Cindi Myers newsletter

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Let's talk agents. Finding the right agent is tough. You have to find someone who represents the type of book you write, and who can be enthusiastic about you and the story you have to tell. Sometimes it's a matter of clicking with them personally, or submitting the right story when they're looking for it. Blogs are a great way to keep up with what agents are looking for. Here is information gleaned from various literary agent postings:

Jessica Faust at Bookends Literary Agency (http://www.bookends-inc.com/) : " I would love to see more current affairs/investigative-type titles. I love books that can open our eyes in a new way. Maybe they look at the history of a certain product or business or make us realize something that maybe we thought, but never really grasped (like the lack of privacy in today’s society)." Also on her lists of wants -- historical mystery, both thriller and softer historical mystery. She would love to see a historical mystery set in New York. She loves women's fiction. " I tend to be very attracted to stories about friendship, marriage, and parenting (from both sides of the issue). I’m a sister, but don’t have a sister, so for some reason sister stories rarely grab me as much. " On the romance side, she's looking for "great romantic suspense and big, sexy historical romances." Read all the details at http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/

Elena Roth, of Firebrand Literary Agency (http://www.firebrandliterary.com/) is looking for young adult novels with "high-concept hooks that don’t scrimp on strong characters." She'd love to see a story with a believable male voice and is drawn to narrators who have a dark or quirky sense of humor. "When done right, I love stories set in a dystopian future and anything that has a fresh (and funny) take on family set-ups will catch my eye." She also represents middle grade and picture books. Get the complete scoop at http://joelleanthony.com/2008/03/

Donald Maass Literary Agency (http://www.maassagency.com/) posts a regular 'what we're looking for' notice. Right now, their interest is in "high concept literary fiction." See http://www.maassagency.com/thismonth.html for more ideas.

Caren Johnson, of Caren Johnson Literary Agency, is on the hunt for contemporary romance authors. "I want to find 3-4 romance authors who have great contemporary romances (sorry paranormal and romantic suspense authors—as I keep saying, I have some great authors already writing this in my stable so I don’t want to have too much competition within the agency). Please send me great stories with well developed characters, fun plots and great locations (I’m an armchair traveler so don’t hesitate to set your stories in your hometown of Wichita, Kansas or Phoenix, Arizona; I’d love to hear about those places). Send all queries via email—submissions@johnsonlitagency.com" http://cjla.squarespace.com/

For a pretty comprehensive list of agent blogs, go to http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37784
or http://tinyurl.com/4o9hpd
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Something we could all use. Weiman (http://www.weiman.com) is holding an essay contest. in 250 words or less, describe what "the good feeling of clean" means to you and you could win maid service for a year. Contest ends July 31, 2008. Details at http://www.weiman.com/contest2/
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If you haven't had a chance yet to read my free online novella, Finding Home, it's still available for a limited time at http://www.eharlequin.com/article.html?articleId=1349
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Join me for a wonderful opportunity! I am a featured presenter in the Writers TeleSummit 2008 and will be giving a talk on "Writing and Selling the Contemporary Novel" along with 23 other amazing speakers all presenting their best thoughts to help with your writing career. The best part -- you don't have to travel at all. Acclaimed author and creativity coach, Eric Maisel, PhD., has arranged what may be the best writers conference ever , to be held as a teleconference and web streaming event from September 4 -September 7, 2008. You can find all the details at (http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=781318) The Writers TeleSummit features 24 world-class professionals in the field. Accomplished authors, agents, publishers, all at your disposal for four days. The cost is $295 -- a fraction of the cost of any other kind of conference of this caliber. All calls are professionally recorded and available for play back and download. Your registration includes audio downloads of all 24 keynote addresses for the entire four day conference. That's 24 hours of inspiring audio available as in MP3 format included in the low cost of registering. There is also an option for having CD's of all events sent to your door. There are several great free gifts that are yours to keep when you register. You'll get four lessons from Eric Maisel's popular Coaching Writers Training, lessons that you can't get anywhere else. If you wanted them, you would have to pay more than the cost of The Writers Telesummit to join the training. You get them for free when you sign up. You'll also get three professional tips from each presenter, that's 72 tips to jump start our writing/creative careers before the conference even begins. And if you are in the first 50 people to register, you get a free copy of Eric Maisel's E Book "The Power of Sleep Thinking." I hope you will check it out at _http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=780710_ (http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=780710) *********************************************************
Get 2 FREE books and a FREE mystery gift from eHarlequin.com***https://members.cj.com/member/publisher/other/getlinkdetail.do?adId=6265805
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As always, feel free to pass along this newsletter and to encourage others to sign up to receive it. If you reprint or forward the newsletter, all I ask is that I be given credit for it. Anyone can sign up by sending a blank email to cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Cindi MyersA Soldier Comes Home, Super Romance, June 2008www.
CindiMyers.com, www.myspace.com/CindiMyers