All about Anthologies: A Roundtable Discussion
With Lilly Dancyger, Sari Botton, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, and Christine Taylor.
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Posts Tagged: agents
The Mentor Series: Emily J. Smith and Chloe Caldwell
Emily J. Smith interviews her mentor, Chloe Caldwell.
...moreAuthor in the First Person
There’s humor and advice on the long haul of novel-writing in an interview with Porochista Khakpour over at Prairie Schooner. Khakpour describes “problem-solving a chunk at a time,” and pushing through a “stalling chapter” to get from drafting to publishing.
...moreA Good Literary Agent Is Hard to Find
Finding a literary agent isn’t easy. It might just be the worst thing ever. Over at Publisher’s Weekly, Ken Pisani looks at the troubling process he went through until he found an agent—one he went to high school with.
...moreIndie Presses Become Gatekeepers
Big publishers traditionally rely on income from known authors to support taking risks on new writers. But those publishers have grown more risk-averse, avoiding unknown writers and focusing on mainstream books expected to perform well in the marketplace. Meanwhile, independent publishers are filling the shortlists of major prizes in part because they are willing to take risks with new authors. As […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Dean Koontz
Dean Koontz talks about his newest novel, Ashley Bell, overcoming self-doubt, and “what this incredibly beautiful language of ours allows you to do.”
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The Rumpus Interview with Susan Shapiro
Susan Shapiro discusses her latest novel, What’s Never Said, her Instant Gratification Takes Too Long teaching method, and new anti-dating rules between faculty and students at universities such as Harvard and Yale.
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The Rumpus Interview with Brian Shawver
Author Brian Shawver talks about his new book, Danger on the Page, his novel Aftermath, MFA programs, and why it’s a good thing that writing never stops being hard work.
...moreBending Gender to Make a Sale
The process of selling writing can do funny things to people, like the male authors writing under female pseudonyms. Catherine Nichols went the other way, taking on a male persona to sell her novel: I sent the six queries I had planned to send that day. Within 24 hours George had five responses—three manuscript requests […]
...moreOn Leaving Your Literary Agent
A few months ago, writer Patrick Ross made a difficult and possibly regrettable decision: he left his literary agent. He didn’t have another agent lined up, or even any strong leads on where to find one; he’s currently sending his book around and receiving rejections. What made him take such a risky leap? Read his […]
...moreAsk A Real Live Literary Agent
Rumpus readers will definitely want to read The Toast’s new series “A Literary Agent Answers Your Fevered Questions.” (NB—the questions cover a wide range of feverity, so if yours just kind of has a warm forehead, feel free to send it along.) Written by Ginger Clark, a literary agent at Curtis Brown, it offers valuable […]
...moreGenre Writing Shifts in the Industry
The Millions has an interesting essay on why literary authors are transitioning into the world of genre-writing. Whether the cause be jumping on the most marketable bandwagon, or pressure from agents, publisher nudging or a style-change by the author, there is a plethora of explanatory theories, there is an undeniable presence of genre writing on […]
...moreSteve Almond Confronts The Man, Wins
“If asking contributors to write for free then collecting 50K is good karma, what’s bad karma, Mark?” I know we’ve been linking to a lot of Rumpus contributor Steve Almond lately, but the guy’s on a truth-to-power roll. Also, he’s awesome. This time, it’s in the form of an email exchange between him and the […]
...moreThe Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
The book blogs had a great week — here’s some of what they have to say: This is very cool. Check out The Underground Library, a community in which “books are given out to Members of the Library, who are asked to SIGN their name by the Due Date and PASS the book to someone […]
...moreA Faithful Grope in the Dark
Are marketing departments running the major publishing houses? Do editors and agents know what they’re doing? Are small presses the future of literature? Is everything a crapshoot? What’s a first-time novelist to do?
...moreWelcome to Rumpus Books
At The Rumpus, we believe that a healthy literary culture is one which embraces writing of all kinds, by authors of all stripes – young and old, established and emerging, traditional and experimental, writing from the margins or from (or about) the heart of mainstream culture, published by “major” houses or by smaller presses.
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