Our Prices Are Insane

In today’s New York Times, there’s an article by David Streitfeld, pointing out one more piece of bad news for publishers and writers: the on-line availability of used books for pennies. “What’s undermining the book industry is not the absence of casual readers but the changing habits of devoted readers. In other words, it’s all [...]

FAQ – The Query Letter

From time to time, I’m going to try, here, to address the frequently asked questions that I field at writer’s conferences. And if you have questions, please feel free. Today, nation, it’s the query letter. First, should you send a real letter or an email. While I still love a letter, I think most

Noel

Company christmas party tonight. Spent the day cleaning up, hanging lights, running out in the sleet to Bed, Bath and Beyond to pick some…beyond. A good turn out. Due to our younger agents, a younger crowd of writers came this year, many of whom sequestered themselves in a back office to smoke dope and whatever. [...]

Words in Air

Some years ago, a big deal publisher type rejected a client’s project I had sent over. Unlike many who email rejections, she called. She prefaced her rejection with the following caveat, “I want to be gentle with you.” The minute I heard that, I knew she was going to rip me a new one. Or [...]

Who’ll Stop the Rain?

My writers are worried and rightly so. Many publishing heads rolled last week and more to come. Cries of the sky falling, the Titanic plunging, the print world coming to an end. To quiet ourselves we say, it’s cyclical. As a bi-polar person, I know from cyclical. And this, well, this isn’t cyclical. It’s a [...]