How to Submit to a Literary Agent
Do you know what literary agents are looking for? Or what will make them want to read your manuscript? Or what might turn them off?
“You Should Write a Book About Your Job!”
Your office horror stories leave your family aghast and your friends in stitches. Everyone says you should write a book about it. Are they crazy, or should you give it a shot?
More Great Opportunities to Market or Publish or Write Better
Here are some experienced people and great sites that can help you become more knowledgeable and hopefully more successful (however you define that term) regarding your book.
Facebook Tips for Writers: Profiles vs. Pages
You already know that writers with significant social media followings can be more desirable to agents and publishers. Since Facebook is still the market leader in the digital space, start your author platform that makes it as good a place as any to begin your marketing strategy.
Writing by the Numbers?
I confess: Every morning, often before I even drink that first longed-for cup of coffee, I feel besieged by numbers. As a writer with a manuscript out with editors, and an editor trying to help other writers publish and market their books, the sheer number of numbers that have become critical to my professional life...
Stalking the Elusive Literary Agent
I recently met a writer who had begun submitting her first novel to literary agents and had a lot of questions: "Why did an agent tell me that I should work with an independent editor and then resubmit it? Why didn't he offer to help me himself?” “Why do agents mail out form rejections instead...
Writing Creative Nonfiction That Editors Can't Refuse
Though there are always matters of taste and every literary journal is different, I suspect that many editors respond to creative nonfiction queries as I do.
Finding an Agent for Your Novel: How to Write a Perfect Query Letter
The power of a query letter cannot be overestimated. An agent forms a first impression of you and your manuscript from your query letter, and it's often solely responsible for convincing the agent to read your work. There's no true formula for a query letter; if there were, every single manuscript would be requested by...
Sell Your Book With a Winning Proposal
Anyone who intends to get a nonfiction book published must write a book proposal first. Here's what you need to know.
Your 10-Second Pitch to Agents and Editors
You're at a writers' conference where you're lucky enough to meet a literary agent. When you tell her you've written a book, she asks, “What's it about?” Do you start rambling aimlessly—and lose her interest? Or do you capture her imagination in seconds with one short sentence that makes her say, “Tell me more!”? A...