Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I actually think it's unprofessional to have a website all about your unpublished works in progress, acting as if they're already published books or heavily trying to market them, etc. Sorry, I can't let this comment slide. You think it's unprofessional to have a website about your unpublished work...

Ah yes but that's cheating!!

Even when I get as far as the editing stage, I still print out the pages and work it up by hand. It's slower, a lot slower, but, for me at least, the quality is a lot higher.

Most UK agents accept worldwide submissions. However, as many agents now switch over to accepting e-mail submissions (they are quite a bit behind the US: many agencies - and almost all of the old, established names - insist on postal submissions), I have noticed a trend where some agents are startin...

It happens. No big deal.

Now, when they get the title of your manuscript wrong, that leads to some questions...

Every day. I write everything with pen and paper first going over whatever chapter(s) I am working on that day until I am happy. The next morning, I always type up what I wrote the day before, to get my brain into writing again, and a lot of editing gets done at this point. Sometimes I will print th...

I'll share a personal experience of conferences, which might help sway the undecideds. I went to my first conference in March, The Festival of Writing in York, England http://www.festivalofwriting.com/ . It was a conference purely aimed at unpublished writers. I was really unsure about whether to go...

I rarely read anything twice, but two books I keep returning to are:

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Birds Without Wings - Louis de Bernières

It's a tricky question to answer without knowing more. Given a choice of top agents in either country, which would you go for? There is no harm submitting a batch of queries to both countries, testing the water, and seeing what comes back. I am in a similar position. I'm an Irish writer, and initial...

Hey Quill, It's about both - the adventures of the seven (one of which is San Martin, all of which come together one way or another because of him) - culminating in the meeting with Bolivar. 2 movies for the price of one! But on a serious note, it has been a juggling act trying to keep at all togeth...

Which countries are you interested in? For the UK/Ireland the Writers & Artists Yearbook is indispensable. Comprehensive listing of all UK/Irish agents (with genres/submission guidelines/contact details etc.) and a ton of helpful articles. If you don't want to buy the book, they have a search fa...

Quill: The anonymous was there because he actually retired to France to avoid getting drawn into the Argentine civil war that followed independence. Not sure if it is redundant or not. I had "anonymous farmer in France" before. Not sure what is best. Regarding the meeting, it's an interest...

Thanks to everyone who has commented so far - very helpful. The latest version is below. I have moved away from the chronological version again (trying this one more time!), and tried to put the dramatic 'non-fiction' hook at the beginning of the query, that some people seem to respond to. I have tr...

This probably won't make much of a difference, but I recall Bransford saying he doesn't want to know how you researched the novel. Yeah, I am in two minds about that bit, but I agree, don't think it makes too much difference. I am querying both UK and US agents, UK agents definitely want that kind ...

Thanks Clara you have given me a lot to consider.

Dave

Thanks for all the advice - very helpful - a lot to consider!

Dave