High Concepts and Agents

I’ve been doing lots of reading this week and here are some gems.

Ever wonder what high concept means to an agent? Elana Roth of Caren Johnson Literary explains. If you like what she says, she’ll be at the Missouri SCBWI conference on November 9.
Which would you rather do? Sell a novel on a proposal, [...]

Press kits and book covers

From around the net:

Halloween Jokes that crack up a second grader.
Excellent tutorial on creating your own press kit.
How much money do writers make anyway?
How many non-work-related books do you read a month? How do you compare to other professionals in the publishing industry?
AIGA’s 50 Books/50 Covers. If you like looking at book covers, also [...]

September’s Most Popular

What are you reading on this blog?
From the Archives
The top 5 posts from the 30 Days to a Stronger Picture Book series:

12 Picture Book Topics to Avoid
How to Write an ABC Book
What Kids Think is Funny
Picture Book Standards: 32 Pages
Messages, Morals and Lessons in Picture Books

Top 5 Single Posts in September:

Novel Revision for [...]

Thanks, Janni!

Dear Janni:
Wow, your words are so effective!
I was at my wit’s end because these characters avoided me all last week. But today? My characters are actually telling me something today. It’s a bit confused and not quite as clear as it needs to be, but they are whispering things today.
Thanks!
Darcy
Dear Characters:
Please don’t [...]

Book trailer tips, awards and scissors

Book Trailer tips, awards and scissors

Tips for book trailers.
Men more likely to share than women – online, at least.
Highlights of the history of science fiction literature for kids.
Kindle most appropriate for women?
“I think it’s fascinating the way that the author of that post connects (rightly I suspect) the
marketing of Kindle to women (though the links [...]

Snacks, Writing, Twitter and Revision Stories

I’ve been meaning to post links to these great articles for several days — here is news about how snack and writing are connected, revision stories, Twitter delivering stories, and more.

21 Key Traits of Bestselling Fiction.
Daily installments of literature via Twitter on your cell phone.
My favorite kind of story: a revision story [...]

Writing PerHect!

I’ve been StumblingUpon things:

Students Doodle 4 Google
For author-illustrators: Drawing Day – drop everything and draw for the sake of art.
Writers love the moleskine books and here are examples to prove it.
43 Amazing Resources for Writers
Why Being a Mother is like being a writer

You’ve seen Mock Newbery and Mock Caldecott polls. Here’s one for the easy [...]

Mind Games and Other Conversations

Join these conversations:

Roger is playing Mind Games with sugary-sweet children’s book titles.
Baseball compared to poetry!
Alan Gratz muses about the Flitcraft Parable.
Do MORE words mean BETTER words?
Finding Time to Write.

YA Fantasy Sells Better than Adult Fantasy

Could it be true that YA fantasy is selling better than adult fantasy? Links to that story and more.

YA fantasy outselling adult fantasy!

Does being a professional writer mean you must also have teaching skills?

Janni is talking to her characters again! For some reason, this cracks me up every time. Maybe because I [...]

Jacobs, Meyers and more

Successful Reviser
Read the interview with author Deborah Lynn Jacobs about her newest novel, CHOICES. She brought this manuscript to the 2005 Novel Revision Retreat, then revised and revised.
The workbook for the retreat Novel Metamorphosis is now available.
And the online Novel Metamorphosis class is taking registrations for the May/June class.
Strange Rules for the Road
Stephanie Meyers [...]