Okay, I've been out of touch with the online world for going on two weeks now. It's hard. But I've spent some time reading this blog (amazing!) and I feel all caught up again. Hopefully, these weekly Publishing Pulses help you keep your finger on what's going on around the Interwebs, even when you unplug, go camping and/or fall behind.

New and Updated Agents:

Rachel Sussman at the Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency. As an agent, she is actively looking for clients in the areas of literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, psychology, sociology, science, popular culture, and inspirational/motivational self-help.

Stephanie MacLean at Trident Media Group, LLC. She is now collaborating with Robert Gottlieb and Kimberly Whalen and is now actively seeking Romance, Women’s Fiction and Young Adult.

Tricia Davey has opened her own literary agency, Davey Literary and Media Management. Check out her temporary Publisher’s Marketplace page for all the deets.


Literary Agent Hoopla:
Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner had some real gems this week. Check out this post on How Much Editing Can an Agent Do? and this one on How to Build Traffic on your Blog. That's part 2, and you can check out part 1 here.

Jessica Faust talks about Repitching Agents.

Nathan Bransford is having a Guest Post Fest next week. Be sure to check it out!

Kristin Nelson gives you 15 good (or bad) reasons to make sure you write the best query you can before sending it out. 15 out of 2625.

Three Reasons You Need An Agent by Mollie Glick (as told to Chuck on the Guide to Literary Agents blog). By the way, if you aren't following that blog, you should be. Chuck's got two new features going on over there. "Successful Queries" and "How I Got My Agent". Subscribe, people. Subscribe.

Other Publishing Ins and Outs:

We love the ladies at The Blood-Red Pencil. This post, Charting the Novel Story Arc is excellent.


For those of you in the United States, have a fantastic Fourth of July weekend!

It’s all the rage, but what exactly is it?

Though flash fiction has been around for years, only recently has it become important in the literary community. Also called the “smoke-long” story because it’s just long enough to read while smoking a cigarette, flash fiction has become important largely because the whole story can fit nicely on a web page. Its brevity helps it hold a busy reader’s interest.

Flash fiction is usually written as a single act and is between 300 and 1000 words in length. (In comparison, a short-short is 1000-2500, a short is 2500-7500, novelette 7500-17,500, and a novella is 17,500-40,000.) Flash fiction collections are sold in bookstores, usually as anthologies.

1000 words sounds easy – What’s the catch?

To quote Jason Gurley of WritingWorld.com,“The challenge of flash fiction is to tell a complete story in which every word is absolutely essential, to peel away the frills and lace until you're left with nothing but the hard, clean-scraped core of a story.”

There’s no room for back story, and your characters must be immediately interesting and strong in order to invoke a reaction in your reader. The plot must be tight, the setting conveyed completely with only a few words. The goal is to write something memorable.

For tips on how to successfully write flash fiction, check out this article by G. W. Thomas.

Can you get paid for writing it?

Yes! Flash Fiction Online, for example, pays $50 for each entry it accepts for publication. (It's also a great place to read flash fiction.) Some magazines and e-zines do not pay, but the exposure you get is well worth the trouble. It will help you build your platform as Carolyn discussed last week.

What about flash fiction contests?

Another good way to get your story published! While there are many accepting entries right now, there’s one of particular interest for you agent-minded folk: WOW (Women on Writing) is hosting their quarterly flash fiction contest. The guest judge is literary agent Melissa Jeglinski of The Knight Agency. Be sure to check out WOW's rules – entries are limited and a nominal fee is required.

Where can I submit my flash fiction?

Duotrope provides a full listing of all magazines accepting material for publication. The site is free to use and, with a free membership, you can track your submissions.

Unfortunately I’ve been unable to find a central listing of flash fiction contests. So if any of you are aware of a site, please let me know!

The skinny on flash fiction:

Writing a flash fiction piece is the perfect way to get out of a slump (like writer’s block) and start submitting material. It's a great project that can be done in as little as a weekend. Many mags accept email submissions, so it couldn't be easier.

