10 Writing and Publishing Questions Answered by Literary Agent Barbara Poelle
Funny You Should Ask is a humorous and handy column by literary agent Barbara Poelle. In this post, we’ve collected 10 of her FYSA columns.
Editor's note: Funny You Should Ask is a rare column that just happens to appear in each issue of Writer's Digest magazine. It's humorous, for sure, but it's also loaded with great writing and publishing advice from an actual literary agent. In this post, we've collected 10 columns written by literary agent Barbara Poelle.
Click the links below to read the answers to each question. Enjoy!
10 Writing and Publishing Questions Answered
- What Is Going to Be the Next Big Trend in Fiction? Also answers the question of how a writer can get a publisher to spend real money on promoting a book.
- Why Did My Literary Agent Stop Submitting My Manuscript? Poelle provides five possibilities.
- How Can I Support My More Successful Writing Friend Despite Being Jealous? Find out if it's even possible.
- How Do You Become a Literary Agent? A literary agent shares how becoming a literary agent happens.
- How Fast-Paced Should a Thriller Novel Be? Maybe not as fast as you might assume.
- What Is New Adult Fiction? Hint: It's not about how recent it was published but who the target audience is.
- Oops! I Sent the Wrong Attachment. What Now? We've all been there, but what do (or can) we do?
- Why Don't Literary Agents Invest in Long-Term Talent Instead of Manuscripts They Love? And how do they know the difference?
- What Are the Best Times to Query a Literary Agent? Learn the best times to query an agent from an agent.
- How Strict Are Word Counts for Contests and Book Submissions? Are they hard-and-fast rules or more like general guidelines?
Ask Funny You Should Ask! Submit your questions on the writing life, publishing, or anything in between to wdsubmissions@aimmedia.com with “Funny You Should Ask” in the subject line. Select questions (which may be edited for space or clarity) will be answered in future columns, and may appear on WritersDigest.com and in other WD publications.
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Outlines for novels can seem daunting. The synopsis, even more so. A synopsis is something you’re going to need because it’s vital to selling your novel if you’re going to query agents or publishers. And the outline is going to save you time while you’re writing your novel. Starting with your premise, expanding your outline, and then writing your synopsis is the perfect way to understand exactly what your story is about and how to get it done.
Barbara Poelle is vice president at Irene Goodman Literary Agency (irenegoodman.com), where she specializes in adult and YA fiction.
