With the holidays nearly here and a brand news website and blog for TED in development and ready to launch early next year, we're going on hiatus for a spell. We do want to wish all our readers, clients, and staff a very happy holiday season and raise a glass to happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012.

(Awesome reindeer photo courtesy of flikr user axle)

Please pardon our dust while our blog is on temporary hiatus as we prepare for our move, which is set for August 7, 2011.  Our address from then will be: 

 

It's been a busy week on our blog thanks to Mystery Writers Appreciation Month, and so today we're taking a time-out from contemplating mystery craft to pass along some information about agents and agencies who as of this June 2011 posting are actively looking for mysteries. 

Please pay close attention to submission instructions and areas of interest within the mystery genre, where relevant.

 

1. FinePrint Literary Management
agent-Janet Reid
send a query letter via e-mail that includes the first 30 pages of the novel, the pages should be in the body of the e-mail(not as an attachment. the subject line should read: Query for (insert title of your project)-in the query letter you must address her personally
e-mail to janet@fineprintlit.com
prefers-thrillers, mysteries and crime fiction of all kinds but no horror 

2. Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency, Inc
agent-Ann Rittenberg
prefers snail mail query letter with the first three chapters and a SASE
to:  15 Maiden Lane, Suite 206
New York, NY 10038
has sold a lot of mysteries, likes upmarket suspense,thrillers, and mysteries

Really? Did I really write that first post without mentioning how good fiction editors are first and foremost enthusiastic readers?

Indeed I did, but only because I can’t imagine anyone seriously considering a career as a book editor who’s not an avid reader and hasn’t logged more than a few all-nighters with a book they’ve been unable to put down. So let’s assume that as a given.

For the past couple of months I have been a frequent participant in the twitter-based Scribe Chat. During one of our discussions of writing craft, we hit upon the idea of creating a book club  which would focus on memoirs of the writing life and books on craft and technique. Lia Keyes, author and creator of Scribe Chat, and I selected Betsy Lerner's The Forest for the Trees as our first title and we'll be discussing it during this week's Scribe Chat on twitter.You're welcome to participate whether you've read the book or not. Topics will include the author-editor relationship, and the many types of writers.

If you've never participated in a twitter chat before, I recommend reading Twitter Chats for Writers: A Quick Guide to brush up on the basics. It's simple to participate, but chats tend of move quickly and it can be difficult for a first-timer to keep up. Luckily, the chat is recorded, so you can read the transcript later at your leisure. You do not need a twitter account to follow the chat, but you do need one if you wish to contribute to the conversation.

As Children's Book Week draws to a close, we'd be remiss if we didn't share a couple of our favorite client successes. Yes, The Editorial Department works with children's books, and we're especially proud of these two. The first is The Goopy Ghost of Halloween by V.R. Duin. Goopy is the story of a displaced pile of pumpkin "goo" on the search for a new home after its pumpkin was turned into a jack o' lantern. V.R. worked with Renni Browne on this (and her second book, The Amazing Flight of Little Ray), and a sequel is in the works right now. The video trailer for Goopy is on the book's amazon.com page, and gives viewers a glimpse of both the story and the vibrant artwork. (Which, in my opinion, is one of the best parts of children's books!)

Another lovely book we had the privilege to assist with is The Chronicles of Joya by Liane Carter, an author based in the UK.  Joya is a science fiction tale featuring a brave rabbit protagonist and her adventures on Earth. There is a wealth of information and media featuring Joya on Liane's web site, but my favorite part is Liane reading an excerpt from the book. It's always nice to hear a book in the author's own voice!

It's been over twenty four hours since the Tucson Festival of Books wrapped up, and just now, we're beginning to recover.  We might have eaten a few too many of our own Starburst and suffered the successive sugar crash.  Still, it was all worth it, even when the sun hit us right in the eyes late in the afternoon.  Anytime we can meet hundreds of people who love books and writing as much as we do, you can't pass that up and the Festival of Books was that perfect opportunity.  We loved walking around and seeing all that was going on, from the circus on the east end of the mall to the workshops and author events happening everywhere.  The booth itself seemed to be jumping all weekend long, and we thank every one of you that stopped by.  If you made it out to the Festival, maybe you were surprised by what an amazing event this has become in two years.  From pulling in a flood of best selling authors to great local restaurants to all the other stuff going on, it was an amazing two days.  Well done, Tucson Festival of Books.  We'll see you next year.

While all the author events, workshops and vendors are probably enough to convince anyone who enjoys the written word to come to the Tucson Festival of Books this weekend, I don't know if you're legally allowed to use the word "festival" if there isn't food.  Thankfully, this particular festival will have an excellent selection of food from Tucson restaurants.  While you can't go wrong with barbeque from Brushfire, a sandwich from Beyond Bread or the always classic Sonoran hot dog,  I'd like to put in a brief endorsement for the Tucson Tamale Company.  Tamales are just about the perfect food, as far as I'm concerned, and the Tucson Tamale Company makes excellent tamales, both traditional and more playful.  The tamales are made with the best ingredients, they have vegetarian and vegan options and it also helps that the owner, Todd Martin, is among the nicest people on earth, giving every customer a warm welcome.  Bring cash (the food vendors won't be accepting credit cards), grab a tamale, and come say hello to the staff of the Editorial Department this weekend.

Obviously, over two days of events, there's something for just about anyone who cares about words in any form at the Tucson Festival of Books, but we'd like to share a few of the events we're excited for over the next few days.  One seemingly must see presentation will be the discussion of how to get started in screenwriting featuring John August (Sunday at 11:30 in the UA Mall Tent).  We love great screenwriting here (after all, we have a whole department dedicated to the craft), so the opportunity to learn something from August, whose credits include Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the underrated Big Fish, is always welcome.  To learn more about John August or about Hollywood in general, bookmark his blog, where he answers screenwrting questions from readers and discusses whatever else happens to be on his mind.  See you this weekend!

The Tucson Festival of Books is rapidly approaching, and at the Editorial Department, we're excited for two days of sun and book events.  We'll be there with a booth, meeting people and talking about our services, so if you happen to be around, we hope you'll say hello.  Also, we'll be previewing the festival here on Ellipsis up until the festival kickoff on Friday.  If you're planning on attending, you better have a plan.  There's so much going on from workshops to book signings to children's events.  Thankfully, The Arizona Daily Star has developed an iPhone app for the occasion. While there are far flashier applications, if you're the iPhone sort, the entire festival schedule is at your fingertips, so you can make vexing decisions about how to spend your weekend on the spot.  Isn't technology grand!