How do literary agents work?

The way agents work can be frightening to many first time writers.

Let's start by considering the stats that would be typical of a good quality medium-sized agency in London or New York.

Such a firm might receive annually about 5000 submissions. Those 5000 submissions will generally be filtered by a professional reader. That reader may also be a receptionist for the firm, or a secretary, but they are recruited and trained to be skilled assessors of manuscripts, so the filtration process is conducted accurately and professionally.

Of the 5000 submissions, perhaps as many as 10 per month - or let's say 100 in a calendar year - will be recommended to the firm's agents for a full review. Of those 100, the agency will typically take on around 2. Sometimes 1. Sometimes, in a terrific year, 3-4.

Literary agents aren't being unreasonable by setting such standards. Increasingly these days, it's tough to sell work and only the best of the best will succeed. "Best of the best" doesn't simply mean best in artistic or literary terms. It means in terms of the market too.

If, for example, you fell in love with Stephenie Meyer's vampires and have started to write such a novel yourself, you are almost certainly several years behind the curve. The market has moved on and you're writing for an audience that is now looking for newer things. You have to stay a pace or two ahead of the curve, not a pace or two behind it. If you aren't certain that your work is as strong as it can possibly be, then you would be very well advised to get a tough, constructive manuscript assessment from a professional editor. You may love your work, and your Mother may love your work... but a trained outside eye can find a thousand things that you've been missing.

Once an agent agrees to take you on (or 'represent you' in the lingo), his or (more likely) her core role is to sell your manuscript and negotiate your contract. Assuming that she succeeds in that task, her role will also be to supervise the publishing process, holding your hand, smoothing out any bumps, and advising on such things as cover design or editorial tweaks which the publisher may consult you on.

Although you will have a close relationship with both your agent and your editor, your relationship with your agent is likely to be far more durable, (because publishers move on, because book deals are short and so on). Therefore securing a strong literary agent is both vital and extremely hard to achieve.

Good web resources exist for information on how to get a literary agent... but you also need to remember that those resources are secondary to the main thing, which is your manuscript. Get your manuscript strong enough, and the rest (with a little discipline and patience on your part) will fall into place. If the manuscript is not yet right, however, then no amount of discipline and patience will ever do the trick. Best of luck!

Harry Bingham is the prize-nominated best-selling author of 5 novels and 3 works of non-fiction. He also runs The Writers' Workshop, an editorial consultancy for first time writers. The company also helps by recommending outstanding work to leading literary agents.

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Keeping a Dream Diary

Deciphering your dreams achieves nothing if it remains purely intellectual. You have to ‘feel your dreams’; and embrace their messages into your waking life for dream analysis to have significance.

Recurring dreams can refer to a traumatic time, which has not been resolved. Recurring dreams can also mean you are not understanding the message, therefore, it repeats until you are able to unfold the symbolism of the dream. This is where a dream diary can come in very useful.


“Want to get to know your Self better? Want to find solutions to your problems that feel right to your heart and spirit, not just your mind? Want your life to feel more fascinating and meaningful? Dreams can help you do it all!

But to engage in the magical world of dreams, you need a handbook. That handbook is your dream journal, and your dreaming self is the author of it.

Here are the easy steps to keeping a record of your dreams so you can embark on the nightly adventures of a lifetime.

Your dream journal is completely unique, private, and personal. To get the most out of the practice of recording your dreams in a journal, you should use it every day. Even if you do not remember your dreams at first, being prepared to record them is essential. Before long, you’ll be able to grab your journal and pen immediately upon waking and dash out more and more detailed images.

Here are the Daily Guidelines. Include some or all of them to help you remember your dreams:

Basics
Date
First reaction
Basic storyline

Details
What was the mood or atmosphere of the dream?
Who was in the dream?
Where were these people?
When did this dream take place?
What sounds do I remember?
What colors do I remember?
What smells do I remember?

