Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Simply Because You Asked

Some time in the past twenty-four hours, one of my readers suggested, via the comment box, that I offer a bit more information about AGENT: DEMYSTIFIED. Specifically, page length, cost, and a "snippet" to read.

That's easy enough to do. So here you go:

AGENT: DEMYSTIFIED is a 48-page e-book (downloadable PDF) complete with "live" links.

It costs $9.99 and you can use any major credit card via Paypal (even if you don't currently have a Paypal account).

And here are a few opening paragraphs, to whet your appetite:


----------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 1: ONCE UPON A TIME (or, The Ancient History of Authoress)

It all began with a phone call.

Well, not really. It actually began with a book. Doesn’t every writer’s story begin with a book? At any rate, this story begins with a book – a self-published piece of nonfiction for a niche market I thought I had a fairly good handle on.

Turns out I was wrong. But that’s another story altogether. Suffice it to say that in the midst of my having written a book that wasn’t selling particularly well, I received a phone call. Not just any phone call, though. This phone call had a “212” area code.

It was a literary agent.

Through a quirk of fate, she had read my little masterpiece and thought that perhaps she could represent it. Sell it to, you know, a real publisher.

Sounds like a fairy tale, doesn’t it? It wasn’t. Oh, this was a real agent. I wasn’t being scammed by someone from Victoria Strauss’s “Thumbs Down Agency List . This agent’s shingle was legitimate, if not a bit dusty. No, the problem wasn’t the agent (not at this point, anyway). The problem was me. I didn’t understand what literary agents were for.

------------------------------------

Click HERE to read more about the book.

Click HERE to purchase your copy now.

*taking off Marketing Hat, slipping into a back seat with a mug of drinking chocolate*

5 comments:

  1. I have a question that doesn't really pertain to this post. I know that a lot of aspiring authors post about their work (and even put up excerpts). However, I recently read warnings against that (since stuff on the internet can be stolen). Is this likely? Do you think it's dangerous to put up excerpts and synopses, or just paranoia? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, there's a fine line between paranoia and prudence. ;)

    As far our our contests go, 250 words of a manuscript aren't very "steal-able," since it's barely a page of the story. The "search inside this book" feature on Amazon.com offers more to read than that.

    As an author, I would not post entire chapters on a web site. But excerpts for critique aren't what I would consider "high risk" for piracy.

    Yes, things do get stolen all the time. But we mustn't live in fear, either.

    FWIW, I would never post a synopsis. The stealing of an IDEA is a terrible thing. So yes, in that instance I would caution against it.

    Out of prudence, of course. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Buy the book, readers of Authoress's blog! It's worth it if you're trudging through those query trenches. :)

    Authoress, thanks for the enlightening of people stealing stuff. I may go over to my blog and delete some synopsis stuff I have from a few months back.

    I have my novels on novel-blogs. But they are invite-only, and I only invite those I trust. Do you think that is okay?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have a blurb and sample pages on my blog, too. I think I might just go and delete them for now, especially since my idea was unique.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry. My last comment didn't sound right. Most writers have unique ideas. We just want to keep them that way until that *sigh* book contact comes our way.

    Of course posting our queries on the various writer's site for feedback also puts us at great risk.

    Thanks for the great advice, Authoress.

    ReplyDelete