Can it put you closer to publication of your big project? Absolutely! Agents look for writing credits. You can mention it in a query. This is an easy way for them to see a polished sample of your work, and for you to begin sharing your stories with family, friends, and colleagues.

Now, start writing!

Agent Posts of Interest

The powerhouse ladies of BookEnds are in the middle of a week long Twitchfest. Follow their twitter feeds for an opportunity to pitch your novel in 140 characters or less!

If Carolyn's Platform post got you wondering how to improve your blog traffic, Guest Blogger Jennifer Fulwiler gave some great tips on Rachelle Gardner's blog.

Agent Kae Tienstra posted some inspiring thoughts on Productivity.

Andrew Zack started an interesting conversation on the value of Bookscan data. The comments on that series of posts are worth reading.

Publishing Points of Interest

Anonymous editor Moonrat gave us her thoughts on salaries and class status in publishing.

Perseus announced layoffs and title cutbacks.

The motion picture of Jodi Picoult's best-seller, My Sister's Keeper, starts today. The New York Times ran a piece examining her success and the public's fascination with "child-peril" lit.

The Book Depository is reportedly headed for America.

And if you're an Ohio resident, you might want to rally in support of your library system.

Just for Fun

If you're familiar with Twitter (and if you aren't you probably should be!), you must read this all-tweet version of Jane Austen's Pride and Predjudice. I could not stop laughing!

Have a great weekend!

What is a platform?

A platform is name recognition of some kind. Celebrity, if you will.

Why do you need one?

A platform will help you attract the attention of an agent and later a publisher. Why?

Because having a platform proves that you

* Care enough about your project to promote it
* Have some marketing savvy
* Come with a built-in fan base (read: guaranteed sales)

More importantly, a good platform will help sell your book when it comes out. Fewer and fewer publishers are putting money into promoting books — especially books by unknowns and newcomers. That means that the onus of promotion falls almost completely (and sometimes completely) on you, the author. You are the one who’s going to be making people aware of the book, and convincing them to buy it. You are the one who’s responsible for making the book a success.

Just sit with that for a minute.

Your job doesn’t end with writing the book. It doesn’t end with landing an agent or even a publisher. These days, you must also be a marketing expert.

The good news is, you can learn how if you don’t know. And I'm going to help you get started.

Do you already have the makings of a platform?

If you’re writing nonfiction, do you have any of the following in the area you’re writing about?

* Advanced degrees or certifications (e.g. MA, PhD)

* Teaching experience

* Speaking experience (e.g. you’re the pastor of a large church, you give presentations to large corporate groups)

* Professional (i.e. on-the-job) experience

* Expert experience (i.e. have you been quoted in newspapers or magazines as an expert on your topic?

* Published articles in local (good) or national (better) magazines or newspapers

* A polished, professional-looking website or blog


If you’re writing fiction, do you have any of the following?

* Advanced degrees or certifications (e.g. an MFA)

* Published short fiction

* Writing awards from local, regional, or national contests (see below)

* A successful website or blog that spotlights your writing

Help! — I don’t have a platform!

Let’s say you don’t have a platform. You don’t even have a shoebox to stand on. Now what?

Now you sit down with a piece of paper and answer the following questions.

* Why do people need my book (as opposed to the thousands that already line the shelves?) What makes my idea unique? (Everyone must be able to answer this.)

* Why must I be the one to write this book? What about my background or experience makes me the only one who can write this? (This is particularly important for nonfiction writers.)

* What do I do really well? (Go ahead and list everything you can think of here, even if it doesn’t seem relevant.)

* How much time and energy am I willing to commit to building this platform? (e.g. I will blog three times a week on my book topic, every week)

* What would I like my platform to look like in a year? (e.g. my blog will have 1000 subscribers)

After you answer these questions, you need to decide how you’re going to get from point A (don’t even have a shoebox) to point B (a real live platform). Look again at the skills you listed — can you use any of them?