Reflection
How did this dream make me feel?
What do these emotions mean to me at this time in my life?
How does this dream relate to any previous dreams?
Is this a dream prompted by something that happened recently?
What is my interpretation?
What remains to be interpreted?”


By J Reynolds, copyright 2011 @ World Mysteries & True Ghost Tales
Originally written by Annie B. Bond



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Tips to Write Book Reviews

Writing a magazine review can be challenging. A magazine review is a description from the book in question. It's basically a critical research into the book. Book comments are an evaluation of the quality and content from the book. If you are writing a magazine review, you need to think about the meaning and significance from the book. You need to pinpoint the purpose of the book. You have to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the book. Should you be looking to recommend it, you need to present evidence to aid your evaluation.

Book reviews basically reflect the opinion from the reviewer. However, the review ought to be a fair and brief description from the book. It should help a reader create a wise decision. When writing a magazine review, make sure to give relevant details about the book. This includes title, author, kind of book, copyright date, ISBN, special features like maps, etc. Also, state the objective of the author in writing it, i.e. why did the writer choose to write on the particular subject and never another subject? Become familiar with about the intended audience. Has got the author catered for them?

Incidentally, there has been a growing demand for children's titles like "Clouds" and "My Little Red Book". Animal, computer and educational books will also be in great demand. You are able to choose from a wide range of a myriad of cheap books online. You are able to browse the web to understand about a cheap discount book or perhaps a specific book for sale. However, make sure to read another review that will help you create a well informed decision. Reviewing a magazine is no child's play. First of all , needs to be considered may be the book you would like to review. You have to choose a book in which you're interested. Choose a theme or subject that's relevant to you. It's pointless to review a Science Fiction book if you're able to make head or tail of science fiction. So select a subject that engages you and you are interested in.

In order to agree or disagree using the author's point of view, it's a good idea to jot down notes while reading. Jotting down small notes can help you review the book easily. It will likewise help you with quotes inside your review. You should be in a position to understand the author's thesis and magnificence. Focus on his type of writing- is it formal or informal? Another essential aspect about book reviews may be the accuracy of the information presented within the book. Is the information relevant, accurate and engaging? Would be the concepts well defined? May be the language used lucid and convincing? You have to ask yourself these questions. Search for footnotes- they should provide significant information. Also search for maps and illustrations wherever necessary.

When writing book reviews, ensure that you include the following elements- title, author, publication date, publisher, edition, pages, price and ISBN. Make your opening sentence striking and convincing. It will immediately catch the attention of readers. Be fair and unbiased! You may also include information regarding the author's qualification, reputation, etc.

Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on Book Reviews, visit http://www.bkreviews.com.

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Learning to Write With All of Your Senses

Writers often forget the importance of capturing all of the senses within a novel. To really make a scene believable the reader needs to be able to experience it as the characters are experiencing it, which means being able to see the same things as them, feel the same things as them, hear the same noises as them, taste the same tastes and smell the same smells. It is essential therefore that as a writer you consider all of the senses when you are writing, to help to bring your story to life.

However, it is often difficult to do this or to stay focused on doing this when you write; you may get bogged down in just one sense, so that your novel becomes unbalanced with visual descriptions of the surroundings and the things that the characters can see, or you may not feel confident in working with a certain sense, which could leave your book lacking.

There is a very simple exercise that writers can carry out to help them discover each of the senses and learn how to write about them. This exercise can be carried out at any time of day and any where it just requires the writer to be able to concentrate for a short period of time. The exercise is this:

