Every once in a while it is “fun” to do more than laugh. Instead we can revel in the beauty of God’s creation.
Enjoy this incredible time-lapse study of the leaves turning in Central Park. Less than three minutes long.
Blog
Why Is My Royalty Check So Small?
This is it! You’ve had a book published, and your advance money is long gone. But your publisher has promised a royalty check and you know exactly when that check is supposed to arrive. You run to the mail box every day for two weeks until finally, Voilá! The check is here! You rip open the envelope to see a grand total of: $28.52? What???!!! How can this be? So much for the big screen TV. …
“The Great Unspoken” – Why Agents Don’t Critique
There’s a secret agents and editors share. Something they seldom discuss with each other, and never with writers. It’s something they dislike. Intensely. It ties their hands when it comes to guiding writers guidance. It’s the #1 reason they turn down proposals, and the #2 (and sometimes #1) reason they’ve gone with form rejection letters. It’s something many inexperienced agents and editors try to …
News You Can Use – Dec. 4, 2012
Guideposts sells Ellie Claire Line and Selected Summerside Titles to Worthy Publishing - Worthy Publishing adds a great gift book line along with some Summerside non-fiction to their company. Plus they added a new VP, Jason Rovenstine, who joins them from his similar role at Ellie Claire/Summerside. The Summerside fiction line remains with Guideposts with no editorial changes. Guideposts fiction …
Fun Fridays – Nov. 30, 2012
You may have seen some of the “Gangnam Style” song parodies that are all over the Internet. (By the way, the original Gangnam Style video is now the most watched YouTube video of all time with over 830 million views...since July.)
Recently the cast of Arizona Broadway Theatre's "Oklahoma," where my daughter Fiona is performing, just released their version called “Oklahoma Style.”
Be sure …
Reactions to Your Career
Often, strangers ask me what a literary agent does. Once I tell them, they'll want to share with me that they are writing a children's picture book. Or an aunt, cousin, or friend, is writing one. I think a lot of parents write read-aloud books because they are part of the bedtime ritual with their own children and perceive that the volume of books published means the market is vast. Unfortunately, …
Agents and Proposals: What to Expect
Last week I left you with a question: How do editors/agents get through all the proposals they receive. For me, as an editor and now as an agent, the answer was to hire someone to be my first-pass reader. In my case, this person is someone I’ve worked with now for over fifteen years. She knows me and my tastes well, and, as an avid reader and a skilled writer herself, she knows quality writing. …
News You Can Use – Nov. 27, 2012
McGraw-Hill Agrees To Sell Its Education Publishing Business For $2.5 billion - Someone thinks publishing is still worth a lot of money!
Using Elements of Your Story to Market Your Book - Great article by Debby Mayne
Daily Routines of Famous Writers - Take a look at how Kurt Vonnegut, Maya Angelou, Ernest Hemingway, and others did their work.
Amazon Takes on Supermarkets with Groceries …
Fun Fridays – Nov. 23, 2012
Enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend!
A fun video from Igniter Media for you.
I’m Thankful for…
Happy Thanksgiving!
A tradition my (Steve) family has had during Thanksgiving is to play "The Thankful Game." Since we spend our day with extended family we have a bit of driving to do to get there. So during the trip we would rotate around the car with each member of the family having to to finish the sentence "I'm thank for..." The answers could be serious or silly. Everything from …