Writing in the Spirit is Moving!

 

I've been blogging here on Blogger for over 7 years, and it was a good place to get started and talk with all of you about writing and my life as an author. But I've been looking for a new blog home for some time. This year, 2020, the year of my retirement from consulting, COVID lockdown, expanding my writing career, and a redesigned website, I'm ready to move my blog to a new "nest."

All the posts I've written will remain here for an indefinite period, so feel free to explore, but to see the latest and to continue to follow my journey, fly on over to my website for more...

Writing in the Spirit 

Thank you all for your continued support, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all there!

LaVerne

Agents of the Literary Kind, Part 3: When Should I Look for an Agent?

In our previous posts in this series, we learned what an agent is and what this advocate can do for you, and we determined that you do need an agent for your current writing project. The next question is: 

When should you start looking for this important business partner?

Short Answer: When you have a completed manuscript

Longer Answer: You're ready when you have completed the following three items: 

•  A completed manuscript ready for submission to a publisher. This means...

• You have edited your manuscript at least twice
• Your manuscript is formatted in standard style: Courier 12 font (Times New Roman will do , too), double-spaced. The agent may ask for something else, but having a standard copy allows you to quickly make changes as needed.
• The manuscript has gone through an outside review, and you've incorporated the comments. This outside review may include any or all of the following:
• Reading by a critique group, preferably writers who know your genre and have given you feedback;
• Entering a writing contest in your genre where judges give feedback;
• Reading by at least three fellow authors who have given you feedback;
• Editing by a professional editor and/or proofreader whom you've hired to provide feedback.

The more eyes the better, 

the more editing the better, 

the more rewrites the better. 

But Wait! There's More!

•  Your reading market(s) identified
• You've read extensively in the book market(s)
• You can describe how your book fits into the market(s)

Yes, of course you've written a unique work, but your book must match a readership, so you can pick the RIGHT agent, and the agent can submit it to the RIGHT publishers. Agent also have their own reading and selling preferences, experience, and contacts. When you begin your search in earnest, matching your work to the agent's preference will be critical. 

• Your marketing pieces written for submission

During the submission process, different agents will ask for different marketing pieces, depending on the agent and their agency's preferences and the preferences of the editors with whom they deal. I'll be blogging on these important tools in the future. For now, if you don't know how to craft these vital marketing pieces, start looking on the Internet for blogs and articles; there is plenty of help out there. In order of importance, your marketing pieces are:

• 5- to 7-page Synopsis
• Query Letter
• 150- to 200-word Back Cover Copy
• 3-line Elevator Speech/Pitch
• One-line Pitch/Log Line

Do you have your edited and formatted manuscript completed, the book market(s) identified, and your marketing tools written? You do?

You're ready to search for your agent!

 

Related Posts:

Agents of the Literary Kind, Part 1: What is an Agent?

Agents of the Literary Kind, Part 2: Do I need an Agent?

AAR Reviews: Return of Devotion

This review is now posted on the All About Romance (AAR) website. Remember AAR is both a resource for book reviews across all the sub-genres of romance and a place to find offers, deals and previews of books soon to be released. Enjoy!

A RETURN OF DEVOTION

by Kristie Ann Hunter

I read A Defense of Honor, the first book of the Haven Manor series, liked it very much, and immediately bought the second installment. I found A Return of Devotion a very different experience, one I struggled with as a reader. Whereas A Defense of Honor has a steady pace driven by the action plot woven with the romance, A Return of Devotion spends a little too much time in the character’s minds and too little time on the romance. This book can stand alone but reading the first will provide the necessary backstory for Haven Manor, its mission, and show the heroine in her element.


William and Daphne are intensely aware of each other, but that awareness serves to bring out Christian themes or the characters’ internal struggles more than increasing romantic tension between them. As a reader, after the first twenty-five pages, I had to reset my expectations into the author’s rhythm of characters focused on the external plot and not on each other, at least romantically. Once I did, I became engaged with these two people, both facing long-held assumptions about their class and their lives and growing into their best selves. However, I sorely missed the more consistent interplay and emotional spark commonly evident in the romance genre.

Fans of Ms. Hunter and readers looking for engaging Christian fiction will certainly enjoy A Return of Devotion with its interesting characters and important moral messages. However, if you’re in the mood for a story focused on the growing love between two people, this book may not be the right choice for you.

Find the Buy Links and Full Review at All About Romance.

AAR Reviews: Midnight on the River Grey

This review is now posted on the All About Romance (AAR) website. Remember AAR is both a resource for book reviews across all the sub-genres of romance and a place to find offers, deals and previews of books soon to be released. Enjoy!

Midnight on the River Grey

by Abigail Wilson

I enjoy a good romantic suspense story, and when this title appeared with its hint of classic Gothic romance from a well-known Christian publisher, I was intrigued. Although Midnight on the River Grey is classed by online retailers as a Christian mystery, the book is a sweet romantic mystery with no obvious spiritual or moral themes.

After the death of her mother, Rebecca Hunter moves to London to live with her Aunt Josephine. The ladies have little income, but it is Rebecca’s hope that she can convince the Court of Chancery to grant her a new guardian. Once she has accomplished that, she and her aunt will be able to access the money meant for her dowry and set up their own establishment.

Mr. Lewis Browning of Greybourne Hall is Rebecca’s current guardian. In a convoluted twist of fate. her elder brother Jacob had been working for him but was killed in a fall off a bridge on the Browning estate. The death was officially ruled an accident but there are hints that Lewis Browning was somehow involved, and Rebecca is convinced that means her beloved brother was murdered. She arrived at this conclusion in no small part because of letters from her “silly, prattling” cousin Ellen whom she believes “had flushed out the details surrounding Jacob’s death.”  The family’s entailed inheritance passed to Lewis, a distant cousin, giving him ample motive for the crime.

If you like a light mystery story with a little spookiness and a sweet romance, you might find it a good read, but those looking for something with more substance will need to look elsewhere.

Buy Links and the full review HERE!