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Realm Makers 2016

By Steve Laubeon August 1, 2016

I just spent the last few days with a lot of fun people! The Realm Makers conference was held on the Villianova University campus in Philadelphia with nearly 200 in attendance.

I had the honor of teaching nearly six hours in a continuing session on the spiritual life of the writer. It is truly great when many like-minded people gather to explore the Word together.

The costume banquet on Friday night was a sight to behold. I suspect you can find a number of wild photos on Facebook. I got to sit with Commander Riker from Star Trek: the Next Generation. Stood in the serving line with The Last Unicorn. And the Weeping Angel from Dr. Who made threatening gestures at me. Also there was Hagrid (almost the same size!), Mrs. Weasley, an Amish Zombie, Monsters, fairies, warriors, animals, creatures from nightmares…and even a literary agent – the scariest of all.

It was stunning to have two Enclave titles win special awards for Excellence in Editing. Waking Beauty by Sarah E. Morin and A Time to Speak by Nadine Brandes won both awards. Fun to have Nadine sitting next to me when her book was announced as winner!

And then John Otte’s The Hive won the Genre Award for Science Fiction!

In some ways Realm Makers is a mini-ComicCon but where all those in attendance want to write books! That is really exciting.

They announced that next year’s event will be held in Reno, Nevada. July 27-29, 2017 with Ted Dekker as the main speaker. See you there!

I’m Always Open to Submissions

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon July 21, 2016

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Sometimes authors send me an email asking, “Are you looking at new submissions?” or “Are you accepting new clients?” I appreciate these authors’ desire not to waste my time or theirs, but I’ll say it here: I’m always open to submissions and new clients. Now, does this mean I’m open to reading entire unpublished books on every and any topic? Or that I hope to sign five new clients every week? No. I …

Category: Agency, Book Proposals, Get Published, RejectionTag: Agency, book proposals, Submissions

6 Excuses (That Don’t Work) for Not Attending a Writers Conference

By Guest Bloggeron July 18, 2016

Our guest today is Linda Taylor, an author, an editor, a writer, a college writing instructor, and a constant learner. She teaches in the Professional Writing department at Taylor University and continues to do freelance editing and proofreading. She blogs about the joys of editing and grammar at www.lindaktaylor.com ___________ In our extremely virtual world, we have gotten used to our …

Category: Conferences, Get Published, Guest PostTag: Get Published, writers conferences

What’s Wrong with my Book?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon July 14, 2016

As you can imagine, we see hundreds of proposals and manuscripts each month. And, as you can also imagine, we must decline most. However, there are a few mistakes you can avoid to help your submission rise above others: Not beginning the story in the right place. All too often, an author will tell us about the main characters’ backgrounds before getting to the crux of the story, where the …

Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Editing, Get Published, RejectionTag: book proposals, Get Published

ICRS Observations 2016

By Steve Laubeon July 11, 2016

On the last week of June Dan Balow and I attended the 2016 International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in Cincinnati. It was my 35th consecutive year attending…which only means I’m old… By now you may have heard some reports regarding the low attendance, which are true. There were only 2,114 registered attendees, nearly a 30% drop from last year. Fortunately the convention hall …

Category: Book Business, Conventions, ICRSTag: Book Business, Bookselling, ICRS, International Christian Retail Show Observations, Trends

What You May Not Know Before Going to a Conference

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon July 7, 2016

Have you ever been surprised by what you’ve learned at a conference? A couple of my meetings I’ve had over the years surprised me. To wit: Theology A few years ago, I interviewed a novelist at a fifteen-minute appointment. I read through her summary, and realized that the theological position of the story wouldn’t fit with most CBA houses. I made several suggestions on how to bring the story in …

Category: Conferences, Get PublishedTag: Get Published, writers conferences

Why I Don’t Critique Your Work

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon June 30, 2016

A fantastic blog post from Ramona Richards reminded me why I, as a literary agent, don’t offer critiques on rejected proposals. Believe me, as someone who used to write books, I understand the disappointment of the unhelpful rejection letter. So much that I blogged about it (click to read it). I appreciate writers who are looking to learn more about craft, style, and what will make their books …

Category: Agents, Book Proposals, Editing, Get PublishedTag: Agents, book proposals, Editing, Get Published

The Why and How of Selecting Endorsers

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon June 23, 2016

Some authors find the endorsers section tricky when they write book proposals. If this describes you, or if you would like a refresher, I hope this post will be helpful. The Why: I can’t say I’ve ever sold a book based on an endorsement alone. Content is king. But the endorsers (or you can call it Potential Endorsers) section is important. To wit, here’s a quote from Mallory Ortburg’s May 3 …

Category: Book Proposals, Get Published, MarketingTag: book proposals, Endorsements, Get Published

What’s Your Third Book?

By Dan Balowon June 21, 2016

At some point, whenever I speak with an un-published author I will ask the question, “What is your third book?” The purpose of the question is to elicit a response to get an idea if the author is interested in being a professional author or simply publishing a book. Those are different goals entirely. Agents mostly represent professional authors, not books. Agents are “in this” for the long term …

Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Branding, Career, Get Published, PlatformTag: Career, Get Published