Heyyyy

I really cannot believe it is already July!!! My mom used to tell me that time would fly faster as I got older and I never believed her... until I turned 30. Half of the year is gone, so here are some of my personal milestones:

• Became an agent (well, apprentice)

• bought a house and moved (crazy, I know!!!)

• read hundreds of queries addressed to me

• chopped off my hair

• made this Bindery community (!!)

• started posting regular-ish content again

• signed my first author

• pitched to editors for the first time

• read an abysmally low number of books in 6 months... I don't even want to admit the number.

I can't wait to see what the next six months bring. This week, just for my followers, I'm going to do a summerween highlight of my favorite horror books, so stay tuned for that! I probably won't have anything to post next Monday as I'll be jetsetting off to Peru! Thanks again for being here and taking the time to read my ramblings.

xx ellen

Hey y'all!

Things have been absolutely crazy for me this week. I can now OFFICIALLY say I have pitched a book to editors and I am crossing every finger that it is received well. I really loved this author's book and hopefully we can get it into the world for everyone else to love it, too. I'm also working on my first nonfiction pitch & proposal for an author! Really getting my hands into all the pies over here!!!

Let's talk queries for a minute! I have received SOOOO many amazing queries in the short four months I've been an apprentice and declining queries is incredibly difficult for me. Everyone has such great ideas for creative and new books, but I want to feel SO strongly about their book that I would fight tooth and nail to get them the deal they deserve. Sometimes I do love something, but the manuscript is not QUITE there yet and I have to pass, which is hard!!! I've had quite a few that I've loved and wish it was just a little different and I've let the author know so the door is always open for them to bring it back to me if they've edited their work. If you are someone who has queried me , thank you!!! It blows my mind that people find my information and want to share their babies with me. If you are someone thinking about querying me, please do! I'd love to take a look at your work and maybe we will fit together like puzzle pieces in this big, daunting industry!

So, if you read last week I pitched (HA) the idea for a new content series featuring western media outside of literature. And, if you follow me, you'll notice that I did NOT do that. A few reasons: 1) I was so busy that I couldn't find the time to sit down and film it!! Crazy because it would only take a few minutes, but I was drained. 2) Unfortunately I do want to come up with a better title for it, if possible, so I may just integrate it into 'western wednesdays' for now. If the people hate it, then hey, the people have spoken!

Another content thing: I have been sitting on and kind of teasing my dissertation for well over three years now and I still want to share her with the world. I had thought to start a substack, but why not just do it here! Be on the lookout for that sometime in the near future as I dust off my 'Save a Horse, Write a Cowgirl' and get to editing. It would likely be in multiple parts due to its length.

Anyway! If you've made it this far, thank you for being here! I hope y'all have a great week!

xo Ellen

Lit Agent Update!

It's a new week and I have some exciting things happening in my professional life!!

I officially signed my first author last week! EEEEE!!! I'm very much looking forward to getting this author ready to pitch and edit from the ground up. My goal is to become an editorial-focused agent to not only help my authors hone their voice, but to help me hone my storytelling abilities as well!

Another fun "first": I'm also going to send out my first pitch! I've been helping with edits for another author at the agency and I got to build my first pitch list and am drafting pitch emails to editors as we speak.

I also have an idea for a new series on TikTok in the same vein as my 'western wednesday' posts. I want to keep highlighting western media that I think is really changing the game, i.e., video games, movies, tv shows, podcasts, etc! I'm leaning toward calling it 'western media mondays' (groundbreaking--i know /j), so be on the lookout for my first post today as I highlight one of my favorite western movies.

If you're reading this, thanks for being here! I'm trying to draft out post ideas for my followers and I'm always open to feedback. I've also been sitting on my master's dissertation for three years about feminism in westerns and this might be my platform to start sharing bits and pieces of it.

I hope y'all have a great week!

xo ellen

Welcome to my BINDERY!!! Wow, that's kind of crazy to say, I'm not going to lie.

If you're here, WOW! It's crazy that anyone would want to click an extra button to listen to me ramble on about books or literally anything else, but I'm very glad you're here. I want to use this site to continue highlighting my favorite reads--especially westerns, but I also enjoy reading outside of the genre as well. Some of my most frequented genres are horror, historical romance, regular old historical fiction and I also dip my toes into the fantasy pool every once in a while.

Aside from reading for fun, I also read for work as a literary agent in training. I'd love to start sharing some insights into the agenting process, if y'all are interested in hearing about it! It's been a really eye-opening process and has definitely given me new insight on the publishing industry.

Anyway, all this to say I'm so glad you're here (if you are) and I can't wait to start sharing with you!

<3 ellen