For fiction writers
* Try entering some contests. Here’s a great resource to help you find some:
FreelanceWriting.com http://www.freelancewriting.com/writing-contests.php

For both fiction and nonfiction writers, some of the best ways to build a platform include:
* Blogging – I know I reference her all the time, but fiction writer (and QT Blogger!) Elana Johnson has a fantastic blog — so good that…well, that I reference her all the time. Which means she’s got word of mouth, and word of mouth means she’s got a platform. Her blog is just that good.

* Using other social networking sites, such as mySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. The trick is to provide information that’s really going to intrigue other people and get them invested in your book. Don’t tell them that you wrote 1500 words today — tell them that you did some fascinating research for your story on bondage furniture for that S&M dungeon in your story. Don’t just tell them you’re interviewing people for your nonfiction book — give them outtakes from the interview, or at least tease them with what kinds of nuggets of wisdom are going to be in your finished manuscript.

* A website that provides information related to your story or nonfiction book. Writing a story about psychics? Give people some information about real psychics and how you got interested in the topic. Mary Lindsey provides photographs of real places mentioned in her novel, Soul Purpose. Even if you haven’t read the novel, the pictures are interesting.

For nonfiction writers, find ways to speak or teach publicly.

* Writing a book on a particular kind of craft? Call your local craft store and ask how they find teachers for their classes. (In the US, consider, for example, JoAnn and Michaels crafts stores.) Arrange to meet with the person who organizes the classes, and go armed — take photographs and, if you can, pieces of your very best work. Make a handout that would help your potential students and take that along, too, to show how you would teach.

* If you have an advanced degree or specialized knowledge and are willing to spend some money to get your name into big magazines and newspapers, consider becoming a ProfNet Expert. This is just one way that coaching expert Larina Kase went from being an unknown to being a heavy hitter—not just in business, but as a writer!

* Use your website or blog to answer questions from readers on your topic.

* Read the best books on platform building. My favorites are Guerrilla Marketing for Writers : 100 Weapons to Help You Sell Your Work, Get Known Before The Book Deal: Use Your Personal Strengths To Grow An Author Platform, and Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors.

And do all of these things BEFORE you send your query. Don’t tell the agent you’re going to build a platform; tell her you already have a great one in place. Rachelle Gardner puts it this way:      

I DON'T want to see in your proposal, "I am willing to start a blog and join social networks to market myself."

I DO want to see: "I've been blogging for a year, with my readership growing steadily. I use Facebook and Twitter to create relationships with potential future readers of my books, and to drive people back to my blog. I'm currently making contact through the blog and social networks with several hundred (or several thousand) people a day."

Still have questions?  Have other ideas on building platform? Feel free to use the comments area below!



Dr. Carolyn Kaufman is a clinical psychologist and professor residing in Columbus, Ohio. A published writer, she runs Archetype Writing: Psychology for Fiction Writers and an associated blog. She is often quoted by the media as an expert resource. 

Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary + Media was kind enough to serve as judge for our most recent contest on elevator pitches.

After carefully considering all of the fabulous entries, she's selected her 11 favorites.

These lucky winners will be asked to submit their partial manuscript to Ms. Glick!

Drumroll please...

And the winners are (in alphabetical order by username)

acarthur (YA)

Krystal Bentley has a crush and he’s everything she ever wished for, he’s movie-star cute, laughs at her dry humor and listens to her rantings about her divorced parents without judging. There’s only one problem—he’s dead.

alh719 (narrative fiction/memoir)

On December 7, 2007, I was slugged by a drunk frat boy. In that instant, I realized that living with 65 college women wasn't as glamorous as I thought it would be.

