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Publishing: 7 Things Lessons Learned From My First Book Deal

July 10, 2013 by Joanna Penn

OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

One of the things I really love about this writing life is that we meet other writers along the way, and we never know where they will end up.

truepathcover233X175Four years ago I started out on Twitter as a newbie, with no author friends at all, and one of the first people I connected with was Graham Storrs. I hadn't even started writing fiction at the time, but Graham's first book Timesplash was well on the way.

He wrote a fantastic post on what that first experience taught him, and now he's back, with a traditional book deal and a new book, True Path. I'm delighted to see how far Graham has come in these few years, and I hope you're also encouraged. Seeing how much we can all achieve over the years is one of the precious things about blogging!

Signing with a publisher is a big deal for a writer.

For most of us it is the achievement of a lifetime ambition, something we've dreamed about since childhood. It certainly was for me when I signed up with a small NY press to publish my novel, Timesplash. It wasn't the first book I'd written – more like the tenth – but it was the one that has always got publishers most excited.

That was three years ago and that first deal went on to break my heart. Sales were dismal and the book looked like a complete flop. But the experience taught me a few things about publishing in today's chaotic marketplace that might be of interest.

(1) You Get More Than One Chance

Even as recently as 2010, people were telling me that if you got a book published and it flopped, you might never get another go. The publishers, they said, would check your Nielsen data to see what your sales were and a flop would mark you as a bad risk. It filled me with dread at the time when I saw the meagre royalty cheques and decided I was a marked man.

And yet the reality was quite different. Publishers didn't seem to care and agents never asked. This was true even for Timesplash, which had already been published and failed, and then self-published with, at first, very little success. Self-publishing was something else people had told me would kill a book's chances of ever being commercially published.

Yet three different Big 6 publishers and three small press publishers talked seriously about publishing it. Three of them negotiated contracts and one of them, eventually, signed.

The moral seems to be, never give up on yourself and never give up on your book. The old rules don't apply. Things have changed and they're still changing.

(2) Rights Matter

However, you really have to be sure you have the rights to your work, or you will never be able to re-sell it. After my first failure, I asked the publisher if I could have my rights back (because I intended to self-publish the book). They agreed readily. Publishing in my genre had been an experiment for them and they were as disappointed as I was. I was lucky. Although I had a termination clause in my contract, they let me off. I could still have been waiting for the contract to end so that I could do something else with my book.

It has made me very wary about what rights I sign over to publishers and to make sure those termination clauses are in place. Even when I sell a short story these days, I let the publisher know I will probably want to self-publish it soon and we negotiate on how long any exclusivity period might last.

(3) Publishers are Human Too

Not only through Timesplash, but also with other books, I have had a lot of dealings with publishers, large and small in the three years since Timesplash was first published. And this is what I've learned about them: they're just people trying to run a business.

Like you and me, they find themselves in a world of rapidly changing opportunities and shifting markets. They're not sure how best to proceed and they're often open to experimentation and off-the-wall business propositions. Sometimes, the crazy ideas come from them. Sometimes you can see they're thrashing about trying new things in the desperate hope that they can find a business model that beats the competition.

I tend to get caught up in enthusiasms and I'm far too willing to give new ideas a go. These days, many publishers are the same – to everybody's detriment. It really is a good idea to step back and ask yourself just how you're going to make money from the deal you're so excited about. How many books you can reasonably sell through each channel. What your return will be. What your personal outlay will be (usually measured in hundreds of hours of ineffectual marketing time in my case!) and how quickly you can back out of it if it isn't going well. You need to ask publishers hard questions but accept that they might not know the answers. We're all learning all the time now.

(4) Self-Publishing is About Selling

This is something you will have heard from self-publishing gurus all over the Web, so I hardly need repeat it. I knew it before I started self-publishing, yet it still came as a big revelation to me. It's not about having a blog, or a Twitter account, or a large group of Facebook friends. It's about publicity, marketing, and ultimately, selling: segmenting your customer base, making the right proposition, and closing the deal.

