Agent Blogs

[Moon Daughter]

I am completely addicted to agent blogs, and thankfully, they have returned after the holiday break. I particularly love blogs like BookEnds and Nathan Bransford. Their blogs are helpful tools for writers because you know what they want and they even give lots of amazing tips.

So I guess my questions are:

1.) Are you obsessed with checking agent blogs?

2.) Do you have a favorite?

[dempsey]

I think I can speak for everyone when I say: I miss Miss Snark.

[PeeDee]

I read 'em the same as I read most any blog: if it's well-written and holds my interest. I'm afraid I read neither agent, editor, publisher, or author blog looking for The Big Secrets, or even an insight of any sort. I just read them for pleasure.

I can't think of any agent blogs I read. I've been reading Neil Gaiman's for ages, but he's not an agent. And I read Ellen Datlow's, but she's not an agent either. So I'm not any help, am I?

[ishtar'sgate]

Nathan Bransford's blog is my favorite. He's so funny. I just have to make sure I'm not drinking anything hot when I read some of his blogs. Hot coffee shot out the nose really stings. I also enjoy Kristin Nelson's blog. She doesn't have Nathan's funny bone but she's one savvy lady.
Linnea

[Moon Daughter]

Nathan Bransford's blog is my favorite. He's so funny. I just have to make sure I'm not drinking anything hot when I read some of his blogs. Hot coffee shot out the nose really stings. I also enjoy Kristin Nelson's blog. She doesn't have Nathan's funny bone but she's one savvy lady.
Linnea

I think it's kind of cool that he likes The Hills (or at least that's what I deduce from reading his blog) and incorporates it into his posts.

[ChaosTitan]

I'm not obsessed (my reading habits vary from every day to once a week), but I do regularly follow Kristin Nelson and the BookEnds Agency blogs. And Rachel Vater when she actually updates it.

[melaniehoo]

I am completely addicted to agent blogs, and thankfully, they have returned after the holiday break. I particularly love blogs like BookEnds and Nathan Bransford. Their blogs are helpful tools for writers because you know what they want and they even give lots of amazing tips.

So I guess my questions are:

1.) Are you obsessed with checking agent blogs?

2.) Do you have a favorite?

Those are the first two I check every day & I'm going through Nathan withdrawal. There's a few others I read here & there, but those are my two favorites. The pitch critiques on BookEnds have been priceless.

[tammieofmi]

Every morning it's Nathans blog, Kristen's and bookends. The last 2 were found prior to querying them and even though I was politely rejected I still find I just can't get into the writing until I've swung in to see what's up.

Yeah I miss Miss Snark to.

[melaniehoo]

fyi - Nathan has FINALLY posted. :)

[NightMaster]

Sounds interesting, and if you'll excuse my ignorance... do you have links to the blogs? :)

[IHeartWriting]

LOL - Since it's what I blogged about today, I'd have to say "YES!"

I'm a big fan of BookEnds and PubRants, but read most everyone's when they're updated.

I miss Nadia Cornier....

[melaniehoo]

Sounds interesting, and if you'll excuse my ignorance... do you have links to the blogs? :)

http://www.nathanbransford.blogspot.com/
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/

These are the two I mentioned...

[Moon Daughter]

Here are some other great links...

Kristin Nelson: http://pubrants.blogspot.com/
Rachel Vater: http://raleva31.livejournal.com/
Janet Reid: http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/

[Shadow_Ferret]

I read agent blogs until they reject me. So every day the number ofagent blogs I read grows smaller and smaller and smaller.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say: I miss Miss Snark.
No, you can't speak for everyone.

[Moon Daughter]

No, you can't speak for everyone.

How about most people?

[Shadow_Ferret]

How about most people?
Not sure what the number is. He can speak for those who agree with him. :)

[MidnightMuse]

I find agent blogs only marginally helpful - since most of the agents who blog regularly rep only romance (or so it seems sometimes). But I enjoy the occasional author's blog. Thanks to Pete, I'm becoming a regular visitor of Neil Gaiman's blog. I wish some dead authors I loved had blogs.

That would be creepy, seeing as how they're dead, but interesting nevertheless.

[Moon Daughter]

Here's a thread (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37784) with a long list of agent blogs.

[Harper K]

LOL - Since it's what I blogged about today, I'd have to say "YES!"

I'm a big fan of BookEnds and PubRants, but read most everyone's when they're updated.

I miss Nadia Cornier....

Nadia's back at a different address. I just found her again last week and I was thrilled!

http://agentobvious.livejournal.com (http://agentobvious.livejournal.com/)

[IHeartWriting]

Thanks so much Satori!

[dempsey]

He can speak for those who agree with him. :)

I can't argue against this logic.

[Thomma Lyn]

I used to read agent blogs a lot (I was addicted to Miss Snark's), not so much now. I still check some of them from time to time.

Thanks for the recommendation of Nathan Bransford's blog -- that's a (comparatively) new one, and glancing through it just now, I am intrigued. :)

[ishtar'sgate]

Every morning it's Nathans blog, Kristen's and bookends. The last 2 were found prior to querying them and even though I was politely rejected I still find I just can't get into the writing until I've swung in to see what's up.

