Almost ALWAYS! Query letters are standard in the industry. That being said, what is most imperative is that you do your homework when approaching any agent. They each have a preferred method of submitting work to them. Most of ...READ»
I’m not in favor of pen names unless you are moving outside your brand and are afraid of confusing people. We all know what happened to Coke when they tried to redesign their image – it flopped. So if you are a mystery writer ...READ»
A great question. The answer to that lies in your goals. I typically work with people whose intention is to make a difference in the lives of their readers and to build an entire operation around their book. They are not always ...READ»
It is imperative that you have a process for pursuing an agent. The last thing you want to do is go into this blindly. Jeff Kleinman at Folio Lit, had a brilliant idea that he shared with our writers on a call last year. He ...READ»
This past weekend my wife and I were doing a lot of driving through the colored fall countryside of Wisconsin and we ended up listening to Dean Koontz’s Life Expectancy, the audiobook. We actually found ourselves, wanting to take ...READ»
In my experience a good novel takes about 12-16 months to write. When I approach the writing process, I do three months of character development, two months of plotting and then the remainder of time is spent building the ...READ»
Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is king. If you have a great story idea, ask yourself, is it so good that no matter what happens to me over the next five to ten years of my life, I’m willing to push through and persevere for ...READ»
So many call it your voice, but I call it your THEME! Not the theme of your story, the theme of your life. We all have a unique perspective on the world that is our own and we write from that center. If you can articulate what that ...READ»
In my opinion, you should never send a pitch to a publisher if you are expecting them to buy your book and pay you with an advance. Any commercial publisher worth their salt doesn’t accept queries and pitches directly from ...READ»
YES! You (probably) need an agent. The question is actually not, “Do you need an agent?”, the question is “WHEN do you need an agent?”!
Agents are an imperative piece of the puzzle for (most) any writer who wants to ...READ»
“This is the first conference out of seventeen where the keynoters mingled and worked with the agents, editors and publishers as well as the attendees. You were everything we wanted you to be. You lit fires. You made friends. ...READ»
I attended several of Corey's workshops at the Wrangling With Writers conference. The first one was about preparing the "pitch" to snag and reel in agents or editors who might be matches for a writer's best efforts. Corey ...READ»
This is the perfect question to ask upon my return from the Wrangling with Writing Conference in Tucson, AZ. I’ll let you answer that question for yourself based on my experience. At the conference, I taught four workshops, gave ...READ»
Attention. Attention. Attention.
Just kidding. Sort of. I’ll explain. When I was acting years ago, I started off working commercially with a boutique agency. I LOVED my agent, Robin Levy, and her staff, Leigh and TJ. It ...READ»
Per my last series of posts, we have discussed the importance of articulating theme. It’s an essential ingredient to being able to create a career out of your writing. But how do we become objective enough in our own life to be ...READ»
Once you have determined where you fit in the equation of writing (see previous post), then you are ready to investigate your selling point. Whether you are the writer looking to get hired to tell someone’s story, the blind old ...READ»
I’m sure that I could write about this for days. There is so much advice that someone needs to make a career out of any art. I have three main steps that I believe are pieces of the equation. I’ll detail the first here and that ...READ»
Seven steps to creating characters that write themselves:
1. Label the Desire Essences of each of your main characters: The first key to deepening your work comes from finding the major motivators in the lives of your ...READ»
A pitch without passion is NOT a pitch. You must find the core the story and the core of you as an author. You’re selling BOTH!
The necessary ingredients:
1. The perfect logline
2. The heart behind the book
3. An ...READ»
1. Ask yourself, “If I had to write five crappy pages today, what would I write?” Then write that!
2. Have you set up a schedule for the chapters you are responsible for delivering? A sense of urgency is imperative!
3. ...READ»
The amplification of emotions! We use a filmmaker’s approach to creating and manuscripts, which means that we marry talents from multiple disciplines to exponentially increase the value of the story. What we do is build a team ...READ»
The most common mistake that writers make in their writing is working in a vacuum. Writing can be such a lonely profession, and writers make it even more so by believing that they have to go it alone. What this causes is a tremendous ...READ»
When commercially publishing, the timeline to print once a contract has been signed is anywhere from 18 - 24 months. A traditional contract can take anywhere from 1 to 3 months to sign. You also have to consider that once the ...READ»
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The famous ...READ»
I happen to be heavily involved in a
book about followership as it pertains to leadership and one of the
principles we’ve been discussing lately is that those in the
followership role have an obligation to step forward and ...READ»
