Continuing Education
By Angela Henry

I’m constantly amazed on a daily basis about how much I still have to learn about the ins and outs of the publishing biz. Fortunately, for those of us with inquiring minds, there is a ton of info online made available by people in the know. Here are some of my favorites:

Pub Rants is the blog of literary agent Kristen Nelson. Nelson dispenses wisdom, knowledge, advice, and industry insight from an agent’s perspective. She even posts sample query letters by some of her clients as examples of what kinds of queries caught her eye as well as sample pitch letters she’s sent to editors.

Ever wonder what happens to your book after a publisher acquires it? Then Pimp My Novel is the blog for you. Written by an anonymous person who works in the sales department of a major publisher, blog topics include explanations of such mysterious publishing terms as Nielsen Bookscan, Sell through, and just what it means when your book has been skipped.

As someone who has a project currently on submission, The Intern has been an invaluable blog. Written by an actual unpaid intern at a publishing company, this blog covers what happens after your manuscript arrives in a publisher’s mail room, what goes on in those editorial meetings, and why who your manuscript is addressed to can make all the difference in the world. Good stuff.

EReads is the blog of agent Richard Curtis. Okay, full disclosure, Richard is actually my agent and he happens to be one hell of an insightful man when it comes to the publishing biz. Some of the posts on his blog are actually essays he wrote twenty or more years ago and are almost scary in their accuracy in predicting publishing’s current downward slide.

Now, go forth and be informed!