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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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News You Can Use – September 4, 2012

By Steve Laubeon September 4, 2012
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Amazon Buys 1,000 Backlist titles from Dorchester – As expected Amazon won the bid for defunct publisher Dorchester. Add these to the 3,000 titles they bought from Avalon in July and you have a serious number of romance backlist titles to offer.

Jonah Lehrer’s Plagarism Worse than Originally Thought – Charles Seife analyzes numerous “Wired” articles and the Lehrer’s blog and discovers a pattern. Beware lest anyone put your blog or articles under a microscope.

Publishing is Broken, We’re Drowning in Indie Books, and That is a Good Thing – Lengthy article in Forbes magazine about the state of the industry. Worth the time to absorb what he is trying to say. See the next link for a different perspective.

Self-Published Authors are Lazy –  Interview with Sue Grafton where she rendered a very unpopular opinion. Plenty of digital ink was spilled in response.

Today’s Christian Woman is Back in Print – Fascinating strategy launching this Fall. TCW coming back in a print edition, as well as online. See the new web site in beta form: todayschristianwoman.com

ipads and Kindles Allowed to be on During Take Off? – It may happen soon! As long as they make everyone turn off their cell phones I’m looking forward to the relaxation of these rules. I just cannot fathom sitting next to someone talking on their cell phone for an entire flight.

How Do Authors Benefit from Agents? – Rachelle Gardner, once again, writes a brilliant post. If you don’t follow her blog, you need to.

The Publishing Process in GIF form – In case you missed this last week (it went somewhat viral), Nathan Bransford created a delightful visual description of the entire publishing process.

 

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Category: News You Can Use, Steve

Paid Book Reviews?

By Steve Laubeon September 3, 2012
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by Steve Laube You may have read or heard of the NY Times article where an author admitted to using a now-defunct service that wrote positive online reviews for a fee. Unfortunately I was not surprised. There have been many attempts to game the system over the years. One man bought thousands of his books in various locations to launch it onto the NY Times bestseller list (Read a report about it …

Read morePaid Book Reviews?
Category: Book Business, Marketing, SteveTag: bestseller lists, Book reviews, reviews

Covering the Cover Letter

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 30, 2012
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This is the last installment of my proposal series. You may think it strange to write about the cover letter last, but usually, it's the last part of the proposal an author writes. Our own Steve Laube has already written about the cover letter here.

His tips are so wonderful that I asked him if I should even attempt this post, but he encouraged me to write from my perspective. So here are key …

Read moreCovering the Cover Letter
Category: Book Proposals, Get Published, TamelaTag: book proposal, Cover Letter, Get Published

What is Your Catalyst?

By Karen Ballon August 29, 2012
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I loved reading your responses about your catalyst for writing. So may wonderful motivations and stories in the making. Now what I want you to do, is take a look at what you listed as your catalyst and go deeper. And then deeper. Peel back the layers until you find the heartbeat of what is driving you to write. Sometimes its what drives you to write one particular book. Sometimes you’ll find that …

Read moreWhat is Your Catalyst?
Category: Craft, Creativity, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Catalyst, Writing Craft

News You Can Use – August 28, 2012

By Steve Laubeon August 28, 2012
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The Beloit College Mindset List for 2016 - Read it and weep. You are getting old. Admit it. For example, for the incoming college freshman (born in 1994), - "History has always had its own channel" and "Simba has always had trouble waiting to be King."

How to Create a Perfect Title - Calvin Miller and Rick Warren discussed this issue as it related to their sermons in this article from 1998's …

Read moreNews You Can Use – August 28, 2012
Category: News You Can Use, Steve

Fun Fridays – August 24, 2012

By Steve Laubeon August 24, 2012
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Poor Snoopy. He seems to always be rejected. I think I figured out why. See below.

 What Snoopy didn't realize is that he was sending his material to this editor:

Read moreFun Fridays – August 24, 2012
Category: Fun Fridays

Read All About It! – The Back Cover Copy

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 23, 2012
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When you consider purchasing a book, either in a store or online, what do you notice first? The front cover grabs your attention. Right? After that, you might flip inside to read the first few sentences of the book, and then venture to the back cover (online the back cover is displayed as the “Description”). Or you may go to the back cover before opening the book. Regardless, the back cover copy …

Read moreRead All About It! – The Back Cover Copy
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Get Published, Tamela, Writing CraftTag: back cover copy, book proposals

Some Days….You Gotta Laugh

By Karen Ballon August 22, 2012
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Karen Ball

Some days…you just gotta let go of any hope of accomplishing what you want and laugh!

I’ve had a week and a half of days like that. I promise we’ll get back to catalyst next week, but today, let’s laugh together. I received the following from a writer friend, and all I can say is, “See why it’s so important to edit what you write??”

These sentences appeared in church …

Read moreSome Days….You Gotta Laugh
Category: Humor, KarenTag: Humor, Laugh

News You Can Use – August 21, 2012

By Steve Laubeon August 21, 2012
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Thomas Nelson Publishers citing "loss of confidence" pulls a book about Thomas Jefferson from circulation - What a mess. People are taking sides and calling this an issue of free speech while others applaud the move and call it smart. More from World Magazine on the issue and a quote from the VP of editorial at the publisher can be found here. Bottom line? The book is no longer available from the …

Read moreNews You Can Use – August 21, 2012
Category: Get Published, News You Can Use, Steve

High Concept: Catching Readers One at a Time

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 16, 2012
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Not every fiction proposal needs something called a High Concept, but I like to see one. A High Concept shows that the author can hone in on the story and has thought about what it says and how it can be positioned in the marketplace. It helps the publisher know in a snap of the fingers the unique and compelling nature of your story. One popular way to create a High Concept is to compare your work …

Read moreHigh Concept: Catching Readers One at a Time
Category: Book Proposals, Get Published, TamelaTag: book proposals, High Concept
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