Many years ago, I asked my wife (who is so much wiser than me) if I should quit my job and run my own business. She said I shouldn't – not because my ideas were no good, or my business plan wouldn't work, or I didn't have the skills needed, but because I wouldn't enjoy running a business. She was right and that's why I don't enjoy self-publishing. It's a business. You make things, you package them, and you sell them. I can do it. I've made a fair bit of money at it (lots more than any publisher has ever earned me) but I don't enjoy it. Some do. Some don't.

(5) Editors Should be Certified

As well as working with many publishers over the past few years, I've also worked with a lot of editors, including independent ones. And I've come to the conclusion that editors should be qualified. They should do a three years degree in editing (not an MFA or an Eng. Lit. degree!) and then take post-grad courses in particular genres. Only then will they be fit to be let loose on the world.

I have encountered many degrees of incompetence in editors – from small presses especially, but not exclusively – and I have worked with just a couple who can do it right, who “get” what you're trying to do and use their skill to help you achieve it the best way you can. Some editors I've worked with have been barely literate. Some were rule-following robots. Some were just not very bright. The one I have now is extremely good and, I have to say, even if I never make a cent from my contracts with Momentum, I'd be tempted to stick with them just so I don't have to work with poor editors ever again.

(6) An Agent is Only Good for One Thing

Because I don't enjoy the business side of self-publishing, and because I am generally disillusioned with small publishers, I have decided I only want to be published through big publishers – preferably the Big 6 (or however many there are left now). Small publishers will let you send them manuscripts “unsolicited” but the majority of the big ones still insist on receiving submissions through an agent. It is this function, interfacing with publishers who otherwise refuse to speak to me, for which an agent is invaluable. I simply can't do business without one.

(7) Friends Matter Too

I think it's because I'm a chronically shy, introverted type, that I have never really seen it before but people will help you. Other writers will help you. You don't have to do it alone. In fact, I was never able to do it alone and any success I've had is traceable the kindness of other people. Asking for help might seem like the hardest thing in your life (even worse than asking for sales) but I'm discovering that you don't always even need to ask. People are just that darned nice!

So let me sign off with a special thank you to Joanna for hosting this post.

Do you have any questions about moving to a traditional publisher? Or any experiences of your own to share? Please leave your comments below. 

truepathcover233X175Graham Storrs is a science fiction writer living in rural Queensland. A former research scientist, IT consultant and award-winning software designer, his published non-fiction includes three children's science books, over a hundred magazine articles, and more than thirty academic papers and book chapters, in the fields of artificial intelligence, psychology, and human-computer interaction. In recent years he has turned his attention to writing science fiction and has published over twenty short stories in magazines and anthologies.

Graham recently signed a two-book deal with Momentum, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, to publish his time travel thriller, Timesplash, and its sequel, True Path.

Find Graham's books through Amazon, Kobo, or iTunes, and feel free to chat to him on Twitter (@graywave) or on his blog.

 

How I Got A Literary Agent

September 13, 2012 by Joanna Penn 36 Comments

OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

Back in July, I signed with a New York agent, Rachel Ekstrom and then I explained the reasons why I want to pursue a hybrid career with my writing, with some books in traditional publishing and some self-published.

envelopeMany people asked in the comments of those posts and in subsequent emails how I actually got an agent, especially an American one since I live in London, so in today's post, I share the details.

In terms of an update, I have just finished a round of edits on Pentecost, the first book in the series and Rachel will be submitting it to a number of publishers in the coming weeks.

The traditional way to get an agent

For many years, there has been a well-trodden path to getting a literary agent. Here's the short version:

* Find agents to target
* Write a query letter
* Get rejected, hear nothing or get asked for a partial or full manuscript
* Send submission package, including partial or full manuscript
* Get rejected (go back to the top of the list) or sign with the agent

This process took many authors years and the number of rejection slips seems to have become almost a matter of pride for some.

How I got an agent 

I never even considered querying my fiction the traditional way. I don't like the energy of rejection or the amount of time I could see being spent in the querying process.

pentecost prophecy thriller novelsBy the time I wrote Pentecost I already had an online audience through this blog and knew a lot about self-publishing from my first non-fiction book. I was already devouring fiction on the Kindle and could see the opportunities with ebooks.

I'm also a business-woman and saw self-publishing as a better, faster way to get my books out there and earning. So I decided to spend my limited time on writing and marketing my own books.

