When you sit down to write your novel, know this: Ammi (pron. "Ay-mee")-Joan feels your pain. Besides being an agent with Erin Murphy Literary, she's also a writer (Nowhere Girl, and the upcoming Rules for Ghosting in July). She offered a list of ways to strengthen your approach to writing your story, such as: the... Continue Reading →
CONFERENCE 2013: Joanna Volpe, “The Dreaded Synopsis”
Joanna Volpe New Leaf Literary agency head Joanna Volpe wants YOU––yes, you!––to stop freaking out about the S-word. By which I mean "SYNOPSIS." For Joanna, and most agents, the synopsis is used in-house, that is, as a tool for agents and editors to help them figure out where your plot is headed. It is NOT,... Continue Reading →
CONFERENCE 2013: Editor/Agent/Art Director Panel
Featuring: Patti Ann Harris, Julie Just, Kendra Levin, Taylor Norman, Ammi-Joan Paquette, Abigail Samoun, Tamra Tuller, Colleen AF Venable, Joanna Volpe, and Stacy Whitman Q: Name the last thing you've bought or sold: Slush pile treasures, fairy prostitutes, halfway houses for broken robots, Malawian mud balls, a haunted camera, turtle-back islands, and one (ahem) naked... Continue Reading →
Conference Sneak Peek: Abigail Samoun
Abigail Samoun With a storied resume that took her from Little, Brown to Simon & Schuster, and Random House to Tricycle Press, Abigail Samoun segued into her current role as a literary agent at Red Fox Literary, a boutique agency she started with Karen Grencik. With what could only be called beginner's luck, Abigail acquired... Continue Reading →
Conference Sneak Peek: Ammi-Joan Paquette
Ammi-Joan Paquette From the first glimpse of her inviting and colorful website, author-agent Ammi-Joan Paquette has a lot to say. Not only has she written and released two novels (Nowhere Girl, Paradox) and two picture books (The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies, The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Mermaids)––with more of each on the way this... Continue Reading →
Conference Sneak Peek: Joanna Volpe
Getting her feet wet in the publishing industry was akin to being a kid in a candy store for literary agent Joanna Volpe. From Blue Marlin Publications, where she worked as a publisher's assistant, to time at FinePrint Literary and Nancy Coffey Literary, she started her own agency, New Leaf Literary. One of Joanna's claims... Continue Reading →
Conference Sneak Peek: Julie Just
Literary agent Julie Just spent sixteen years working at the New York Times, where she went from Deputy Editor of the Children's and Young Adult coverage in the Book Review to the Editor. For an interview from Publisher's Weekly in 2005 that featured her move to the Editor post, click here. In 2010 she moved... Continue Reading →
Agent Tricia Lawrence in Spokane! Register now!
Tricia Lawrence Erin Murphy Literary Agency Writing Picture Books Three Keys to Developing Voice Saturday, March 16, 2013 Kress Gallery, River Park Square Spokane, WA The workshop will cover what is selling in the current picture book market, as well as the craft of voice in picture books. Tricia will be critiquing... Continue Reading →
Tricia Lawrence: Agency Revision and Resubmit (R&R) Requests
Agency R&R Requests: The Answer Key with Tricia Lawrence, agent, Erin Murphy Literary Agency Agents are busier than ever and working hard. The industry is watching a lot of watershed moments now. Things are changing faster than ever. Agents are human beings (a.k.a. they can be fickle). They have to be completely passionate about what... Continue Reading →
Interested in Joining FirstBooks’s Advisory Board?
FirstBook organization is starting an advisory board in the Seattle area. They are looking for a children's author to be part of the board. Here's the website to learn more about what they do.Here are some of the advisory board members responsibilities:Raise funds to provide book grants to local programs that serve children in need.Identify... Continue Reading →