Literary agent

When You Have to Admit You’ve Failed

February 18, 2013

The blogosphere is full of posts about failure. About how you have to face failure if you want to succeed. About how the biggest successes stem from failures. About how no one succeeds without failing. In fact, I’d even say it’s actually hip to write about failure. But here’s the catch: most bloggers write about […]

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When is it time to sign an author-agent contract?

May 11, 2011

It’s been nearly a year since I agreed to work with a literary agent for my travel memoir. My lovely agent has guided me through revisions, helping me strengthen my theme and story arc. She has, no doubt, helped me make my book better, all with the intention of eventually selling it to a publisher. […]

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The best way to get a literary agent’s attention on Twitter

March 16, 2011

Readers occasionally write to me with questions about social media or travel writing. Last week an e-mail landed in my inbox that I figured you’d all be interested in, so I asked its sender for approval to share her inquiry on the blog. Awesome reader’s question: I’m a big fan of your blog and I […]

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My wish list

January 13, 2011

Book update: My agent has asked me to come up with my “wish list” of publishers. We’re making progress…

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One way to organize your next revision

December 8, 2010

I’m super excited about revising my manuscript again, and incorporating suggestions from my agent. But unlike my first 86 revisions, this time it’s not the changes that are daunting. This time, it’s finding the time to make those changes. Between my full-time journalism job and my part-time social media business, I no longer have entire […]

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The latest Little First: feedback from my agent

December 6, 2010

For every newbie author, there are firsts on the road to publication. There are the Big Firsts, like landing your first book deal and seeing your published book on a store shelf for the first time. But there are also lots of Little Firsts, firsts we each need to experience before hitting the big ones. […]

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Another reason writers should use Twitter

May 11, 2010

You all know I think writers should use Twitter. And Facebook. And other social media that helps you create your own community. Here’s yet another reason you should use Twitter: that’s how I connected with my agent. Well, not directly. I have long followed Rachelle because her tweets about publishing are helpful and entertaining. But […]

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On taking chances (and some good news)

May 9, 2010

The best things in life happen when we take chances. We all know it, and yet it’s still scary to leap into the unknown. During the last two years, I’ve taken a lot of chances. I left a reporting job I loved. I traveled alone in Africa. And I put off full-time employment to write […]

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Peggy Frezon offers advice on choosing a literary agent

September 28, 2009

One of the perks of joining a writing critique group is meeting and learning from other interesting writers. Today our guest is my critique partner, Peggy Frezon, a writer who specializes in pets. Like me, Peggy is a first-time author. But she’s several steps ahead of me in the process; she has already completed her […]

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Literary agent Rachelle Gardner addresses memoir

June 3, 2009

Memoir includes elements of both nonfiction and fiction, as I’ve discussed before on this blog. While literary agent Miss Snark calls it a pesky category buster, until today I was ready to call it the forgotten genre. Although literary agents seem eager to represent memoir, most don’t specifically address the genre or its submission guidelines […]

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