Author | Joseph L. Selby

Tag: agents

  • Middle Grade vs. Young Adult

    A combination of bad advice and bad writing as a result of that advice has kind of got me stuck on PRINCE OF CATS. I have two other projects I’m working on right now, but in a few months, I’ll be back to it, and I’ll have to fix it, which is a daunting prospect.…

  • An Excess of Riches

    I’m learning something new about myself. When I have a full requested by an agent I like, I stop querying. It’s not an intentional, “This is it. No need to send these things out any more!” It’s more of a, “Damn, that’s hard work. I’ll get to it later.” Later just happens to come after…

  • Customized Google

    Once upon a time in the early days of the intertubes, like last year, you and I could Google the same phrase and get the same results. As we continue down the path of Minority Report where every advertisement ever is customized for our interests and needs of that moment, Google is not so simple…

  • The Good, the Bad, and the Stuffing

    So I have decided that rejections that offer praise first actually sting more than just flat rejection. “This is a great story with strong writing, but I didn’t fall in love with it” says to me “Damn you were close, but it just didn’t click with me” which stings SO MUCH MORE than just a…

  • A Paragraph

    If you read industry blogs at all, you have seen an agent or two (or two hundred) occasionally talk about reaction emails. Reaction emails are when an amateur (not an aspiring author) shows that he or she is no way emotionally ready for the challenges of publishing and may never be. They submit their query…

  • Oh, Hubris, you so crazy

    So 85% of my site migration is complete. I finally visualized how I want to display my writing. I’ve arranged the menu. Now I just need to handle the code and create the necessary files for that code to work. Bouncing back and forth between JavaScript and an iframe. I had been leaning to the…

  • The Red Pen

    Your pardon at the quality of the pictures, but I took those with my phone which does not have the best camera. They get the point across, though. I received feedback from an agent awhile back, feedback I was uncertain about. I never rush right into feedback assuming that a person is right or wrong.…

  • A Tree is Just a Tree

    Way back when, I meant to pursue a career in the United States military. At first I thought the navy and then found my place with the army. I was in an ROTC program, but because I had not started from the beginning, I was required to go to Camp Challenge (or basic camp). It’s…

  • A Disturbing Thought

    So if you don’t make it out of the slush pile, you’re most likely getting the ax by the assistant tasked with grinding the slush. Assuming the assistant wants to be an agent someday down the road, not only are you getting rejected by the agent you queried, you’re getting rejected by an agent from…

  • Sonny Liston

    If you know the name Sonny Liston at all, you know it’s the guy on the mat in the famous Mohammed Ali photo. It’s one of the most highly recognizable/promoted sports pictures in American sports history. There’s Ali talking smack and some boxer on the mat he’s just knocked down in the first round. That’s…

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