I may be one of the luckiest writers on the planet. “How so?” you ask with your brows flat like a pair of furry balconies for your brain’s apartment. Let me tell you.
Tag Archives: query letters
Do you think the Norse god Odin, who takes advice from a severed head, rides an eight-legged horse, talks to ravens, sacrificed an eye and hanged himself in the pursuit of wisdom, would appreciate us referring to his day as “Hump Day”?!
Well, okay… the “Hump” refers to finally suffering through the worst trials of the workweek, and looking forward to the pleasures of the Day of Frigg (his wife), so maybe he would appreciate the symbolism. *shrug*
As Odin was the literary agent of Norse myth, let us away to this week’s literary agent links!
I am revamping my j.nelsonleith.com website — where I used to host a political blog — as the official home of Leith Literary. I will, of course, transfer all the content from here, and leave a sticky note. Updates to come!
And now, on to the writer links!
I am considering combining the weekly lit agent round-up with the “miscellaneous” publishing pros.
Between the blogs that inexplicably dry up — or consist mainly of their own link lists, Happy Release Day posts, or “everyone can be a writer, don’t give up!” cheerleading — the lit agent offerings have been growing thin. Maybe it’s because of this god-awful heat! What’s the summer version of hibernation?
On to the lit agent links! Continue reading
First of all, let me do a favor for Jessica at BookEnds LLC, and literary agents everywhere, by reminding all of you prospective authors out there that a “novel” is a fictional narrative longer than 50,000 words. There is no need to say “fiction novel” and no reason to say “non-fiction novel.”
And now, let’s go on to the links! Continue reading
Yesterday, my home town paper The Washington Post published a neat list of the “Five Buzziest Summer Beach Reads,” including post-apocalyptic vampires, a post-vampire career apocalypse, a blast-from-the-past sequel, and an ape-girl. How can you pass that up?
And now, on to stuff recently blogged upon by literary agents: Continue reading
As you might have noticed, I have added some sidebar graphics for the short stories Tyson’s Corner, The Chameleon Missive, and The Dun Cat of Mill Bridge, as well as a new graphic to add mood to the master page for all of the Observer Tales.
I will probably work something up for Reading Cats, too.
And, before we get to the main links, two contest announcements:
♦ First up, in honor of the release of Rock Paper Tiger, Nathan Bransford announces a contest to (in his words) “write the most compelling chase and/or action and/or suspenseful sequence. It may be something you have written for the purpose of the contest or from a work in progress.” The prizes? Hey, I didn’t put that link up there for nothing! Go, go!
♦ Rachelle Gardner also announces a combination contest and exercise, to write a one-sentence summary of your book.
Now, on to the (other) links! Continue reading
Oh, we have a big ol’ bunch o’ literary agent links this week, my friends.
FYI: Jessica at BookEnds will not consider representing you for an up-front payment in lieu of or in addition to a commission, and she probably won’t click a link to a video query, but she will answer a lot of questions about submitting a partial.
At Dystel & Goderich, Jane explains how the submission process works, Miriam throws in her two cents about thrillers, and Jessica dismisses a few misconceptions about publishing.
Nathan Bransford dives into hard-sell query letter subject lines, answers ten questions about self-publishing, and points out the literary impact of one of my favorite cognitive biases: the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Janet Reid reminds us to be careful with queries and death threats, while Nathan Henrion wonders if fiction writers can mimic musical artists.
Finally, the Rejectionist discusses recent demonic rejections, while Rachelle Gardner discusses freelance editors and how long the process takes from submission to hitting the shelves.
As one of my regular agent blog reads once stated, lack of a query response is the same as a form rejection. So, as I absorb this advice and rack up my next round of queries, let’s check out some more good advice from our favorite literary agents.
Yes, I scour the best literary agent blogs for goodies so you don’t have to! You can thank me by clickerating that RSS feed button. Gently! It’s made of pixels.
Jessica at BookEnds explains why bad queries are great news for good query writers, lets us in on her query pet peeves, gives us some idea of the business rhythm at BookEnds, and tells us to go ahead and send a thank-you note after a rejection. And, no, she will not rep your 2000-page book.
Over at Dystel & Goderich, Miriam discusses the good and bad of Facebook, Stacey offers some sobering advice about picking a genre (and more!), Jessica navigates the fine line between too much and not enough info in a query letter, Lauren confesses her unrepentant bibliophilia (“teetering piles” of books? me too!), and Jane tells us what negotiating looks like.
Janet Reid clarifies when she does and does not want to hear from you, Jennifer Jackson explains that your query may have been eaten by the grue (and also explains a li’l something about genre), and Kristin Nelson answers boatloads of reader questions. “How many boatloads?” you ask, noting anxiously that there was no hyperlink in that last clause. One, two, three boatloads!
Finally, Nathan Bransford tells us how to write and format a query. He also picks Moby-Dick as his “desert island book,” winning instant kudos from yours truly. Although a giant pop-up book on sailing with a styrofoam dust sleeve might be a wiser choice…
[Also: how do I decide what to bold in these link lists? Well, if there’s a site or firm name, I bold that. Otherwise I bold the blog writer’s name.]
Authors are overflowing with two things: stories and questions for literary agents. This week’s publishing links are dedicated to the latter. Our cupth runneth over!
Got a question? Read on… one of my favorite literary agents may have the answer.
Lit agent Jessica at BookEnds responds to a question about the submission process with both good advice for authors, and some pointed commentary on agents who insist on a “no simultaneous submissions” rule. Hint: they don’t come off well in her analysis.
Chasya at Dystel & Goderich also poses a question from a blog reader — “What are the biggest mistakes writers make when pitching their work at a conference?” —and publishes responses from several agents at the firm. Bonanza!
The Editorial Anonymous blog takes on the mysterious rejection “Not for me, thanks” and what it really means in all of its possible permutations. (Warning: may induce chuckling.) Thanks to Janet Reid for pointing me toward this one.
Agent Kristin Nelson answers two series of questions this week (count ’em: one! two!), tackling issues like revisions, the struggling economy, and angels vs. vampires. (My initial thought: both groups are immortal but only one is sparkly and vaguely pedophilic?)
If I were going to ask a literary agent a question, it would probably be about the use of pen names. Lo, and Behold! Nathan Bransford has answered that very question in a recent blog.
Author and Knight Agency lit agent Lucienne Diver tackles the publishing buzz question of the year: “Can any device save publishing?” She answers the question by questioning it.
HIGHLIGHT LINK DU JOUR DE LA SEMAINE: At the Book Deal blog, publisher Alan Rinzler answers some fascinating questions about writing in light of discoveries in neuroscience. You don’t have to write cyberpunk to appreciate these methods for hacking your readers’ brains.