agents – The Debutante Ball

Interview with Lyn’s Agent, Rachel Brooks

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Today, we have a very special treat. My wonderful, amazing, fabulous, super-smart and brilliant agent, Rachel Brooks of BookEnds Literary Agency (can you tell how highly I think of her?), has agreed to answer some questions. Ever wonder what an agent is thinking? How they go through their queries and decide who to offer representation to? Rachel is here to give you one agent’s impression of this exciting, yet sometimes…

It’s A Miracle!

Friday, January 15, 2021

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I queried for three and a half years before I signed with an agent. And I queried three different books. And during those years, I felt as though signing with an agent was an impossible dream, something that would take a miracle to make happen. And then, almost exactly three and a half years after I started querying, the miracle happened. I was at the vet with my first baby,…

My path to publication: A comedy of failures

Thursday, September 10, 2020

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I wrote last week about how I hadn’t planned on becoming a writer, and how writing was something I came to after being unemployed for a long time. So already my path to publication was a little longer and had more forking paths than some people. I completed the rough draft of my novel in about six months in 2011, and I spent the next four years first learning how…

Comp Titles – Something Old, Something New…

Friday, January 24, 2020

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When I used to work as a newspaper editor, people would send in all kinds of crazy submissions. Like, hello? “We don’t publish poetry,” I would sometimes reply. “But you should!” They’d write back. (Which why I stopped replying). A publication (magazine/newspaper/website) wants to publish similar things to what they’ve been publishing but not the same. They don’t want ideas for new columns or things they should be doing. I…

So Much to Be Grateful For (And Yet…)

Friday, November 29, 2019

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“You have a book coming out. Aren’t you excited!” “Excited” is not the word that I or anyone around me would use. A chicken running around without her head, is more like it. Others wouldn’t be so kind. But the run-up to a book can be very fraught. You have to get blurbs, those advanced praise quotes you see on the back of books and on websites like Amazon and…

6 months to publication and I am so thankful…

Thursday, November 28, 2019

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I just had my first call with my publicity team to discuss marketing and touring for my book. Yo, that sentence is WILD! After the call, I had to sit for a minute, my head swimming in the glow of gratitude. The fact that there have been so many people, including seasoned professionals, who have thrown in their passionate support for my novel has me gob smacked. I know they’re…

My Book Pitch Letter

Friday, November 15, 2019

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We can discuss pitching and pitch letters till the sky turns green, but what would probably be more helpful is if I show you my book pitch. Unlike fiction and possibly memoir (the debate is out there on memoir) non-fiction, which needs a lot of research to complete the book, is sold on proposal. (I’ll talk proposals another time). But you still need a pitch letter. So here’s mine. Dear…

When I Want to Crawl Up in a Ball from Rejection

Friday, October 4, 2019

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I can’t say I’m good with rejection. Outwardly, I think I project an uh, okaaaaay attitude when I get rejected, but inwardly, a part of me wants to crawl up in a ball and die. Or at least CRY. But no, I keep calm and carry on….Or do I? Sometimes I think it would be better to cry and rail and rant against the gods of rejection because then I’d get it out…

My Bumpy Path to Publication

Friday, September 20, 2019

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When I was pregnant and so nervous about it — I’d had previous losses — the doctor told me I wouldn’t be happy until I have the baby in my arms. And so it will be with publication. I am “pregnant” now — with a baby ready for publication, but this baby’s a book. I suspect I won’t really believe it until I am holding it (her?) in my hands….

There is no “normal.”

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

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Before I begin, let’s get something straight: there’s no “typical path to publication.” There’s only what happens to you, when it happens to you. Remember, this is a business where the only effective marketing advice are dollar signs and shrug emojis. That said, my journey is actually fairly typical. I call publishing “the eye of Sauron,” because you’ll find yourself living through long stretches of time where nothing much is…

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