2010 Guide To Literary Agents Good
Literary Festival Set To Be Best Yet
Sir Roy Strong, Mavis Cheek and Hilary Mantel are among the big names lined up for the 3rd Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival.
There will be 25 events taking place from September 16 to September 18 at a number of venues, including a Literary Walk in association with the Otter Valley Association and Fairlynch Museum.
Best-selling childrens author Michael Morpurgo, explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, and BBC Spotlight reporter and crime writer Simon Hall will also be appearing at the three-day festival.
Carol Ann Duffy, Britains first female Poet Laureate and Scottish poet and playwright, will be presenting poems from her forthcoming collection The Bees, due to be published this autumn.
National Poet for Wales, playwright and broadcaster, Gillian Clarke will read from her latest collection of poetry A Recipe for Water, in which she explores water as memory and meaning. She writes with power and tenderness with a very individual voice.
Hilary Mantel, winner of the 2009 Man Booker prize for Wolf Hall, a penetrating novel about Thomas Cromwell and the court of Henry VIII, is now writing a sequel. She will read from her new work in progress, The Mirror and the Light.
Michael Morpurgo, the most respected British childrens writer working today, will give a revealing account about challenging his own preconceptions when seeing his books adapted for stage or screen.
Festival artistic director Susan Ward said: Hilary Mantel sold out at the 2009 festival so this gives people who couldnt get tickets last time another chance to come.
The response from authors has been tremendous. The reputation of the festival is such that we now have publishers asking if their authors can come to Budleigh Salterton and that is down to the support and enthusiasm of the town.
To reach this stage in such a relatively short time is something we could only dream of. I think we are well on the way to having our best festival this year.
Get ready to be amused by A.L.Kennedy. Celebrated for her irony, originality and dead-pan wit,she is a writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction, and a popular stand-up comedian, making regular appearances at comedy clubs and the Edinburgh Fringe.
Josceline Dimblebys Orchard in the Oasis scooped the prestigious Guild of Food Writers Award for Food and Travel Writing this summer. She has written a magical account of her awakening childhood passion for food in the spice markets of Syria and her lifelong love affair with food and flavourings.
This is just a small insight into some of the great speakers who will be appearing at the festival. If you get a chance to go grab it!
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Can anyone help me find a literary agent?
Hello, my name is Thomas San Roman and I am working on my second novel in a series. I published my first novel back in 2008 titled Born into Radiance. It is an epic fantasy that kicks off the Ether Rain Chronicles. I am about 80% finished with the second book in the series and I really want to take my book to the big time. I published my first book independently which I know was probably a huge mistake. I was younger and I was excited so I just forked over the money so that I could see my name in print. Knowing that wasn’t the brightest thing to do, I am at the same junction again. What to do with my book? I, like plenty of other people in the USA, have been hit fairly hard with the economic downturns of society and, alas, I do not have the money to platform my book where it needs to be. I see so much crap released in paper and hardback because of the fact that the author or someone related to the author had enough money to throw at it to make it a mainstream book. Now, venting aside, I know the first step is to get a good agent that will recognize the potential in my writing and go to bat for me with the publishing companies. Does anyone know of any good ones, or are you one? My style, for now, is High epic fantasy fiction. My first book was close to 200,000 words and my current project is shaping up to be a little leaner (perhaps 160,000 or so).I have side projects that I am writing such as a supernatural suspense title and a movie script, but those are back-burnered for now until I can see where my fantasy series takes me. I am 26 years old and would like to reach the world with my stories. Also please do not answer the question by stating that I should pickup a copy of the 2010 guide to literary agents. I’ve spent $100s of dollars on those sorts of books and for what? I’d like my info to come from the masses, so please help. Thank you for your time.
So when I asked my question I was not looking for people who like to see what they type. I was looking for actual answers not someone looking for a pedestal to ponitificate on to show that somehow their lengthy answer makes them seem like an expert on the topic. If you’ve never published a book don’t try to illustrate the finer points of it with phrases like “if your self-published novel didn’t sell, why would anyone want the sequel?” This is a ridiculous statement seeing as when you independently publish a book you must fund your own marketing which is expensive. The comment about my book being too lengthy is also bogus seeing as how the fantasy genre thrives on lengthier books (all of which have become best-sellers). Almost every Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, Tolkien book were 150,000 words plus. Answer my question, my opinions are my own. If you don’t have an answer and want to ramble on for a few paragraphs, go write a blog about it. Thanks.
What’s better for the aspiring writer; 2010 guide to Literary agents, or 2010 writer’s guide?
Have you selected a few names of editors and agents from the guides and if so how about posting those names and researching them. If anyone has had any experiences to share they will let you know. It’s hard to know who to refer you to because for me (a published author) it’s like putting my stamp of approval on a person I’ve never met and a work I’ve never seen. My titles are there in my profile as well as my publisher but that won’t help you. I don’t think they do fantasy titles. My agent hasn’t repped me officially since I got the initial book deal on my own.
The best solution to your problem is to attend a writers conference with the big organizations. SFWA – Scienc fiction and Fantasy writers of america is the legitimate one for your genre. They often have workshops with valid and prestigious editors and agents. If you can’t attend still register for updates so you can get the names of who will be presenting and then begin generating your list by going to their websites and seeing who they are signing, who they are representing. If you can make it to one of the conferences chances are they have pitch sessions you can sign up for.
You get 5 to 15 minutes with agents and editors in your genre who will listen to you talk about your work the same as if you sent a query letter. At these events you need to make a real impression since they will probably talk to about 100 people in an afternoon. If they like you and ask to that you send them something, do it. Do it as soon as you get home. Note when you met them, repeat your sales pitch and send the work via e-mail and offer a hard copy, that way they have a reason to answer you back.
Joining a local Science fiction and fantasy writers group is also worth the fees. Again because agents and editors in the business and in the genre are invited to speak. You see them, they see you, they remember you if you stand out. I’m in RWA (Romance Writers of America our national fee is 80 and then the local fee is 30) but I’ve met lawyers, writers (some of my heroes), book store owners, editors, agents and the publishers themselves. They even sponsor contests within our local chapter where you can win editing priviledges from the big name publishing houses or a critique session via phone or even a complete read of your work at their meeting. So the benefits are there because these are respected organizations.
It depends on where you are with your writing and how much you need to learn about the publishing industry as a whole. The Guide to Literary Agents strictly focuses on the last steps of presentation for your work. This picks up after the point in which you have already gotten your work in to the best shape it can be in (at least by you and your resources). This guide will teach you how to write query letters, book proposals and synopsis and how to format both plus your manuscript according to the submission guidelines of each Agent they list. This book tells you what genres each agent/agency represents, who their current published authors are as well as any other agents working with them. This is like the agent who’s who and they try to include only agents with a proven track record and who are respected in the publishing world.
The book provides conferences and workshop information where you could literally meet with agents if you register ahead of time. Most are pitch sessions that run about 15 minutes. The book tells you what you’ll need and how to talk to an agent.
* I didn’t see a writer’s guide but The 2010 Writers Market. It is a more comprehensive list. It lists publishers and what they are looking for as well as their submission guidelines. It has a list of agents too and it teaches you how to rid your manuscript of rookie mistakes that will get it tossed before an editor will even look at it. It tells you how to submit to other publications as well. It gives you plenty of pros and cons to writing over all with helpful samples and stories and examples.
So if you aren’t sure if your work is ready for the market then the Writers Market is better for you. If you know (more or less) what you are doing then Literary agents is the one you might get.