How to Pitch Agents at a Writers Conference
Pitching agents at a writers conference can be a difficult task for the new writer. Here’s how to make it a little easier on yourself.
Tag Archives: agents
Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published
If you want to publish your book, here are the steps you should follow to assess your work’s potential, then research and pitch editors and agents.
Start Here: How to Write a Book Proposal
Everything you need to know to start writing a book proposal for your nonfiction book.
How Kindle Press Made My Novel a Bestseller
In 2015, Kindle Press published about 90 novels. By the end of 2016, it had published a total of 218 books—all chosen through the Kindle Scout program.
Should You Submit Your Work to Agents or Editors?
Is it better to look for a literary agent first, or to approach editors and publishers? Much depends on the commercial potential of your work.
Building a Platform to Land a Book Deal: Why It Often Fails
If you’re preparing to pitch your nonfiction work to agents or publishers, you may have heard about the necessity of platform. What if you don’t have one?
The Complete Guide to Query Letters
This post was originally published in 2014; it is regularly updated with new information. If you’re seeking one-on-one help with queries, I offer a critique service. The query letter has one purpose, and one purpose only: to seduce the agent or editor into reading or requesting your work. The query letter is so much of a sales […]
Traditional Publishing: What’s It Good For?
No one used to question the value of a publisher, but now everyone’s wondering: What are they good for?
Do Men Receive Bigger Book Advances Than Women?
Do males or females receive higher advances? I look at Publishers Marketplace deals data to find out.
How to Write a Novel Synopsis
Learn how to craft a strong novel synopsis, while avoiding the most common mistakes, including the dreaded “synopsis speak.”
Is Self-Publishing a Viable Option for Literary Fiction Writers?
Should literary writers consider self-publishing? How it might affect their long-term careers? Two agents weigh in.
Why Authors Walk Away From Good, Big 5 Publishers
UK author Harry Bingham describes the four stages of his career, and why he’s decided to self-publish after good experiences with traditional houses.
How to Tell If Your Story Idea Is Mediocre—And How to Improve It
Note from Jane: Today’s guest post is adapted from The Writer’s Advantage: A Toolkit for Mastering Your Genre by Laurie Scheer (@mediagoddess213). So you think your idea for a new vampire novel is a good one? Think again. Nine times out of ten, your idea is really quite mediocre and has been done before, actually a […]
New Year’s Restitutions | Writing on the Ether
Table of Contents Nobody Dast Blame Us Maass Production Wendigging It Nobody Dast Blame Us You know the line, right? It’s Charley, in Death of a Salesman: Nobody dast blame this man. You don’t understand: Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there’s no rock bottom to the life. He don’t put a bolt […]
Why I Choose to Both Self-Publish and Traditionally Publish
Since 2009, after the release of my second novel, I’ve been a so-called hybrid author, working with New York publishers as well as self-publishing. I’m often asked why I chose to combine these two seemingly disparate publishing careers, juggling twice the work.
Ether (+Bowker): Turning Corners on Self-Publishing and Amazon?
Here at the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair this week, if we’re not actually walking past a couple of smoothly contoured bends, we may at least be able to peer around them. (1) Self-publishing. We may be seeing a widespread, collective nod of recognition going on; not a big “eureka!” moment, but a frank acknowledgment that the energies of the entrepreneurial-author community no longer can be dismissed as a faddish bubble of activity nor as negligible in their effect. Bowker has stepped in to add some new edge to this concept. (2) Amazon. Not only is there less time and energy wasted on bad-mouthing Seattle here in Frankfurt than in many such earlier gatherings, but one rant against the retailer has been met with stark derision in the publishing community, and, in a more signal moment, a major leader in the business has waved the closest thing we’ve seen yet to an olive branch.
Writing on the Ether: Contrarians Among Us
Table of Contents Three Valuable Views A Word for the Publishers Humming the Bookstore And Just Write It Already View from the North Ten: Poems after Mark Rothko’s No. 15 by Dave Malone Inspired by the primary colors of Mark Rothko’s vibrant No. 15 painting, these poems give life to the canvas of the rural Ozarks. […]
WRITING ON THE ETHER: What’s Wrong With Franzen?
Jonathan Franzen, in his essay at The Guardian, wants to tell us that Viennese fin-de-siècle essayist Karl Kraus has “a lot to say to us in our own media-saturated, technology-crazed, apocalypse-haunted historical moment.”
Best Business Advice for Writers: August 2013
Best Business Advice for Writers is a monthly link round-up where I share the best online articles focused on the business of writing and publishing.
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Is Social Reading the End of an Intimacy?
In social reading, “How much of the author-reader intimacy are we talking about trading away?” Porter Anderson in Writing on the Ether at JaneFriedman.com
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Are You Marketing to Your “Adjacent Fans”?
Table of Contents Looking for the “Comp”-etitive Edge Marketing: Not Just for Companies Anymore Wait. Who Wrote That? Looking for the “Comp”-etitive Edge Books are books but they are also containers of ideas, worlds, beliefs, philosophies, attitudes, world-views, etc. So far, so good, right? Even though I’ve hit you with the m-word here—oh, no, marketing!—we’re […]
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Counting in the Dark
In Writing on the Ether at JaneFriedman.com, Porter Anderson looks at a new effort to rank ebook sales in London — and at Peter Brantley’s worries in the States about e-literature’s collection and preservation.
