I wrote several hundred query letters and sent them to a whole lot of literary agents and publishers. ‘Several hundred’ refers more to the variations of a basic format, rather than hundred distinctly different formats. It was more of an experimentation and fine-tuning process where I made minor alterations after every few submissions. One of … Read more
There’s a common saying in the conventional publishing world. Money flows to the writer. What does it mean? It means that you should never have to pay money to anyone in the publishing chain – publishers, editors, literary agents, websites running websites or any facilitators who are suggesting that they’ll make the rocky road a … Read more
For all the hundreds of thousands of books that seem to hit the bookshelves each year, you might get the impression that there’s some fantastic super-efficient machinery running behind the scenes that’s working at break-neck speed to pump out tons of books at a record pace. Far from it. Publishing is a extremely slow moving … Read more
The virtual world offers writers a fantastic opportunity to open the mind and let their thoughts soar. No boundaries, no constraints. Just you, your thoughts and your creative output. Inspiring and poetic, huh? But if you have been writing for a while, you’ll agree that after a while it can start seeming like a pretty … Read more
Update: This post was published when the ebook version wasn’t launched. Now the ebook is available on Amazon. Here’s the link: Download MBA Hype from Amazon. Many MBA applicants are looking for free downloads of the Beyond The MBA Hype ebook, pdf from online torrent sites after reading the good reviews that have been popping … Read more
There was no formal book launch for Beyond The MBA Hype, no celebrities waxing eloquent about the book and consequently very limited media attention. People I knew started finding out that my book got published based on my Facebook comments and they would be kind enough to reach out with their best wishes. A few … Read more
Writer’s block can become a roadblock for authors irrespective of the stage in their career. The professional ones who’ve faced this several times just know how to deal with it better. But if you have just started writing you may not know what is happening or why. There’s no way you can completely avoid it … Read more
Marketing and promoting a book can be one of the biggest hurdles for first-time authors (Well, ok, after you’ve got a good literary agent to represent you, got a contract from a good publishing house and all other other equally challenging hurdles have been crossed…) Fortunately for those who have the backing of an established … Read more
So you’ve decided not to venture into the world of self-publishing yet. That brings you back to the process of wooing publishers or literary agents to represent you. If you are aiming for the traditional publishers, chances are they would want you to get a literary agency to review your manuscript first and then forward … Read more
Self-publishing and vanity publishers have existed in various forms for a very long time. Despite the contrasting views about the pros and cons of this approach, the market for vanity publishing has grown within the writing community, especially for first time authors. And there’s a reason for that. The traditional publishing model makes it very … Read more
Literary agents play a key role in the international publishing industry. Yet not many new writers are aware of what a literary agency can and cannot do. In simple terms, a literary agent represents authors, pitches their manuscripts to publishers, negotiates deals and manages the commercial aspects of the deal. In return the literary agent … Read more
Whether you are a fiction or non-fiction writer, it helps to understand the entire life cycle for a book. If you are just getting started, here’s a short primer to set the ball rolling. Writing the book Your writing will fall under two broad categories – fiction and non-fiction. In a novel (another label for … Read more