Mary Moreno - Author, Writer, Composer, Songwriter

I'm celebrating. I just signed with Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary! She's going to represent my mystery novel series. Not ready to reveal too much about it, but it does involve my friend, Wolfgang. BTW, he likes to be referred to as Amade, not "Wolfie," as he was in the movie.

He, too, is blogging about this journey and you can find him at

mozartandmoreno.blogspot.com - or click on his photo at left.

Personally, I think he's a very entertaining writer.

But back to my journey. It began last May at the Writer's Digest Agent Pitch Slam during Book Expo America. It was kind of like speed dating - each writer was allotted 3 minutes to pitch an agent! I pitched three and they all asked me to send them more info - a synopsis and the first three chapters, etc.

They all responded positively, but I was really terrified to commit. I had a bad experience with my first novel about six years ago. I signed with the first agent who offered a contract and he was Mr. Wrong. So this time I slowed down, did my homework (I highly recommend Publisher's Marketplace for researching who's doing what deals), and re-wrote my manuscript several times over the summer. I put it through three edit sessions with my writing group.

Christine had offered to let me interview several of her clients to find out what she's like to work with and I procrastinated about that until early December. (You think I have a commitment problem? Check out my essay on the Works page!)

Anyway, all of the authors I contacted just raved about Christine - said all the things you want to hear about an agent: She returns calls and emails promptly, keeps them in the loop during the marketing process and is a fierce negotiator. All of the things my first agent was lacking in.

So after a couple of lengthy phone conversations and a few more weeks of contracts emailed back and forth, I'm fully agented and ready to fly!

Let the journey begin.