WHAT''S NEW? AN AGENT AND A PUBLICIST.

What’s new? An agent and a publicist!

I can’t believe it either! I am so excited. It proves net working at a conference like the Santa Barbara Writer’s conference is important.  I can’t wait to tell you about the big changes I am sure my new team will bring to my platform.

The conference was packed with over fifty hours of seminars by experts in their field. Nightly speakers demonstrated examples of the heights I can reach if I apply my passion and write laboriously. And aaah, the agents who represented publishers from many of the big presses courted me like arrogant suitors. So who did I bring home?

An agent and a publicist! Many know what a publicist does, but people are not always clear about an agent’s duties.

Agents are the messengers - the go-betweens - between the author and the publisher. The represent the author and  handle the contractual agreement between the two. The agent of today, many times, wears an editor’s hat as well.Check out the Five Tips to Finding An Agent.http://www.maloneeditorial.com/blog/5-tips-to-finding-a-literary-agent/

  Before the conference I read my agent's bio and selected to meet him on the Meet The Agent Day at the conference. His bio picture must have been doctored or taken during his prime because he was not what I’d expected.

The conference organizers allowed authors only ten minutes with their respective agents in which time they would discuss the first five pages of the author’s completed manuscript. The big room was dotted with reps from all big name publishing houses. My guy sat over in the corner as if shunned by his peers.

What he lacked in the handsome, three-piece-suit department he more than compensated for in enthusiasm. We hit it off immediately. He liked to travel and had a cat. I liked that he liked to travel and had a cat.I liked that he liked my writing. 

We carried on about books and places we both had visited, almost missing the afternoon wine and cheese party at the pool. He explained he was a twin and had been separated at birth from his brother. A chill crawled up my spine when I suddenly realized who he reminded me of. Could this be the brother of Jack Incarnate, aka Cowboy Jack? I kept my musings to myself.

He reviewed my five pages and expressed he couldn’t wait to read the rest of the story. He leaned across the table and shared his first gem about writing. “It’s the first five pages that make or break a book,” he said. “That’s it. If you don’t hook the reader, me, and, most importantly, the publisher in those five pages, you’re dead.” I heard this at every seminar but his intensity made me heed his words. He then shuffled around a couple of sentences on my manuscript, and announced, “ Now it pops.” I was sold. “Sign me up,” I said.

Writing is rewriting, he reminded. He encouraged me to keep up my blogs and handed me a list of seven reasons to publish a blog.. Perhaps some of them  will encourage you to get the hammer out and  start building your platform.

Here are the seven reasons you should create your own professional or interest-based blog:

1. Your blog is an online advertisement for your writing or editing services, or for documents or publications you write or your company produces.
2. Your blog is an extension of your résumé that allows you to present content about your professional experience, as well as writing samples, in one convenient location.
3. Your blog will convey your personality, allowing prospective collaborators, clients, and employers to gain a good first impression of you.
4. Your blog enables you to network with other writers and editors or other people in your industry or sphere of interest.
5. Your blog demonstrates to prospective associates that you are passionate and knowledgeable about the subject area you blog about.
6. Your blog establishes you as an expert (or someone with interest if not expertise) and as someone who engages in extra effort to acquire and share knowledge and information about a profession or area of interest.
7. Your blog provides you with a forum for developing your communication skills — not just writing but also video and audio, as well as interactivity such as networking, commenting on other websites and blogs, and responding to comments on your blog.

(Taken from www.Tips on Writing.com – 7 Reasons to Publish A Blog.)

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Yesterday my agent drove from LA to meet with me and go over some fine points of our contract. We sat outside at the Starbucks in the Country Market Place in Menifee. The warm afternoon, the splashing from the fountain and the aroma of Chipotle’s Mexican menu made my day magical as I signed the papers.

Meet my agent, Jacque B.Sellinit, from the St. Harley Rules Press. Let's see how much he'll "be sellin' it" for me.Could my agent's missing brother actually be Jack Incarnate aka, Cowboy Jack?

My agent, Jack B. Sellinit, from Harley Rules Press enjoying the wine and cheese party at the 2013 Santa Barbara Writers Conference. ( Hope he'll be "sellin' my books.)

We met at the Country Market Place in Menifee, Ca. to wrap up the final details of our contract.

To meet my publicist, click on the link below and Sportster will explain his duties and what he has planned for our marketing program. Yes, that’s correct. Sportster will be my new publicist. See what he has planned for me.http://judyhowardandsportster.blogspot.com/