Month: July 2016

Top 7 Book Reviewer Complaints

writer mistakesReviewers are presented with the same situation, over and over again. Beginning writers – and some not so beginning – insist on making the same mistakes. Either they don’t know any better, or they don’t care, or it’s their God-given right to write any way they like, and who are you to tell them different? But it’s a competitive world out there, and fixing basic problems is a good way of improving your chances. It’s also a good way of showing your professionalism.

Please don’t be offended at these. Reviewers have no personal grudge against you or your masterwork. It’s just that if we didn’t have to keep commenting on the same errors over and over, we would have room to say something more important about your work. Continue reading “Top 7 Book Reviewer Complaints”

What’s Smashwords Good For?

Smashwords LogoRecently, for a number of reasons that will take too long to explain here, I decided to pull a few of my titles from the KDPS (Kindle Direct Publishing Select) program and make them available for other retailers as well as Amazon.

But this left me with another choice: I could publish with each of the big retailers individually, I could pay a company like BookBaby to do it for me, or I could publish through an eBook aggregator like Smashwords, Draft2Digital, or Pronoun (formerly Vook and now owned by MacMillan Publishers).

The idea of publishing vendor by vendor gave me a headache; Continue reading “What’s Smashwords Good For?”

How to Find and Query a Literary Agent, Part 2

querying a literary agentPart 2: How to Query an Agent

If you’re an author who’s decided to go trad instead of indie, you will first need to compile a list of likely agents to represent you. To find out how, see Part 1 of this article, How to Find an Agent.

After putting together your list of agents – and after researching them – you will need to send a query letter. This letter tells the agents about your work and asks them to represent you to publishers. Continue reading “How to Find and Query a Literary Agent, Part 2”

How to Find and Query a Literary Agent, Part 1

looking for a literary agentPart 1: How to Find an Agent

If you’re an author who’s decided to go trad instead of indie, you will first need to find an agent to represent you. The major traditional publishers used to have what’s known as the “slush pile,” the mountainous heap of unsolicited manuscripts from authors seeking publication. Unsolicited manuscripts are no longer accepted by the big trad publishers (there are a few exceptions for some of their imprints, such as HarperCollins’ Harper Voyager, which has periodic “open calls” throughout the year). Because of all the mergers and dumb-sizing in the industry, no one has the time to search through the slush pile on the remote chance of finding a manuscript by the next John Grisham. The only way to get your MS seen is to have a reputable agent send it to them. That way, the publisher knows the agent found your work worthy of the publisher’s consideration. Continue reading “How to Find and Query a Literary Agent, Part 1”