But when the sales of Pentecost and Prophecy reached over 40,000 in the first year, I began to get some commercial interest. Both books still rank as Amazon bestsellers in the UK store, so they are quite clearly in the commercial fiction arena, and with ideas for a series of at least 7 books, there is potential for growth.

How to get publishedThen in the first half of 2012, I created the ProWriter courses with New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons.

CJ & I collaborated on multimedia courses, one of which was How to get published, the traditional way, based on CJ's extensive experience. I learned so much from her about agents and the possible opportunities through traditional publishing that I began to be more interested in getting an agent. [Click here to find out more about the course, available now, if this is a route you are interested in too]

 

J.F.Penn with Lee Child Thriller authors

J.F.Penn with Lee Child at Thrillerfest

In July 2012, I attended Thrillerfest in New York and so I had the opportunity to meet some agents, as well as to pitch in person at Agentfest, which was part of the program.

A few weeks before that, I was introduced to Rachel Ekstrom at Irene Goodman Literary Agency through a personal connection based on my indie success and my existing platform which enabled me to jump the slush pile and submit the full manuscripts directly without querying. I met Rachel in person at Thrillerfest.

At Agentfest I pitched three more agents, and two of them asked for full manuscripts, and the other for the first 30 pages. Within a week, I had an offer of representation from two agents and decided, after much deliberation, to sign with Rachel because of the rapport we had but also because of the fantastic agency she is with, and how happy the Irene Goodman Agency authors are. More about why in my post on the subject here.

You can also listen to me talking about going from self-publishing to getting an agent on the Self-Publishing Podcast [language warning for this, not a clean podcast. I come in at about 17 mins]

If you want an agent, it's important to look at what you want to achieve as an author as the agency contract may have terms you can't agree with. I specifically chose Rachel and the Irene Goodman Agency because they have a demonstrated commitment to their author's success, incorporating self-publishing as a possible option for a hybrid career.

The indie author's guide to getting an agent (or, the new way)

checklistSome would say this is not the “normal” route to getting an agent, but to be honest, I think it is becoming more usual in a crowded market. Indie authors who hit high on the charts get offers of representation very quickly and I've had a number of them on the podcast: check out the interviews with Mark Edwards and Rachel Abbott.

For me, it came down to:

  • Writing a good, commercial book that had already been edited. Pentecost continues to sell well and rank on Amazon and I always intended to write commercial fiction that would be applicable to the mass market. Traditional publishers are a business and so they want to buy books that will sell and make money. This is probably why there will be more experimental fiction in the self-publishing arena as time goes on (and that is no comment on what is “better” writing).
  • Establishing a platform that enables you to meet other authors and prove your professional approach, as well as demonstrating to the agent that you know what you're doing marketing-wise. This can lead to personal introductions and also makes your ‘package' look better. I gave the agents a glossy, color 1-sheet that included my platform figures including blog subscribers, podcast downloads, social media contacts and more. It proves my ability to sell and market myself as an author as well as the books.
  • Successfully self-publishing. When I pitched to the agents, none of them were worried about the fact I had self-published. They were only interested in the numbers and 40,000 in a year was enough to be considered interesting. I don't believe it's worth mentioning it if you aren't selling a decent amount, and in fact, “failing” at self-publishing can be a distinct turn-off for an agent/publisher.
  • Investing in conventions where you can meet agents in person and stand out from the crowd. Yes, Thrillerfest is one of the more expensive cons, but it is full of professionals in the writing and publishing world. Meeting agents in person meant I jumped the slush pile as they were able to catch the passion about my books (and being a Brit in America also helps as I was memorable!)

Some people have said how this route could be seen as a shortcut but it's absolutely not in terms of time or effort.

I could have queried Pentecost back in Feb 2011, so that's 18 months that could have been spent querying. I've spent a lot of effort on writing, marketing and everything that goes into self-publishing. So there are pros and cons for either way.

