Latest posts from Chip MacGregor
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Talking Agents and Agenting
Here's how this blog works: You send in publishing questions, and I give you a straightforward answer. Nearly all of the recent questions relate to agents…
Rita wrote to ask, "I've been offered a contract on my novel… When an …
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Kristy and Karen and Mike
When my son Colin was about five years old, we took him to the Rose Parade in Portland. He got one of those helium balloons that have a Mickey Mouse head inside a second, larger balloon. Colin loved it, and …
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The Christian Book Expo
Next spring, everything about the marketing and selling of Christian books is going to change. The ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) is going to host the Christian Book Expo in Dallas, March 20-22. Modeled after the very successful Guadalajara Book …
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The Future of CBA and ICRS
I’ve had a bunch 0f questions about the future direction of publishing, especially the future of CBA (the Christian Booksellers Association). Let me try to tackle some of the questions that have been posed to me or posted in the …
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Online Rights and Other Things We’re Seeing Now…
Dana wrote to ask, "Was ICRS really as bad as everyone is making it out to be? Were numbers down all that much? I recieve emails from CBA (the sponsoring organization), and they shared some pretty good news to their …
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The Leftovers from ICRS
There are a handful of leftover things happening in the world of publishing that should be mentioned. In no particular order…
1. The Christy Salon: In case you didn’t hear, at this years’ Christy Awards (given for the best religious …
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Back from the Front Lines…
Just got back from a week at ICRS (the International Christian Retailing Show) in Orlando. Some notes…
1. Attendance: In a word, awful. One insider told me this is the lowest attendance they’ve had at a CBA convention since the …
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Talking Compilations and Agents
Jacob wrote to me and said, "I submitted to one of those compilation books, and the company requested I put my social security number on all my submissions. I wrote to ask them about the practice, since my submission had …
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Making Money, Attending Conferences, Creating Books
A heapin’ hunk o’ questions came in while I was on vacation, so let me catch up with them.
Mike wrote to ask, "Could we talk about making money through publishing in ways other than writing books? Like manuscript critique, …
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Getting Started in the Business of Writing
I’ve had a number of questions recently from people in the beginning stages of their careers…
Deann wrote to ask, "As a beginner, is it a good idea to get published in an anthology? And what do you think about …
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From my Death Bed…
Okay, so maybe I’m not exactly on my death bed… but I caught this really lousy flu that has kept me in bed with a sore throat, aches, and a fever the last few days. Thought I’d emerge from my …
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A Fresh Look
Well, I’m now 50. Older and wiser (hopefully). Please let me offer one short rumination…
Recently I made some comments about Mike Hyatt, the Thomas Nelson decisions, and the direction of CBA. That caused a couple people to write and …
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And the winner is…
So today is my birthday — I hit the big Five-Oh, and I’m celebrating by holding my nose and pouring over all the really bad poetry that faithful readers have sent to my 2008 Bad Poetry Contest. My friends took …
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The 2008 Bad Poetry Contest is still going on…
Don’t wait until the last minute — now’s your chance to show off that lack of talent!
Give us your wretched rhymes, your lousy limericks, your hurtin’ haiku. Every year at this time I celebrate my birthday by hosting the …
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The 2008 Bad Poetry Contest Starts Today
…No doubt you’ve been waiting all year for me to host my annual BAD POETRY CONTEST at MacGregor Literary. Next week is my birthday (a big one — I hit the big Five-Oh), and I always try to celebrate by
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Mike Hyatt goes for broke…
What a week for Mike Hyatt, the Prez at Thomas Nelson Publishers. Early last week he announced that TN would pull out of ICRS (the big CBA book show) in Orlando this July. Then he announced that TN would also …
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On Conferences and Ideas
I just got back from the best writing conference I’ve ever attended — the Calvin Conference on Faith and Writing. It took place at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, and featured bestselling authors such as Haven Kimmel, Kathleen Norris, Yann …
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As the Page Turns
Lots going on in publishing these days…
First, Borders may or may not be in trouble. It would seem incredible that the nation’s second largest bookseller, in the midst of a growth phase with smaller "boutique" bookstores going up in …
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Good Grief — Why Don’t You Update This Thing?
Some new information has come out on the bestselling books of 2007, and it’s fascinating stuff…
First, there were nine novels that sold a million copies last year, according to Publishers Weekly (in fact, all the numbers in this column …
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Online Writing and Publishing
Susan wrote to ask, "What is your opinion of e-publishing as a means to break into traditional publishing?"
I’ve yet to see this work much. I keep hearing about authors who plan to e-publish their novel one chapter at a …