As someone who seems to give too much advice, I decided it would be better if I had a place to funnel it, thus making it easier to avoid heaping it upon the usual suspects in my life (my husband, my brother, my grocer…) Madge is the nickname given to me years ago by my friend Tom, and it’s a solid name in that Madge sounds like someone whose advice you might actually take. My idea for this occasional feature is not to offer advice about publishing — there are plenty of better connected people who do that already. Instead I’m offering advice about things in my purview. The small things that might arise if you are newly or about-to-be published. Things like what to do if you show up at a book signing and the book store has purchased the WRONG BOOK (as happened recently to my friend Jim).
My first column follows. If you have a question that might fit, e-mail me. And if you have advice of your own, you can add that in comments.
Sagaciously,
Madge
Dear Madge,
One of my best friends just gave me a picture book manuscript to read. The short story is: It stinks!! She asked for editing advice AND she asked me to pass it on to my new agent. What do I say? Our friendship seems to be on the line.
Rock and a Hard Place
