Aside from fiddling with fonts, contemplating acknowledgments sections, and/or finding the perfect quote to precede the start of the book, dreaming up pen names is a favored procrastination tool for many aspiring authors out there. As a result, I receive a whole lot of questions about them: should I include my pen name in the […]
Dan Brown
Comparing Your Book to Other Books in the Query
One of the very most common questions I receive: how/whether to compare your book to another book or books in the query. I personally don’t mind at all if you compare your book to another book or author or two to put me in the right frame of mind. This is completely optional, so don’t […]
Making Taste Overly Personal
In the annals of Great Ways to Annoy Literary Agents (TM), saying you wrote your book because you couldn’t find any good books to read (or, its crass corollary: because so many books are “trash”) may not be in the top 10, but it is at least in the top 5,000. (The list is infinite, […]
This Week in Publishing 10/2/09
This………… weekinpublishing First up, for those who are in the San Francisco Bay Area and who also happen to write suspense or thrillers or related materials, I will be meeting with the SF Sisters in Crime tomorrow at noon out in the Sunset. Dana promises to follow with details in the comments section, so if […]
This Week in Publishing 9/18/09
This week! Publishing! Lots of good stuff this week in publishing, but first, I thought I’d lead with a tremendous post by my friend Kristin at Camels & Chocolate, who has some tough, honest, real-world advice about freelance travel writing. She should know – she’s extremely good and successful at it, which does not come […]
Will Authors of the Future Need Publishers?
One of the theories I’ve seen espoused about recessions is that they are really about a massive reordering of the economy. Lingering inefficiencies suddenly become glaring and are trimmed, weak companies fail, the work force reorders itself, and the strong companies either extend their dominance or retrench. The economy reemerges more efficient and ready for […]