However, I definitely prefer this indie approach as it means I have had 18 months of income as well as over 40,000 people reading the books and I have build up an email list of fans who will be ready to buy the next book when it is released – whether self

Recommended resources and links if you are considering a literary agent

  • Definitely read this to make sure you really are sure you want an agent: Why you don't need an agent – with Dean Wesley Smith
  • Everything you wanted to know about agents at Neil Gaiman's blog
  • What to ask an agent when you have one interested – Rachelle Gardner.
  • The Business Rusch – lots of great posts but you definitely need to know about contracts – this article on deal-breakers has a lot of great links and Kris has a lot of great posts in this business series. A must read for serious authors.
  • Lots of articles on agents and publishing contracts at the Passive Voice Blog
  • ProWriter: Secrets of Traditional Publishing Success with NY Times bestselling author CJ Lyons. The information I learned from CJ in this course helped me immeasurably. It's only US$99 and there is serious gold in this course.

Do you have an agent, or do you want one? Do you have any tips or stories to share? Please do add a comment below.

Images: checklist by BigStock , and my own, envelope purchased from iStockphoto

Why I Signed With A New York Literary Agent

July 30, 2012 by Joanna Penn 105 Comments

OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

Last week I announced on my author blog that I have signed with literary agent Rachel Ekstrom from the Irene Goodman Literary Agency in New York. Thank you for all the congratulations I have received!

irene goodman literary agencyMany of you have been incredibly supportive of my independent publishing career so far and I know you will have some questions. Since I have always been transparent with my journey, I'm happy to share what I can.

I am a fan of publishing in all its myriad guises, and none of us know where the industry is going.  It's also quite ironic that I feel like I have to defend my decision, since in the past, self-publishing has needed the defense more!

Why do I even want an agent?

I am an author and an entrepreneur, so my goals center around:

  1. Creating great books and quality products that will delight, entertain, educate and inspire my readers
  2. Building a long term career as an author and widening my reader base
  3. Growing a sustainable income that enables me to travel and spend my time on (1) above!

In working towards these goals as an independent author over the last 3.5 years, I have used business partnerships with professional editors, book cover designers and formatters. I also depend on distributors like Amazon, Kobo and BookBaby to get my books into the hands of readers. I use tools like blogging and social networking to market and I pay for internet hosting to enable this. I sell from my site so I use Paypal as a merchant service.

I could not run my business without these business partners.

I look at signing with an agent, and possibly a traditional publisher, in the same way. They are business partners who I will work with to achieve a mutually beneficial goal. I am not a newbie in this business anymore. I have been learning about publishing for nearly four years, so this is certainly done with forethought. I have also done a lot of research on contracts and legalities, attending the Rights workshop at the London Book Fair as well as poring over books on contract clauses. I'm not going to sign anything that doesn't fit with my goals.

Being an indie author is not only about self-publishing anymore. It's more about taking control of your career as an author and becoming a creative director for each book. The Alliance of Independent Authors has a fantastic definition here if you want to read more.

So signing with an agent and pursuing traditional publishing reflects on my overall goals above as follows:

wall of books (1) Traditional publishing is excellent at creating quality products.

I'm an ebook only author right now and although I have dabbled in print, I don't enjoy the process. I know a lot of indies do it successfully but I am a huge fan of doing things I enjoy 🙂

I currently employ several different editors during my writing process, and I absolutely believe this is critical for any author to invest in. Traditional publishing will hopefully take me to a new level with my writing and push me further. I will certainly be looking for a great editorial team as part of any deal.

(2) Traditional publishing will enable me to build a wider audience.

There are still many readers who will only buy print books in bookstores, or who hear about books through more traditional venues e.g. book clubs. I can reach an online audience myself but there are possibilities with traditional publishing that I also want to pursue.

(3) On the income question.

I am the kind of indie who wants a hybrid approach combining traditional publishing with self-publishing. After all, traditional and independent publishing are not mutually exclusive.

This approach can bring in spikes with advances, and then a monthly rolling income with self-publishing. I specifically went with the Irene Goodman Agency because they understand self-publishing can be an option for some of their authors at certain times, depending on the specifics of the author's career and goals. I know some of their authors who are already following this hybrid approach successfully.

Nothing changes right now in terms of my books being available for sale. You can still buy Pentecost and Prophecy at the moment (better snap them up though!).

Here are some of the other reasons for pursuing this opportunity.

Authority, experience, social proof and let's face it, ego.

