The Steve Laube Agency is committed to providing top quality guidance to authors and speakers. Our years of experience and success brings a unique service to our clients. We focus primarily in the Christian marketplace and have put together an outstanding gallery of authors and speakers whose books continue to make an impact throughout the world.
Our Service Philosophy

Content
To help the author develop and create the best book possible. Material that has both commercial appeal and long-term value.

Career
To help the author determine the next best step in their writing career. Giving counsel regarding the subtleties of the marketplace as well as the realities of the publishing community.

Contract
To help the author secure the best possible contract. One that partners with the best strategic publisher and one that is mutually beneficial for all parties involved.
Recent Posts
Point of View #6
Common Pitfalls and How to Fix Them
Hello, writer friends, I hope you’ve all had a great holiday and are back at the craft, learning and writing. Before we took some time off, I was writing a lot about point of view (POV). I want to wrap that up with this post, which can serve as a final checklist to ensure that you’ve got this topic down. So feel free to go back and look at your work in progress (WIP) and compare it against this list. It might not be all-inclusive, but it’s a really good start.
- Avoid Head Hopping. Stick to one POV per scene and use clear scene/chapter breaks when switching.
- Balance Deep POV with Narrative Flow. Mix internal dialogue with action and external sensory details to keep the story moving.
- Avoid Overusing Filtering Words. Cut these words and describe the experience directly. A list of filtering words:
-
- Saw
- Heard
- Felt
- Noticed
- Observed
- Thought
- Knew
- Realized
- Wondered
- Considered
- Experienced
- Looked
- Watched
- Maintain POV Consistency. Ensure all descriptions and thoughts come only from what the POV character knows and perceives.
- Deep POV vs. Overwriting. Save deep emotional immersion for key moments and allow for lighter, more natural narrative flow elsewhere.
- Let Characters Experience Events Naturally. Let the character process events naturally, just as a real person would. If something is shocking or overwhelming, they might not register all details immediately.
- Be Careful Not to Overexplain Internal Thoughts. Trust the reader to infer emotions from the context, dialogue, and sensory details.
- Be Careful with Dialogue Tags. Avoid weak dialogue tags like “she exclaimed” or redundant tags that tell instead of show. Instead, use action beats or let the dialogue itself convey the emotion.
- Ensure Appropriate Emotional and Narrative Pacing. Balance moments of deep introspection with action, movement, or lighter scenes.
- Differentiate Characters’ Unique Voices in Deep POV. Ensure each character has a distinct voice, influenced by their background, personality, and experiences.
Challenge:
- Pick a scene from your work-in-progress.
- Apply the checklist and see if it helps you spot POV errors.
Beginnings and Endings of Novels With Angela Hunt
Have you ever started reading a book and just couldn’t get past the first few chapters? Or maybe you enjoyed the book, but the ending left you feeling empty inside. It just didn’t quite work. Beginnings and endings can make or break your novels. If you want your reader to finish your book, you’ve got to start well. You’ve got to hook them in with a beginning that piques their curiosity enough to hold them throughout the story. But if you want your readers to recommend your book to their friends, you must thrill them with a satisfying ending. When …
Different Types of Editors – Guest Post by Jamie Lapeyrolerie
We are very glad to have Jamie Lapeyrolerie be our guest today. We have worked together on several projects in her position as an editor for Waterbrook & Multnomah, a division of Penguin Random House. She is also a writer and actively involved in the publishing industry, including The Christy Award® Advisory Board and ECPA’s PubU. Her writings have appeared in Christianity Today, Christ and Pop Culture, and Ekstasis Magazine. You can find her bookish and editorial writings here, her C.S. Lewis and Tolkien substack here, and on Instagram @musingsofjamie. Welcome, Jamie! When people find out I’m an editor, nearly 100% …
Fun Fridays – February 7, 2025
Today’s funny: A pastor, a rabbit, and a priest walked into a restaurant. The rabbit says, “I think I’m a typo in this story.” ShareTweet
What’s the Magic Number for Platform?
I get asked this question a lot at writers conferences, in webinars, and even in line at Dunkin’ Donuts (to be fair, I buy a lot of donuts). It was posed this way in an email from someone I’d met at a writers conference: “At what point is a platform attractive [to publishers]? 10K, 20K, 50K or more?” Simply speaking, writers want to know “What’s the number?” To which I routinely (and sagely) reply, “It depends.” You’re welcome. But seriously, there are too many variables to cite a number. For example, are we talking about a fiction or nonfiction project? …