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May/June 2012 Issue
May/June Issue

Writer's Digest Magazine
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WDU Promo
Workshops Starting May 24th
- Writing the Query Letter
- Focus on the Short Story
- Write Great Fiction: Plot and Structure
- 7 Key Skills for Great Storytelling
- Essentials of Mystery Writing
- Focus on Writing the Personal Essay
- Build Your Novel Scene by Scene
- Creativity and Expression
- Focus on Writing Fiction for Children
- Accelerated Getting Started in Writing
- Writing the Nonfiction Book Proposal
- Essentials of Writing to Inspire
- Writing the Novel Proposal
- Marketing Your Magazine Articles
- The First Page: Fiction
- Essentials of Business Writing
- Marketing Your Short Stories
- Novel Writing: Scene Fundamentals
- Creating Dynamic Characters
- Writing the Query Letter
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Guide to Literary Agents Blogroll
Blogroll
- 2nd Draft Critique Service
Before you send out your work, have it edited by an established pro! - Agency Gatekeeper
A literary agent shares secrets. - Agent in the Middle
Agent Lori Perkins blogs and tells all - Ashley Grayson Agent Blog
From the Ashley Grayson Literary Agency - Ask the Agent
Literary agent Andy Ross in Oakland runs an agency blog. - Association of Authors' Representatives
- Barbara Doyen's Articles Page
Agent Barbara Doyen shares her knowledge. - Barry Goldblatt Literary
A blog from the whole agency. - BookEnds Agent Blog
Agents from Bookends Literary blog - Brenda BowenAgent Brenda Bowen's "Bunny Eat Bunny" kids writing blog.
- Cameron McClureCameron, with the Donald Maass Lit Agency, runs her "Book Cannibal" blog.
- Caren Johnson Literary Agency
The official CJLA blog - Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market Blog
This blog, run by Alice Pope, is a must-read for anyone writing in the juvenile market - Chip MacGregor's Agent Blog
A Christian agent speaks - Chuck's conference speaking schedule
See where Chuck will be presenting and when! - Colleen Lindsay's Agent Blog
A new agent at FinePrint Literary blogs - DHS Literary Blog
David Hale Smith's "Literary Show and Tell" blog. - Diana Fox's Agent Blog
A literary agent talks publishing - Dystel & Goderich Agent Blog
- Eddie Schneider
An agent from JABberwocky Literary blogs. - Elaine English Literary Agency Blog
A blog from the whole agency. - F+W Bookstore
Buy Guide to Literary Agents and a bunch of other great WD Books. - FinePrint Literary Management Blog
A blog from the whole agency. - Folio Literary Management's Blog
All the agents chime in on this new blog - Fresh Books Blog
An agency blog. - Full Circle Literary's Blog
Agents from Full Circle Literary in California blog - Girl Meets Book
Agent Jamie Brenner of Artists & Artisans blogs. - Greenhouse Literary Blog
Agent Sarah Davies shares her thoughts and wisdom - Hartline Literary Blog
A blog from the whole agency. - Janet Reid
Agent Janet Reid of FinePrint Literary gives her two cents on anything and everything - Jennifer Jackson's Agent Blog
An agent with the Donald Maass Literary Agency blogs - Jenny Bent's Blog
From the founder of The Bent Agency. - Jill Corcoran
A kids agent at the Herman Agency blogs. - Joshua Bilmes Agent Blog
JABberwocky Literary Agency - Kathleen Ortiz Agent Blog
Kathleen with Lowenstein Associates - Kelly Mortimer
Agent Kelly Mortimer's "Perils of Publishing" blog. - Ken Atchity
The president of AEI, a script and literary management co., blogs. - Kid Lit
A blog by kids agent Mary Kole of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency - Kimberly Cameron & Associates
A blog from the whole agency. - Knight Agency Blog
Exactly what it sounds like - Laurie McLean's Agent Blog
The "Agent Savant" blog - Lit Soup (Jenny Rappaport's Agent Blog)
An agent at the L. Perkins Agency blogs - Lucienne Diver's Agent Blog
A blog on "Authorial, Agently and Personal Ramblings." - Lyons Literary Agent Blog
Agent Jonathan Lyons blogs - MFA Confidential Blog
This new WD blog features Kate Monahan and all things about getting an MFA - Michael Larsen's Blog
