From: mburkert.wordpress.com

When I did the recent redesign of my author/writing home page, I knew I wanted a page aimed squarely at any wayward agents or editors who happened across my blog.  I didn’t want it to replace my “about” page, I wanted it to be a place to espouse my writing philosophies and to talk a little about my work.

I’m sure a lot of you are sitting there thinking, “George, are you daft?  Agents and editors don’t come looking for you.  You have to go find them!”  Okay, point well taken.  I’ve no plan to sit on my haunches and let the world come to me.  With that said however, it makes perfect sense to have all of my soldiers in place.  Just in case the sneaky little devils try to get in from my flank.

Last I checked, agents and editors are human and most are apt to have a computer, no?  Who is to say there might not be one or two on a late night surfing expedition.  Not necessarily looking for the next NYT Bestseller, just poking around.  Suppose they came across my blog through one of my posts.  Do you think it’s possible they might click on a page titled, “For Agents and Editors“?  I think it is possible.

Here are the ingredients to bake the perfect Agents and Editors page:

• Author Picture – You want an outstanding picture at the top of the page.  A picture that would look great on a book jacket.  It personalizes you, makes you a real person.  It may also allow the person viewing the page to picture what you would look like at book signings.
• Writing Philosophy – Just a few paragraphs about what drives your writing.  Avoid long dissertations about theory and the long, troubled journey that you have trekked in your mission to get a book published.  Write as if the person were sitting in a coffee shop with you and has just asked you to tell them a little about your writing philosophy.  Here is a snippet from my page:  I guess I’m like a lot of authors in that I really do love to write.  In some ways I’m not like a lot of authors out there.  My philosophy about getting my books published is simple:  I have a product (book) I’d like to sell.  Your efforts to reach that end goal should be complemented and bolstered by my efforts to accomplish the same.
• Current Projects – Outline the current writing projects that you have on your plate.  Divide them into fiction and non-fiction.  A sentence or two about each is sufficient, and be sure to include a genre for each.
• Other Writing – If you have any e-books out there, or magazine articles this would be a good place to list them.  Think of it as your list of clips.  If you have some web content out there, be sure to hyperlink to it.

That’s it, really.  Relatively short and sweet.  Don’t make the thing 10,000 words or anyone who does stop by will quickly get outta Dodge.  It should take you no more than an hour to get the page up and running.

Finally I’ll just ask, “What could it possibly hurt?”

I’d be interested in any thoughts you may have on this.  Also, if you are an agent or an editor what are your thoughts on this topic?