I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about how important it is for an author to understand the culture of a publishing house or the culture of a literary agency. What do I mean by publishing culture?
I’m not …
Finding an Agent
Types of Literary Agents
I wrote this blog post several years ago. Somethings remain the same over time, including the various types of literary agents a writer can choose from. Here’s the post:
Yesterday I had a conversation with Dee, a potential new client. …
Three Ways to Annoy an Agent
Here at Books & such Literary Management, we work hard to stay positive and non-judgmental in our interactions with potential clients but there are a few things that annoy us no end. Let me enumerate three for you.
Contacting an …
A Writing Contest and Some Hints on How to Win
I’m interrupting our normal blog schedule to insert an important announcement: Our agency is sponsoring a writing contest, and we want YOU to enter!
The Writing Contest Why
We’re celebrating our 25th anniversary this year, which signifies 25 years of …
An Agent Spills the Tea: Ten Easy Ways to Fail
If you look up “dish the tea” or “spill the tea” in the Urban Dictionary you’ll find it means spilling a juicy bit of knowledge. In this case, tea (or T) stands for truth. I’d like to quickly spill the …
Picking the Right Agent for You
Once you’ve created the best query you can (a la my most recent blog post) and have your proposal ready to submit, you’re mind will turn toward finding an agent. Let’s be clear about one thing: You don’t want …
Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Query
The first thing to do in writing a query is to…not write the query yet. Give it some incubation time.
Rather than jumping into your query, take your time to force yourself to define–really define–the project.
You’re ready to write
…
What Kinds of Books I Represent
What kind of books do I look to represent? I don’t think I’ve ever participated in an agent panel where the question, “What are you looking for?” has not been asked. We agents probably irritate the pajamas off writers with …
Dos and Don’ts to Pitching Nonfiction
By Wendy Lawton
Last time I blogged I wrote about what not to say when someone asks the novelist, “What is your novel about?” A couple of readers on Facebook asked if I’d tackle some dos and don’ts for nonfiction …
So. . . what’s your novel about?
By Wendy Lawton
Wanna see a writer stand frozen with that deer-in-the-headlights look? Just ask them this question: “So. . . what’s your novel about?”
Here’s a list of the WRONG things to answer:
- An issue— “My book is