We have moved our blog to our site at www.hartlineagency.com!  

Sign up for our new newsletter HERE!  

We have moved our blog to our site at www.hartlineagency.com!  

Sign up for our new newsletter HERE!  

Hartline has moved

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Hartline Literary Agency and the From the Heart blog have moved to a new URL location.

Please find Hartline Literary Agency at http://hartlineagency.com/

and follow our From the Heart blog to this new address:  http://hartlineagency.com/blog/

Hartline Agents represent over 100 years of combined publishing industry insights and experience. This valuable knowledge can help you start or grow your own writing career.

As a family owned business, Hartline strives to make each client feel like part of the extended Hartline family.

Our authors have won dozens of the biggest awards in the industry: the CHRISTY, the WILLA, the CAROL, and the RITA are just a few examples.

Whether it's helping writers prepare their book proposals, or mentoring authors in marketing and promotion, Hartline Literary Agency is a full-service agency that assists its clients in every aspect of their publishing careers.

We want to thank you for following us at this old address, and hope you will join us at the new addresses above.

Inflating Your Platform by Andy Scheer

How do you earn the attention of your followers?

Last week on Facebook, one of the hundreds of friends I’ve never met posted this:

I have a publisher's meeting in July. I need to build my platform on my Facebook page, [Impressive-Sounding Name.] I have invited my friends to like my page today to gain numbers, if you have a moment it would help me out to have a personal like. Thanks for the support.

Doubtless you’ve seen many such requests, maybe even sent them.

Perhaps they increase an author’s number of likes. But I doubt they fool publishers into thinking these authors really have a large following. More likely, they’ve calculated the average percentage of “ask-a-like” numbers—and accordingly re-figured the size of most authors’ real social media platform.

As for me, I seldom respond to requests to like a page. Why? Most times I don’t know the person. So I’ve never seen a reason to visit their page, let alone like it.

I restrict my likes to people I know—through working with them, meeting them at an event, or regularly seeing their posts that actually contain content of value. (I don’t consider a pitch to buy their book to be content of value.)

Still, a handful of writers have actually earned my likes. Some I’ve known for years. Others have earned my attention because they post regularly and memorably, with content that fits their brand and reinforces interest in their work.

And that work includes well-planned communication on social media—not just begging for empty likes.

I’m sure publishers notice that, too.

What Do You Want to See From Writers? By Linda S. Glaz

In a nutshell…exactly what we asked for on our agency site.

We don’t want colorful fonts or fonts the size of the Grand Canyon. We want New Times Roman, 12 pt. We want you to tell us exactly who has already seen the manuscript. We don’t want to take you on as a client and find out that you’ve already sent it to every editor in the industry. We want you to lay out your marketing strategies. Don’t tell us that you will start to build a social media and speaking presence. Tell us that you have already built this dynasty and are merely waiting for a fearless leader. 

Tell us you have researched your historic novel for a couple years, and it is now complete and looking for a home. Don’t tell us that you’ll start the research and finish the novel if we’re interested. And please…DO NOT tell us to go to your website to see a sample of who you are and what you do.

It truly is not rocket science. We tell you exactly what we want, what we expect, and you take it from there, using our guidelines.

There you have it. What do we want to see from writers? Exactly what we ask for on our site. If you follow this, you tell us that you already have a professional presence. And if your proposal looks good, you jump to the top of the pile. Welcome aboard.

Who Knows Where Your Words May Go by Andy Scheer

Your writing can reach people you’d never imagine.

In his novel, a man returned to his home town after an absence of forty years.

Set in the American South, the story spoke powerfully of reconciliation, forgiveness, faith in Christ, and revival. Vivid descriptions let readers place themselves in each scene. His protagonist noticed all that was familiar — and all that had changed.

While the author targeted Christian readers in the United States, he got unexpected feedback. An English-speaking believer who’d just escaped persecution in a traditionally Islamic country read the novel. The story moved him. He saw how it could minister to other Christians in his nation — if it were translated into their language. So he tracked down the author and asked permission to make a translation.

The author has a burden for the people of that country — one to which it’s difficult for Americans to visit and even more difficult for them to speak openly about Christ. But books, especially stories, can speak to people privately, personally. In electronic format they can cross borders. They can change hearts and lives.

The author may never get royalty checks for this translated edition. His reward will be far greater.

Life Stands in the Way by Linda S. Glaz

Sitting down to write, edit, review, or any number of other writing jobs, one realizes that the moments stolen from life can be brief. For most authors, writing time is jammed between loads of laundry, crying babies, hungry husbands, and oftentimes, forty hour a week jobs as well.

There has to be an incredible burning and hunger to create stories. Or a severe case of masochism to be a writer. And to be an agent if truth be told. :):):)

I’m going to keep it simple today.

This is just a truth that I shared with a young woman in a writers’ group many years ago. She asked when she would be making a ton of money writing so she could quit the day job. And I told her this: “You might not ever make a pile of money. So decide right now if you are a writer. If you have to write as surely as you have to breathe, then, and only then, are you truly a writer.”

Life stands in the way many days, but if you can’t stop writing because of the burning in your soul, then you are probably a writer.