The Rappaport Agency will be closed for submissions, effective immediately, until at least the end of January 2010. Any submissions currently with us will be evaluated and will receive responses. All queries will be deleted unread during this period.

Many of the clients I've taken on this year are unpublished authors, and I want to get their books sold to good houses, before I take on any more unpublished authors.

One year and one day ago, I had the pleasure of announcing that I had started my own literary agency.

It's been a good year. I'm looking forward to many more. =)

I view agenting as a job that will require me to keep learning throughout my life. Whether it's figuring out new revenue sources (Google, I'm looking at you), or becoming more specialized in the history of the genres I represent, I've still got tons of stuff to learn.

To that aim, I've decided that I want to know even more about the romance genre than I do already. When I worked with Paige Wheeler, I had access to her great collection of Romantic Times and the Romance Writers Report from RWA. It let me keep current with what was being bought in the romance field, but more importantly, it let me keep abreast of what romance writers were currently reading and talking about. Industry information is so important, regardless of whether it's aimed at editors, agents, booksellers, or authors.

Fast-forward several years... and I no longer have subscriptions to those great periodicals... except now I do, again. =) Romantic Times will be winging its way to me shortly, and I'm about to mail off my very own application for RWA. I feel like I've come full-circle, since I was a baby agent.

To that aim, I'm curious to see what new romance novels you recommend that I pick up. What are you reading and LOVING right now? I can (and do) stalk people buying books in bookstores, but I'd love to hear what my blog readers are into at the moment. Drop me a line in the comments of this post!

I realized today that my short story, "The Sock Thief", is eligible to be nominated for a Nebula award for 2009. Now granted, I am aware that it is a short and somewhat silly story, but I think it's just as eligible for nomination as any other story published in small or major presses. So with that in mind, this is what I have eligible for the 2009 Nebula Awards. Active or Associate members of SFWA may nominate works, and Active members will be able to vote on them.

Short Story
"The Sock Thief", Knitty, September 2009.

I am curious to know whether any of you would like to read some of my fiction, serialized in a couple of parts on this blog. I have a particular short story, "Skyscraper Dance", which I love dearly. I am well aware that it has many flaws, but I've moved on so much as a writer that it's not worth the investment of going back and fixing it. I've dutifully sent it out to fourteen short story markets, and it's been rejected from all of those. I could keep sending it out to smaller and smaller markets, but I'd rather share it with you guys here, under a Creative Commons License.

What do you think? Would it be weird reading it? Do you not want to read it? Good? Bad? Let me know your opinion.

Just to be clear: I would never do this with an unpublished novel, if I thought it had any chance of professional publication, but the market for short stories is woefully small, and this one has been out and about for the last eight years.

I have an endearing fondness for those writers who work really hard on their research skills and have accurate details--in part, I think, because I'm such a research nut. Wikipedia, anyone? I can get lost for hours. =)

Writers of historical romance and historical fiction are particularly prone to critiques about accuracy, since the historical fact behind their stories HAS to be right. At least, it has to be right for me, and I assume lots of other readers.

But it's not always easy to figure out the details; sometimes, it involves a lot of guesswork. And sometimes, it involves two intrepid authors, Loretta Chase (historical romance) and Susan Holloway Scott (historical fiction) getting down and dirty in Colonial Williamsburg, as they try out the very things they write about.

Ladies and Gentlemen, for all the research nerds out there, I present to you Two Nerdy History Girls, which I've been absolutely loving for the past few months. =) Go check it out!

So...

I ended up catching swine flu too... but I knew the symptoms, so I got myself to the doctor in time to get Tamiflu. =)

I've been resting all week, but I'm well on the road to recovery right now. Mostly just fatigued, which is good.

I cannot emphasize enough how glad I am that I got Tamiflu; I had one of the cases with almost no fever. If I had gone by the traditional definition of flu being with a high fever, I wouldn't have realized that I was truly sick, soon enough. My doctor trusted my instincts and the fact that my husband had just had swine flu--I am very grateful.

I'm back to work next week, as there's lots to catch up on!