SORORITY HOUSE MOM is the tale of my two-year romp as the house director for a female version of Animal House. While celebrating all that is good, magical, and enchanting about sorority life, it also tells what can happen when things go terribly wrong.

auntpeapie (Adult Fiction)

Olivia Howard transitioned from obedient Air Force brat to dedicated wife and mother, but her orderly life is disrupted when she learns her teenage son and his girlfriend are expecting a child. When the idea of adoption is mentioned, she supports their choice, but no one anticipates her proposal to raise the child as her own—a suggestion interpreted as selfless to some, yet selfish by others, including her husband. AN IMAGINED LIFE explores how her decision threatens to unravel the stability she’s endeavored to achieve.

bgheald (Adult Fiction)

Shelby Holt knows she can’t trust her heart but when she meets Chad Graham she doubts she can trust her head either. The new ranch hand looks uncannily like the man she loved--a man whose death she’s determined to prove was no accident.

collie (Literary Gothic)

After her sister's suicide, Doril is sent to care for her reclusive and delusional great grandmother in Swale Hall on the edge of the Yorkshire moors. She becomes immersed in the old woman's imaginary world, gets to know the still passionately loved, long dead,Tristrum, and discovers the misconceptions that caused such anguish in their relationship.

fictionwriter (YA)

A fifteen-year-old American boy vacationing in Paris stumbles into a murder attempt, and plays a dangerous game to solve a puzzle and prevent an international crisis in THE FOGGED MIRROR.

kerribookwriter (YA)

When troublemaking fifteen year old Tina Lilly is sent to live with her grandmother, she has trouble adjusting to the slow way of life in small town Texas . Things suddenly take a turn after she discovers an old journal in the attic which reveals a murder her grandmother committed fifty years earlier.

In this “My So-Called Life meets Veronica Mars” coming of age romantic suspense novel, Tina will learn that sometimes living a lie is the only way to survive the truth.

kph555 (Adult Fiction)

HUNGER IN THE HEART OF GATOR TOWN is a Southern literary novella, with a finished sequel, about a young boy coming to terms with the consequences World War II has had on his family.

His beloved, shell-shocked, and unpredictable, father stages continual games of war to train his son, his bigoted, alcoholic mother blames the misfortune in her marriage on the black soldier whose life her husband saved, and his manipulative, cantankerous grandfather stirs up constant trouble between the two, while Coleman Puttman Bridgeman, III, is in the center of it all, fighting a personal war of survival.

When the boy’s father is suspiciously shot and killed, his grandfather accuses his daughter-in-law, and a bitter estrangement between Coleman and his mother is set in motion, tempered only by the family’s wise gardener and a neighbor girl with family problems of her own.

lauramcneal (Mystery/Suspense)

A young woman is kidnapped and disappears without a trace; three years later, a senator dies mysteriously, their paths linked by fate and the colliding ambitions of others – the head of the state lottery who will stop at nothing to become the next governor and the missing woman’s sister, whose relentless quest to find the truth threatens to bring him down.

Number_One (YA)

With his dad unemployed and money too tight to buy the comic books he pores over with his friends, Prentis Porter thinks eighth grade at his lousy new school can’t get any worse -- until a deadly cafeteria shooting not only leaves him questioning how he mysteriously survived, but his father’s miraculous appearance as it all ended.

His parents now constantly arguing as more losses pound his family, the imaginative teen finds himself increasingly alone, struggling with sometimes terrible revelations about his best friends, teachers, and family as he pursues the greatest secret of all -- the one he's begun to believe his father holds. Is it even possible, or is Prent the victim of his own imagination:

Is his father some kind of real-life superhero?

StevenLevy (YA)

President Lincoln was stabbed to death before being reelected – that’s what history books would say were it not for two daring, clever, and accidentally reeking children from our own time.

Ted and Carin, preteens living with their emotionally broken father in rural Washington State, find an antique key that opens the door on a sweltering afternoon in the other Washington (DC), where the Civil War is raging and conspirators are plotting to kill the president. Somehow, between stumbling into the sewage-ridden Washington Canal, sneaking into the loosely guarded White House only to lose each other in the vast building, and dodging a soldier still angry over his war wounds and a medium who claims she can reveal their future, these two children, out of place and out of time, must stop a murder that would change history – and find their way back home.

Ms. Glick also compiled a list of honorable mentions. They include:

aliciamuhlestein (YA)

Sent to live with her grandmother at Tamlin Manor, Anika learns that someday she will assume her role as heiress of Tamlin and caretaker of the earth--Mother Nature.

