Author Archive
The Ploughshares Round-Down: How to Make Your Book Popular
As an agent, it’s my job to figure out what’s going to be popular among readers. I’m looking not only for books that editors will like now, but that the rest of the world will like eighteen months from now. Luckily, I only have to figure this out for
The Ploughshares Round-Down: Should You Self-Publish Or Not?
A few months ago, I met a self-publishing millionaire. In just eighteen months, she had gone from an underpaid office worker with a laid-off husband to a beloved romantic erotica writer pulling in $50,000 a month. She was willing to entertain offers from a big publisher, though none were
The Ploughshares Round-Down: What NYC Editors Say They’re Looking For
What do editors really want? Why are they putting one thing in the rejection pile and preparing for an auction for another? The difficulty in answering these questions is that every editor opens every proposal the same way you open presents from relatives: with hope but trepidation. They never