Yesterday I was talking about how “not finding your thing” can make it harder to achieve success as a writer. Today I’m going to talk a bit about another problem (related to the first) that some writers have that holds them back: They focus on what they want, not what the editor or market…
Category: The Publishing Business
Timing is everything . . . and nothing
Before I get to today’s post, read this interview with Dan Baum, former staffer for The New Yorker, now a freelancer. I agree with everything he says, which is how I know he’s brilliant. Pay particular attention to how he crafts every story pitch with a particular market in mind. I have been trying to…
Why publishing isn’t a numbers game
I hear this over and over among people who should know better: “It’s just a numbers game.” The idea is that success in freelancing (whether that’s writing for magazines, doing corporate writing or publishing books) is basically the result of knocking on a lot of doors. If you send out enough pitch letters or LOIs…
Behind the Scenes: Pitching Agents
A week or two ago, agent Nathan Bransford did a “Be an Agent for a Day” contest where he challenged his blog readers to read 50 queries (more or less what an agent might see in his/her inbox on any given day), and pick 5 they felt had potential and would, if they were agents,…
How to: 7 Tips for Pitch Sessions with Editors and Agents
It’s that time of year when writers throw themselves into a panic over conference pitch sessions with editors and agents. As a veteran of approximately five million of these sessions, I wanted to weigh in on what has worked best for me. The most important thing to remember is that you’re not going to…
Ow: The pain of rejection
I got one of those lightning-fast rejections today that make you wince. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the black hole of pitching, where you send endless pleas for attention into an infinitely large universe and nothing comes back. So I appreciate something coming back. I just wish it wouldn’t come back so fast, so…