Just finished yet another revision of the manuscript! It changed and improved more dramatically this time than ever before. Super excited. My favorite links from this week: How a career break can help you find your next job, from Briefcase to Backpack. Advice from a literary agent on how to pick competitive titles for your […]
Since announcing yesterday that my doors are open to social media business, several friends and potential clients have written to me asking, so what does that mean you actually do? Like most consulting positions, social media consulting can mean a lot of different things. Consultants provide a huge range of services and their prices fall […]
My job hunt has taken an unexpected turn. A good one. Though I’ve applied mostly for journalism positions, plus a few other writing-heavy jobs, something different keeps falling into my lap: social media gigs. I resisted it at first. I see “social media consulting” and immediately think snake-oil salesman. I mean, who really needs someone […]
Feedback is hard to come by during the query process, as I explained in a post last week. Several agents rejected my manuscript after reading sample chapters or even the entire project, but most of them didn’t say why. Actually, perhaps I should rephrase that. Not many of them offered a helpful why. Several said […]
Busy, busy week! My favorite links: What’s the best way for writers to deal with contradictory feedback? Literary agent Rachelle Gardner weighs in. If you’re new to Twitter, Marian Schembari is giving away free profile critiques. She’s good. Take advantage. “Hating your book isn’t a sign that it’s time to move on — it means […]
It’s kind of a shame each of us only has to land a literary agent once. Okay, not that much of a shame. Who wants to go through that again? But now that I’m done querying, I feel far more prepared to do it again. And since hopefully there will be no next time, I’ll […]
As usual, my favorite links from the week! Pretty eclectic mix today: Advice on asking questions from a reporter-turned-stock-analyst. I love the art of asking questions, and Andrea James is right on the mark. A hilarious yet so-true post at Dating Detox on the pros and cons of being single and in a relationship. I […]
I love practical advice. What do I love even more? Practical advice with examples. So today I’m sharing the query I sent to literary agents with the hopes that it will help you create your own pitch letter. I’m no expert on this, and my query isn’t perfect. But it’s the result of a lot […]
Note: I was editing this post when the news broke that Helen’s retiring. I debated whether to post it at all, because I’m no doubt throwing myself into the lion’s den here (and ironically writing above a post about things that are better left unblogged), but this is something I believe needs to be said. […]
When I was querying literary agents, I grappled with whether to blog about it. The whole purpose of this blog is to help you learn from my experiences (and to help me grow), and I kinda felt like I was leaving you out in the cold by not sharing exactly what was going on. Several […]