Hold an object in your hand and then sit, stand or lie, whichever is more comfortable or convenient and remain in that position, in silence for 5 minutes. During that five minutes you should spend one minute concentrating on each of your senses. So, for the first minute concentrate on what you can hear; you may be sitting in your office in silence, but there will always be a sound, even if it's just the humming of your laptop or the clanging of the central heating. If you can hear voices, try to tune in to the accents, the tones of the voices and the annunciation of the words. Next move on to sight, this is an easier one but you need to push yourself to see more than a first glance would see. Look at the trees, at first glance it may look like they are swaying in the wind but if you look closer you might just see that it's actually only the very tips of the branches that are being blown by the breeze, perhaps you can see a bead of condensation dripping down the window, track it's path, see how it moves. Next move on to touch; this can often be tricky so start by thinking about the object you are holding in your hand, how does it feel? Is it smooth, cold, silky? Once you've appreciated the feeling in your hands and between your fingers, think about your feet are they standing on a worn carpet or wrapped within a thick duvet, what textures can they feel? Carry on in this fashion taking on each of the senses in turn, a minute each, and once you have finished jot down some of your thoughts on each of them. You will find that some senses are easier to write about than others but if you repeat this exercise regularly you'll soon be able to tap into your senses with ease, notice more of the world around you, and hopefully start to translate this into your creative writing so that you are writing stories that capture the reader's attention from all possible angles.

Do you need help with editing or proofreading your creative writing? Then use the professional editorial services from Words Worth Reading Ltd.

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Ghostwriting in Music: I Write The Songs That Make The Young Girls Cry For Somebody Else

Did you know that Mozart was a ghostwriter? He used to ghost write music for the wealthy patrons of the arts. There is a long history of ghostwriting and music. In 1939 Patrick Standford was a ghostwriter for various symphonies and films.

In the movie business, music ghostwriting is fairly secretive. It is considered unethical by many people but it is very common. In the very early days of movies, a composer named David Raskin worked as a music ghostwriter for Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was credited as the score writer.

In pop music, musical ghostwriting is also a factor. At times an experienced songwriter is brought in to help with either inexperienced songwriters, or somebody that may be suffering from writer's block. Sometimes a ghost writer will write lyrics and music in the style of a musician and still get little or no input from the person credited on the music sheet. Sometimes a ghost writer is credited as an associate or similar innocuous term.

More commonly, they just do not appear anywhere-they are a true ghost. Sometimes legal action takes place when a musical ghost writer tries to claim royalties- usually after song becomes a hit. Sarah McLachlan got into a dispute with a musician who claimed that he had a significant contribution to her debut album, "Touch."

In hip-hop, ghostwriting is growing every year. In fact, it does lead to some controversy. Purists do not like it, and point to the use of it as an example of "bad capitalism." This is because of the perception of rapping as "expressing yourself" and that writing for someone else is not pure "self-expression." Some rappers like Chuck D of Public Enemy, Inc. think that is a mistaken view because not everyone is a gifted lyricist and not everyone is equipped to be a vocalist. He says a rap song may require more talents than a single person has.

Most ghost writers have confidentiality clauses, or they might appear in the liner notes, and in some cases they are allowed to discuss their participation out the open. You might see a credit in the liner notes for "vocal arrangement," which might mean it was a ghostwriter. A few years ago there were hip-hop ghostwriting services which appeared online, and provided artists with rhymes for free.

Ghostwriting has a long tradition in music, from Mozart to today's hottest rappers. As long as the song is a hit, the person that penned it will have a job.

Joe Ditzel is a ghostwriter, SEO consultant, and really bad golfer. His articles on ghostwriting can be found at http://www.joeghostwriter.com.

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Hotel Angeline: A Novel in 36 Voices

Thirty-six of the most interesting writers in the Pacific Northwest came together for a week-long marathon of writing live on stage. The result? Hotel Angeline, a truly inventive novel that surprises at every turn of the page.

Something is amiss at the Hotel Angeline, a rickety former mortuary perched atop Capitol Hill in rain-soaked Seattle. Fourteen-year-old Alexis Austin is fixing the plumbing, the tea, and all the problems of the world, it seems, in her landlady mother’s absence.

The quirky tenants—a hilarious mix of misfits and rabble-rousers from days gone by—rely on Alexis all the more when they discover a plot to sell the Hotel. Can Alexis save their home? Find her real father? Deal with her surrogate dad’s dicey past? Find true love? Perhaps only their feisty pet crow, Habib, truly knows.

