We are thrilled to announce that educator and author Alina Mitchell has joined our literary agent team!

Alina is no stranger to our agency. For a few years, she worked with Amanda Luedeke to sell the rights to her book about her great-aunt, fashion icon Ophelia DeVore. Though the book didn’t land, Alina knew that she had something special. She self-published the book and went on to sell audio rights. Soon after, she attracted the attention of a film production company.

We love her hustle. We love her never-give-up approach, but we also love her positive spirit and ability to dig in and do the hard work.

Welcome, Alina!

Alina Mitchell holds a Bachelor of Arts in English/Professional Writing with a minor in Business Management from Oakwood University, a Master of Arts in English & Secondary Education from the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH) and an Instructional Design/eLearning Certificate from Oregon State University.

She has worked as a secondary English teacher, a principal, and a higher education administrator. She currently freelances as a writer with Darklight Studios and evaluates standardized writing exams with the Educational Testing Services.

Alina is actively looking for nonfiction proposals including memoir, biographies, how-to, elementary & secondary education topics, religion/spirituality, narrative nonfiction, and new perspectives in history, arts & culture.

Many authors assume that self-publishing will lead to traditional publishing.

But in reality, self-publishing rarely leads to a traditional book deal.

In this week’s podcast episode, we talk about the three things that publishers look at when considering a self-published author.

Listen here: Does Self-Publishing Lead to Traditional Publishing?

If you ever think that you don’t measure up as a writer …

If you ever think that everyone else is so much better than you are …

If you ever feel like you’re just faking it …

You’re not alone.

Your dreams are coming true. You’ve found a book agent who wants to work with you! The only problem? He’s only been agenting for a few months. What do you do? Do you take a chance on a newbie agent? Or do you wait for someone more seasoned?

In this week’s podcast episode, we discuss the pros and cons of working with a new agent as well as how to determine if the inexperienced agent will fizzle out or become an industry pro.

What if you had $500 to spend on book marketing?

Or $5000?

How should that money be spent?

We have some ideas. Check out our latest podcast episode, “How to Spend Your Book Marketing Dollars.”

Post to Facebook.

Grow your email list.

Write a blog.

Start a podcast.

We’ve heard these book marketing recommendations a hundred times. We’re tired of them. So let’s shake things up.

In this episode, we dish on book marketing ideas that you probably haven’t tried yet. Give it a listen.

Every author uses launch teams (or street teams) to promote their new books.

And almost every author struggles to manage these groups.

This week, the Gatecrashers talk about how to run a successful launch team and get the results you need.

Your publisher asks for your influencer list. They also want ideas for things that will excite your influencers.

You panic.

You don’t know any celebrities.

You don’t have home addresses for the kings and queens of social media.

And you certainly don’t have any ideas beyond sending out a copy of your book with an unassuming, near-apologetic letter asking them to help you out but only if they have time and if they’re interested.

And so your influencer mailing ends up falling flat.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

This week we discuss how to utilize your list of influencers to promote your book in the best possible way. Listen here.