Agent Friday: Kristin Nelson

This week's agent is the very talented and energetic Kristin Nelson, with the Nelson Literary Agency. I attended a workshop with Krisin back in January, where she and agent Kate Schafer Testerman (who will be hightlighted in a future Agent Friday) read through a stack of first pages, and gave their feedback on whether they'd keep reading or not. The workshop was very helpful--we were able to see why one agent might love a writer's style, while another might pass. The only downside of the workshop was that my own writing sample was the next one to be read when the workshop ended. Oh well.

Please do check out Kristin's blog. She has so much information for writers who are preparing for the query process, or trying to understand the business of agenting. With all the information that blogs like this provide, there is no excuse for newbie writers to be uninformed. Part of our job, besides writing, is learning how the business works.

A few posts of note on her blog:

Kristin's Agenting 101 blogs: A crash course (twenty-one posts) on every aspect of agenting. If you've ever thought you could represent yourself, hold off on your decision until you've read these posts. The first one is here.

Krisitn's Queries: Examples of her client's successful queries, with Kristin's comments on what caught her eye and why. Here's one example. Find more on the sidebar of her blog.

Kristin's Submission Pitch Letters: These are examples of letters Kristin writes to the editors at publishing houses where she hopes to place her client's books. Check this one out, then find more on her blog's sidebar.

Beginning Writer Mistakes: A list of sixteen posts detailing things to avoid here.

In case you're located in the Colorado Area, Kristin Nelson will attend the Pikes Peak Writer's Conference in Colorado Springs April 23-25th. I'll be there, too. How about you?