Book Genres and Blog Stats

I had fun collecting stats on my sidebar polls last week. Thanks to all 1,453 of you who answered the questions! Turns out: → 93% of you are writers→ 85% of you are writing fiction→ 73% of you are not yet published→ 77% of you are writing for the general (not Christian) market By far the most interesting info I gathered was the genres my blog readers are writing (or at least those who chose to vote). Here’s how it stacked up: 26%  Fantasy or sci-fi 21%  General/other (non-genre fiction)12%  Women’s fiction 12%  Mystery/suspense 10%  Supernatural or paranormal 9%    Romance 7%    Historical (romance or not) I was particularly interested in the fact that the largest percentage was fantasy and sci-fi. I don’t... [ Read More → ]

Stats… Industry News… and a Q4U

STATS It’s been awhile since I added up any stats. I didn’t do them for October, so here they are, along with November’s numbers. Total queries received in the two months combined: about 720 Pass letters sent: 358 Request for partials sent: 7 Queries unanswered in my query box: 262 Hard copy queries/proposals sent via US mail, unanswered: 82 New clients: 6 Book deals about to go up on Publishers Marketplace: 4 =============================== INDUSTRY NEWS Next week on the blog, I’ll address the economy and the state of publishing. Today I want to give you a brief overview of things that have been happening in our industry this week, in case you’ve somehow missed it. You can Google any of these items to read more; they’ve been endlessly discussed on the... [ Read More → ]

September Stats… and a Q4U

What a month! More queries than ever before, but amazingly, I’m keeping up with them. If you’ve sent me an email query and I haven’t responded, that means I don’t have it, so please try again. If you’ve sent a hardcopy via U.S. mail (in which case you’re probably not reading my blog), I haven’t responded. Those are stacked up awaiting my attention. In addition to the regular queries through mail and email, I was pitched approximately 30 new projects during my meetings at ACFW. So this month’s stats include those numbers. If you’ve sent me a partial or proposal, this is where I’m behind. It may still take me some time to get back to you. I apologize for the delay, but that’s just the way it is. Be sure to let me know if you... [ Read More → ]

August Stats and a Q4U

So today is Labor Day… a holiday for the working citizens of the U.S. to take a brief rest. What better way to celebrate than to give an overview of my labors (or lack thereof) in the month of August. Submissions received in August: (approx.) 301 Pass letters sent: 138 Partials & fulls I requested: 8 Queries unanswered in my inbox: 155… YIKES. My worst month ever for keeping up with queries. (Taking a complete vacation from work seemed like a good idea at the time… ) Trends in the Inbox:→ I received 3 projects related to beauty pageants (Miss America, Miss Universe, etc.) → I was addressed a number of times as Ma’am and Madam. A little disconcerting. → I felt like I was overrun with vampires and prostitutes. Also disconcerting. → A few people sent... [ Read More → ]

July Stats and a Q4U

First, I wanted to let you know that I have an article on Christian Fiction Online Magazine today. If you haven’t checked out the site, you should. It’s an incredible amount of information all in one place, and a new issue goes online the first of every month.Many of my readers have asked me the question, “What’s a typical day in the life of an agent?” So that’s the topic of my article. Click here for the Agent Column.Now for the July stats:Good news! If you’ve sent me a query, I’ve answered you. If you’ve sent me a proposal, partial or manuscript, I’ve responded in some fashion. There are NO unanswered communications in my box. Sooooo… if you’ve sent me something and I haven’t responded, that means I... [ Read More → ]

Weekend Update and June Stats

Do you ever read the blogs of those New York literary agents? I do, and I love hearing about their exciting nights on the town in Manhattan and their cute co-op apartments and their urban child-free lives. But here in Colorado, more specifically, here where I live, you haven’t had an awesome weekend unless you’ve grabbed the kids and the dog, gotten outside and communed with nature. Or attacked it in a death-defying sporty activity. So this weekend I set aside my sophisticated literary agent persona and joined 80+ friends and family members in a camping trip of epic sporty proportions. We’re talking tents, sleeping bags, hiking, dirt biking, ATV-riding, baseball, archery, golf, sitting around chatting, and all the burgers and s’mores you can eat. Not to mention... [ Read More → ]