When William Shakespeare sends his son to take over his responsibilities at Tamlin and an Arthurian knight is spotted spying, Anika finds herself in the middle of a few mysteries, an ancient love story, and an admirer who is sworn to a secret not even the myths can know.

Amanda_Sullivan (Narrative Non-Fiction)

Families with children diagnosed as having “mental health issues” such as Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, or any of the other devastating names that are becoming so common to our vocabularies, tend to become lost in the psychological community. Usually they have searched for years looking for answers and they are tired and confused by the lingo, the meds, the social difficulties, the entire family feels it and suffers. This book is a parent’s “guide” through counseling and a Pollyanna approach to finding the true beauty in their child.

aprilannerwin (Adult Fiction)

Kianna Ravencamp’s dream has always been to find The One – but being plus-sized is a real hindrance on the romance market; add in the fact that every relationship around her is dysfunctional and she gives up hope that true love like her parents’ is still possible. Instead, she focuses on the next best thing, her dream of being a songwriter. God has bigger things in mind though – like Nick, Jason and Derek - and her journey to fulfill one dream may just upset everything she believes true about romance, herself, and The One.

chazley (YA)

High school holds as many secrets as a UFO crash site, and no one keeps her mouth shut better than Em Hopkins, a lone shape-shifter in a world of ordinary people.

Em can be anyone you want, from Barack Obama to Avril Lavigne; when the need to shift engulfs her, she can be anyone but herself. HOWEVER YOU WANT ME is a novel about identity, lies, and falling in love with the Hawaiian boy next door (or his brother).

cncurtin (YA)

THE UNICORN TAMER is where Greek mythology meets Pokémon, a young adult fantasy about a 13-year-old girl named Emma Brown, whose destiny is to rehabilitate all the endangered species - from the ordinary blue whales to the extraordinary griffons. The problem is her destiny clashes with a Hunter named Theron, who's destined to wipe out the animal race and prove that man is the most powerful beast of all.

When Theron kidnaps her parents, Emma attempts to rescue them and, in the process, inadvertently discovers a leprechaun city, saves a baby unicorn, and changes the fate of all endangered species - ordinary and extraordinary.

dutchhenry (Adult Fiction)

The cancer is winning, and she'll be gone by fall -- but they have one last summer. One hot summer to consummate a lifetime of love, to cry together, laugh together ... remember together. But when a troubled young girl and an injured horse turn to them for help, Mary and Sam Holt's eloquent final goodbye will embrace the labors of lovingly nursing the horse and leaving an enduring, healing mark on the girl.

harriet (Romantic Suspense)

A sgian dhub dagger links the murder of a handsome 34-year-old man in present-day Boston to a vow made by a Scottish ancestor 700 years earlier. The victim’s widow and his wealthy, powerful best friend are determined to uncover the reason for the senseless killing and avenge it. United by a mutual goal, the two find it increasingly difficult to resist a powerful attraction to each other.

LorettaWheeler (Historical Paranormal Romance)

It is the 1800’s in the heart of New Orleans, where above ground graves guard their secrets with moss cloaked tenacity, and where Deidre Devereaux has not only inherited a plantation, but something more…something wicked…something long dead; something that wants her, and her soul.

LynnRush (YA)

Maybe if Emma Martin hadn’t witnessed vampires kill her first true love, she’d be more willing to fall in love again. Despite her best efforts to resists him, Jake Cunningham steals Emma’s heart. But when his family starts triggering her mystical tattoo, which detects the undead, she may be forced to hunt them.

Congratulations to all! Winners, please email me at the address in the sidebar for details on your submission prize.

Big thanks to Mollie Glick for serving as judge, and thanks to everyone who entered. Remember, even if you didn't win our contest you can still query Ms. Glick with your complete and polished project!

