Requirements for the Dreaded Synopsis
I attended a workshop with an agent who had critiqued my MG novel at a conference. This is her information. For fiction stories only. NOT for NF. I don’t rep…
On Editors, Revision, and Writing
Editors—some good, some bad Usually the edits the editors ask for are necessary to make your book more marketable. Recommendations [are] almost always beneficial. … First writers sometimes won’t finish…
Finding an Agent
Many years ago I attended a conference presentation on Agent Hunting. Though I do not have an agent (and I haven’t looked for one yet), if you are interested in…
Picture Book Dummy
No, I am not saying you are a dummy. I need to send a manuscript to an editor. She would take it as a whole manuscript or as a sketch…
How Many Words?
How Many Words? For a while there, I felt like I was rolling the dice to figure this out. I found a lot of different information about how long different…
How Many Pages in a Picture Book?
It depends. A children’s book editor, writing at Editorial Anonymous, explains the pagination of picture books and how the numbers may not mean what you think they mean. It is…
Exceptions to the No Illustration Notes Rules
Johnell Dewitt writes on her blog about Illustration Notes. She discusses examples of how NOT to include them and when they are actually necessary. She quotes one author and interviews…
Easy Reader & Chapter Books
Sean McCarthy, founder and sole agent for Sean McCarthy Literary Agency, gave a presentation at Austin’s SCBWI conference. Essentials: character-based humor (can be gross) STEAM (science, tech, engineering, art, math)…
What Makes a Project Viable?
Sean McCarthy, founder and sole agent for Sean McCarthy Literary Agency, discussed what makes a work viable. He gave four requirements. It has an arresting commercial hook. It has an internal…
Straight From an Agent
Sean McCarthy, founder and sole agent for Sean McCarthy Literary Agency, gave a presentation at Austin’s SCBWI conference. He said that the author has much more work to do than…