Writer's Green Room

I want to be waiting in the writer's green room at literary festivals.

You guys know I am proud of self-publishing and absolutely intend to continue doing it in some form. Indeed, I recently re-released my first book on career change. But originally, this blog was sub-titled ‘Adventures in Publishing' and it was always my goal to have a traditional book deal one day.

In the UK, there are still bookstores on the high street and my parents read books in print that they buy from Waterstones. I do want to be on those shelves among the bestsellers. There is definitely still some authority and social proof with traditional publishing that I want to benefit from, so long as I can integrate it with my self-publishing goals.

I would also like to say I have ‘done it' so I can justifiably join in the discussions on traditional publishing that I can only report on second-hand at the moment.

Film rights and other subsidiary rights.

As well as my lovely agent, Rachel Ekstrom, the Irene Goodman agency has a couple of great rights agents who focus on specific areas of subsidiary rights. I am interested to see what they can do with my books.

Lee Child talked at Thrillerfest about the upcoming movie Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise. Very exciting. I want Morgan Sierra to be the next Lara Croft, so I need people with the right contacts to make that happen. I know the film deal is a lightning strike type of luck, but some authors make it, and I have always had stretch goals and dreams!

Peer respect, blurbs and networking.

At Thrillerfest, I was excited to meet some of the big name authors who I call my writing heroes. Much as I love self-publishing, even in the current market, I think I am more likely to be able to get blurbs from big name authors if I get a traditional book deal. I have to build my author brand over time and peer networking is critical for this.

Entry into prizes.

This is an arena that is slowly opening up to indies, but most prizes are still currently based on traditional publishing. I think nominations and awards can help marketing and enable the expansion of readership.

Speaking opportunities at festivals.

I already have a professional speaking career but it doesn't currently include talking specifically about my fiction 🙂 The festivals in the UK especially are only about traditionally published authors, and this is an area I want to break into. (btw, I'm speaking at Zurich WriteCon in October if anyone fancies some Swiss chocolate with their scribbling!)

New York statue of libertyWhy a New York agent when I live in London?

I am British but I moved back to London last year after 11 years in Australia and New Zealand. In the last four years, I have learned about online marketing from mainly US blogs so I am enmeshed in their business models. My Mum also lived in the US for many years so I have visited a lot. I love my homeland but in terms of publishing, I believe the Americans are still ahead of us in terms of the new paradigms in publishing. I wanted a forward thinking agent at an innovative agency.

It's also a bigger book market in the US and my current sales are about 4:1 US:UK split. I wrote for the US market and even use an American spell-check. My traffic for this site and my podcast is over 50% US so most of my existing audience is there. In publishing terms, books that make it big in the US are more likely to be picked up in the UK and in other countries. So it is a business move that hopefully will put me in a better position for achieving my goals.

I have years of writing ahead of me.

The books I have out right now are not the end of what I can create. They are not precious snowflakes (much as I love them!). I have stacks of ideas and I am writing more books. At the moment, I am mostly in the library working on edits for Exodus, ARKANE book #3 and researching my next book, Hunterian, which is possibly a stand-alone or the beginning of a new series.

This is a serious career for me. I want to sell some books to the right trade publisher and self-publish others.

I am 37 with (hopefully) 50+ years of writing ahead. The decision to sign with an agent and pursue traditional publishing for some of those books opens possibilities but it certainly doesn't stop me from doing all kinds of exciting things in the future.

This is just the beginning. I hope you will join me for the ride!

I'd love to hear what you think as I know it's an emotional topic. Please do leave your comments below.

Images: Flickr CC: Wall of books by sbisson, my own and iStockphoto.

Podcast: Julia McCutchen on Brilliant Book Proposals and the Traditional Publishing Process

September 19, 2009 by Joanna Penn 3 Comments

OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/content.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/Podcast_JuliaMcCutchen.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 32:50 — 7.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | Spotify | RSS | More

On reading this blog, you might think I am against traditional publishing. I'm not, it's just not my experience (yet!) so I don't really talk about it. This blog is about my experiences and tips but luckily I can interview people with different expertise so you can get perspectives on all things publishing related! This is one such interview!

