I’m no longer accepting new agency clients

February 21, 2011

I apologize if you queried me after reading elsewhere that I’m looking for new authors to represent, but that door is now closed. I will no longer be accepting new agency clients. However, there are many fine literary agents who are still eager for your queries and proposals. I wish each of you the best [...]

Read the full article →

Please hold your queries

October 8, 2010

With more than 250 queries still waiting to be read, I must ask that authors hold their queries. I will not be accepting or reading new queries for the foreseeable future. I know that some of you queried me after reading, in an article in Writers Digest, that I was open to new writers. At [...]

Read the full article →

A book proposal is always a business proposal

September 3, 2010

You’ll read lots of advice about how to write a book proposal: what to include, what to leave out, how many sample chapters, and what to say about competing books. Some of the advice that’s already out there is excellent, so there’s no need to repeat it. But here’s what most books and articles about [...]

Read the full article →

What really stinks here: The queries or the agent mocking them?

August 31, 2010

I don’t know what sort of juvenile twerp thought up the website called Slush Pile Hell. The (ir)responsible agent doesn’t identify him or herself. But some brainiac somewhere decided it would be fun to take out-of-context snippets from authors’ query letters and use them to mock the authors. Really? You’re an agent and this is [...]

Read the full article →

Don’t let rejections bring you down

August 30, 2010

I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating: a letter (or email) of rejection isn’t necessarily an indication that your manuscript or proposal isn’t good. Publishing is a business built almost entirely on subjective judgments. One of my clients (a fabulous writer, by the way) was feeling blue after reading a few rejection notes from [...]

Read the full article →

The Link Between Method Acting and Writing Believable Characters

August 27, 2010

I’m reprinting this blog post from my old book doctor blog because it’s as relevant to my literary agency clients (and potential clients) as it was then to my developmental editing clients: In one particularly funny episode of the TV series, Monk, a production company is filming a movie based on one of Mr. Monk’s [...]

Read the full article →

Recommend a good mystery?

August 22, 2010

You might think that with all the reading I do for work, the last thing I’d want to do for pleasure is read. But reading for me (and probably for most writers, editors, agents and other book people), is among the most pleasurable pastimes. And I love a good mystery. My problem is, my favorite [...]

Read the full article →

Self-publishing: opportunity or oblivion?

August 16, 2010

Any author who’s trying to get a publisher or agent for his book knows how difficult the market has become. Ebooks are taking off, thanks to the Kindle and the iPad, and as prices for these and similar devices drop, more readers will switch to ebooks, for the convenience of carrying a library around in [...]

Read the full article →

Rejection-proofing your novel: keep the reader turning pages through the end

August 2, 2010

Often, aspiring novelists start off their novels with a bang. Action, tension, danger — everything that an agent or editor looks for. And then, the tension drops off a cliff after they’ve got the reader’s attention. They pile on backstory and explanations. I see this so often in what at first look like promising manuscripts [...]

Read the full article →

Before you decide to break all the rules, learn them

July 29, 2010

I get queries and partials quite often from talented new writers whose manuscripts don’t make the cut because the author hasn’t mastered the basics, such as: – Show, don’t tell; – Don’t let the reader catch her breath; – Don’t narrate the character’s story — show character through action; – Don’t use dialogue as exposition; [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →