So, I got bored the other day.

This is always a problem. But I got bored while trying to find a way to come up with a way to get people to actually post reviews to books I know are being bought and read.

So with the launch of Frozen in Amber from the sensation Phyllis Ames...


( Read more... )

Originally published at Agent Incite. You can comment here or there.

Just before Christmas I came to a tentative deal for two books with the fantastic folks at DAW books. Seeing as the wheels of publishing turn slowly, it took a tiny bit of time to get all the details nailed down. Since then poor Marshall has been sitting on the knowledge he had ( Read more... )

Originally published at Agent Incite. You can comment here or there.

Note for this post the definition of reading is the second one discussed in this post.

A lot of people wonder what makes agents and editors tick. Or more specifically, what about the jobs warps us into our peculiar jaded mass.

Let’s start with the proto-agent or proto-editor who is ( Read more... )

Originally published at Agent Incite. Please leave any comments there.

I keep telling people an important thing about my blog:

I am not a writer.

Really. I don’t have that urge to create. If i blog I have something to say. If i don’t blog reason number one is that anything that occurs to me to write is likely to bore me to sleep before I can open up ( Read more... )

For no apparent reason the urge to tackle the slush pile hit critical mass, and as I start writing, I'm just about two hours in, it is now 1:45 am.

Click to view

So far:
Not one has made it past five pages, most have gone supernova in the first paragraph.

I got a run of three submissions in a row that were all stuff i don't handle ( Read more... )

While I'm waiting for more entries for the bad cover letter contest. I figured I'd say a little bit more about what it takes to become published or picked up by an agent.

The "it" or portion of "it" that I as a reader, agent and sales schlep is "what" and "who" are operative. What do I know, what do i feel, what do I think.

I want to know what ( Read more... )

As those who watch my Twitter and Facebook accounts know, I just got my copies of Extremis by Steve White and Chuck Gannon in.

So, from this Friday the 13th when I make the contest opening post until whenever it ends sometime Monday, there will be another Bad Cover Letter contest!
One winner (US/Canada only) will get a copy of Extremis.

Make it ( Read more... )

There are times when I become convinced that people who send me their work think they are trying to cook spaghetti and not get a book published. These people have me half convinced my submission guidelines are all written using Polish words, Bantu grammar, and that they still only appear on my website about as often as one can find Brigadoon, and ( Read more... )

One of the impactful questions that lurks behind the question of self publication (or in some cases micro-presses and scam organizations) is:

Why does self-publishing have a stigma?

There are two answers to this, the first is the simple one, the second will no doubt get me unfollowed on twitter, unfriended on Facebook, and generally labeled a member ( Read more... )

Having a blast at Ravencon, per usual.

My flight out Friday morning was perfect, we boarded a bit late, but I've never seen such a large jet have everyone boarded and belted so fast. If i had to guess I'd say it took less than fifteen minutes for the nearly two hundred folks on board to get settled. After that I kept wondering when we passed ( Read more... )