Archive for August, 2009
Monday, August 31st, 2009
School Books
The view from the front window of my favorite local coffee house has changed from “lazy summer” to “school’s in.” Busy students rush down the street, clutching books in their arms, hunching under the weight of their backpacks.
Reading this article in the New York Times has further increased my back-to-school spirit. Allowing students to choose [...]
30 Comments » - Posted in Books We Love, Inspiration, Sweet Nonsense by Danielle
Monday, August 31st, 2009
The Little Plotline that Could
Last week, after months of being pestered by different friends, I finally checked out the pilot to the A&E show Breaking Bad. If you haven’t seen it, Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston (known mostly as Hal, the dad from Malcolm in the Middle) as Walter White, a down-and-out high school chemistry teacher who, after being [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in Inspiration, On Writing by Chris
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
A Polite—and Fascinating—Conversation
The other day, the easygoing and brilliant editor Cheryl Klein made “a modest proposal” on her blog (here) that, unlike Jonathan Swift’s, actually makes a lot of cynicism-free good sense. It’s a long, complicated post that you should read, but the gist of it is that when agented manuscripts garner pre-empt offers and then hasty [...]
14 Comments » - Posted in Choosing an Agent/Submitting, The Industry by Michael
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
The Welter of the Internet #2: Writing reviews
So, I am on Goodreads. I kind of love it. I go through phases in which I drink down books like water, and because I am a long-winded, opinionated sumbitch, I blather about them. And I’m not alone: You will find a lot of us there, us publishing people. Editors, writers, agents, marketing people—our first [...]
32 Comments » - Posted in Books We Love, The Industry by Michael
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Following the Rules
Many unagented writers out there are terrified of breaking rules when it comes to getting in contact with agents. What rules? Always wait patiently to hear back on a submission! Never, under any circumstance, follow up on a requested manuscript!! FOLLOW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES TO THE LETTER LEST YOU FEEL OUR WRATH!!!
We at Upstart Crow are [...]
11 Comments » - Posted in Choosing an Agent/Submitting by Chris
Monday, August 24th, 2009
Things we will be sorry to miss #1
Because the shows I can attend are already sold out: I Can Has Cheezburger: the MusicLOL! It’s part of Brooklyn’s annual Fringe Festival, always a competition for which show can be most deliciously wacked-out. And this, my friends, looks like it will take the cake. (Or, you know, the cheezburger.)
4 Comments » - Posted in Sweet Nonsense by Michael
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Good news for all of us
Something extraordinary is happening next month, and I, for one, am positively giddy with anticipation. In these often grim days of publishers cutting back, strapping down, paring away, or closing their doors completely, a major new publisher is boldly doing the opposite. Making its debut in September is Egmont USA. It’s a brave and brilliant [...]
8 Comments » - Posted in Inspiration, The Industry by Michael
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
On Requesting Twenty Pages
There are tons of different ways for agencies to ask for submissions. Some places request just a query. Some ask for a query plus a few pages. Some less reputable agencies ask for a query plus a head shot and your measurements.
When setting the submission guidelines, we at Upstart Crow had a lot to decide [...]
26 Comments » - Posted in Choosing an Agent/Submitting by Chris
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Chatter
There’s no doubt that the Internet is a fantastic resource for fledgling and established writers alike. You can tweet, friend, and chat with editors, agents, and other writers. You can do research to find an agent, or participate in various discussion forums about hot topics in publishing.
And of course, there’s the juicy publishing gossip—which editors have [...]
9 Comments » - Posted in All Too Common Mistakes, On Writing by Danielle
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
A quick political aside: Hurrah for the First Amendment
Chris will be posting a more writerly/agency-focused Upstart Crow Literary post in a short while, but in the meantime, I must post this bit of brilliant truth-telling by Barney Frank. He’s got the right of things, regardless of where you stand on the issue of national healthcare. If only everyone in politics were as articulate.
(And [...]
