Wednesday, April 26, 2017

A Rough Time of Life For Writers

I believe that for many writers, the hardest time is that dead spot after college (where they're wonder-children, made much of) and before their first published work.

Anne Tyler

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Who Needs A Literary Agent

  If your aim is to land a contract with one of the major book publishing houses, you probably will need an agent to represent your work. About 80 percent of the books these conglomerates publish are purchased through agents. Some of the largest houses won't even consider submissions from unrepresented writers; when they get manuscripts directly from the author, the author usually gets a short form note advising him to get an agent.

     The advantage to the big publishers in dealing only with agents is that agents know what editors are looking for and won't submit work that isn't salable. The agent's reputation, and therefore his ability to succeed as a agent, rides on submitting only the best--not just in terms of ideas, but also in terms of presentation and research--to only those editors who are appropriate for the project. The publisher saves enormous time and expense by allowing agents to do the work of shifting through submissions to find the real gems.

Meg Schneider and Barbara Doyen

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

The Young Adult Literature Boom

     These days, you don't have to be a parent to be familiar with popular teen book titles like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games or Twilight. These titles have sold millions of copies of books and spawned merchandise empires, been adopted into blockbuster films, and have permeated our pop-culture lives.

     Young adult literature is a booming business and has been one of the fastest growing book categories for publishers in recent years with more than 715 million books sold in 2013…Even though this genre is aimed at audiences 12 to 18, more non-teenagers are picking up these titles. In fact, a 2014 report showed that 77 percent of young adult literature buyers were actually adults, with the largest segment of buyers--43 percent, ages 18 to 29…And given the difficult economic climate the publishing industry has faced over the last few years, more young adult buyers has been a blessing…

Tracy Wholf

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

The Need to Write

Writing is life. Writers need their writing; they need their imaginary worlds in order to find peace in, or make sense of, the real world.

Terry Brooks