JuliaMcCutchenJuly08Julia McCutchen has years of experience in the publishing industry, having helped hundreds of authors to achieve publishing success. She is an intuitive writers coach and mentor, an author and publishing consultant based in the UK. Her own book is “The Writer's Journey: From Inspiration to Publication”.

In this podcast you will learn:

  • About Julia's publishing background, including working with Penguin and Random House, as well as independent publishing houses
  • Why life is too short! Find the truth of who you are, and take action on your dreams. Seth Godin says “The book you write will change your life”
  • Writing a book can be a rewarding journey of self-discovery as well as self-expression
  • Julia gives an outline of the major steps you need to take in order to get a traditional publishing deal
  • Be professional and confident in yourself as a writer and convey that to publishers and agents
  • Find out about publishing as a business so you know how to go about it, get some support and prepare in advance before you start pitching
  • The foundation of 4 are so important before you start sending out your manuscript: Find your true writers voice, nurture your creative spirit, develop writing practice and be clear on your outcome. These will put you in a position of strength as the basis for being a writer.
  • Prepare a strong book proposal for a non-fiction book, or the synopsis. 2-3 sample chapters. The whole book is usually written once the contract is signed (but you still can write the whole thing prior e.g. for developing ideas).
  • For fiction writers, you need a first draft of the whole manuscript, not just chapters.
  • Definitely recommends a literary agent for fiction writers
  • Research the best agents and publishers to approach and be professional
  • Follow up the approaches you make. After a month, contact the agent/publisher (but not too soon!)
  • Julia gives us 3 Top Tips for Book Proposals – and find out about her Book Proposal Master Class here
  • Understand what you need to include in your book proposal, and leave out parts per agent/publisher. Meet the exact requirements at every single level. Pay attention to the detail as it is easy to reject you on the basics.
  • Create a blueprint proposal package, and select parts of it per agent/publisher
  • Write your compelling key sentence. Publishers and agents have no time and a short attention span. You need to be catchy, original and attention grabbing.
  • Know your reader, your market and build your author platform. Whether you want a traditional publisher, or self-publish, you need to do these things.
  • Publishers want a ready-made platform or at least a commitment to building one. Publishing is a business! The earlier you start building your platform, the better.
  • Getting an overseas agent/publisher – is it recommended? Get a local agent with international contacts.
  • Does self-publishing harm your future potential for getting a traditional book deal? In the right circumstances, it can be a valuable experience that prepares you for future success. If you can demonstrate sales in the thousands, publishers will certainly be interested! They will also be interested in the platform you have built for yourself and future books.

Julia McCutchen

Julia offers 10 free top tips on writing a great book proposal – more details here http://www.juliamccutchen.com/

You can find Julia at www.JuliaMcCutchen.com, or on Twitter @JuliaMcCutchen.

 

FAQs for literary agents

February 22, 2009 by Joanna Penn Leave a Comment

OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

There are some brilliant blogs out there for writers packed full of information that we want to know.

Nathan Bransford is a literary agent at Curtis Brown and his blog is a great source of information for people wanting to follow the traditional publishing route.

He has just posted a FAQ list based on questions he has answered on his blog. It includes such great questions as:

  • Do you accept queries from writers in other countries?
  • Is word count important? Is my novel too long/too short?
  • Can you query if you are an unpublished novelist and your novel isn't finished?
  • What is a “platform”?
  • What does this rejection letter mean?
  • Can I turn my blog into a book?
  • Why am I having such a difficult time finding an agent?

I definitely recommend checking his blog out if you are interested in finding an agent and getting published the traditional way.

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  • From Bestselling Book To Netflix Series With Vikram Chandra, Author Of Sacred Games
  • 5 Tips To Help You Write A Novel In A Month #NaNoWriMo

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Thanks for visiting The Creative Penn

Most of the information on this site is free for you to read, watch or listen to, but The Creative Penn is also a business and my livelihood. So please expect hyperlinks to be affiliate links in many cases, when I receive a small percentage of sales if you wish to purchase. I only recommend tools, books and services that I either use or people I know personally. Integrity and authenticity continue to be of the highest importance to me. Read the privacy policy here. Read the Cookie policy here. I hope you find the site useful! Thanks - Joanna

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