My sister tipped me off to a great article on why novel publishing can be so slow — sometimes taking several years, from when an agent sells a manuscript, before a book sees print. Well worth the read: “Waiting for It,” at the NY Times.
The First Book: Gerald M. Weinberg
Up this week over on The First Book Blog: Gerald M. Weinberg and his book, The Aremac Project. Check it out. I know Jerry from a number of writing workshops we’ve attended together (he’s a well-known nonfiction writer, but this is his first foray into fiction), and he’s a fascinating person.
My Agent’s Big Sale
My agent, Rachel Vater, just announced on her blog and on Publisher’s Marketplace that she made a big, seven-figure deal for her client Melissa Marr. She’s got a number of NY Times bestsellers on her list now. She really is an agent on the rise, and I’m so glad to have her in my corner. She has lot of interesting things to say on her blog, so you should check it out.
She also mentioned my own recent sale:
Finally, another recent sale for a debut novelist: Scott Carter’s THE LAST GREAT GETAWAY OF THE WATER BALLOON BOYS sold to David Gale at Simon & Schuster Children’s and will come out in hard cover spring 2010. This is an author I signed up as fast as I could. His book kept me up all night when I only meant to read the first chapter or two. I loved it too much to stop reading, so I’m very excited and happy to be his agent!
Very happy here. I don’t think I could have a better agent.
Harlan Ellison on Paying Writers
With the Hollywood strike going on, I thought you might enjoy this Harlan Ellison rant about paying writers.
Should I be paying him for this?