Lauren Lise Baratz-Logsted's Blog
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Feb.02.2012
If you use the same official author photo for more than five years, you run the risk of being labeled the new Lawrence Sanders of publishing...or the new Lauren Baratz-Logsted.
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Feb.01.2012
You can’t blame someone else for making a crazy request of you – like I always say, it never hurts to ask! – but you can blame yourself for saying “yes” when you know you know you should say “no”.
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Jan.31.2012
If an agent does ask you for an exclusive, simply say, “I’m afraid I can’t do that but I can promise you that if another agent offers representation first, I won’t say ‘yes’ until talking with you” – this should be sufficient for any agent worth her salt; and now we have exhausted the subject of...
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Jan.30.2012
The only time you should even consider saying “yes” to an exclusive is if the requesting agent really is your #1 Dream Agent and any other agent would represent for you a pale second; but note, I said “consider,” and also, if you do grant an exclusive, it should be for no more than two weeks.
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Jan.29.2012
Saying “yes” to an agent’s request for an exclusive is like telling a man you haven’t gone out on a date with yet that you’ll stay faithful to him, even though he makes no similar pledge in return and you have no idea if he’ll ever decide he wants to marry you; neither scenario is in your best...
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Jan.28.2012
I would have thought this one goes without saying too, but apparently I was wrong: Don’t leave anonymous negative reviews of your enemies’ books on Amazon, because you will be found out; you will be embarrassed.
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Jan.27.2012
I would have thought this one goes without saying, but apparently I was wrong: Don’t review your own books on Amazon, not even if you think you can do it super-anonymously while wearing a wig and sunglasses, because you will be found out; you will be embarrassed.
The following notice...
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Jan.26.2012
A client who represents himself may have a fool for a lawyer, but writers acting as their own publicists has become the publishing norm.
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Jan.25.2012
Savor your midlist status as a writer, for in a world where only one person can have the #1 book on Amazon and only one can have the lowest-ranked book on Amazon, at any given moment all but two of us are midlist writers.
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Jan.24.2012
If at all possible, rather than fighting with everybody as some writers do, just pick one good nemesis and stick to it – you’ll feel saner and you’ll seem like less of a whackaloon to others as well.
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Jan.23.2012
Paraphrasing religious teaching on a certain subject: You will go blind if you check your Amazon ranking too frequently.
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Jan.22.2012
Bitter has an odor, and when you too frequently indulge your Inner Bitter Writer (try saying that five times fast!), you create an aura that makes it difficult for success to find you; and even if success manages to find you, the bitter you’ve held onto for so long will compromise those moments...
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Jan.21.2012
When it’s gorgeously snowy and you just want to enjoy your Saturday, it’s OK to let someone else’s words do the work for you provided you give proper attribution: “Paying the bill, we stumbled out into the street and back to our apartments, where we spent the rest of the night jealously reading the...
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4 comments
Jan.20.2012
When dealing with a copy editor's marks, you need only do one of three things: 1) accept the change, 2) write STET, 3) answer the question on the sticky note; what you don't need to do is get worked up and have fits in front of anyone who will listen, however, when you are done, you...
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About Lauren
Before becoming a published novelist, I was an independent bookseller and buyer, a Publishers Weekly reviewer, a freelance editor, and a window washer. My first book was published in 2003 and by the end of 2012, I will have had 28 books published. My most...
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