10 Things Not to Say to an Agent When You Pitch Your Project

10 Things Not to Say to an Agent When You Pitch Your Project

Jun 15, 2022 | On Writing

It’s conference season again, that wonderful time of year when we agents listen to hundreds of pitches—some good, some bad, and some ugly. Here’s what not to say. (And yes, these are real lines from real-life pitches.) #1 My villain is so bad he kills the dog. It’s...
Go for Broke: 6 Ways To Make Your Story Stand Out

Go for Broke: 6 Ways To Make Your Story Stand Out

Apr 6, 2022 | On Writing

I recently led a workshop at the New York Pitch Conference, an event dedicated to helping writers perfect their pitches—and in the process, discover what might be keeping them from selling their work in an increasingly unforgiving marketplace. Often it’s the fact that...
Writing About the Pandemic—or Not?

Writing About the Pandemic—or Not?

Sep 7, 2021 | On Writing

This is the question I hear all the time from writers of all levels of experience. The uncertainty of life during the pandemic has affected everyone in the book business—writers, agents, editors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, reviewers. We publishing...
10 Writing Lessons We Learned from 2020

10 Writing Lessons We Learned from 2020

Jan 5, 2021 | On Mindfulness, On Writing

Hindsight is 2020. I stole that great line from my son Greg Bergman, Editor-in-Chief for capitalwatch.com. This year was a nightmare, but we did learn a lot—the hard way—about our industry, ourselves, and each other. 1) Backlist matters. As terrible a year as this may...

Pin It on Pinterest