Episode 6: Gail Carson Levine, Historical and Fantasy Author
Historical and fantasy author Gail Carson Levine interviews with Mary Kole. She shares thoughts on the writing process, world-building, and her latest book, A Ceiling Made of Eggshells.
Reaction into Action: How to Turn Negative Feedback Around
Negative feedback can be confusing and hard to hear. Turn what feels like “no” into a mission to “go”!
Learning From Failure
It may seem weird to talk about failure and rejection in writing context as a good thing. But I really want to help you reframe it, because the actual writing journey is rather long. If you don't enjoy the actual writing process, you're gonna have a tough time because there is so much rejection and failure inherent in that journey.
How To Write a Query Letter
One way you might think about how to write a query letter is as a cover letter. It has its own rules and formatting for the literary world, but essentially you are pitching your project to your potential employer. So, what are the rules? How do you start?
Manuscript Length
If you have spent any time on the submission trail, you will notice that there are manuscript length guidelines for manuscripts that you may want to submit, and they are very category-specific. Here’s a run-through of children's books guidelines to get you started.
The Unagented Submission
Writers are usually advised against braving the publishing world without an agent to represent them. Yet, unagented submissions exist for a reason, and there’s a time and place when they work—when they might even be the best option.
Query Letter Tips
Do we personalize our queries? Yes, unless we have no personalization to include. We do not say, "Because of your love of books I'm querying you," because that can be said for everybody and agents of all people know a form letter when they see it.
Story Mastermind Interview with Rachel Orr
Decades-long agent, Rachel Orr, talks about real life clients as she shares what agents and editors are looking for, what to include in your query letter, and how to challenge the status quo.
Literary Agent Cost
Get ready for some full transparency. How much an agent should be charging you, at what percentage, and when.
Finding Another Literary Agent
Thinking about finding another literary agent? Here are some tips to help smooth the transition.
Offer of Representation
You have an offer of representation from a literary agent--now what? Here are some crucial questions to ask before you sign on the dotted line.
Resubmitting a Revision to an Agent
Will agents and editors consider a revision of a manuscript they've already rejected? Check out this week's video for tips on resubmitting a revision to an agent.
How to Submit Your First Ten Pages
You are so familiar with your story’s opening, you’ve created blind spots. You’ve most likely rewritten this part more than any other, so in your mind it might still contain information you deleted four iterations ago. So how do you know whether your first ten pages are submission-ready?
Literary Agent Pitch Session
How do you catch an agent's attention during a pitch session? Here are some tips and tricks for crafting a successful pitch and making a good impression.
Literary Agent Revision Request
If you're wondering about how to handle a literary agent revision request, how that informs your submission round, and what to expect when working more closely with an agent before an offer of representation, check out this video.
Changing Literary Agents | An Agent’s Perspective
I love talking about switching literary agents because I want to normalize it. I want to make sure that people don't feel alone if and when something happens to them in their agent-writer relationships, because like any relationship, they might not work out the way we anticipate.
Hooray! An Agent Asked for My Full Manuscript
An agent asked for my full manuscript, hooray! This exciting situation opens up a lot of questions that you may have about literary agents. Learn all about literary agent manuscript requests in this class.
Literary Agent Response Times
If you're wondering about literary agent response times, when to submit, and when to expect to hear back on your manuscript submission to agents, check out this video.