Blogger: Mary Keeley
Several comments on my blog post last week, “How To Prepare for An Agent Interview,” referenced a fear of botching your meeting with an agent or editor. So this week I have four tips for recovering after …
Success
How to Prepare for An Agent Interview
Blogger: Mary Keeley
An agent is interested in taking your proposal to the next level. She suggests a phone or video interview to discuss the possibility of representation. After your feet return to terra firma, lasso your nerves and divert …
Secondary Characters: Their Purpose for Being
Blogger: Mary Keeley
Are you using your story’s secondary characters to their full purpose? They can make your book stand out from the crowd of other books in your genre. Practically as many ways to use these characters exist as …
How to Succeed in Publishing: By Listening
Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Recently I spent considerable time working with clients in preparing proposals for submission to editors. As I interacted with various clients, I observed a truth I’ve seen time and time again–each of us has a preconceived …
Lessons for Writers from Business Giants
Blogger: Mary Keeley
What do Amazon, Apple, Walt Disney, Google, Harley Davidson, Hewlett Packard, and Yankee Candle Company have in common? Each entrepreneur launched his multibillion-dollar company from someone’s garage with nothing but knowledge and a willingness to work hard …
What It Takes to Succeed in Publishing
Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
I recall seeing a television program that included a segment about a Vietnam War POW who, during eight years of imprisonment and torture, mentally created plans for building his family’s dream home. He didn’t just work …
Sound Bytes on Writing Well
Blogger: Mary Keeley
When you Google books on writing, you’ll see a plethora of excellent books by writing experts. It can be overwhelming. How can writers absorb all those volumes at the same time they’re being encouraged to write, write, …
Writing a Breakout Book: Icons
Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Recently my book club took a Dashiell Hammett tour of San Francisco. We ate at John’s Grill (which appears in The Maltese Falcon, the book our club read in preparation for the tour). The guide …
Handling Publishing Stresses
Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
A new year is a good time to think about what you wish you could change. One item that immediately came to me was how stressful publishing can be.
Stressful occupations
I remember decades ago reading …
Signs
Blogger: Mary Keeley
With the promise of hope that a new year holds, I start pretty quickly to look for signs that my hopes have grounding. Happily, there are several already. The genre news won’t make every author’s hopes soar …