Enjoy this clever three minute book trailer for the new prequel to The Godfather releasing next week (titled The Family Corleone).
No editors were harmed in the filming of this video. At least that we know of.
Watch past the credits.
News You Can Use – May 1, 2012
Amanda Hocking is Happy with her Publisher – An update from the woman whose self-published ebooks garnered a monster traditional deal.
10 Best First Lines in Fiction - Chosen by editors at the Guardian (UK). Do you agree or disagree?
How We Will Read in the Future - An excellent interview with Maria Popova, the curator for the great BrainPickings blog. (The article is about 2,500 words long …
Blood, Guts and Peanuts: What it’s Like Writing with Ted Dekker
Guest blog by Tosca Lee
Our guest today is Tosca Lee, author of Demon: A Memoir and Havah: The Story of Eve. She is also the co-author with Ted Dekker of the NYTimes bestseller Forbidden. The next book in that series will be out this Summer. A sought-after speaker and former Mrs. Nebraska, Tosca was a senior consultant for a global consulting firm until turning to writing full-time. She holds a …
News You Can Use – April 24, 2012
How to Pay a Ghost - Great post on how ghostwriting works.
A Noah's Ark for Books! - Brewster Kahle is storing a copy of every book ever published. Spending millions on storage and scanning. Fascinating.
Search Google by Reading Level - Refine your searches! Who knew Google could do this too?
Yet Another Supreme Court Case Concerning Book Sales - This time dealing with the "grey" market …
News You Can Use – April 17, 2012
Getting by on a Writer’s Income – Lawrence Block reflects on the challenges of the writing life. An excellent article from someone with a half a century of experience.
Microsoft Word is Dead – Tom Scocca in “Slate” makes a bold claim. I would vehemently disagree from the point-of-view of writers and editors and publishers. But he may be right when it comes to office collaborations and the …
Christy Award Finalists 2012
We are quite excited to announce that our agency has a number of finalists in this year's Christy Awards. (Click here for the list of this year's finalists.) Congratulations to all finalists. Below are our clients who have been honored and a link to their publisher's site for more information on the book.
Susan May Warren - My Foolish Heart (Tyndale) - Contemporary Romance
Ronie Kendig - …
Implications of the Department of Justice Lawsuit Against Five Major Publishers
by Steve Laube
As you have heard by now the Department of Justice (DOJ) has leveled a lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers accusing them of conspiring to fix prices. There has been a lot written on the topic with varying degrees of understanding and a wide disparity of conclusions.
Authors are asking what this all means to them. And many are confused about the math involved. A …
Fun Fridays – April 13, 2012
The Rejection Letter Generator Become used to receiving rejection letters from agents and editors. Test your own mettle. Develop immunity to snarky comments! Go to this site and fill one of the seven forms. The Rejection Generator Project I guarantee you will be rejected within seconds. So much better than waiting weeks for our agency’s evaluation. Here is a sample of the rejection letter I …
News You Can Use – April 10, 2012
Pew Research Findings on E-Reading – If you want a sense of what’s happening, read this article. Then once you’ve digested it, read Mike Shatzkin’s evaluation of the data. Together the articles may take an hour to absorb.
The Perfect Elevator Pitch for a New Job – Interesting article with applications for a writer creating the perfect pitch for their book idea
Five Best Bluetooth Headsets – …
Reader Expectations
Guest blog by Robin Lee Hatcher
Robin Lee Hatcher and I (Karen Ball) have been friends for a lot of years. One of the things I most respect about her is the respect and love she has for her readers. She doesn't write just for the sake of telling a good story. She writes to uplift and encourage her readers, to remind them they're not alone in their struggles and challenges. Robin tells …