Literary Agent

I decided to create this journal as a place to discuss writing in all of its facets. I envision posting articles on writing and publishing, authors, reviews of books and movies, news from the publishing industry, and a lot more.

It is my hope that this will become an interactive forum and a place where readers will feel free to contribute to the discussion. There are a lot of myths and misconceptions along with information and opinions about this broad, wonderful field of writing, and I encourage comments and suggestions along the way.

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Blogs have evolved tremendously since their meteoric rise in popularity at the beginning of the decade. While there’s still a surfeit of the “Dear Diary” variety of journals that are of interest only to the author and his or her friends, there is also a fascinating variety of offerings that afford the reader insight into activities and occupations from airline pilot to zoologist written by people on the inside who know what they are writing about.

One of the best such blogs about the publishing industry and one that I read religiously is written by Nathan Bransford: http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/

Nathan is a literary agent working with the agency of Curtis Brown, Ltd. in their San Francisco office. He has a wide range of subjects that interest him and that he will entertain representing: virtually everything save for poetry and screenplays. He’s young, energetic, and very enthusiastic about his trade, and, unlike some in the industry, is genuine about sharing advice and information that can assist aspiring or fledgling writers.

His blog contains, for instance, a dozen links to articles he’s penned called “The Basics,” which cover topics such as “How to Find a Literary Agent,” “The Basic Query Letter Formula,” and “How to Write a Synopsis.” Nathan also includes a list of links to compelling blogs by agents, authors, and publishers, as well as helpful resources for writers.

But the heart of his journal is the near-daily entry: pithy, amusing, and always informative. The reader never knows what the topic will be from day to day, but knows it’s always worth the read. Just this past week, the titles of Nathan’s entries included “On the Quality of Queries,” “You Tell Me: What Blog/Website Features Would You Like to See?” “This Week in Publishing,” and “The Finalists!! (As Introduced by Donald Draper),” listing the six finalists in Nathan’s contest, The 2^nd Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge. (The contest drew in excess of 1300 replies during the five-day entry period.)

Whether you are a published author, an aspiring writer, or even a dedicated reader, if you’re not reading Nathan Bransford’s excellent blog, you’re missing out on a valuable and entertaining resource.

And you can tell him I told you so…