Why You Need an Agent and How to Get One

Author Jeff Abbott blogged about The Importance of Having an Agent. He points out several important things an agent does for an author that you might not immediately think of.

Christopher Lockhart wrote an article titled I WROTE A 120 PAGE SCRIPT BUT CAN’T WRITE A LOGLINE: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LOGLINE which is useful for constructing novel query letters as well as screenplay loglines.

Jessica Faust wrote about what she looks for when reading a manuscript in When Reading Submissions.

More on the Publishing Process

Jane Smith on her How Publishing Really Works blog wrote an article on Who Makes Money When A Book Is Sold? and How Bookselling Really Works.

Ebury Publishing talks about how the printing of your books happens in Press Pass.

The Snowblog talks about the costs of book returns.

Editorial Anonymous talks about the terminology for the different parts of a physical book in Basic Book Construction.

Promotion through Social Networking Sites

Bookends has a post about Over-the-Top BookEnds Marketing Strategies, several of which involve MySpace.

Courtney Summers guest blogged on Swivet about social networking sites & self-promotion.

Coauthoring, Revision, and Pen Names

Jessica Faust at Bookends wrote about Coauthor Agreements. It's a must read for anyone who's thought about writing a book with someone else.

WriterJenn wrote about her experiences revising her book based on her editor's revision letter.

Evil Editor answered a question about When Should I Start Using My Pen Name?

Promotion and More

Nathan Bransford wrote about how a writer can move up from Small Presses to Big Publishers. He also had guest blogger Michelle Moran write on How to Promote Your Book (Part 1) and (Part 2). His second guest blogger, M.J. Rose, wrote about how well Book Marketing works.

Shrinking Violet Promotions wrote about Following the Cyber Trail of similar books to yours to find promotion opportunities.

Tom Doherty on The Mac Blog wrote about Trade and Mass Market books and how well the sell.

G.B.H. Hornswoggler wrote about why booksellers might skip buying a book to stock in their stores.



On a side note, I've always wondered why some people like paranormal romances. Arachne Jericho answers that question in Why the Vampire Romance is Taking Over Your Grocery Market Shelf.

What to Include and How to Write

Jessica Faust at Bookends posted today on when you should index your book, include your acknowledgements, etc., in the publishing process.

The Rejecter posted on what rules of writing an author needs to follow to get published.

Synopsis, Hooks, and Publishing

Natalie wrote How To Write A Synopsis on her Between Fact and Fiction blog.

On Hatrack River Writers Workshop, there's a discussion on How to Bait Your Hook and Catch Readers...

Nathan Bansford wrote about Hardcover vs. Paperback Debuts explaining why some debut novels come out as hardbacks and others as trade or mass paperback.

Jessica Faust wrote about the pros and cons of working with a new agent at an established agency.

And over on the Tor blog, Irene Gallo posted Todd Lockwood’s Stormcaller, [cover art] from sketch to finish.

Publishing, Promotion, and More

Kristin Nelson wrote a blog post on E-Book Royalties and on What Makes A New York Times Bestseller?

Nathan Bransford wrote a blog post on The Difference Between Mysteries, Suspense and Thrillers.

Shrinking Violet Promotions wrote about How Elizabeth Gilbert Sold One Million Copies of Her Book and on Finding Your Cyber-Niche.

Jessica Faust at Bookends wrote What Titles Evoke about choosing a title and Does Your Hook Match Your Genre? in your query letter.

Jo Walton on Tor.com wrote an article on Bloat: threat or menace? about bloat in writing

Bookmaking

Here's how they used to make books:


Printing a Book, Old School from Armin Vit on Vimeo.


Here's bookmaking using the latest on-demand technology:




It's interesting stuff to know.

On Writing

Lucienne Diver has a series of guest bloggers on her livejournal. They discuss the different aspects of writing epic fantasy (though the advice can apply to other genre):

Promotion by Lynn Flewelling

Narrative Arc and the Multi-Book Fantasy Series by David B. Coe

Building Worlds—Epic or Contemporary Style by Diana Pharaoh Francis

Making it Personal, Making it Real by Carol Berg

and she also had some mystery guest-bloggers:

Top 5 things to remember about mystery

Mystery Series by Tony Perona



Deanna Carlyle has some general writing articles on her website:

17 Ways to Improve Your Descriptions

35 Springboards for Creating Sympathetic Characters



And Ally Carter wrote about writing YA novels:

The wrong questions...

The questions that aren't getting asked at all