Pub Rants

I often pop my head in over at http://writers.net or http://www.bksp.org and answer questions. Last week a writer posted that he was just about to send out his query and wanted to know the “good” agents who were aggressive in film rights because his novel “would make an excellent movie.”… MORE

About a week or so ago, I was on the phone with an editor. We got talking about the market as we are wont to do. She said, “The chick lit market is in the toilet.” Perhaps melodramatic but in a lot of ways I have to agree. Red Dress… MORE

It’s easy to be seduced by the quick and dirty movie-reference pitch to summarize your novel. It’s a way of capturing the entire plot and feel in one quick sentence. When it works, I think it’s an impressive tool and well worth using. When it doesn’t, boy, does it flop… MORE

Last June, I was out at Book Expo in New York City. Many publishing houses host cocktail parties at their booths on Friday and Saturday night. I was standing outside one of those booths, cocktail in hand, chatting with a fellow agent that I had met before but didn’t know… MORE

Every once in a while, the world of publishing gets it just right and a gem of book renews my faith in the whole industry. In fact, I think we should all quit talking about the schmuck Frey and start talking about an author who deserves all kinds of great… MORE