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Is Publishing’s Star System Cuckoo?
In Writing on the Ether, Porter Anderson looks at the revelation of J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym for The Cuckoo’s Calling and implications for publishing.
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Time for Literary Fiction To Come Out of the Cloisters?
In Writing on the Ether at Jane Friedman.com, Porter Anderson looks on the comparative dynamics of literary fiction in the marketplace, amid discussions of Twitter’s effectiveness for authors.
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Should Authors Stop Linking to Amazon To Support Bookstores?
Table of Contents Should Authors Stop Linking to Amazon? Timing, and Interdependence Chewing Each Other’s Legs Off Mr. Smith Goes to Town “Don’t Link to Amazon.” But She Does It. Should Authors Stop Linking to Amazon? I feel angry that these authors, unthinkingly or by design, have chosen to support Amazon, W H Smith or […]
5 Traps of the Imagination John Grisham Helped Me See
I had 7 an overflowing shelf of rejection notices when John Grisham—a friend and neighbor—took me under his wing and taught me his writing secrets.
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Let’s Review Criticism
In Writing on the Ether, Porter Anderson at JaneFriedman.com looks at how literary criticism now is divided into three major camps, none fully effective.
WRITING ON THE ETHER: The Indies are Coming! to BEA
Porter Anderson looks at how six of the most prominently successful self-publishing authors are taking their own booth (#966) at BookExpo America (#BEA13), staking their claim to a new, unified presence at the industry’s big trade show.
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Writers in the Inferno
How many authors do you know who seem more renowned among their peers than readers—not because these “thriving ink-slingers” (Michael Deacon) are writing books only other authors could love, but because their output seems to focus on these redundant how-to’s designed to crib a few more bucks from fellow would-be renowned authors?
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Are Your Books’ Covers Sexist?
Writing on the Ether provides selected news and perspectives on publishing. It is written by journalist and critic Porter Anderson for Jane Friedman and it appears at JaneFriedman.com each Thursday. Sponsorship opportunities are available and offer generous promotion. Ether for Authors—another gas—runs on Mondays at Ed Nawotka’s and Frankfurt Book Fair’s Publishing Perspectives. London on the Ether, a new UK-related edition of the column, has recently had its debut at TheBookseller.com
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Springtime for Librarians
Writing on the Ether provides selected news and perspectives on publishing. It is written by journalist and critic Porter Anderson for Jane Friedman and it appears at JaneFriedman.com each Thursday. Sponsorship opportunities are available and offer generous promotion. Ether for Authors—another gas—runs on Mondays at Ed Nawotka’s and Frankfurt Book Fair’s Publishing Perspectives. London on the Ether, a new UK-related edition of the column, has recently had its debut at TheBookseller.com
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Agents and Authors at the Coalface
Writing on the Ether provides selected news and perspectives on publishing. It is written by journalist and critic Porter Anderson for Jane Friedman and it appears at JaneFriedman.com each Thursday. Sponsorship opportunities are available and offer generous promotion. Ether for Authors—another gas—runs on Mondays at Ed Nawotka’s and Frankfurt Book Fair’s Publishing Perspectives. London on the Ether, a new UK-related edition of the column, has recently had its debut at TheBookseller.com
WRITING ON THE ETHER: ‘They’re Letting the Authors In!’
Writing on the Ether provides selected news and perspectives on publishing. It is written by journalist and critic Porter Anderson for Jane Friedman and it appears at JaneFriedman.com each Thursday. Sponsorship opportunities are available and offer generous promotion. Join us on Mondays at Ed Nawotka’s and Frankfurt Book Fair’s Publishing Perspectives for the new Ether for Authors column.
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Publishing’s Masks Need To Come Off
Writing on the Ether provides selected news and perspectives on publishing. It is written by journalist and critic Porter Anderson for Jane Friedman and it appears at JaneFriedman.com each Thursday. Sponsorship opportunities are available and offer generous promotion. Join us on Mondays at Ed Nawotka’s and Frankfurt Book Fair’s Publishing Perspectives for the new Ether for Authors column.
Agent-Assisted Self-Publishing and the Amazon White Glove Program
There are no “rules” for agent-assisted self-publishing, but the biggest drawbacks are usually loss of control and loss of royalties. All authors should negotiate a contract beforehand that protects their rights and lifetime earnings.
WRITING ON THE ETHER: Authors Need Random House on Board
Writers in the Spotlight: How To Turn Your Readings Into Book Sales with Porter Anderson Join me in this special three-hour intensive Boot Camp session at Writer’s Digest Conference East (#WDCE) at 12:30pET on Friday, April 5. We’ll look at public presentation for the entrepreneurial author in an interactive, up-on-your-feet workshop format: come with two […]
The Future of Publishing: 14 Variations (Now Free!)
Last year, on April 1, I released an e-book, The Future of Publishing: Enigma Variations. It was mostly an April Fool’s Joke—a joke that cost you $1.99. (Read a full description here, plus reviews.) In this 39-page PDF, I offer 14 possible scenarios for the future of publishing … exaggerated scenarios. But in the final variation, […]
How Do You Know If Your Agent Is Any Good?
I recently received the following question from a writer who wishes to remain anonymous: Every new writer wants to know how to get an agent and everyone seems to write about that topic. But I want to know how to assess my agent. How do I know if I have a good one? I’m trying […]