Lynn Flewelling writes on the basics of query letters.

Query letters. Except for the synopsis, there’s no more dreaded task a writer has to undertake.

How to boil an entire book down to a short pitch that not only provides an accurate snapshot of the work, but makes a literary agent (or a publisher) want to see more?

Yesterday, PW reported on the launch of AgentInbox, a new service from collaborative writing website WEbook.

“AgentInbox is a service that connects publication-ready authors with reputable, vetted literary agents,” says the service’s FAQ for writers. Writers enter their book’s “vital stats,” including title, genre, query letter, and all or part of the manuscript (there are several tutorials to help with the polishing process). They can then check AgentInbox’s roster of participating agents and choose which ones they’d like their submission to go to. WEbook staff pre-screens submissions, then forwards them on to the agents chosen.

By Rebecca Hardy  I love systems. I think most worldbuilders do, at least to some extent. Systems of magic. Systems of currency. Systems of governance and geopolitical conflict in underwater cities, postapocalyptic wastelands, and galactic civilizations. And . . . systems in the real world, which can sometimes be the most challenging of all. I’ve […]

Page updated/links checked: 12/11/23 Introduction The Scammer: Dishonest Agents The Schmagent: Amateur, Marginal, and Incompetent Agents Telling Questionable From Reputable **A Special Warning: Fake Literary Agency Scams** Agents Who Are Also Publishers Additional Cautions One Last, Very Important Thing Resources Introduction Do you need a literary agent in order to find a publisher? If you’re […]

by Setsu Uzumé

From Kickstarter to ko-fi to patreon, the search for funding can be a huge challenge. I recently attended a lecture provided by the St. Louis chapter of the Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts on the subject of applying for grants. Some of the most basic hurdles include finding grants that might be a good fit for your work, and how to prepare your materials in a way to make it easy for the folks reading your submission.

As we begin the new year (Writer Beware’s fifteenth–good heavens!), here’s a look back at some of Writer Beware’s most notable posts and warnings from 2012.

A little while back, I blogged about yet another of the ways in which PublishAmerica was attempting to extract cash from its authors: a fee-charging “literary agency.”

If a display site is free, you lose nothing by signing up (as long as you’re careful about any contacts you receive). But if you have to pay a fee, you might want to think twice before pulling out your wallet.

Writers: Forget about that boring day job. Forget about tedious book promotion. Heck, forget about writing books! There’s another way to make money–and it was created with authors in mind.