My sister has worked in a literary agency for years and I asked what irritated her when she read from the slush pile. Her top pet peeves are:
Referring to your work as “perfect for an Oprah pick”
Sending what you think would be the perfect cover art
Taking your favorite characters and writing a sequel when it [...]
Question: What strategies do you use to determine what will sell? What kind of questions do you ask yourself? What tools of analysis or types of gut check do you use? – Beth
Here are a few of my strategies:
* I see what’s going on in all media. That includes books as well as television, movies, [...]
After I posted about my obsolete fax machine, I received an e-mail asking what tools a writer should have. If you are pursuing a publishing career, I think you need to start with 5 tools. But don’t worry! If you’re reading this, you already have most of them.
5 tools every writer needs:
A computer: Right now [...]
Today I got rid of my fax machine.
My first encounter with a fax machine was during my first secretarial job in the 1980s. The big machine made such a high-pitch screech that it was placed in the far, far corner of the copy room. I had to fax a lot of documents, and in those [...]
I get questions about writing and the publishing world. I’m sharing the most frequently asked questions on this blog in case you were wondering the same thing. Here are some questions I received about agents:
How do I go about getting an agent? Where do I look for one? I recommend researching as much as you [...]
Since I live in a community that has a lot of writers, I have attended many book signings and launch parties. Today I was invited to a different kind of book event. Jane Porter hosted a private screening of Grief Becomes Me. This short film was directed and produced by Christine Fugate who also inspired [...]
Every once in a while I need to set a Sunday afternoon aside and write as much as I can. That’s when I pack my tote bag and head for the public library.
Yesterday I spent a few hours at my local library and got a lot done. Here’s what my desk looked like:
Going clockwise, I [...]
When you took the latest romance novel off of your towering TBR pile, how did you read the love scenes? Did you skip, skim or savor them?
If you savored them, chances are the author used the following three elements:
She showed why it was important for the hero and heroine to get together.
Did you care if [...]
I’m sharing some questions I receive in case you guys were wondering the same thing. This question is from Amy:
Question: Do you make a playlist for your books?
Answer: There are a lot of authors who create a playlist or soundtrack for each book, but I don’t go that far. However, I do write to music. [...]
Question: I’m pretty nervous about writing my book and getting it published. I guess I don’t have much confidence when it comes to this. Do you have any advice?
Answer: I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence when it came to writing, and my fears sabotaged my goals. My motto eventually became “big dreams, small steps”. Start [...]
