Helping to Change the World…Word by Word
The Steve Laube Agency
Helping to Change the World Word by Word
If you want to be traditionally published in today’s book market, you are going to need a literary agent. But you don’t just “hire” a literary agent like you would a plumber. Agents have a vetting process in which they decide if you and your book are a good fit for their agency. They want […]
You can listen to this episode How to Write a Query Letter with Mary DeMuth on Christian Publishing Show.
Today’s guest writer is Carla Laureano. She is a two-time RITA® award-winning author of over a dozen books, spanning the genres of contemporary romance and Celtic fantasy. A graduate of Pepperdine University, she worked in sales and marketing for more than a decade before leaving corporate life behind to write full-time. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, two sons, …
Last week I wrote about being successful and fruitful and how those qualities direct our paths more than our education, training, experience, or plans. I believe when God allows us to be fruitful in a certain way, He is illuminating a road before us that might have been dark and mysterious. Today, I am flipping this situation around to explore failure. I am not referring to moral failure or …
Many first-time authors think that all they need to do is write a book, upload it to Amazon, and voilà Readers will come flocking. This is not the case. The reality is that the journey of writing and publishing a book is a long and arduous one. For most authors it takes 5 to 15 years to find success. So, what does it take to succeed in this business of writing and publishing? I believe …
Many first-time authors think that all they need to do is write a book, upload it to Amazon, and voilà Readers will come flocking. This is not the case. The reality is that the journey of writing and publishing a book is a long and arduous one. For most authors it takes 5 to 15 […]
You can listen to this episode How to Develop Patience and Endurance in Publishing with Chase Replogle on …
by Steve Laube
It happens. Despite all efforts and good intentions not every proposal we shop will end up being contracted by a major publisher. Of course our agency tries our best to keep that from happening. We carefully choose which projects and authors we represent. And our success rate is extremely high.
But that success rate is not 100%.
Here are a few examples of projects that …
Many writers—especially (but not exclusively) when they’re starting out on this long, uphill journey of writing for publication—are often tempted to quit. Some face that temptation even after they’ve published, and some even after much success. Because it’s hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it (nod to Jimmy Doogan in A League of Their Own). Still, sometimes the hard can get so hard—and …
I am using the 20th year remembrance of the death of Clifton Hillegass as inspiration to make a larger point about the direction an author’s life can take. Clifton (pictured above is his statue in Kearney, NE) was the creator of CliffsNotes and passed away in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the age of 83 on May 5, 2001. I assume most of you reading this post are aware of CliffsNotes and also of how much …
Years ago, after a class on taxes at a writers conference, an attendee shook her head. “That teacher’s going to get a lot of people in trouble.” I couldn’t deny that some of the suggestions offered seemed risky. I disregarded most of what I’d heard as I made my way out the door. This experience is rare, but it does happen. Conference directors engage well-known, established instructors for …
I was going to write this post months ago, but I kept putting it off. True story. Most writers don’t need much help procrastinating. Many of us will do almost anything to avoid the actual task of writing. It’s amazing how many things can distract us from our WIP (work-in-progress) or our WMNP (work-making-no-progress). Still, there may be someone out there in Writerland who needs a few …
