20 Agents: 119 Picture Book Sales

Brenda Sturgis reports on the top literary agents for selling picture books in this recent post. Let’s talk about this report.
Top Literary Agents for Picture Books
Self Reported Statistics. The statistics for Sturgis’s report was compiled from reported sales on Publisher’s Marketplace. This is a big caution because

Writing Hooks: Trailers, Pitches, Themes

I’ve been researching book trailers (software, how to, best practices, options, etc) in anticipation of doing a how-to ebook. Once again, it’s apparent to me that we must be able to describe a novel in one sentence.
Elevator Pitches and Book Trailers
You’ve heard that the one-sentence elevator pitch is the standard tool for getting interest [...]

Why Rejection Should Be Your Goal

Why Would Anyone Choose Rejection?
Is rejection your goal? No, of course not. You and I both want to succeed, to have a manuscript accepted and to sell thousands of books.
When you apply for jobs, though,

The Ultimate Query Letter Guide

How to Write a Query Letter
I’m attending a retreat this weekend and we are supposed to bring a query letter for critique. In preparation, I’ve read a variety of articles about “how to write a successful query letter” and found the best available on the internet today.

Basics
How to Write a Query A classic 3-paragraph [...]

10 Social Media Goals for Author Promotion

Twitter, Facebook, Good Reads and More
When and where should authors use social media? I recently read a blog post about how businesses are using social media. Here, I go through these 10 purposes and muse about how authors might use social media for the same reasons.

Case Study: Author-Initiated Book Trailer

Book Trailer Case Study: The Book of Spam
Some book trailers are sponsored and developed by the publisher; others are done entirely by the author. Witness this glorious book trailer by Dan Armstrong and Dustin Black about The Book of Spam: A Most Glorious and Definitive Compendium of the World’s Favorite Canned Meat. (Atria Books, 2007)

Tips for Skype Author Visit: Be Prepared

Tips for Skype Author Visit: Be Prepared
Before I did my first Skype Author Visit today, with a school in Arlington, VA, I went through several fine-tunings of my setup. These are all small tweaks, but I felt like they were important to let me relax and enjoy the presentation.
Turn Your Office into a Video Studio
Lighting. [...]

More on Skype an Author

Connect with Authors Through Skype
One site that quickly gained popularity this year is the Skype an Author, a Wetpaint site, billed at the key to Virtual Author Visits in Your Library or Classroom. Set up by Sarah Chauncey of the Grandview Elementary School Library in Rockland County, NY schools and author Mona Kirby, it [...]

Online Author Chats

Online Author Chats – A New Learning Experience
Guest Post by Catherine Balkin
Author Appearances Down. I’ve been arranging author appearances in schools and libraries for about 20 years and, a few months ago, I was sitting at my desk, lamenting their recent slump. With the economic downturn, school and library budgets have been cut right and [...]

Flexibility: Finding New Markets

For several years, we hosted high-school exchange students in our home. The surprising thing was the ongoing friendships that continued for many years. One European family, in particular, have been friends and it’s interesting to see the students finish college and begin careers. The son, especially, has an interesting attitude: he wants to be flexible [...]