And I spy a great agent looking for submissions…
Not to nag, but have you thought about having good professional profile shots taken? It’s tremendously important. Proper profile photos, where you look thoughtful and as though you have something to say, make you look competent and experienced.
Maybe this advice is Old School but I’m willing to go out on a limb here. You need digital photos for all your social media handles, your Google page, Gmail and such like, your Skype – everything needs a photo of you now. Sure, if anonymity is what you want, the grey shadowy circle can be yours on all handles. However, if you want a career in writing, you owe it to yourself to make your profile shot a good one. Rather than the happy snap captured by fluke at the family barbeque. Even if you did come out surprisingly well.
LinkedIn is another example. A high-quality profile picture leaves a great first impression. It is key to your branding and online networking. Research shows people want to engage more with you if your profile photo is good. Especially if you are smiling! The feeling is that a smiler is good at social relationships. For writers, that contemplative, ‘I’m a super interesting person’ look can do wonders for your credibility. Not that my profile shots reflect that brooding, writerly appearance. I am simply trying to hide my teeth.
Also, maybe it’s time to re-do old profile pics? The old old profile photo is such a thing. I’m no social media expert but I did have a bit of an experience this week. My profile photo on Zoom is professional and even if I say so myself, I do look rather glam. So while waiting for the zoom meeting to start the zoomer at the other end was looking at my professional profile photo. Then, when I turned on the video and came into the session live, oh dear. My zoomer did a double take. I looked nothing like my zoom profile pic. So either I always make sure I glam myself up for my zooms (lesson learnt, thank you very much, from the gaping mouth of my zoom guest), or I consider getting new shots. Frankly, I think I should do both.
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…I spy a great agent looking for submissions
In writing news, I see that LBA literary agents in London are taking submissions. I worked with Luigi Bonomi for some time and like his agency very much. Luigi has several agents who represent various genres.
Luigi has a very good submission guidelines page here:
https://lbabooks.com/submissions
I particularly liked Amanda Preston’s submission page. And a little secret, I hope Amanda will join us for a special guest zoom lecture in the July Art of Writing 2023 retreat.
Amanda Preston
What I’m looking for:
Fiction:
I’m on the hunt for a high-concept thriller which is character and plot driven, but also has a discussable issue at its heart (I loved Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey and Girl A by Abigail Dean). I would also love a novel where the location is as integral to the plot as the crime (The Dry by Jane Harper and The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse are great examples of this).
I would love a new crime series and I’m particularly looking for voices that have been underrepresented in mainstream publishing.
I’m on the hunt for a glorious book club love story that is doing something a bit different and special. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus captivated me from the first page and I would want to be captivated again!
Whether commercial or reading-group, I love innovative and well-written stories that hook me in from the start and whose voice stays with me. I’m looking for novels that demand to be talked about and shared, whatever their genre, and that I’m still thinking about days after finishing.
I’m not looking for science fiction, poetry or young children’s fiction.
Non-fiction:
I’m a HUGE crime podcast fan so would love to have more true crime on my list. I’m looking for the ultimate whodunnit where I can get lost in the real-life twists and turns of the crime or con and it can be contemporary or historical, an unsolved case or a different perspective on a well known case. I’m not looking for any child-related crime stories.
I’m looking for narrative non-fiction predominately in science, the environment, psychology, nature writing, well-being and memoir.
I’m interested in seeing proposals on self-development for women that empower them at whatever stage of life they are at, and that bring something new to the discussion.
That’s it for this week, lovely writers! I look forward to next week’s Blog! Hope to write with you soon in Florence.
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If you’d like to share any comments or thoughts, I’d be happy to hear from you. Email me directly at lisacliffordwriter@gmail.com.