On Querying

As mentioned earlier, I am in the process of querying for my third thriller, “Let The Dead Stay Dead.” As always it has been a hugely educative experience.  I had the opportunity to see many interesting websites and blogs of literary agents and was totally lost in the wealth of knowledge and perspectives found there. This is by no means a comprehensive list. I am only mentioning top of the mind a few points that have stayed with me.

On Literary Agents

In this very interesting blog post by Alan Rinzler in The Book Deal, four top literary agents share their thoughts on the future of publishing and the role of literary agents in a fast-changing environment. The four, all veterans and eminently successful literary agents themselves are: Candice Fuhrman, Andrea Brown,  Andrea Hurst and Bonnie Solow.

Year End Stock Take As A Writer

I began as a writer of fiction. Like many others, I started with short stories and it was in 2009 that I took the plunge and dived in deep into fiction with a full-fledged 80,000 + words novel called ” It Can’t Be You.” ‘This was a psychological thriller, first published in November 2010. Most people who knew me were initially surprised that with a background and experience in management, I had opted to write fiction. They expected I would write a treatise on people management or even some kind of  collection of my experiences as a human resources professional for over three and a half decades.

Writers Digest Conference 2011

The Writers Digest Conference will soon be in the news. It is being held at New York from January 21-23, 2011. I hope that one day, some time, I shall be able to attend one of these!

Great Dialogue!

Every writer faces the challenge of writing engaging dialogue. Conversations in your story take it forward, explain many facts , bring out the speakers’ emotions and in general determine the pace of the story. Long winded conversations can put off the reader. Very cryptic ones can confuse them. How does one then write a great dialogue?

Nathan Bransford on Finding a Literary Agent

Nathan Bransford needs no introduction. His is a very popular blog. It also has a forum where you can share and gain a lot through interacting with many others. In this 2008 post, he writes of what he calls a basic step Finding a Literary Agent.  I am sure you will find this as useful as I did.

MacGregor on “Choosing an Agent”

Chip MacGregor started MacGregor Literary in Hillsboro, OR  and has been in the business for a long time.  Like many literary agents who share their experiences, Chip too offers useful advice to budding authors who dream of getting their work published. Read what he has to say on ” Choosing An Agent “. It covers a lot of ground on

Guide To Literary Agents

Until some months ago, I had only a very hazy idea of who literary agents were and of their role in the publishing business. I always thought of them as being representatives of publishers who scout for writing talent. Now that I have written my first- as yet unpublished- novel titled ” It Can’t Be You” all of a sudden, I am in the process of discovering just how important literary agents are. I understand that very, very few authors get their work published directly by large publishing houses without being represented by a literary agent.

Thank you, Mr. Lukeman

I never imagined writing a query letter would be that important. Honest. As I learn more about the craft of the trade, I am amazed at the wealth of information available on writing queries. There are books, websites and blogs which cover the subject in great detail.