Book Title Rating

Ever wonder how likely your book is to become a best seller? This Title Scorer attempts to answer that question by rating your title against the titles of previous bestsellers.

Pitch Critiques Continue

Jessica Faust is still steadily critiquing pitches on the Bookends blog. I decided to start a new post because the old ones have fallen so far down on my blog list now. For those interested in one agent's opinion on what works in a pitch and what doesn't, Jessica has now completed the twenty-first round of pitch critiques. And the twenty-second round of pitch critiques. And the twenty-third round of pitch critiques. And the twenty-fourth round of pitch critiques. And the final, twenty-fifth round of pitch critiques.

Buying Books Online

According to a survey by Nielsen Online, more books are sold on the internet than any other product. Also, 41% of worldwide internet users have bought books online, which is up 7% from a survey done two years ago. In the USA, 38% of internet users have bought books online.

This is encouraging news for self-published authors intending to sell their books online.

Jessica on Agent Submissions

Jessica Faust at Bookends has done an interesting series on the letters that agents send to publishers. These posts are The Agent Submission Process, The Agent Submission Process: Part Deux, and The Agent Submission Process: Nonfiction.

More on Publisher-Author Contracts

Kristin Nelson at Pub Rants blog wrote more on publisher-author contracts in Boilerplate Item Du Jour and Boilerplate Item Du Jour (take 2). She also wrote about how getting the final publisher-author contract signed takes an Interminable Length Of Time.

The Rejecter briefly wrote about contract language in Why You Need An Agent.

More Advice on Query Letters

Query letter writing advice seems a very popular topic for blog posts. Here are a few more useful links.

A.C Crispin on the Writers Beware! blog wrote about the process of querying in Publishing...Playing the Waiting Game.

Nathan Bransford wrote about Query Rejections: Dead Cliches, The Passive Voice is Found in Your Query Letter, and Don't Fake a Personalized Query.

Miss Snark has a huge list of cover letters and hooks that she critiqued in her Crapometer. You can read through a few of the critiques to see what one agent likes in her query letters.

Finding an Agent

A number of people have written good advice on how to find an agent that's right for your manuscript.

Victoria Strauss on the Writers Beware! blog wrote about The Safest Way to Search for an Agent.

A.C. Crispin on the Writers Beware! blog wrote about Learning the Ropes and Use Caution on the Internet

Jessica Faust at Bookends has a blog post on Agent Research Sites: An Agent's Perspective.

Hope this helps.

Promoting Your Book

Here are some useful links I've found on promoting your book after it's published.

Bryan D. Catherman at The Hopeless Writer blog wrote about book signings.

Miss Snark wrote about book signing tours.

J. A. Konrath wrote on his website about what works for him. He has a lot of useful information on his site, but please don't take everything he says as the gospel truth. For example, in another article, he suggests not sending a SASE to an agent with your query letter. I know a number of agents who say they throw SASE-less query letters away unread, including Miss Snark.

Maya Reynolds wrote on her blog about Refining My Booksigning Technique.

On DeepGenre, David Louis Edelman wrote about What Works on an Author Website? and How I Promoted My Book.

Genre Definitions

Like most people, I sometimes wonder what the difference is between the many genre and subgenre. Here are a few links that help sort things out.

Rachel at Novel & Short Story Writer's Market blog wrote a post on Definitions of genres, and when to use them.


Miss Snark wrote briefly on What makes a Thriller.


Jessica Faust wrote A Sub-genre Encyclopedia and Defining Genres, Part Deux.

Hidden in her twentieth round of pitch critiques, Jessica also said:

Category romance (Harlequin/Silhouette) is romance first. In other words, while there are secondary characters and often another small storyline, the crux of the book is the romance. The main concerns are the hero, the heroine, and their internal and external conflicts. With single-title romance you create a much more complex story. It’s multilayered with many different characters and a story that often supersedes the romance.

Hope this was helpful.

More on Book Covers

Today, I found a few more links on the input authors can have on book covers. Rachel at Novel & Short Story Writer's Market blog wrote The Mysteries of Cover Art Unveiled and Another perspective on cover art.