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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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Home » Career » Page 4

Career

Why I Represent the Author: Agent Edition

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 14, 2021
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My reasons for representing an author may differ from why I read a certain book.

  1. Content: When I see something fresh and different, but not so far out that no one can relate, an author has my attention.
  2. Talent: Although my office must decline talented authors every day, writing talent will get authors a close look.
  3. Proposal: A professional proposal shows me the author has taken the time to learn how to write a proposal and cares enough to include one with the project. The proposal doesn’t have to be perfect, whatever that means. The proposal needs to present the author and book in the best possible light.
  4. Social Media Presence: A professional online presence is a plus. Strive for a mix of writing and personal tidbits online. Be sure to have appealing headshots. No one cares who takes the pictures or where, as long as they offer the type of image the author wants to convey to readers.
  5. Platform: An author who is well-known will get my attention. While this aspect may frustrate authors today, a well-known author who is already popular always has been and always will be easier to sell to editors and readers than a debut author. However, every author starts as a debut author! I give debut authors thoughtful attention.
  6. Market: I’m more likely to offer representation when I know editors who can give your book serious consideration. You may have written the world’s best horror novel, but I don’t have those editorial contacts. Knowing which agents specialize in the type of project you are pitching saves you time and effort in your agent search.
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Category: Book Proposals, Career, Pitching, Platform

Books, Hooks, and Good Looks

By Bob Hostetleron September 30, 2021
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I love hooks. As a writer, I work hard on my hooks. When I was a magazine editor, the hook was often the best way for a writer to make a good first impression on me. And now, for me as a literary agent, the hook is the first and one of the most important criteria I use in evaluating a book pitch, proposal, or manuscript. A good book hook will often prompt me to give a project a more careful, …

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Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Career, Get Published, Pitch, Pitching, Platform, Self-Publishing, Social Media, The Writing Life

The Working Writer Lifestyle

By Bob Hostetleron August 19, 2021
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I’ve been writing for a living for most of the past three decades. You’d think I’d be rich by now. Apparently I’m not that kind of writer. But I am a working writer, something I give thanks for nearly every day, in the awareness that of the multitudes who write, relatively few ever earn a living doing it. So I have that going for me. What is it like to be a working writer? I can answer only for …

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Category: Career, The Writing Life, time management

One Writer’s Beginnings

By Bob Hostetleron August 11, 2021
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I am asked often, “How’d you get your start as a writer?” The question has many possible answers. I usually say something like, “Well, I was raised as a reader and writer, more or less, in a family of readers and writers.” The first time I saw my name in print was in Highlights magazine when I was seven or eight years old; it wasn’t exactly a byline, but I knew I was a pretty big deal nonetheless. …

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Category: Career, Common Questoins, Personal, The Writing Life

7 Habits of Highly Successful Writers

By Bob Hostetleron July 8, 2021
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I know a lot of highly successful writers. They come in all genders, sizes, and shapes. But they have a few things in common, things that seem to have contributed to their success. So, without naming any names (but they know who they are), here are seven habits of those highly successful writers: 1. Write a lot Many people say that writers must write every single day. I don’t say that (though I …

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Category: Career, The Writing Life

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon June 2, 2021
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Sometimes, interviewers ask when you first knew what you wanted to do in life. As a child, I remember aspiring to be a dancer because moving to music looked fun. But when I found this “magazine” I had made for my mother when I was ten, I realized my interests (aside from trying to get my mother to buy Cocoa Krispies cereal) tended toward my future reality. In the photo, notice that the lucky old …

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Category: Career, Personal, The Writing Life

When the Outlook Is Bleak

By Steve Laubeon April 26, 2021
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by Steve Laube

In the constant ebb and flow of this industry we have authors celebrating and authors in tears. Ask any agent and you will hear the same. For every author excited about their new contract there is another experiencing bitter disappointment.

And I wish I could fix it.

To hear the anguish is difficult, but to be the one who delivers the bad news is heart-wrenching. Why is it …

Read moreWhen the Outlook Is Bleak
Category: Book Business, Career, TheologyTag: Career, Encouragement, Outlook

Read “A Christian Reading Manifesto”

By Steve Laubeon April 5, 2021
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Last year David Steele created this document: “A Christian Reading Manifesto.” It bears review for those of us in the writing of books and those who believe in the power of reading said books. Given the efforts of our secular culture to redefine words and their meaning, his statement “Reading Forces Us to Reckon With Words” resonated. I’ve often said, “People of …

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Category: Book Review, Career, Christian, Theology

Age Is Just a Number

By Steve Laubeon March 22, 2021
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by Steve Laube

Last Friday in the comments Dr. Richard Mabry wrote, "Tired after doing a few household chores that never used to leave me dragging. Now I’m ready to be up and dancing. Age is just a number, isn’t it?"

Then on Saturday I spoke at the Christian Writes of the West mini-conference where one of the writers asked "Do older writers have a chance? Especially if agents and …

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Category: Book Business, Career, CreativityTag: Age, Career

Proofreading: Tips and Tricks

By Steve Laubeon March 8, 2021
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[Since today, March 8th, is National Proofreading Day I thought I would re-post this article from a few years ago, with some revisions. I’ve left the comments attached below since so many were illustrative. Please add new thoughts as well.] I have regularly displayed my lack of proofreading skills in past blog posts. In fact, it got so bad I’ve had to hire someone to proofread my posts …

Read moreProofreading: Tips and Tricks
Category: Book Proposals, Career, Craft, Editing, Writing CraftTag: Editing, Proofreading, Writing Craft
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