Selling Your Story Collection: When They Really Want Your Novel
An author, an agent, a publisher, and an editor explore the often difficult path to selling a story collection—when what most publishers want is a novel.
From the Magazine
Agent Advice: Betsy Amster of Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises
The agent of authors such as María Amparo Escandón and Joy Nicholson offers advice on query letters, editing, and what not to do when submitting a manuscript.
Tags:
The Perfect Pitch Panel: Chicago 2015
An audience member, poet Jessica Walsh, gets advice from a surprise guest (Michael Wiegers, executive editor of Copper Canyon Press) during the Perfect Pitch Panel in Chicago on June 20, 2015. The panel, moderated by Poets & Writers editor in...
How to Impress a Literary Agent
Whether it’s simply spelling a name correctly in a query letter or proposing something new, advice for catching an agent’s eye can range from the obvious to the surprisingly counter-intuitive. Here, six agents speak candidly about what stands out to them.
The Aha! Moment: Renée Zuckerbrot of the Renée Zuckerbrot Literary Agency
Agent Renée Zuckerbrot recounts her initial reactions to the opening story of Andrew Malan Milward’s I Was a Revolutionary, a collection she recently sold to Harper that will be published in August.
Agents & Editors: A Conversation With Four Literary Agents
Four young literary agents meet for an evening of food, drink, and conversation about how they find new authors, what they need to see in a query letter, and the common mistakes writers should avoid.
Tags:
Agent Advice: Danielle Svetcov of Levine Greenberg Rostan
Should you pay to have a manuscript edited beforehand? Are there benefits to querying via snail mail versus e-mail? Danielle Svetcov of Levine Greenberg Rostan answers readers’ questions about what (and what not) to do when trying to find an agent.
Tags:
The Perfect Pitch Panel: San Francisco 2015
Three writers from the Poets & Writers Live audience read their query letters and receive feedback from editors Jordan Bass of McSweeney's Publishing and Ethan Nosowsky of Graywolf Press, literary agent Danielle Svetcov, and publicist Megan...
Agents & Editors: Jennifer Joel
Jennifer Joel, whose clients include Chris Cleave, Joe McGinniss Jr., Evan Osnos, and Shonda Rhimes, talks about the difference between selling fiction and nonfiction, what inspires her to go the extra mile for her authors, and what writers should really want out of publishing.
Tags:
Editors & Authors: Washington, D.C. 2014
Kevin Larimer, editor in chief of Poets & Writers, leads a conversation with editors Jeff Shotts of Graywolf Press and Chuck Adams of Algonquin Books and authors Jeffrey Yang and Amy Rowland about what it means to be published by an independent...