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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 » Writing Craft » Page 15

Writing Craft

The Conference Appointment

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon May 18, 2022
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If you’re preparing to go to a writers conference, here are a few tips based on questions authors have asked over the years about agent and editor appointments:

1. What do I wear? 

Each conference has its own personality. Visit the conference website to glean information concerning accommodations and weather. Comfortable, flattering clothes that show polish are available at different price points. But first, look in your closet. You probably already own enough great outfits to see you through.

2. How do I use my one-sheets?

Many writers like to present their story, photo, bio, and contact information on one page. Editors and agents often take these home, but few accept chapters and full proposals. Imagine toting fifty submissions on a plane! However, be prepared with a few pages of the manuscript and proposal if the agent asks.

3. What contact information should I take with me?

For an appointment with an editor, include your agent’s contact information on the one-sheets and sample chapters. Talk to your agent to stay on the same page with what projects you’re pitching to editors, and decide which editors you should see.

Make sure you bring business cards to keep up with your new industry friends. Steve Laube says that each night he gathers the one-sheets and business cards he collected. Along with that day’s schedule, he notes in his Moleskine notebook to reconstruct the items that need follow-up and the people he met. This process could be one way for you to recap and retain the day’s events.

4. What should I strive to achieve during my appointments?

Get to know an industry professional. The one-sheet is not your do-or-die document. A one-sheet will give you talking points and something to present to the editor; but, really, you are demonstrating a bit of who you are. You want to convey your business style and show the editor or agent that you are easy to work with, professional, and willing to do as the Lord leads to be a successful, published author. 

5. What about after the conference?

Because making a firm decision about an author’s work during a brief appointment is difficult for most editors and agents, you are likely to receive several requests to submit a proposal or manuscript after the conference. Take the time you need to polish your work, but do be prepared to follow up after you return.

I wish you great conference success, fellowship, and fun!

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Category: Conferences

My Editor Made My Book Worse!

By Steve Laubeon May 16, 2022
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by Steve Laube

You just received a 15 page single spaced editorial letter from your publisher. They want you to rewrite most of the book. But you disagree with the letter and are spitting mad. What do you do?

Or your agent took a look at your manuscript and told you to cut it in half to make it sellable. What do you do?

Both examples are true stories and illustrate the universal …

Read moreMy Editor Made My Book Worse!
Category: Craft, Editing, Steve, Writing CraftTag: Editing, Writing Craft

Does Faith Limit Creativity?

By Dan Balowon May 12, 2022
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No, it doesn’t. Look at nature or biology or astronomy and see how creative our God is. If anything, a Christian can see things clearer and be inspired to even greater creativity than someone who is not a Christ-follower. But, I think writers of Christian books have limited their vision for what they can write about; and maybe, just maybe, publishers have a role to play in limiting creativity. A …

Read moreDoes Faith Limit Creativity?
Category: Creativity

Six People You’ll Meet at a Writers Conference

By Bob Hostetleron May 11, 2022
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As an author and literary agent, I’m often asked for publishing advice. As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, my standard response to such queries is, “Have you been to a writers conference?” Because, for most of us, that is a major and necessary step toward writing for publication, for many reasons. One of those reasons is the variety and quality of people you’ll meet at a writers conference, …

Read moreSix People You’ll Meet at a Writers Conference
Category: Conferences

L Is for Libel

By Steve Laubeon May 9, 2022
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by Steve Laube

 To libel someone is to injure a person’s reputation via the written word (slander is for the spoken word). I wrote recently about Indemnification but only touched on this topic. Let’s try to unpack it a little further today.

First, be aware that the laws that define defamation vary from state to state, however there are some commonly accepted guidelines. Anyone can claim …

Read moreL Is for Libel
Category: Book Business, Contracts, Publishing A-ZTag: Libel, Publishing A-Z

What Are You Doing This Summer?

By Dan Balowon May 4, 2022
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Writers conferences have been scrambling to maintain a connection to writers in two years of COVID restrictions, but maybe we are working our way toward a day when most can meet in person and get back to the best part of conferences: the planned and unplanned conversations that lead to inspiration and encouragement for everyone taking part. How will I spend some of my summer this year? May 11-14, …

Read moreWhat Are You Doing This Summer?
Category: Conferences

Your Character’s Key Words

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon April 27, 2022
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We all need passwords to log onto websites that we can hope to remember, right? So we are likely to choose configurations that mean something to us but not to others.  Here is a fun exercise you can use to think about your characters. Pretend your character needs a password, whether for a shopping site today or a safe stored under the floor in the year 1877. What word or number combination would …

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Category: Creativity

I Is for Indemnification

By Steve Laubeon April 25, 2022
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Publishing is not without risks. Plagiarism, fraud, and libel by an author are real possibilities. Thus within a book contract is a legal clause called indemnification, inserted to protect the publisher from an author’s antics. The indemnification clause, in essence, says that if someone sues your publisher because of your book, claiming something like libel (defamation) or plagiarism etc., …

Read moreI Is for Indemnification
Category: Book Business, Contracts, Copyright, Legal Issues, Publishing A-ZTag: Contracts, indemnification, lawsuit, warranty

How to Make Me Stop Reading

By Bob Hostetleron April 20, 2022
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Once upon a time, I finished every book I started reading. I had to. I felt an obligation. If I didn’t finish it, it wouldn’t “count” as a book I’d read. Right? Then, maybe ten, maybe twenty years ago, I changed. I think I realized how many books there are in the world that I want to read and how little time I had left in life to read them. And I reasoned that plowing through a book I’d lost (or …

Read moreHow to Make Me Stop Reading
Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Writing Craft

Writers Groups

By Dan Balowon April 13, 2022
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Writers need good, personal support structures because so much of the work is done in solitude. Christian writers conferences, whether they are held online or in person, are part of this structure, as one receives training; exposure to different ways of thinking; critical review; advice from people with experience they lack; and, most importantly, relationships. But another level of support is …

Read moreWriters Groups
Category: Communication, Conferences
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