When the topic of first pages (due March 20 for the conference) came up last night, I thought about this blog post by Kristin Nelson, which includes an action-packed beginning by Linnea Sinclair. Immediate scenes make for great openings. They can be hard to write if you don't know what your story is. Once you... Continue Reading →
More on queries
Agent Kristin Nelson is annotating more queries and opening pages on her blog. If you're thinking of querying, do check these out.Here's what intrigued Kristin: I have to say that Megan’s query immediately caught my attention as she had a whole different take on utilizing ghosts that I’ve never seen before. Besides, I like complex... Continue Reading →
What First Page sessions are like
Kristin Nelson posted about a first pages session she did with Kate Testerman (both are agents, and Kate even came to one of our conferences).If you're considering a First Pages session at our upcoming conference, read this so you know what to expect.An excerpt:-out of the 20 we read, Kate and I would have asked... Continue Reading →
On working with publicists
An often quoted adage (that’s not actually in the Bible) with one little word change to make it apply to what I want to talk about today.If you are a published author, one of the smartest things you can do when it comes to marketing and promotion is to be a squeaky wheel without the... Continue Reading →
Good advice on length of MG/YA novels
This comes from Kristin Nelson's blog:When I was at RWA, I did a workshop with my client Ally Carter. We were the only workshop at that conference that addressed anything in the Children’s realm. Let me tell you, the session was packed (to my surprise).Anyway, the point of our workshop was this: people who want... Continue Reading →