Search Results for: rejection
Actually, It Is About Money
It is well-documented, Jesus spoke about money more than any other subject, as recorded in Scripture. He knew it was part of everyone’s life and used it often to teach a myriad of lessons. Still, money can be a polarizing topic. One of my favorite sports books is Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. It is the story of Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s …
What Happens in the Agency After I Send my Proposal?
Jeanine asked, “Please help me to get a picture of what happens to a manuscript that has been submitted (via email) to your office, from the time of its arrival to the time of the agent’s acceptance/rejection.” Thank you for the question Jeanine. I will first give a silly but kinda true answer of what happens in the agency as follows: We avoid looking in the incoming proposals inbox …
Ask Me Anything
With Summer in full mid-form and some planning the rest of their year’s writing efforts, I thought it might be a good chance for you to post below any question you might have about the publishing business. Editing? Proposals? Why so many rejections? How does it all work? Will Amazon doom us all? Are bookstores dying? etc. I only ask that you keep within the topic of writing and publishing. I …
Is Your Glass Half Empty?
Over the decades it has been interesting to listen to and read the various pundits regarding the publishing industry. Typically those who spell out doom and gloom get the attention (fortifying the idea that “if it bleeds, it leads”). At the same time there is the optimist position which is often derided for being unrealistic. After awhile I’ve learned to smile and simply get back …
The Damaged Author
Anyone can easily identify a person who has been damaged by life and in need of help. The same is true with damaged authors. If you are in this category, writing about your experiences and the lessons learned can be both cathartic and spiritually fruitful, but taking a damaged-life perspective into the professional world of book publishing will rarely work for anyone. If you know someone who is …
Ignored? Could be an Error or a Philosophy
This post is inspired by a question posed by Cindy (Thank you!) on a recent entry regarding rejection. (Click here to find the original entry) Despite following all the guidelines, this author never received a response from an agent and wondered why. The reasons may be quite simple: Office Error My office tries not to ignore emails, although we certainly aren’t mistake-proof. If we ignored you, …
Five Lessons from the Road to Publication
Our guest post is by Ginny L. Yttrup who is the award-winning author of five novels including her latest, Home, which released earlier this month. She writes contemporary women’s fiction and enjoys exploring the issues everyday women face. “Publishers Weekly” dubbed Ginny’s work “as inspiring as it is entertaining.” When not writing, Ginny coaches writers, …
Ignoring the Face of Fear
Fear. It’s there, whispering to you in the dark. Telling you you’re wasting your time, that you’ll never make it, that no one cares what you have to say. It eats at you when you try to write, telling you those words you just crafted are garbage. It crawls up your spine when you finally work up the courage to send out a proposal for review, telling you the only response you’ll get is rejection. Or …
The Introverted Writer
Here is a question from Trisha: I consider myself a deeply introverted person. I write because I can express myself on paper so much better than in conversational settings. When it comes to getting published, how do you think the personality of the author is weighed in respect to publishers and agents considering an author for publication? In other words, does a more bubbly personality get …