Writer Unboxed

Daniel Lazar is an agent with the esteemed literary agency Writers House. For five+ years, he’s been building his own list for them, with an emphasis on distinctive, unboxed fiction. We’re thrilled he took the time for a WU Q&A about agenting in general, what it’s taken to hook him in the past and what […]

Psst. News is up on the Google Notebook. It was a big week for industry shakeups. Oh, and the AP dumped Book Reviews. Go HERE.

I was talking to my financial advisor on the phone yesterday, putting together my investment strategy for next year. I hadn’t spoken to him since before I retired from the military. He asked me what I was doing now. When I told him, he said, “Well, at least you set yourself up […]

You know how much we love contests here at WU, so when I heard about erotic suspense author–and fellow Writing GIAMer–Karin Tabke’s First Line’s contest, I knew I’d want to announce it here on the site. Then Karin and I started chatting about other things–including the fact that she’ll soon have new works published in […]

Finally, we have ourselves a winner! Someone will soon be receiving a big, heavy box brimming over with ALL of these fabu tomes:

Writer’s Market Deluxe Edition 2008, which comes with a ONE-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION to WritersMarket.com

Guide to Literary Agents 2008

Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market 2008

Poet’s Market 2008

Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market […]

Therese and I are going to be busy over the next few days tabulating the votes for the winner of WU’s unique word contest, ergo, apologies for a hasty post. But there are a few newsy items of interest to fiction writers that I wanted to highlight, in case you haven’t been skimming Therese’s […]

Jim Fusilli is both an award-winning novelist and an accomplished author of short fiction. Recently his pet project, however, has been working as the editor of a story written by several authors with the International Thriller Writers association. It’s unique in that it’s a serial story that will be released through Audible.com one segment at […]

Books & Business updates for the week are up at Writer Unboxed’s Google Notebook. Check them out HERE.
Write on, all!

When you think about it, those who succeed in getting a novel into bookstores illustrate “publishing of the fittest.” Just as critters evolve over time to become better, stronger, and more successful, I think writers do, too.
There are stages in the evolution of a writer (think of the illustration you’ve no doubt seen of the […]

Thanks to everyone who participated in Writer Unboxed’s CONTEST, CONTEST!
Kath and I enjoyed this word-creation contest even more than our Alphasmart contest, if that’s possible. Each of the over 200 words submitted had a unique bent, but we had to choose just ten finalists. Our process? We alphabetized all the entries, sans reference to […]

Kath and I are busily assessing the *222* entries in the unique word creation contest. Stay tuned for results!
Did you know September is Library Card Sign-Up Month? It’s true, SEE? But the buzz on the street this month is less about library books, I’m afraid, and more about the new fall television lineup. And […]

On the road to manuscript completion, I occasionally test writing craft books for WU readers, and I see if they stack up to the gory practicalities of real-life revision. Because, if you’re like me, you love to read about great writing tips, but find yourself forgetting the wisdom they impart once you sit down […]