Provoking interesting questions about the creative process, this novel is by turns funny, scary, witty, suspenseful, beautiful, thrilling, and unexpected.

Seattle7Writers, which created “The Novel: Live!” event and the resulting novel Hotel Angeline, is one of a diverse range of not-for-profit, author-focused organizations receiving support from Amazon.com for programs dedicated to developing new works and new voices. Other recipients include the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Lambda Literary Foundation, Poets & Writers, One Story, The Loft, Council of Literary Magazines & Presses, Hedgebrook, Copper Canyon Press, The Moth, Girls Write Now, Seattle Arts & Lectures, Richard Hugo House, WriteGirl, 826 Seattle, Voice of Witness, The Kenyon Review, Open Letter, Archipelago Books, Pen American Center, Words Without Borders, the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, Asian American Writers Workshop, and the New York Writers Coalition. All of these organizations share Amazon.com’s obsession with fostering the creation, discussion, and publication of new authors and new work.




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Three Essential Blog Basics

Blogs and blogging can be many different things to many different people. By uncomplicated use of a free website builder, anyone can write about any subject they wish to choose and have a portal to the world. If you want to get your blog seen by as many people as possible and generate the traffic levels you want then you have to get the basics right and the three blog basics everyone should get right, regardless of writing ability and subject matter, are:

The Design
So the decision has been made and you start to use a free online website builder to enter yourself into the blogging sphere. Choosing the design is like choosing a frame for a piece of artwork; it has to suit and compliment your blog and add value if it can. Go for clean crisp backgrounds to have behind your content which will help the reading of the work and make the work the focus. For areas in the web pages that do not feature writing; try to make it interesting but not steal or distort the focus of their attention which should always be the writing.
When it comes to the actual design of the writing, do not use a font which is unusual. The reasons for this are two fold; firstly, your visitors expect a nice familiar font which they can easily read. Secondly, not all fonts are compatible in the many different operating systems in use around the world, so if in doubt play safe with fonts like Ariel, Verdana and Times New Roman, these are from a family of fonts which are the most commonly used.

Know Your Audience
Knowing who you are writing for will have an influence on the subject matters you choose to write about and the style in which it is written. The choice of subject matter will obviously be your final decision and it has to something you are interested in and comfortable to write about but identifying who are target audience will help you form a strategy with important decisions like how to get it seen.
Inviting feedback and discussion by adding a comments section is a surefire winner to get to know your visitors likes and dislikes as people love to express their opinion just as much as you do, but often the difference is you have decided to create a blog and they haven't. It is also good to get people to subscribe to your blog and as well as having the obvious effect of increasing returning visitors, you can also obtain some basic information like sex and location in the subscription process.
A technical way of knowing a bit more about your audience is use of free analytical tools like that of Google tools to find out who is searching for you, your subject matter and where the searches are coming from. It all helps to increase your knowledge of whom and how to target your audience.

Get It Seen
Once you have used a website builder to display your musings or your art portfolio you then have to get it seen. Forming a strategy to get it seen is the hardest part because it involves work and research as well producing the best content you possibly can.
Look at ways to get back links and people to link to you. This can be achieved by finding areas that would be of similar interest and physically asking them to link to you. It might be that you have to reciprocate the link so be choosy who to get links from and who you link to. Never link to something or be associated with something that would be of detriment to your own blog.
Learning how to make your blog Search Engine Optimized will help with the search engine rankings and will increase the amount of traffic coming to you. There are plenty of resources on the internet which will give you the basics on how to use keywords in your titles and your content which will help you improve your rankings.

Anyone can use a simple free website builder to build a blog and the quality of the writings can vary dramatically but if you have a good style and can write well then by paying good heed to the three essential basics to creating a blog you will be giving yourself and your blog the best chance of success

Maria Wixman can show you How To Use Free Website Maker with WIX.com I have been in the online marketing industry for over two years and love all things related to e-marketing, writing for the web, SEO and SEM. I've been working for a large company that specializes in web design,
and love how dynamic this field is.

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