A lack of gravity doesn’t stop this group from making an amazing video. The combination of music, choreography, creativity, and sheer genius is breathtaking. Enjoy!
Blog
Criticism – What Are They Really Saying?
Any time you send a book – or even an article – into the world, you subject yourself to both praise and criticism. Sometimes praise seems embarrassing but criticism can hurt. By criticism, I’m not referring to the helpful, constructive kind. I’m talking about the mean kind. When someone says something hostile, consider that it’s not about you. That person is expressing what matters to her. The …
A Word to the E-mail-Wise: Don’t Assume
I received an email from a client the other day, asking a question. I read it, and as I did so, I made an assumption as to the motivation behind her question. So, as you can imagine, I responded with that assumption firmly in place. Her email response was short and to the point. And just a bit miffed. As I read what she wrote, I realized the motivation I assigned to her question was wrong. …
Gather ‘round The Platform
The issue of authors needing large social media platforms before they can be considered by certain publishers (and therefore agents) has been a source of frustration for some and a challenge for others. For few, it is an energizing, motivating pursuit. Agents at this agency have blogged about it here for years. We’ve all given presentations at conferences on the subject. Questions about platform …
Publishing Acronyms
After being in an industry for a while there is a natural tendency to speak in code. Acronyms flow freely and can be a foreign language to those new to the conversation. Below is an attempt to spell out some of the more common acronyms in the publishing industry and some specific to the Christian publishing industry. They are grouped by topic in a rudimentary way but in no particular order. If …
Fun Fridays – February 19, 2016
British sketch comedy at its finest. Imagine how much fun they had writing the sketch and then performing it! HT: Kim Moore
Unpublished and on Social Media as an Author? Why?
It’s hard to get through a week without seeing at least one article on platform. Well, here’s yours for the week! We agents ask authors for a platform, but I have found that unpublished authors wonder how or why they should show a professional presence on social media. That question is understandable. Without a book, what is the author promoting? Promoting Yourself? Yes, you are promoting …
Zip It Mr. Galilei
Did you ever tell someone, “Don’t feel that way” and not get the best reaction? In the same vein is “Don’t be that way.” Honestly, I could never figure that one out. Feels like a philosophical conundrum of the highest order. Telling someone not to be. Four hundred years ago this week in 1616, Cardinal Bellarmine, representing the Catholic Church, issued an order to astronomer Galileo Galilei that …
Fun Fridays – Feb. 12, 2016
This is one of my favorites. The barbershop quartet “Main Street” imagines what their music will sound like twenty years from now. They are really good. You owe it to yourself to spent 8 1/2 minutes listening to the fun. Hope this brings a smile to your day.
Do You Write in Your Books?
When we were first married, my husband bought a new Bible. The first thing he did was to sit down at his desk with a pen. I gasped. “What are you doing?” “I’m transferring notes from my old Bible so I’ll have them.” At that point, I think he’d also started in with a yellow highlighter. I had never seen anyone do this. When I was growing up, I had one Bible. When I was in the third grade, my …