Dear Lauren, I am an aspiring writer who hopes to publish traditionally. After getting my MFA, I worked on my memoir as much as I could and began the journey of trying to secure an agent. I queried literary agents—big and small—and wanted to hit 100 rejections before revisiting my memoir and rethinking my approach…. Read more »
In this column, Life of a Writer, every 8 weeks or so I will share the next episode in my journey as a middle-aged woman who finally gets serious about her dream of becoming a published author. In Episode 3 of this column, I wrote about how I completed the manuscript of my first novel… Read more »
I’m often asked how I got published. I’ve given a lot of to-the-point answers as well as longer explanations that focus on hard work, determination, and luck. The more I think about my eight-year road-to-publication, the more I’m certain writers who succeed do something pivotal during the process of drafting, revising, querying, and submitting. They… Read more »
Do you have trouble finding comparable titles for your book? Are you confused about how to use comparable titles in general? Or understand what they are? Comparable titles (also known as comps) can be extremely helpful when writing and pitching your book to a literary agent or editor. They are also a huge way to… Read more »
A weird flex: I can lay claim to be as formally uneducated in our craft as just about any writer. I’ve never taken a creative writing class, any right-thinking MFA course would have discarded my application at first glance, and I remain unclear as to what a Writers’ Conference even is. Nonetheless, a memoir, a… Read more »
Many writing conferences have pitch sessions. They can be a fantastic way to get your work in front of editors and agents. Even if you don’t end up finding an agent at a conference, pitch sessions are a great way to practice the fine art of talking about your book in a succinct and effective… Read more »
My first book releases in less than two months. There are so many promo things I’m supposed to be doing, even though the editing was done ages ago. The list of stuff authors are supposed to do for book promotion keeps getting longer. We’re told we need more followers, more reviews. We need a website, a… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Thanks for joining me today for DIY MFA Radio. I’m so excited to share this episode because I’m interviewing literary agent Janet Reid, AKA the Query Shark. *Cue music from Jaws in 3… 2… 1…* Janet is a literary agent at FinePrint Literary Management in NYC, where she represents mostly crime novels and thrillers, with some… Read more »
OMG, I have been holding onto this secret for weeks now and I’m so unbelievably excited to share the news. Drumroll please… DIY MFA is hosting its first ever online writing conference! I have been a combination of nervous and excited about this announcement and I haven’t been able to keep my head on straight for the past few… Read more »
Hello and welcome to another awesome episode of DIY MFA Radio! Today I’m so excited to be interviewing Literary Agent Jeff Kleinman. Jeff is a founding partner of Folio Literary Management, and also happens to be my awesome agent! What I love about working with Jeff is that he has an eye for spotting books… Read more »
