By Barbara Claypole White Before the launch of my debut novel, THE UNFINISHED GARDEN, I lost 5lbs to performance terror. Painfully shy as a teenager, my mother and music teacher once had to conspire to sneak Valium backstage so I could perform a solo in the high school band. (It’s okay, we’re talking about the […]

By Chuck Sambuchino How does a literary agent define their “ideal client”? The question is extremely important because it’s one that factors into an agent’s mindset before and after they sign you. If an agent has read your complete novel or book proposal and wants to sign you, the next step is almost always to […]

by Kathryn Craft Turning Whine into Gold Everything’s changing. Yep—that’s a whine all right, and a truth, and the summary of this entire post. Change is as constant in publishing as any other industry impacted by computerization in the past twenty years. But change can be especially hard to grapple with for writers. Here’s why, […]

By Chuck Sambuchino Ready to send your book out and contact agents? The last thing you want to do is to rush that submission out the door and hurt your book’s chances. When submitting your all-important query to agents or editors, it’s not just a question of what to write in the letter—it’s also a […]

by Erika Marks Hello, friends! I hope this finds everyone ready for the holiday season—and by ready, I mean totally freaking out! (Just kidding. Well, sort of.) I know this time of year is one during which we can’t help but be especially reflective, not on just this past year but the years before it, […]