Instead, target specific readers.
Two words to avoid when you describe to an agent your book’s intended readership: all and everyone.
Yes, authors should radiate optimism. But claiming your book will appeal to everyone marks you as naive.
Consider just a few of the differences among potential readers:
There are good reasons to summarize your novel.
Yes, an agent or an editor really expects you, in your book proposal, to compress your novel, no matter its length, to only three pages.
Impossible? Welcome to the world of professional novelists.
A clients whose middle-grade novel I’d edited asked me to check her proposal before she sent it to an agent. All was going well until I … Continue reading
It’s the step unpublished writers often ignore.
A few years back, a literary agency included this warning with their entry for an annual writer’s market guide: “No exceptions. Don’t ask to be the exception.”
Agents and acquisitions editors everywhere share that frustration. There’s a reason for each item in their submission guidelines. That’s what they want — and how they want to receive it.
Imagine your … Continue reading