Yeah I miss Miss Snark to.

I have a nice little personal rejection letter from 2001 signed by Jessica Faust (BookEnds), complete with suggestions. Apparently she doesn't have time for those anymore so maybe I should frame it.:)
Linnea

[johnzakour]

I wish some dead authors I loved had blogs.


I wouldn't rule out Douglas Adams figuring out a way to do it!

[tammieofmi]

List getting smaller and smaller if you only read those who you query and get rejected by - I hear ya but you should stick it out - usually there is some information to be gained be it about the genre and or business.

I disagree that it's mostly romance agents that blog.

I read Nathans and while he looks at women's fiction - it isn't what he's known for representing. Again, look past some of that and you can usually get good info about the business in general.

As for author blogs I do usually seek out those who are represented by an agent or have worked with an editor I'm interested in. I just do it to see if I can gain a little tidbit of info. It's just another step (like google) in checking out an agent or editor.

[tammieofmi]

I received a nice signed letter from Kim at bookends right before Christmas. She had a partial and it was just over 3 months to hear back. Oh well, I still read their blog.

[windyrdg]

Nathan lost me when he started in on the rhetorical question thing. One of the top agents (many million dollar deals) said at a conference that every query she sends to an editor uses the question, four sentence format.

For what it's worth, that's the way I structured her query. She still rejected it. Some people just can't recognize quality. Lots and lots of them, actually.

My favorite, now that we're Snarkless, is agent Kristin aka Pub Rants. BTW Has anyone seen Don Maass' ridiculous list of what they're looking for each month? I'd love to whip off a query for one those and see how quick they rejected it.

[Moon Daughter]

BTW Has anyone seen Don Maass' ridiculous list of what they're looking for each month? I'd love to whip off a query for one those and see how quick they rejected it.

I admit that I don't like most of what they list for their "What we're looking for this month", but they do come up with some very interesting story ideas. I even considered writing one they suggested.

[tammieofmi]

BTW Has anyone seen Don Maass' ridiculous list of what they're looking for each month? I'd love to whip off a query for one those and see how quick they rejected it.


Yeah I did a post on my blog about where to get ideas and listed their site as having this posting. I checked back later to see if they changed it each month and sure enough they had. I write women's fiction not romance but was sort of amazed at what they came up with.

I'd love to see someone take one of those suggestions and run with it and see what happens.

[GJB]

When Miss Snark left, I gave up. Nothig else comes close. g.

[argenianpoet]

I read 'em the same as I read most any blog: if it's well-written and holds my interest. I'm afraid I read neither agent, editor, publisher, or author blog looking for The Big Secrets, or even an insight of any sort. I just read them for pleasure.

I can't think of any agent blogs I read. I've been reading Neil Gaiman's for ages, but he's not an agent. And I read Ellen Datlow's, but she's not an agent either. So I'm not any help, am I?

Amen to that. The bigger wisdom is there is no BIG SECRET. The thing I find likewise is they seem to contradict themselves. Don't get too wrapped up in their mumbo-jumbo, because the truth is a good story's a good story whether tell, omniscient, or whatever. It's like anything else in life, take their opinion's for what it's worth. A moderate portion of their advice will help you, but a hefty dose will taint your soul. Remember, they are not writers. People seem to forget that sometimes. Neil Gaiman comes closer to the truth I'd imagine than an agent, but it is good to broaden your scope. I've always been an open-minded thinker. Take it from me, I used to live by their every word, buy their books, etc. The books seem to be better I'll admit though. Try Donald Maass; now there's a dream agent. "The Career Novelist" is a good book. Soak in the information that's relevent to your style of writing. Ultimately don't forget why it is you write in the first place.

[Honey Nut Loop]

I used to read Miss Snark and Kristin Nelson regularly. I've weaned myself off a lot of sites however as university is taking up a lot of my time. I even weaned myself off absolutewrite but couldn't resist checking in over the christmas holidays.

[C.bronco]

I think I can speak for everyone when I say: I miss Miss Snark.
I just got a tear in my eye. I heart Miss Snark, and hope she is doing well with her clients.

[paperairplane]

I too love Nathan's blog. He actually got me hooked on The Hills. Another great blog is by Nadia Cornier and I think she just started it in November, so there's plenty of time for you to catch up on all her posts if you find it as good as I do.
I read Kristen Nelson's too, and sometimes the BookEnds blog.

[Emily Winslow]

That's why I loved Miss Snark. Her mantra was that good writing was all it took. She repeated it over and over. Ask her a question about a query letter or manuscript format--chances are that would be the answer.

I think she was grand. (And still valuable, in archive.)

Amen to that. The bigger wisdom is there is no BIG SECRET.

[Emily Winslow]

I read some posts that said she was harassed out of posting. What exactly happened or does anyone know?

Wow, I don't know. I never heard that. What she said on the blog was the questions were starting to repeat themselves, and the whole thing had kind of come to a natural end. Which felt right to me. I was sad to see her go, but I liked seeing her go out on a high note :-)