Gems from Janet's Blog Archive
Some of the most helpful posts from Janet Reid's blog archive
| Agents & Agenting |
| What to Ask on Agent Reference Calls: I want to know what an agent's like to work with. How do I approach contacting clients? |
| My MS got a LOT of interest in #PitchWars: I have multiple offers of representation and need help choosing the right Agent/Agency. |
| Working with Junior Agents: A senior agent handed me off to one of the agency newcomers. Is this okay? |
| Author/Agency Termination Clauses: I want an agent for the long haul, but the contract locks me in for two years. What if things don't work out? |
| Why Do You Do This?: Janet talks about her journey from bookkeeping to agenting. |
| Conferences |
| Conference While in Query Limbo: I have fulls out on my ms, and my WiP isn't ready. How do I make the most of a pitch session? |
| Questions to Ask at a Conference MS Evaluation: What questions are appropriate to ask an agent during a 15-minute manuscript appraisal? |
| More on Pitching (Cause That Seems to Be Our Obsession These Days): What exactly is the pitch about? What makes for an effective pitch? |
| Editing/Revising |
| Hiring an Independent Editor: Do agents want to see professionally edited manuscripts, or would this mask the writer's abilities? |
| It's Not Bad Writing, But... How disrupting narrative with description can destroy pacing. |
| Genres/Categories |
| Non-Commercial Memoir: What is it? And what do I do with it if that's what I've written? |
| This, That, the Other, But No, It's Not Any of Those.: Is it true that a story can't really straddle multiple genres--it's either one or the other, but never both? |
| Manuscripts |
| Format Guidelines Were Not Instituted To Drive You Crazy. That's Just a Perk: How do I format my novel manuscript? |
| Marketing |
| Marketing Plans for My Novel: An agent asked for one with my full. Do I need one yet? |
| I'll Take Less Money... OK?: Will it help my book's chances if I'm willing to take a smaller advance? |
| Published Writer Concerns |
| Paying to Revert Rights: Can a publisher charge me to revert my book's rights back to me? |
| Querying |
| When an Agent Requests Your Full Manuscript: The dos and don'ts of sending your manuscript. |
| So, Your Query Works. I Read Your Pages. Then I Said No: Some reasons why Janet says no to submissions. |
| Querying While Suffering from Depression: How to manage query rejection when one's mental health is a serious concern. |
| Re-Querying after a Major Revision: Is it okay to query again if the agent didn't request an R&R? |
| Why You Don't Want Feedback From Me at the Query Stage: You want to know why an agent rejected your query... but really, you don't. |
| Querying While Life Looms: I'm pregnant. Should I wait until after delivery and life settles down a bit to query, when I might have more time? |
| Where Do I Belong?: I can't figure out my book's genre/category--is that a problem in my query? |
| Talking About Books Within a Series: How do I talk about my multi-book series in a query? |
| More on Series, and How to Talk About Them in a Query: What about books with series potential, like cozies? |
| Interesting Bio vs Relevant Bio: This agent's asking for a bio but I have nothing book-relevant to say. What are they looking for? |
| Querying New Hotness When Old News Is Still on the Reading List: If you've got an Agent SlowPoke who requested A, but hasn't responded on it when you start querying B, what do you do? |
| Someone Might Want Me, What Do I Do Now?: How to engage an agent when a publisher shows interest in your novel. |
| Querying Art with Picture Books If You're Not Quite There on the Art: Are all PB agents looking for writers who can draw? |
| True or False: 3 x 2 = 6?: My non-fiction book is full of math, which makes the word count misleading. How can I best represent the length of my book in a query? |
| Grandma Had a Novel: How do I go about getting a book written by my now-deceased relative published? |
| The Main Character Comes on Stage Later: How do I craft a query where the main character doesn't appear until chapter 2, and which chapter do I include? |
| Social Media |
| Various Platforms for Social Media: Should I spread myself over multiple Social Media platforms, or concentrate on one or two? |
| Reviewing |
| Posting Reviews When You're a Writer: Should an aspiring writer post negative book reviews? |
| Writer Worries |
| Is It Possible I'm a Good Writer and Agents Are Still Rejecting Me?: If I'm a good writer, what's with the form rejections? |
| Can a Writer Set Privacy Boundaries and Still Get Published?: How to handle publishing when privacy is vital to mental health. |
| White Folks Writing Characters of Color: Can I write about people who aren't like me without being considered exploitive? |
| Why You Do NOT Register Copyright Before Publication: You really don't need to copyright your work, and here's why. |
If there are articles on Janet's blog you think should be added to the gems, please contact the chest curator: cds@colindsmith.com.