The website mentioned in today’s video is real.
Too funny!
Publishing Success Can Be Fleeting
Can you name the USA national college football champion in 2019? Or name the winner of American Idol in 2022? What was the best-selling Christian novel in 2023? Or, even harder, name two of the top five top best-selling Christian nonfiction books of 2019, only five years ago. My point is that success is fleeting. On top today, forgotten tomorrow. But that depends on your definition of success, …
Fun Fridays – July 26, 2024
It is time for the Summer Olympics! Today’s video shows the fill of victory and agony of the feet.
The Power of a Referral
It was recently pointed out that a number of agencies will not accept unsolicited proposals. Instead they state, in their guidelines, that they only take proposals via referrals or from meeting someone at a writers conference. Our agency continues to keep the doors open to any and all who send material following our guidelines. It can be a challenge to read all the incoming proposals, but I prefer …
Fun Fridays – July 19, 2024
Since I am currently at the Realm Makers conference, which is “all speculative fiction all the time,” I thought today’s video would be irresistible–like a snack.
Define Success
Success. It is a word that has a “sweet smell” for some and is the “gold ring” of achievement for others. But in order to appreciate success, we must first define it. And there is the rub. Each one of us defines success differently, especially writers. Here are some definitions I’ve heard or seen: Getting an agent My first book contract Selling 20,000 copies of my …
Fun Friday – July 12, 2024
While not a new video, the message in today’s presentation is so powerful that I had to share it. The title is “Every life has a story … if we only bother to read it.” The message cuts to the core of why we work so hard in the publishing industry to tell stories, both fiction and nonfiction. To bring redemption, hope, and new life to those around us. You never know who will …
What Is One Thing You Wish You Had Known?
For years, Reg Forder, at his ACW writers conferences, liked to ask his faculty panel, “What is one thing you wish you had known before you became a writer?” Since I joined the publishing side of things after being a bookseller and later became a literary agent, I have given the question some thought. Coming from retail, the hardest thing to grasp was how long it takes to get from a …
Fun Fridays – July 5, 2024
Fill your July with PUNS! I changed my iPhone name to Titanic. It’s syncing now. I tried to catch some fog. I mist. When chemists die, they barium. Jokes about German sausage are the wurst. A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran. I know a guy who’s addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time. How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it. I …
Unsolicited Proposals: Aka “The Slush Pile”
All literary agents receive dozens of proposals each week. Most are via email these days, but some still come via the post. Last week was a relatively slow week; my office received only 28 unsolicited proposals via email and two in the post. For the month of June, it was around 170 total unsolicited proposals received. (Unsolicited means proposals that are not from our existing clients. We get a …