Agent Friday: Steve Laube

Some agent blogs are little more than an interesting bulletin board of client's books. Not Steve Laube. Laube has been involved in publishing since the late eighties. He's been involved in bookstores, worked as an editor, and has been a literary agent since 2003. He's won numerous awards, including Editor of the Year, and Agent of the Year.

Laube has his own agency--The Steve Laube Agency. He represents both fiction and non-fiction, primarily in the inspirational category.

After three decades in the business, Laube could let new writers find their own way. But the busy agent generously spends time on his blog sharing his experience. Here's a sampling.

If the prospect of rejection seems daunting, check out Even the Best Get Rejected. You'll be surprised at which authors are on the list.

My favorite thing about Laube's blog is the way he explains the inner workings of the publishing industry in a way that's easy to understand. Ever wondered Who Decides to Publish Your Book? There are quite a few people involved. Another interesting post is Six Questions for an Agent.

With conferences on the horizon, writers all over are preparing to pitch to agents. Laube helps with the preparation with That Conference Appointment, tips on surviving a ten-minute face-to-face. And The Ultimate Sound-Bite is a great post on distilling your book into a one-sentence summary.

Writers gearing up to work on a query letter will really appreciate Laube's four-step guide in his hints for a great cover letter. And one of the most helpful and unique posts, Writer Beware, lists five important ways writers can protect themselves as they pursue the writing business.

Though I can't highlight all the great posts, here are two more. The first is Ten Commandments for Working With Your Agent, a light-hearted but true list. And the second one is just for fun: a list of creative texting shortcuts for writers, found in New Author Acronyms.

Laube also has links to quite a few resources on his site as well. Check it out. And if you'd like to see the rest of the agents highlighted so far, click right here.