How do literary agents who blog, tweet and carouse online find the time to do the real work of agenting: reading, hobnobbing with editors, reading some more and making great book deals for their clients? That’s what Chris Parris-Lamb, a rising star at the Gernert Company in NYC wonders, and it’s why you won’t find [...]

For a publisher, producing a successful book series is like winning the lottery. The rewards can be enormous and ongoing. Check out these numbers The Harry Potter behemoth towers over all the rest, with more than 400 million copies sold. Nancy Drew? The 175 installments of the beloved mystery series have sold more than 200 [...]

Photograph © Cheryl Rinzler Why would one of America’s most distinguished literary publishers jump at the chance to sign up an unknown hillbilly-noir writer whose history so far consists of gritty short stories published online by pulp fiction e-zines? Here’s why: Mystery and crime fiction is booming – there are more debut authors, more acquisitions [...]

The top dog at one of the most successful literary agencies in New York says he’s in hot pursuit of self-published books to represent to mainstream publishers. “Absolutely, yes!”  That was Jim Levine’s unequivocal answer when I asked him recently if he was accepting self-published submissions. Levine is a founding partner at Levine Greenberg Literary [...]

We were hunkered down debating whether to make an offer on a self-help book written by a seemingly well-qualified psychologist. Then one of our dogged marketing assistants dashed in, shouting “WAIT!” She tossed us a bunch of comments she’d unearthed from an obscure online forum: jaw-dropping, scathing assessments from former patients about the author’s failures [...]

You thought you’d finished up a darned good manuscript ready to send out into the world, so you decided to give yourself a well-deserved vacation. Upon your return, you started rereading your opus and began unexpectedly to channel your stern fifth grade teacher Mrs. Spellman. Remember her? In a blinding flash, you realized you’d produced [...]

Q: There’s so much for a writer to think about: platform, query letters, agents, marketing. What’s the most important thing to focus on? A: That’s easy. Focus on the content of your book. There’s nothing more important. Content is king Before all else, keep your attention on the core concept and execution of your book [...]

A great pitch is often the first encounter in a successful publishing relationship. As an acquisition editor, I listen avidly to every writer’s pitch, hoping each time to find a terrific new prospect for publication. For the uninitiated, a pitch is an author’s brief, face-to-face verbal presentation to an agent or an editor like me, [...]

Agents, editors, and publishers receive queries every day from professors, scholars, clinicians and other academics who say they have a great idea for a trade book based on their research, thesis, journal article or latest discoveries from the lab or clinic. Sharp editors also scour the daily press for the latest breaking news about scientific [...]

She grew up in a tiny Mormon town in Idaho (pop 841,) she writes poetry, reads kids’ books and says she avoids the internet as much as she possibly can. Kristen Tracy sold her first book in 2006 to Simon and Schuster. The title was Lost It, a story about a girl losing her virginity [...]