Mollie Glick

After graduating from Brown University, Mollie began her publishing career as a literary scout, advising foreign publishers regarding the acquisition of rights to American books. She then worked as an editor at the Crown imprint of Random House, before switching over to "the other side" and becoming an agent at JVNLA (The Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency) in 2003. Mollie's list includes literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, and a bit of practical non- fiction. She's particularly interested in fiction that bridges the literary/commercial divide, combining strong writing with a great plot, and non-fiction dealing with popular science, medicine, psychology, cultural history, memoir and current events. She's very hands-on, working collaboratively with her authors to refine their projects, then focusing on identifying just the right editors for the submissions. In addition to her work as a literary agent, Mollie also teaches classes on non-fiction proposal writing at Media Bistro, and a copy of her instructional article on non-fiction proposal writing will be featured in this year's edition of the Writers Digest guide to literary agents.

We’ve spent some time on the blog discussing query letters, synopses, elevator pitches, genres, and manuscript formatting.

Let’s say you’ve done all that. You’ve written a great novel, ran it through a critique buddy or two, polished the query letter, all of it.

What next?

Researching literary agents, of course.

I think this step actually starts way back at the beginning and you should do it in bits and pieces as you prepare to query. No matter how you do it, just make sure you do. After all, you want to place your novel with an agent that will A) be a good match for you personality-wise B) likes your genre C) has contacts in your genre and D) has the best possibility of garnering a request from the query letter.

Thus, you must research.

Now, if you know me, I actually despise research—except for researching agents. I find this kind of research hopeful, because I know that I can find the literary agents that will be the best ones to query for my work. Here’s a few tips for making this process a little easier.

1. Search by genre. There is absolutely no point in querying agents who don’t represent your genre. It’s a colossal waste of your time—and theirs. Using the main QueryTracker site, this is easy, easy, easy.


Simply find your genre in the drop down menu and click search.

2. Once you’ve identified agents according to genre, find out all you can about them. On the "Overview & User Comments" tab, I can see everything I need to research the agent. For Kae Tienstra, there is her email address, a website listed, a blog, links to Publisher’s Marketplace, AgentQuery, AAR, Preditors & Editors, methods of submitting, the whole nine yards.


I typically open all of these links at once by clicking on them and letting them load in their own window. Then I systematically read each one, checking for the following:

o Submission Guidelines
o What they’re looking for
o Response times
o Anything else I think would help identify Kae as an agent I want to query.

Another thing I check on QueryTracker: the user comments. I can see experiences from people who have queried this agent before. And if you’re a premium member, you can run all kinds of reports about query response times, request rates and agents with similar tastes.

3. Now I’m 95% sure that I want to query Kae. One more thing I always do: a Google search with the words, “interview with literary agent XXX”. This is a good way to further discover if the agent you’re researching is looking for a book like yours. We’ve done two interviews with literary agents (Anna Webman and Beth Fleisher) as well as a reposting of Ginger Clark’s interview. Cynthia Leitich Smith does several interviews each month with literary agents on her blog, Cynsations. The Guide to Literary Agents blog is also a terrific resource for interviews and what specific agents are looking for.

Now that I know I want to query Kae, I prepare the first paragraph of my query letter. I tend to try to find something personal about each agent to begin the query with. This is where the blog I’ve been reading or the interview I’ve found comes in. My first line is usually something like this: “In an interview you gave on the Cynsations blog, you said you were looking for “teen protagonists with a strong voice”. Because of this, I believe you would be interested in my young adult novel, XXX.”

Then I launch into my hook, query, sinker. The agent knows I’ve done my research, and that I’m not spamming every agent in AgentLand with the same email.


I think many times, aspiring authors will only complete step number one, and search by genre. I don’t think this is enough. I think you owe it to yourself and to the agents you’re querying to do more than that. Read their websites and blogs. Familiarize yourself with their sales records and what they’re selling. Find out everything you can about the agent and their agency (forum discussions, following them on Twitter, reading books by authors they represent) before you hit send or affix that postage stamp.

Researching agents should not be skipped. It’s as important as the query letter. And we all know how important that is. A fabulous query letter is worthless unless you get it in front of the right agents. So roll up those sleeves, and do your research!