Agent Michael Larsen of Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents blogs about publishing and nonfiction writing. - Miss Snark
No longer active, but this blog by anonymous agent Miss Snark still has oodles of priceless info in its archives - Nathan Bransford
A popular blog from an agent at Curtis Brown in San Francisco - Nephele Tempest's Agent Blog
An agent with the Knight Agency blogs - Poetic Asides
A poetry blog from the editor of Writer's Market - Promptly (Prompts Blog)
WD's own blog of writing prompts, run by magazine staffer Zac Petit - Pub Rants
Kristin Nelson's Agent Blog - Publishers Marketplace
- Query Shark
Janet Reid's blog where she dissects query letters - Questions and Quandaries Blog
WD staffer Brian A. Klems answers questions of all kinds - Rachelle Gardner
A blog by an agent who specializes in Christian Writing - Romantic Reads
Dorchester editor Leah Hultenschmidt blogs romance. - Sara Crowe's Blog
An agent from Harvey Klinger blogs. - Scott Eagan's Agent Blog
The great Greyhaus agent blogs away. - Script Notes
A WD scriptwriting blog from Chad Gervich, TV producer - Steve Laube's Agent Blog
A Christian agent and former editor talks the biz. - Suzie Townsend
A new assistant agent at FinePrint Literary blogs. - Terry Burns's Blog
An agent with Hartline Literary blogs. - Terry Whalin's Blog
"The Writing Life," as told by a former editor and agent. - The Buried Editor
A blog dedicated to juvenile writing (YA, middle grade, picture books) run by an editor at CBAY Books and Blooming Tree Press - The Gail Ross Literary Agency
The agency blog. - The Inside Pitch Screenwriting Blog
A Hollywood Executive Talks About Screenwriting - The New Literary Agents
A few new literary agents share advice. - The Rejecter (Anonymous Agent)
- The Shatzkin Files
- The Sound and the Furry
WD contributor Nancy Parish talks writing. - There Are No Rules
Jane Friedman of Writer's Digest Books, talks about publishing trends and has interviews online - Tracy Marchini
An agent from Curtis Brown, Ltd. blogs - United States Copyright Office
- Upstart Crow Blog
A blog from the whole agency at Upstart Crow Literary. - Waxman Literary Agency
A blog from the whole agency. - Wendy Sherman Associates Blog
Multiple agents blog. - Writer Beware
A site dedicated to protecting writers from scams of all kinds - including unscrupulous agents - Writer Unboxed
Primarily devoted to genre fiction, this site features plenty of interviews with industry pros - Writer's Digest magazine
This big hub has tons of online articles from past issues of WD. Check out the revamped new site! - Writer's Digest University (Writers Online Workshops)
Online writing courses are taught by WD staffers and contributors - Writer's Market
This pay site is our online database of listings (magazines, book publishers, agents, and everything else). It has more than 6,000 listings. - Writing-World
A huge writing website and resource writers should check out. - Wylie Merrick Agency's Blog
- Zack Company Blog
Agent Andrew Zack blogs.
- 2nd Draft Critique Service
Website of the Week
Writing Website of the Week
Published author Roz Morris' website covers a lot of topics about writing--some serious, some for fun. Either way, it's a site that's worth a few minutes of any writer's week. (I recommend following her on Twitter too.Nail Your Novel *Not affiliated with our 101 Best Writing Websites feature.
Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents Blog
Chuck Sambuchino is an editor and published book author who runs the Guide to Literary Agents Blog, one of the biggest blogs in publishing. His site has posts on agents, query letters, submissions, publishing, platform, marketing and more.
How I Got My Agent: Cassie Alexander
“How I Got My Agent” is a recurring feature on the GLA blog. Some tales are of long roads and many setbacks, while others are of good luck and quick signings. If you have a literary agent and would be interested in writing a short guest column for this GLA blog, e-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we’ll talk specifics.
