Askold Melnyczuk of Agni and Arrowsmith Press
“Fear nothing—neither the pang of rejection nor the riskier high of success. We’ll always need great poems and novels to, as Flaubert said, do what nature does: set us dreaming.
Agents & Editors Recommend
A dependable source of professional and creative advice, this regular series features anecdotes, insights, tips, recommended reading and viewing for writers, and more from leading agents and editors.
Emma Dries of Triangle House Literary
“At its most rewarding, writing and art more broadly involve other humans engaging creatively with your work, and to outsource the other part of that equation to a machine is a betrayal of the creative contract.
Sian-Ashleigh Edwards of William Morris Endeavor
“When you think your manuscript or proposal is ready to query, first, congratulate yourself! Then put the material away and don’t look at it for a few weeks.
Sarah Seltzer of Lilith Magazine
“One way you can distinguish yourself from other writers is being easy to work with. That doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your integrity to be published, but it does mean taking a beat to really think about edits, suggestions, helpful rejections before you object to them on principle.
Rasheeda Saka of Seven Stories Press
“Strive for your work to have lasting power, for it to be clear-eyed and brave with a singular vision and voice, in whatever way that means to you.
Lisa Ampleman of the Cincinnati Review
“I wish that rejection could seem more like a business sales pitch that didn’t land than a dismissal of them as a writer.
Daniel Ruiz of Denver Quarterly
“Writing and publishing are two threads in a life that won’t always stitch as we’d like.
Audrey Crooks of Trident Media Group
“I think of a book’s path to reaching the public as a relay race.
Hannah Matheson of Four Way Books
“When I’m reading...I can postpone my desire to immediately ‘know.’ I can’t, however, enter work that confuses.
Lisa Bankoff of Bankoff Collaborative
“Do your best and take constructive criticism with an open heart. Then do better.