Andyross
MY BLOGS
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Ask The Agent
http://andyrossagency.wordpress.com/
Ask The Agent is a blog by Andy Ross, a literary agent in the San Francisco Bay Area. It includes opinionated articles about book publishing and writing, advice on finding an agent and getting published, and interviews with writers and editors.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 119 )
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Nina Amir on How to Market Your Book
Today we are going to interview Nina Amir who will offer us some tips on how to market your book on the Internet. Nina is a writing coach who motivates writers... Read more
Posted on 20 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
The Singularity of Grove Press
Today we are going to talk with Loren Glass, author of Counter-Culture Colophon: Grove Press, the Evergreen Review, and the Incorporation of the Avant-Garde.... Read more
Posted on 17 July 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
How to Organize Your Own Book Tour
Today we are going to talk about how authors can organize their own book tour. We’re speaking with book marketing maven, Carl Lennertz. Read more
Posted on 03 June 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
Sometimes I Really Do Discover Writers at Conferences
Tawni WatersThe first time I met Tawni Waters was at the San Miguel de Allende Writers Conference this February. I was participating in the workshop on... Read more
Posted on 25 May 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
The Absolutely Most Important Agent’s Tip For Writers: First Impressions Count
Readers of Ask the Agent know I’m suspicious of the seemingly endless stream of publishing tips that you read in writers publications, blogs, and workshops. Read more
Posted on 17 May 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
Ask the Agent — The Book
If you look over there on the right, you will see the cover for my new (and only) book, Ask the Agent: Night Thoughts on Writing and Book Publishing. It’s an... Read more
Posted on 25 April 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
Kant, Plato and E-Books.
On February 7, Amazon.com announced that it had patented a way to sell “used e-books, music, videos, and other digital objects”. I was puzzled by this. Read more
Posted on 02 April 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
Eleven Steps to Finding an Agent
I teach a class on finding and working with agents. A lot of prospective authors who attend the class are a little intimidated by the process and need to know... Read more
Posted on 19 March 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules For Writing
As an agent, I get a lot of fiction submissions. Usually I can tell if I don’t like them by the end of the first page. Sometimes by the end of the first... Read more
Posted on 04 March 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
My Stern Lecture to a Client
Sometimes I can’t sell a book to a publisher. Actually, a lot of times I can’t. Even after doing this job for 5 years and getting an estimated 5000 rejection... Read more
Posted on 07 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
Questions to Ask Before Starting to Write Your Book
I see a lot of non-fiction book proposals that are based on wishful thinking about whether the project is publishable. If writers asked some basic questions... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE -
How to Write a Great Marketing Plan For Your Book Proposal
Most writers are intimidated by book proposals. I can see why. Writers are writers, not salesmen, not marketers, not researchers, and not necessarily aggressiv... Read more
Posted on 23 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE -
The Day I Debated Grover Norquist (And Whipped His Ass).
It’s true. In 2000, I debated Grover Norquist, The Lord of Darkness, himself, and got the better of him, thank you very much. The subject of the debate was... Read more
Posted on 30 November 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Will Random House Merge With Penguin?
The big news in book publishing this week, probably the biggest news all year, was the announcement that Random House and The Penguin Publishing Group are in... Read more
Posted on 28 October 2012 BOOKS, BUSINESS, CULTURE -
How to Pitch to an Agent
I just got back from the Surrey International Writers Conference in Vancouver. I loved it. I spent a lot of time taking pitches from the 400 participants. Read more
Posted on 24 October 2012 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, SELF EXPRESSION -
I Just Published an E-book, and It Was Pretty Easy
Recently we did a blog interview with author Mary Mackey talking about how her agent republished all of Mary’s out-of-print novels as e-books. A lot of... Read more
Posted on 13 October 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE -
Rayme Waters Talks About Promoting Her Novel, The Angels’ Share
Rayme WatersToday we are interviewing my client, novelist Rayme Waters, whose new book, The Angels’ Share was published by Winter Goose Press this August. Read more
Posted on 17 September 2012 BOOKS -
First Lines in Young Adult Novels
I get about 10 queries for fiction every day. Most of the time I reject them after only reading the query letter and try to send a timely and polite reply. If... Read more
Posted on 03 September 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE -
Self Publishing at Book Santa Cruz Using the Espresso Book Machine
Today we are going to speak with Casey Protti, owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz, one of the truly iconic independent bookstores in America. Read more
Posted on 23 August 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE -
Learning from Lee Child
A few weeks ago I was asked to do manuscript evaluations at the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference. After reading the first 20 pages of a few of these, I... Read more
Posted on 13 August 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE