10 Novels Agents Have Seen a Billion Times, and How to Make Yours Stand Out

It is not easy to write a book or get published. I’ve been a literary agent for almost 20 years, and I’ve written six books myself, most of which are tucked away in a drawer. As an agent, I receive hundreds of query letters every month, all vying for a spot on my list and […] The post 10 Novels Agents Have Seen a Billion Times, and How to Make Yours Stand Out appeared first on Electric Literature. Continue reading at 'Electric Literature'

[ Electric Literature | 2025-06-13 11:10:00 UTC ]

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Predicting the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

With March Madness and the Super Bowl recently crowning champions and the Grammys and Oscars awarding music and movies, it’s finally time for the literary world to have its own big moment in the sun. And that can only mean one thing: It’s Pulitzer time! While there are many book awards that... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-19 11:15:00 UTC ]
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“The Stone Home,” My Second Novel, Was Crafted From Shocking Historical Truths

In January 2016, I was an unpublished writer working on my first novel when I learned of an artist residency on a tiny island off the west coast of South Korea. Excited, I daydreamed of finishing my manuscript in my motherland, visiting family, and of course, eating an abundance of delicious... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-18 11:05:00 UTC ]
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7 Short Story Collections Set in Nigeria

I have always loved the versatility of the short story, how it can so easily take on the forms of other things. There are playlist short stories, recipe short stories, diary and epistolary-style short stories. There are flash fiction stories, short short stories, and long short stories that... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-15 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Exclusive Cover Reveal: “Homeseeking” by Karissa Chen

Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover of Homeseeking, the highly-anticipated debut novel by Karissa Chen, which will be published by Putnam on January 7th, 2025. You can pre-order your copy here. An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-11 11:10:00 UTC ]
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8 Magical Libraries in Literature

I suspect many writers spend hours and hours at their local library and, if they’re anything like me, they can often feel like they’re swallowed up in a grandiose, if not downright mythological reservoir of knowledge. I remember living in Los Angeles, going to the Los Angeles Public Library,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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CAA Appoints Managing Directors, New Board Members

Chris Silbermann, whose clients include Dr. Seuss Enterprises, has been named one of nine managing directors at Creative Artists Agency, while motion picture literary department co-head Ida and literary agent Sloan Harris have joined the CAA board. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Cloud Atlas at 20: What makes a novel tattoo-worthy?

Every author wants to write a book like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. Two decades after it first hit the shelves, the author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow celebrates its daring, dazzling appealPity the writer who believes they have written the next Cloud Atlas! A literary agent once... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-04-06 10:00:31 UTC ]
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9 Short Story Collections About Women’s Bodies

Short stories can do things novels cannot because they’re short. They’re limber and can dart in and out of close-fitting places. They can be weird and daring in ways that novels cannot always sustain. Joy Williams writes in, “8 Essential Attributes of the Short Story (and one way it differs from... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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I Don’t Have To Choose Between Writing About Myself And Writing About The World

I was balancing a plate of honeydew in the green room of a book festival when I walked by a white man bemoaning the state of the publishing industry. The man wore a suit, and he spoke to a white woman; both of them looked to be in their 40s. As the man speared a […] The post I Don’t Have To... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-27 11:05:00 UTC ]
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“Worry” is the Novel of the Online Generation

The biting cultural commentary that emanates from the pages of Alexandra Tanner’s debut novel Worry is like the too-bright light of a smartphone screen at night, pulling you closer and keeping you absorbed late into the night. One year following a secret suicide attempt that only Jules, our... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-26 11:00:00 UTC ]
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For the Teenage Girls in “Headshot,” the Boxing Ring Is a Place of Transformation

Rita Bullwinkel’s debut novel Headshot takes place in the confines of a boxing ring in Reno, Nevada, over two days of championship matches to determine the winner of the 12th Annual Women’s 18 & Under Daughters of America Cup. Her protagonists, eight teenage girls, fight each other in a... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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I didn’t get the credit for my bestselling book: the secret life of the celebrity ghost writer

There’s nothing quite like finding six new releases on display in a bookstore – all of which you’ve written, and none of which has your name on itA few years back, a long-held dream of mine came true: a book I wrote became a runaway hit.You’ve probably read the book. You’ve definitely seen the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-03-11 14:00:31 UTC ]
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Leslie Jamison Writes A Different Kind of Love Story In “Splinters”

Leslie Jamison’s new memoir Splinters follows the aftermath of divorce and the awakening of motherhood, but it explores desire more than it does any kind of death. Jamison wants to make meaning, to connect, to love, to feel, to mother, to write, and to revise her life endlessly. There are losses... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-08 12:00:00 UTC ]
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7 Books Written as Letters to Family Members

When I began writing my unborn son a letter in 2018, a book was the furthest thing from my mind. I wasn’t trying to unpack the countless ways in which the words “all men are created equal” have failed us in this country. Instead, I was thinking that I would write a letter, something that […] The... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-05 12:00:00 UTC ]
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What You Should Be Reading This Winter According to Indie Booksellers

Every Tuesday, a wave of new books is published, fresh off the printing press onto the shelves of bookstores around the world. Even for a book editor like me, it gets overwhelming to keep track of all the forthcoming titles. So we’ve turned to our most trusted source for recommendations: indie... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-29 12:00:00 UTC ]
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12 Brilliant Short Stories by Black Writers to Read Year-Round

From one girl’s aspiration to Olympic gymnastics glory, to a boy’s stint living in the Idaho wilderness in hopes of fixing his unruly behavior, something that remains a guiding principle in Black storytelling is the breadth of our lives. These stories, a collection of some of EL’s most-loved... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
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7 Books About Ghostwriters

When I was ghostwriting full-time, I produced twenty books in fourteen years. Thanks to a suggestion from my literary agent, I realized a ghostwriter might make a great heroine—they’re under tremendous pressure, often while adjacent to the fame machine—so Mari Hawthorn, the ghostwriter at the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-15 12:05:00 UTC ]
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Your Next Book Based on Your Relationship Status

Ah yes. Literature. The vehicle through which we may explore faraway lives we would have otherwise never imagined. From my little, rugged armchair, I can witness forbidden love in the 18th century. Peek into a bustling kitchen in New York City. Discover the dramatic betrayal that fractured the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-14 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Temim Fruchter on Writing a Queer Jewish Novel Based on Folklore

Temim Fruchter’s debut novel centers around a young woman, Shiva, seeking answers about her family’s past after the death of her father. Told in revolving perspectives, between women in Shiva’s family and a mysterious, omniscient narrator, the book explores the interior lives of women,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-01-24 12:00:00 UTC ]
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