How To Find The Literary Agent of Your Dreams

February 24, 2012 by 1 Comment

(image via the talented Justin Lowery)

Back in November, I shared with you the checklist I used to put together my own book proposal. It contained all the building blocks I’d become familiar with when working as an editorial assistant for an academic book publisher, plus a few other tips I’d picked up over the years from former writing professors and how-to books.

I can only assume that, by this point, you have an amazing, solid book proposal ready to go, and are already daydreaming about the book advance and lit parties in your future. Not so fast. While academic publishers — and some small presses — accept unsolicited book proposals and manuscripts, most traditional book publishers won’t look at your work unless it comes to them via a literary agent.

I can hear you grumbling already. What the what!? Another barrier to publication? But believe me. You’ll only benefit from the help an agent can provide. Not only are they the gatekeepers to big-name publishers, but they have their fingers on the pulse of the literary marketplace, can help you strengthen your proposal, have relationships with editors (and intimate knowledge of their preferences) that allow them to target the best possible publishers for your book, and can also negotiate a helluva book contract (a process during which many of us would be completely out of our element).

Yes please to all of that.

So how do you go about finding one? [Read more…]

Filed Under: writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Spill It: How Do You Handle Rejection as a Writer?

December 1, 2011 by 5 Comments

I learned early on that — when it came to freelance writing — it was important to bounce back quickly from rejection, keep up the momentum, and flip that pitch.

Because of that early lesson, I’ve never felt too much anxiety when pressing “send” on my query letters and, upon receiving rejections, I’ve typically only felt the barest twinge of disappointment before turning to the next publication on my pitch list. After all, rejection is a reality of the freelance writing life, and not everyone is going to fall all over themselves to publish my work. In fact, despite my being a total genius (obvs), I’m pretty sure at least some of my ideas have been pretty weak.

So my mental reaction when I received my first-ever rejections from my first-ever literary agent queries sort of caught me by surprise. [Read more…]

Filed Under: spill it, writing Tagged With: , ,

Selling Your First Book: A Checklist of Book Proposal Essentials

November 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I’ve been a woman on a mission lately. In between assigned blog posts and essays, coaching calls, and yoga classes, I’ve been slowly pulling together a book proposal with the aim of sending it out to a handful of agents by the end of November.

So why would I take time away from everything else in order to focus on another large project… one that may very well come to nothing?

1. I love adding new things to the mix.

2. After ghostwriting and collaborating on ebooks for other clients, I really want to have something of my own out there. Heck, I’ve dreamed of being an author since the age of 5.

Luckily, I’ve worked in book publishing before, where one of my responsibilities was weeding through book proposals and sending them around for review. So I know a thing or two about what goes into a proposal. I also picked up some additional tips from this nifty book I read, and from Susan Shapiro, who regularly runs book publishing panels.

But maybe you’ve never seen a book proposal before. Maybe your book is still just a germ of an idea in your head, and you’re completely clueless about where to start. For all the book publishing newbies out there, here’s the book proposal checklist I use with clients, and which I also used to put my own proposal together: [Read more…]

Filed Under: writing Tagged With: ,

How To Increase Your Chances of Landing That Book Deal

August 30, 2011 by 1 Comment

While it may seem that my life revolves around short-form magazine pieces about vibrators and low libido, what some of you may not know is that — once upon a time — I worked full-time for a book publisher, weeding through book proposals, drawing up author contracts, and developing marketing/publicity plans.

And so, while I’ve not yet courted traditional authorship myself, I do sometimes help clients with book proposal preparation and lit agent research.

In fact, as I’ve learned from working on several ebooks for Good in Bed, it’s a pretty short leap from being a short-form freelance writer to putting together an entire book. Which is why I thought some of you might be interested in 77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected {and how to be sure it won’t happen again!}.

Because perhaps you have a book in you, too?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: book review, writing Tagged With: , , , ,

How To Get Your Book Published Before the Age of 25

April 12, 2010 by 4 Comments

[Image via]

You want the lowdown on how to get your book published…the sooner the better? Let me lay it out for you. First: Catch the writing bug. You know the one I’m talking about. The one where you can’t see yourself doing anything else and so spend your every free moment putting word to page, churning out three novels in as many years, yet coming up against rejection after rejection. Next: Experience desperation and disillusionment. Take on a mind-numbing job writing about things you care nothing about. At least you’ll have a steady paycheck, and can say that — technically — you’re a published writer. After that: Decide to do something crazy, like writing a book about writing a book, in the hopes that said book will actually be published. Swiftly realize that such a prospect is completely unwieldy, and utterly insane. And yet: Find yourself an agent, and then an editor, willing to give you a chance. Actually publish said book.

And there you have it.

Oh wait…I suppose that’s not how it’s always been done. But that’s how Stephen Markley did it.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: book review, marketing, writing Tagged With: , , , , ,