by Jeff Campbell, author and instructor at The Writers Circle Writing is often considered a lonely profession. But it doesn’t have to be. That’s the lesson I learned last weekend. On June 4 and 5, I attended the annual conference of the New Jersey chapter…
Now that you’ve come up with your brilliant Elevator Pitch, drafted your query letter and the dreaded synopsis, it’s time to face the part of the process over which you have little control: actually finding an agent. Not only “an agent” but the RIGHT agent.…
Now that you’ve had the pleasure of boiling down your entire novel, memoir or nonfiction book into a single “elevator pitch” and tucked it neatly into your one-page query letter, it’s time to address the next big marketing piece: the dreaded synopsis! As Jane Friedman…
by Mally Becker “This is the greatest time in history to be a writer,” declared David Henry Sterry. Because of all the publishing options now available, he and Arielle Eckstut, collectively The Book Doctors, assured a full-house of aspiring writers that our works-in-progress could be…
After six years as The Writers Circle, we’ve witnessed the birth of some amazing writing and worked with writers who’ve truly stretched and grown. We’ve cheered a great many on their publications—articles, essays, short stories, and poetry that were beautifully done and well received. Now…
by Mally Becker The idea of promoting my own literary work makes me want to hide under a blanket with a bag of leftover Halloween candy. Or maybe mint Oreos…, but you get the point. Noted literary publicist Claire McKinney understands. At a two-hour Writers…
I met Margot Sage-El, proprietor of Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, when I was brand new to New Jersey, making my rounds in anticipation of the launch of my debut novel, The Thrall’s Tale. After an exhausting day visiting bookstores in the region, I was anxious…
by Allison “A.J.” Colucci One of the biggest hurdles aspiring authors face is landing the right agent. Three of New York’s top literary agents shared their best advice to a packed crowd at The Writers Circle’s Speaker Series on Sunday, March 8. Marietta B. Zacker…
Just how does an aspiring novelist find his way to becoming the head of a brand-new, paradigm-shifting division of a major publishing house? For Brendan Deneen, it’s a circuitous route that lead to becoming the head of Macmillan Entertainment, the book-to-film division of Macmillan Publishing. His untraditional approach to getting things…
by Jeff Campbell, TWC Instructor One good hook? That’s hard enough to come up with. Fifty good hooks, one after another, for 300 pages? That’s the daunting challenge I faced when writing my forthcoming book Daisy to the Rescue (Zest Books). It’s a collection of…
Inspired by TWC’s upcoming writing retreat, Michelle offers a whimsical fairy tale… Once upon a time, there was a timid young woman with a yen for writing and a monster desk-drawer dragon that fed on her work and kept her voice hidden from the world……
This Sunday’s Speaker Series event, “Publishing Insiders” was a huge hit, with three articulate young professionals telling it like it really is in a rapidly changing and still completely vital industry. Alex Cameron, Assistant to the Associate Publisher at Tor Books (part of Macmillan), Anna…