GIVEAWAY: Cassie is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. Read more
Rules for Writing and Revising Your Novel
When you revise, you must go back and fine-tune your work—add, delete—what needs to go in, be taken out. Repair the characters. Do it when your mind is still fresh with the scenes and the characters of that chapter. However, you must be unbiased (which is hard toward what you’ve just written), detached (which is harder from what you’ve just built), so you can see your own creative flaws.
GIVEAWAY: Khanh is excited to give away a free copy of his novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. Read more
New Literary Agent Alert: Jennifer Azantian of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency
About Jennifer: Jennifer Azantian assists Sandra Dijkstra and Elise Capron, and manages incoming submissions for SDLA. At the University of California, San Diego, she studied clinical and developmental child psychology, and graduated cum laude in 2010. After graduation, she spent a wonderful summer interning at the Dijkstra Agency before joining full-time in fall of 2011.
She is seeking: Jennifer is only interested in: young adult science fiction and fantasy (including all of their subgenres). Read more
Want to Build Your Platform & Sell More Books? New Webinar on May 24, 2012 by C. Hope Clark
Your author platform is your personal ability to sell books, and one of the greatest tools you can possess in your arsenal of writer skills. It’s your visibility — all the ways you can reach to people and sell more copies to people who are listening to your words. If you want to have more control over your own book sales (especially if you are writing nonfiction or self-publishing your work!), then we have an excellent webinar for you. C. Hope Clark, an accomplished guru on platform and writer grants, is leading the new webinar, “Platform, the Backdoor Way: Trouble Getting Published? Keep Writing Via Other Niches, Genres, or Services” on Thursday, May 24, 2012. Read more
7 Things I’ve Learned Do Far, by Nina Benneton
This is a recurring column I’m calling “7 Things I’ve Learned So Far,” where writers at any stage of their career can talk about seven things they’ve learned along their writing journey that they wish they knew at the beginning. This installment is from novelist Nina Benneton.
GIVEAWAY: Nina is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. Read more
My Cursed Adventure to See Van Halen in Concert…
One of my favorite bands of all time is Van Halen. I love all their music, and probably know more about the history of the band than anybody would care to discuss with me.
That’s why it absolutely BLOWS that my quest to see them in concert has been such a tragedy. This sad story has three acts… Read more
The Short Happy Lives of Short Story Collections
Short story collections are the weird sister of the publishing world. Though you can see anthologies of shorts in bookstores (i.e., 2012′s Greatest Stories About the Kardashian Sisters), you rarely see collections by individual authors. Sometimes the poor things are teetering on the tippy-top shelf of a general fiction section, because it’s a rare store that sets aside shelf space for collections, unless your name is Alice Munro or Annie Proulx.
GIVEAWAY: Tom is excited to give away a free copy of his collection to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. Read more
Agent Jim McCarthy Teaches “The 10 Elements of a Saleable Novel Today” — New Webinar With Critique on May 31, 2012
I’m very excited to announce a brand new webinar with an awesome literary agent at the helm. On Thursday, May 31, 2012, agent Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich will teach the 90-minute webinar, “10 Elements of a Saleable Novel Today” – and every attendee gets a great critique (query letter AND first pages!) from Jim. It’s an excellent opportunity to receive great instruction and get your work in front of the eyes of an awesome agent at the same time. Read more
“How I Got Published” — Mary Nethery and Kirby Larson, Authors of NUBS: THE TRUE STORY OF A MUTT, A MARINE, AND A MIRACLE
This installment is with Mary Nethery and Kirby Larson, authors of the New York Times best-selling book NUBS: THE TRUE STORY OF A MUTT, A MARINE, AND A MIRACLE (Little Brown, 2009), a story about marine Brian Dennis and a feral dog in Iraq that found a home in America.
GIVEAWAY: Mary and Kirby are excited to give away 2 free copies of their book to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. Read more
How I Got My Agent: Gretchen Berg
“How I Got My Agent” is a recurring feature on the GLA blog. Some tales are of long roads and many setbacks, while others are of good luck and quick signings. This installment is from humorous memoir writer Gretchen Berg.
GIVEAWAY: Gretchen is excited to give away a free copy of her book to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. Read more