And how have all of you been? =)

(As a sidenote, we are surviving here at Casa Rappaport Agency. My husband still has swine flu, I may or may not have it, and we are taking preventive measures because we don't want the cat to get it. Yes, cats can catch swine flu. Odd, I know. She is confused and sad about not being able to sleep on the bed, since my husband is occupying it. I get the couch. Also, I can type, but I must take breaks... onwards to the topic!)

Anyway, one of the most common questions I'm asked as an agent is this one, roughly paraphrased:

"I have written a wonderful book. It is the first in a series of X books (where X>=3), and I am now shopping it around to agents. Should I write Book 2 in the series?"

Now that's all well and good. As a reader, I love big, fat series. As an agent, not as much. And here's why: if I can't sell the first book in your series, then I'm not going to be able to sell books 2 through X for you. So you're going to have spent however many months of your life writing the next three books in your series, and I'm going to have to tell you to write them off as practice.

But surely that doesn't happen, you say. You point to authors who have done just that, and then their agents have sold the first six books of their series all at once, and see, they should have been writing the next books.

No.

You have to think of this practically. Do you want to spend the next ten years of your life writing something that will never be published? Do you really want to invest that much time into something so risky? Or would you rather write the first book of your series, outline the others, and then start a new, different project? Because once that first book of yours doesn't sell, I'm going to ask for what you have next... and wouldn't you like to have something to show me?

Of course, there is the common caveat I give to all writers. If the book is burning inside you to the point where you will literally go mad if you don't write it, then write the sequel. But if you don't have that intensity and desire, then write something else.

Stretch your wings as a writer. Try writing something in an opposite POV than the one you just used in your prior novel. Try making your protagonist a different gender. Switch between genres. Think of new and interesting things. And experiment with them because that's the only way you're going to learn as a writer.

It may take you five novels to get published, but if each of those novels is a different one from the one before, then you know what happens when Novel #5 sells? You'll have the experience and the writerly toolbox to whip out the sequels to it. =)

I can type. I can type. My wonderful certified hand therapist is letting me type. That is all. =)

I have a love/hate relationship with NaNoWriMo. It can be a great jumpstart and kick in the pants--I have several clients doing it for that reason. It can also be a huge amount of pressure, causing people to abandon families, work, and anything rational for a month. And then, when those writers finish writing their novels... they send them out right away, without editing or critique feedback or any sort of polishing.... which is pretty much an agent's worst nightmare.

But despite that, I think it's a great impetus for writers. If you know that you're going into this with the understanding that you are producing a FIRST DRAFT ONLY, then you can have a lot of fun in November. You'll have to edit it; you'll have to polish it; you'll have to let it sit for at least a month or more before sending it out to agents. But you may find out that it's something you never would have thought to write or you might discover that you have the ability to set a goal and work towards it, which is a very good thing for a writer.

So I invite you all to join me this NaNoWriMo. I'm modifying the guidelines for myself--I get credit in my head, I've decided, if I can dictate 10,000 new words on the novel I've been working on for forever. It's not a lot, but it's encouragement, and that's what I'm in it for.

How about all of you?

Day 2 was yesterday, and the con was considerably more hopping. I continued my tradition of sleeping in, grabbing the illustrious Spencer Ellsworth for a late dinner of ramen (REAL ramen), and then we swung back to the con.

I went to the mass autographing where I got my book signed by Rudy Rucker; I was sad though, that it was so loud that I was reduced to pantomiming at him, and didn't get a chance to tell him how much I loved discovering his books in high school But I suppose I'll get to do so at some point. After the autographing, I took a quick break in the bar, and then we were off to the parties. Night Shade, Locus, and Tor in that chronological floor order. And then back to Night Shade at the end before the husband and I ran out early because my right hand had swollen up from the tendonitis. Yay. (Note to self: wrap entry up and stop typing)

And then today, I was all excited about the con and life and woke up to find that my left shoulder had decided that it was simply not going to function today. Yay RA. It would have to strike at a con. =) So i rested, and I sleep early today and tomorrow I go to the awards banquet!