Susan Spann Mismanaged (or mismatched) expectations are a fundamental cause of problems in the author-agent relationship. Authors can  often avoid many problems—before and after signing with a literary agent—by establishing realistic expectations about the author-agent relationship. Step 1: Know What Agents Do … and Do Not Do.  A literary agent can wear many different “hats” […]

Shannon Donnelly I don’t actually believe in writer's block. That probably makes me sound arrogant, but what I’ve found is that blocks are actually your writer instincts trying to get your attention—and what better way than to stop you cold? Every writer needs good instincts. You have to have that gut feeling when you’re scene […]

 Chuck Sambuchino The time has come. Your novel or memoir or book proposal is now complete. Not only is it complete, you’ve revised it several times and incorporated the critical ideas of peers and editors to make it better. You’ve developed a list of agents to target and researched each one. You’re ready. It’s time […]

Jamie Raintree When I first started dabbling in writing almost a decade ago, the Internet was only just starting to become social. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no YouTube. Even MySpace was still a place for musicians and high school kids, and I was neither by the time it gained mainstream popularity. The problem […]

By Kristen Lamb For those of you who have submitted before, ever wonder how an agent can ask for the first 20 pages and still reject your book? Did you ever wonder if the agents really read these pages? How can they know our book isn't something they want to represent with so little to […]