Search found 20 matches

by pabrown
September 9th, 2021, 11:24 pm
Forum: Nominate Your Query or First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Topic: NEW - Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Replies: 207
Views: 177540

Re: NEW - Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog

Title: Here Be Dragons Historical First 250 Six-year-old Catherine went into the sea on the ship's third day. Her stoic mother and brothers succumbed soon after. Each linen-covered corpse, delivered to the gray waves, brought renewed weeping from the steerage class passengers. Johnny Dorlan joined i...
by pabrown
June 19th, 2021, 2:18 pm
Forum: Nominate Your Query or First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Topic: NEW - Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Replies: 207
Views: 177540

Re: NEW - Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog

Title: Gabriel's Fire M/M Romantic suspense Some people just deserve to die. Gabe found that out early in life that god made mistakes. His mother lit into him before he even finished his late breakfast. Gabriel Rios refused to look up from his cold cereal, when she curtly told him, “You’ll get a rea...
by pabrown
June 23rd, 2014, 6:58 pm
Forum: Nominate Your Query or First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Topic: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Replies: 720
Views: 451464

Re: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog

Title: Indifferent City Genre: Historical   Cocking his head, LAPD officer Billy Duquesne considered the man handcuffed to the chair in front of him. With his long wrinkled neck, his mouth flapping and squawking, the Chicago accountant, Konrad ‛Cueball’ Drescher, looked like a scrawny bird wearing w...
by pabrown
July 6th, 2012, 8:58 pm
Forum: Nominate Your Query or First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Topic: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Replies: 720
Views: 451464

Re: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog

TITLE: BILLY D GENRE: HISTORICAL 250 Nobody expected a riot that day. Reverend “Fighting Bob” Shuler intended to change that. From KGEF, his personal radio station, he poured accelerant on the fire he'd kindled the day before from his pulpit on Flower Street. The message was simple. The corrupt sou...
by pabrown
November 4th, 2010, 1:10 am
Forum: Nominate Your Query or First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Topic: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Replies: 720
Views: 451464

Re: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog

Title: Shadows and Smoke Genre: Noir Historical Los Angeles, March 1929 The day I killed my last Hun was both the best and the worst day of my life. It was the day I met Maddy. For weeks Captain Jeffers, my boss, along with his boss, Donald E. Crawford and the half of city hall Crawford had in his p...
by pabrown
February 23rd, 2010, 8:45 pm
Forum: Finding An Agent
Topic: Do agents really represent the author or the book?
Replies: 6
Views: 2929

Do agents really represent the author or the book?

I keep hearing so many agents say they want to represent the author and their career, not just a single book. If this is so, why then do agents say they have to absolutely love a book in order to take it on? What if they love the book I'm pitching right now, and it sells, am I then supposed to produ...
by pabrown
January 12th, 2010, 11:52 pm
Forum: Finding An Agent
Topic: Do you mention good reviews in a query?
Replies: 4
Views: 2446

Re: Do you mention good reviews in a query?

No, but you mention the books you have published and if they're getting good responses and reviews does that mean anything to an agent? I'm not querying a published book.
by pabrown
January 11th, 2010, 11:26 am
Forum: Finding An Agent
Topic: Do you mention good reviews in a query?
Replies: 4
Views: 2446

Do you mention good reviews in a query?

What's the consensus on quoting good reviews in a query letter? Is it only a good idea if they're from big review sites like Kirkus? What if you get multiple rave reviews?
by pabrown
January 6th, 2010, 12:03 am
Forum: Books
Topic: Post Your Favourites
Replies: 24
Views: 15245

Re: Post Your Favourites

I'm reading three great books -- Jeffrey Deaver's Roadside Crosses, Joseph Wambaugh's Hollywood Moon and James Ellroy's Bloods a Rover. I just finished Jonathan Kellerman's Evidence. My favorite kind, good dark mystery/thrillers.
by pabrown
January 5th, 2010, 11:39 pm
Forum: Finding An Agent
Topic: Requests for Exclusives
Replies: 2
Views: 1953

Requests for Exclusives

I searched the archives and can't find anywhere this has been covered, though I'm sure it's been mentioned before. How do you handle it when you have a few queries out, some for a few months without a word, and you come across an agent you'd really like to query but they insist on an exclusive? One,...
by pabrown
December 28th, 2009, 6:58 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Happy Holidays
Replies: 3
Views: 2092

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and you're looking forward to the new year. May it be healthy and productive and get you that book contract, that agent and that nice royalty check. Stay healthy and stay safe.
by pabrown
December 10th, 2009, 10:26 am
Forum: Writing
Topic: Do you write the same genre you read?
Replies: 46
Views: 25798

Re: Do you write the same genre you read?

Yes, I do. I love police procedurals and that's what I write, for the most part. I do write the occasional romance, something I read only occasionally. I do read more than those kinds of books, but they are my favorite. I used to write Science Fiction and for years that's pretty much all I read. I'v...
by pabrown
December 9th, 2009, 9:46 am
Forum: Finding An Agent
Topic: Mentioning other authors
Replies: 2
Views: 2488

Mentioning other authors

If you know an agent represents an author whose work is similar to yours (but not so close as to be in direct competition) do you mention this in the query or not? Our works are similar in genre, but quite different in content. But is it good or bad to mention it or will it not make the slightest di...
by pabrown
December 9th, 2009, 9:10 am
Forum: Finding An Agent
Topic: Your own website?
Replies: 27
Views: 12495

Re: Your own website?

I set up a web site long before I was published. If it's something you can do on your own, why not? I built my own and over the years it's moved from being a personal site with more stuff about me, to a business oriented site where I list all my books, links to things of writing interest, favorite a...
by pabrown
December 8th, 2009, 11:50 pm
Forum: Finding An Agent
Topic: Etiquette when an agent says they're closed to submissions
Replies: 5
Views: 3653

Etiquette when an agent says they're closed to submissions

What would you recommend if an agent you think would be perfect for your novel says they are closed to unsolicited submissions? Is it okay to send a simple query anyway? Is this ever effective or is it counter productive?