Coming off submission: some thoughts

So much of an aspiring author's time (at least, for those aspiring towards trade publication) is taken up with querying. I can understand this, having been in the querying trenches last year (and the year before that). Doors open with agents, you might say, meaning it's natural to focus on such a big goal. Querying …

Query Construction: PAPERFLESH

A brief deconstruction of how I wrote the query/pitch letter for my current WIP. May be of use, or may not! Up to you 🙂

Querying, submitting, and publishing: a daunting series of hoops

Here is an abbreviated list of hoops that a trade published book often jumps through (apologies to those for whom this familiar); finishing agent querying pitch to publishers request & first reads second reads acquisitions (itself a multi-stage process) offer & contract negotiations At every stage the book can die. For writing, it might never …

An introduction for writers looking to query literary agents

I wrote this as part of a general info post for a Facebook group I'm in. The level I’ve aimed at is introductory, so my apologies to those who are already well into the querying trenches; you can probably skip this. ### Basic Query Structure Info The query should be about a page in length, …

New publication: John Kills Jenny

New publication of JOHN KILLS JENNY via Sub-Q, a magazine of Interactive Fiction.   Every choice matters, so pick your options carefully. A convicted murderer must play through a "rehabilitation game" to earn his own release.

A long dark coffee-time of the soul (or, how I found a literary agent)

I remember greedily hunting down as many of these kinds of stories as possible when querying for the first time, so perhaps someone else will find my data points useful. Warning: this is a little bit long and has some of my usual swearing.