Publishing Pulse 2/5/10

Agent News

• Caren Johnson with the Caren Johnson Literary Agency will be closed to queries until April 1st. Elana Roth, who is also with CJLA, will still be accepting queries.
• Mark McVeigh with the McVeigh Agency is inviting anyone who queried him prior to November 1st to re-query, as he was buried in submissions and may not have had a chance to respond.
• QueryTracker.net lists over 1000 reputable agents. So make it your first stop for all your querying needs!

On the Net

• I'd like to challenge you all to support debut authors. (Hopefully we'll all be one someday, right?) The Story Siren is hosting the 2010 Debut Author Challenge for MG and YA books. It's a fun and easy activity to add to your own blog, plus a great networking opportunity.
• Agent Kristin Nelson had some interesting thoughts about Why Prologues Often Don't Work.
• Want to know the Top Ten Query Mistakes? Rachelle Gardner spills all!

Conferences

Events are a fantastic way to meet publishers, agents, authors, and fellow writers. No matter what stage of the publishing journey you may be in, there is always more to be learned. I've made a lifelong goal to attend conferences. Here are a few of the biggies:

• The Backspace Writer's Conference is this May in NYC.
• The end of July will see the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators 39th annual summer conference in LA. (I'm planning on attending with Elana. If you come be sure to look us up.)
• Writer's Digest is still accepting enrollment for their March Editors' Intensive conference, held in Cincinnati at their headquarters.
• It's easy to find local conferences by Googling "writing conference" and your state.

Contests

• The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) with prize of a published novel ends February 7th. So hurry if you plan to enter this one!
• The Pacific Northwest Writers Association is having their annual contest with cash prizes for winners. All entrants receive two critiques; there is a fee to enter. Deadline February 19th.
• Writers of the Future is accepting entries of up to 17,000 words of sci-fi, fantasy, or dark fantasy. No fee required.
• Again, use Google to find local contests.

Guide to Literary Agents Blog

Chuck Sambuchino, the author who's the wizard behind the GLA blog, gets two thumbs up for his fantastic articles. Thanks for all you do for writers, Chuck! Here are some of my favorite recent posts:

• How to Trim Your Query to 250 Words (or Fewer): Advice from Agent Janet Reid
• Author Platform and the Debut of Your Book
• Great Links for Kids Writers
• Interviews with Laney Katz Becker of the Markson Thoma Agency, Irene Goodman of the Irene Goodman Agency, and BJ Robbins of the BJ Robbins Literary Agency.

Have a happy weekend!