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The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Internet Usage

Internet Usage

Ten Commandments for Working with Your Agent

By Steve Laubeon November 9, 2020
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By request, here are my ten commandments for working with your agent. Break them at your own peril. Thou shalt vent only to thine agent and never directly to thy publisher or editor.

  1. Thou shalt not get whipped into a frenzy by the industry rumor mill fomented by the Internet. Asketh thy agent if what you’ve heard is true.
  2. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s success. Be content with thine own contract.
  3. If thou hast a dispute with thine agent, thou shalt talk to thy agent and seekest resolution. Jumping ship without reason is unprofessional … and agents talketh to each other.
  4. Thou shalt consider thy deadlines as sacrosanct. Thy hand signeth the contract, therefore thou art obligated. Thou shalt not expect thy agent to miraculously create extra time at the last minute.
  5. Respecteth the boundaries of the communication relationship with thy agent. Do not risketh being classified as a spammer or high maintenance by thy agent.
  6. Thou shalt be reasonable and balanced with regard to all social media. Remember, every word written on social media is a word not written on thy manuscript. At least don’t telleth the world that thou art eating ice cream to avoideth writing thy manuscript. Thy editor shall readeth your confession and weepeth.
  7. Keepeth it all in perspective. Selling only 8,000 books still meaneth 8,000 people have “bought a ticket” to read thy work. That crowd would filleth a megachurch auditorium.
  8. Remember thy calling to be a writer and keep it holy. You are in the business of changing the world word by word. Everything else is secondary.
  9. Thou shall rise and call thy agent blessed (and send chocolates at Christmas and cash on birthdays).
  10. If thou dost not have an agent, do not passeth “Go.” Instead, grabbeth one and bringeth said agent into thy camp ASAP. This industry is a labyrinth; and thou shalt someday discover thou needest one, and then it shall be too late. Real life examples available upon request.

__________
Permission is granted to use this in your own blog or website, as long as you include the following copyright notice:
© 2020 Steve Laube of The Steve Laube Agency (
www.stevelaube.com)

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Category: Agency, Book Business, Get PublishedTag: Book Business, Contracts, Copyright, Facebook, Get Published, Internet Usage, Marketing

Barriers to Effective Communication

By Steve Laubeon June 8, 2020
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By Steve Laube

It has been said that ninety percent of all problems in the universe are failures in communication. And the other ten percent are failures to understand the failure in communication. In the publishing business, or any business for that matter, this is so true. There are a couple common barriers to effective communication, assumption and expectation.

But I Assumed

Often …

Read moreBarriers to Effective Communication
Category: Book Business, Career, Communication, Writing CraftTag: Communication, e-mail, Gossip, Internet Usage

What Makes You Click?

By Steve Laubeon April 29, 2019
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Below is a visual representation of some astounding statistics regarding Internet usage. A little more than twelve years ago I wrote a chapter for a writing book on how to use the Internet for research. I re-read that article recently...umm, Google didn't even exist back then (founded in September 1998), much less Wikipedia (where the jury is still out if is a reliable source for verifiable …

Read moreWhat Makes You Click?
Category: Branding, Marketing, Pitch, Pitching, PlatformTag: Digital Books, Facebook, Internet Usage

Writers Beware! Protect Yourself

By Steve Laubeon July 9, 2018
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The writing profession starts off as a private venture. Creating ideas and stories in the privacy of your own home. But those of you who become serious about the work and slowly become more visible the issue of personal protection needs to be addressed.

I cannot emphasize this enough.

Read moreWriters Beware! Protect Yourself
Category: Book Business, Career, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Contracts, Internet Usage, Writing Craft

Lawsuit over Hyperlink?

By Steve Laubeon December 20, 2010
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In Canada a man is suing another person for linking to allegedly damaging web content on a web site (the suit is currently before the Canadian Supreme Court).  A big "thank you" to Mac Slolcum for writing about this issue last week. In his article Mac asks the pertinent question, "Is a link on your web site equivalent to an endorsement of that content?" Think about it for a second. If you click …

Read moreLawsuit over Hyperlink?
Category: Book Business, Legal IssuesTag: Endorsements, Facebook, Internet Usage, Marketing

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