Lauren Mosko, the super-cool editor of Novel & Short Story Writer's Market, has posted three writing contest listings on her blog recently. The contests are looking for short stories, mysteries and romance.

Also, freelance writer Kim Stacey is looking to interview fellow freelance writers who possess five years of experience or more. Kim is writing an e-book on "freelancers and targeting niche markets." She wants to hear from writers who are accomplished in targeting niche markets. Some of her questions: When you target, should you go shallow and wide? Or narrow and deep? Should you stick to three niche markets or fewer? Those who want to add something to the discussion should contact Kim at kimstacey@sbcglobal.net. Be aware - she's looking for a quick response. Contact her no later than July 31.

Note: This is an ongoing series about both self-publishing and literary agents. See the first post here.

This past weekend at a writers' conference, I heard a lot of good information from fellow presenters regarding why many books are self-published, as well as the realities about how self-published books that tell a writer's personal story almost never get picked up by big houses.

Both writer Bob Mayer and literary agent Chip MacGregor said that writers' first books are often about their personal stories. Many people draw upon unusual or "rough" aspects of their life: their father was a traveling inventor, they have a loveless marriage, they were abused as children, they dealt with a parent who was addicted to drugs, they went to 16 different schools as a child because their mother was paranoid of alien abductors, etc. These writers then take their personal stories and make them into books—either nonfiction accounts of their life, or as novels, with the characters based on real people.

The problem with these stories is: There are way too many of them. It's not to say that your story doesn't matter and isn't tremendous, it's just that there are too many personal stories out there for yours to stand out. I know that, to you the writer, it's demoralizing to think that your life story is one of countless others flooding the self-published book pool. Writers believe their story will be of interest to many; that's why they self-publish. The feeling is, as Jack said in Sideways: "Publish it yourself. Just get it out there; get it reviewed. Let the public decide." But the reality is that almost no publications review self-published books. There are just too many. Following the book's printing, writers may try to get an agent to take on representing the book and selling it to a large publisher. This is a difficult task.

First of all, remember that many, many people self-publish their personal stories—so the world is full of such books. Also, it makes little difference to an agent whether your story is told through so-so writing versus those that are told through good writing. The reason: "Personal story is dead," says MacGregor.

According to MacGregor, the best (only?) way to deal with a powerful personal story book is through BOR sales—"back of the room" sales. If you have the opportunity to speak to various groups of people and give a presentation that relates to your personal story, you can sell your books at such events. "The fact is, it probably works better as a self-published book that's sold 'BOR' than it is at a regular royalty publisher, because without you there, the book won't sell," MacGregor says. "They are buying you and a piece of you, and consequently, those books are better self-published."

If you're writing a book about (or based on) your personal story, ask yourself: Who is the target audience? Friends and family? College students? Can you reach the target audience yourself? If you can, you're in business. If you can't, and your goal is to get it reviewed (and noticed!), then you're fighting a tough battle. Very, very few self-published books are picked up by agents because very, very few self-published books will sell well in the general market.

Agree? Disagree?

Searching for some fiction writing advice? Look no further than Bob Mayer, a man with many accomplishments. Mayer has written more than 35 novels, has been on just about every bestseller list out there, and is now with his fourth literary agent.

He presented at the HAWC this past weekend; here are some of his precious nuggets of wisdom for fiction writers:

• If you're writing genre material, it's probably best to "frontload" the work, meaning you can outline heavily before delving into the work.
• Don't start your query letter with "I've just written a novel..."  The agent realizes this.
• Know the difference between lecturing the reader and entertaining. "As fiction writers, we are entertainers," he says.
• Writers often don't sell their first novel because the story is about the writer's life and problems. "First novels tend to be blood-lettings," he says, "and they're focused on you, not the reader."
• Agents look for solid characters in fiction work. To demonstrate this point, Mayer brought up the TV show, "The Closer," which is essentially just one of countless cop shows, but succeeds because of great characters.
• The protagonist must be reluctant to get involved. They should also be likeable and interesting, but also different and flawed.
• Give your work high stakes. What will happen if the protagonist fails?

Bob Mayer (right) speaking with an attendee at the HAWC.

I always make it a habit to check out what books people are reading when they're near me on an airplane or in the airport. Here are the titles I spotted people reading yesterday on my way into Atlanta:

Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge
A Sister's Secret by Wanda Brunstetter
The Liar's Club by Mary Karr
Field of Thirteen by Dick Francis
Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett

Are any of these good books? Feel free to chime in with an opinion.