auction to benefit diabetes research starts today!

http://tinyurl.com/cxsrhqh

Hi girls,

Earlier this month, the London Book Fair hosted all sorts of exciting events for authors.  If you have 45 minutes to spare, I have put a link here to a seminar at the book fair, entitled 'How to Get a Literary Agent'.  It is an up-to-the-minute…

Greetings, She Writers!

It's a new year and one of my umpteen pledges to myself is to start participating more in the SheWrites community.  That includes blogging here!

So this is what's been on my mind lately: the plight of the talented-but-unknown writer.

First, a bit of background.  In addition to writing myself, I help other writers as a coach, ghost, and editor for hire.  In recent years I've found myself working with first-time novelists who are…

This topic has come up with some previous discussion, so maybe "prologues" are an issue with editors or agents. I think it was a certain trend in the 1970s and 1980s techno thrillers like those by Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, Crichton's early work "Termonal Man"  has an introduction by him. but no prologue, but, in later works he has both an introduction and a prologue. I think of introductions in nonfiction books mostly, and I think that in the techno-thrillers it is ab explanation of…

I once took an amazing, month-long class on how to move your career forward.  It was in LA and most of the participants were in the entertainment industry.  Needless to say, the subject of agents came up.  Everyone wanted an agent - c'mon, who wouldn't?  Someone to champion you, get you in the door, build your career...  I want one, too.  But without knocking agents, the instructors quickly brought us to our senses.  We are in charge of our careers, not agents.  We are 100% responsible for…

Greetings SheWriters.

     As we look back through our writing lives, what kind of person do we see?  Is she confidant, plunging through crowds with her head held high, pen raised, agents begging at her heals?  Does she sit for 6 hours a day, fingers moving fluidly and in an organized fashion, hair perfectly coifed, rose petal smell emanating from her office?  (Of course she has a room of her own, right?!!) 

     Or is she engaged in fits of passion, clouds of self-doubt, all…

New Blog Post: Slush Pile!…

It’s about 11:07 p.m. Argentinian time. The temperature? Upper-90s, at least. Hot enough that sitting inside with the overhead fan whirring full-force and the window wide open isn’t enough to stop the sweat from pouring off my forehead, dripping down my cheeks and ears and neck.

I told some of my pals on Facebook about this, but I received a response from my fourth literary agent query (first was Andrea Brown Lit Agency, second was the agent who represented Hush, Hush, and…

A quick update, all: literary agent Elizabeth Kaplan, founder of the prestigious Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency, has agreed to read the submissions of the five winners for our contest and give them feedback!  This means that each of our five winners…

There are many reasons not to give your writing away for free, but I feel just as many reasons to do it for a budding writer.

Not long ago I began writing a story titled The Mirror (http://prolificnovelista.com/tags/the-mirror/). It was the emotional runoff of finishing Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind (and not long afterwards, The Wise Man's Fear.) I have a book publishing…

Imagine for a moment – five days in New Orleans – a city with so much creative energy you can practically feel it breathing beside you, like William Faulkner must have felt when lived there and wrote Soldier’s Pay.

Then imagine 16 of the nation’s best and brightest agents and editors… AND a guaranteed sit down with one of EACH to discuss YOUR work… (and more if you like!)

Imagine dozens of authors sharing their considerable insights, from…

  FOUR THINGS YOUR AGENT CAN DO FOR YOU

If you hope to sell your book to a large mainstream press for a hefty advance (or even a not-so-hefty advance) it’s almost impossible to do this without an agent.    Agents not only wield a lot of power, but they’re also the only people who are…

Questions for Caitlin Shetterly, Author of Made for You and Me: Going West, Going Broke, Finding Home (Caitlin on SheWrites)

by

Liza Bakewell, Author of Madre: Perilous Journeys with Spanish Noun (Liza on…

I had 17, but I trimmed them down to just 4 and am answering them one at a time.

This week: 1. An agent told me to a) force my story into a pre-set length, b) force my story into a pre-defined genre, and/or c) “dumb down” my story. What’s going on? Can’t I just write the best book I have in me?