Comments on: What would you like me to write about?

By: Megan B.

Megan B. — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:18:21 +0000

I’d like to hear your thoughts on what aspiring authors should be doing *now* to get their names out there on a blog or social media. If I’m virtually unpublished, what do you suggest I blog about? I see so many people singing the praises of building an audience before your book is even finished, but no specifics about how.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:08:40 +0000

I’d like to hear your views on pen names and authors using different identities. There’s been a lot of talk about this in the past week all over the interwebs and it seems like everyone has a different opinion.

The problem seems to be when authors using pen names abuse their fake identities and mislead readers. But it’s so subjective it’s hard to get a good, clean take on it.

By: Catherine Whitney

Catherine Whitney — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:57:36 +0000

I always enjoy your posts on electronic publishing. Also, examples of what particular traditional publishers are doing right in meeting the challenges of a new era.

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:50:36 +0000

Agree with Tamara — also publishing time lines, as in how long does it take for a traditional manuscript to reach the book shelves?

Since we are living in a period of great power shifts on a global scale, what are agents and publishers doing to shift into a new mode?

And also, I vote for info on the pirating issue.

By: Tamara

Tamara — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:45:15 +0000

I love status-of-the-industry posts, as well as what’s in and what’s out genre-wise. Thanks!

By: Oliver Yeh

Oliver Yeh — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:41:40 +0000

I’m curious to know how many queries you think you receive in December because of NaNoWriMo, and out of that number, how many of those books make it to representation? This could of course be about all the years NaNoWriMo has been chugging away.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:54:04 +0000

Can we talk about pirating? I’m not just talking about books in their final polished form. I am a published author, and recently I found out that 2 of my books can be downloaded for free from a well-known site. The manuscript was saved in PDF form through a file-sharing service. I did further testing, and found many books that can be pirated this way. Passwords, obviously, can be hacked. When using these so-called safe file-sharing services, maybe we the authors can protect ourselves by using some kind of encryption, but what’s stopping an agent/editor from being careless when transferring this kind of data?

By: Kristin Laughtin

Kristin Laughtin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:32:03 +0000

Bearing in mind that the qualities that made an agent select a project at one time might not still be applicable now (due to changes in the market, publishing trends, etc.), I’ve always been interested in hearing why agents selected particular projects. What spoke to them in a particular book? Would they make the same decision if they got that query now? and so on. I first learned about your agency by seeing it mentioned in the acknowledgements of THE SPARROW, which is one of my favorite books, so I’m especially curious about that one!

By: Livia Blackburne

Livia Blackburne — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:08:53 +0000

I was hoping for some followup thoughts to your post about digital publishing and new models.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:04:15 +0000

I want to know more about Victorian Punk genre. Where would I even start to look? I also want hear about other new genres I might not know a thing about. I went to college 12 years ago. Times are changing like new genres, so where is the best place to stay informed?