What does Noah Lukeman know...and why should we care?

If you don't know who Noah Lukeman is you should. He is one of the top agents in the industry and a writer whose books are the foundation of many college courses on writing including:

• The First Five Pages
• A Dash of Style
• The Plot Thickens
• How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent
• The Art of Punctuation

If you are still on the Query-Go-Round, I HIGHLY recommend his short ebook (which he gives away for free as a way of "giving back" to the writing community): How to Write a Winning Query Letter where he analyzes and condenses the pearls of wisdom from the 10,000 queries he's reviewed as one of the top Literary Agents.

Speaking of being an agent...did I mention he's top notch? Here are some of the Awards for books he's represented:

• Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Hallman (Sam: The Boy Behind the Mask)
• National Book Award Finalist Dan Chaon (Among the Missing)
• New York Times 2009 Notable book of the Year Dan Chaon (Await Your Reply)
• Edgar Award Finalist Joe Jackson (Leavenworth Train)
• Edgar Award Finalist Victor Gischler (Gun Monkeys)
• Christian Science Monitor names The Work of Wolves a Noteworthy Book
• Christian Science Monitor names You Remind me of Me a Noteworthy Book
• Detroit Free Press names John Smolens' Fire Point a Best Book of the year
• New York City Book Award Winner Subway Style
• Minnesota Book Awards Finalist Kent Meyers (The Work of Wolves)
• ALA Alex Award winner Kent Meyers (The Work of Wolves)
• Great Lakes Book Award Finalist John Smolens (Fire Point)
• Publishers Weekly names The Art of the Interview one of the Best Books of the Year
• California Book Award Gold Medal John L'Heureux (The Miracle)
• AAAS Book Award in Prose Brian Ascalon Roley (American Son)
• Detroit Free Press names The Outfit one of the 20 Best Books of the Year
• Publishers Weekly names The Miracle one of the Best Books of the Year
• B&N Discover Great New Writers Laura Denham (Have you Seen Me?)
• Great Lakes Finalist John Smolens (Cold)
• Los Angeles Times Best Books of the Year Brian Ascalon Roley (American Son)
• Pacific Rim Finalist Brian Ascalon Roley (American Son)
• Foreword Magazine Award Best Book of the Year G.K. Wuori (An American Outrage)
• New York Times Notable Book of the Year John L'Heureux (The Miracle)
• New York Times Notable Book of the Year Brian Ascalon Roley (American Son)
• New York Times Notable Book of the Year Dan Chaon (Among the Missing)
• American Book Award Winners John and Russell Rickford (Spoken Soul)
• New York Times Notable Book of the Year Kent Meyers (Light in the Crossing)
• B&N Discover Great New Writers Kent Meyers (River Warren)
• PEN/West Finalist Kent Meyers (Witness of Combines)
• Minnesota State Book Award Kent Meyers (Witness of Combines)
• PEN/Hemingway Finalist Steve Lattimore (Circumnavigation)
• New York Times Notable Book of the Year Steve Lattimore (Circumnavigation)
• NABE Award for Best Book of the Year Brenda Shoshanna (Journey Through Illness)
  

So this is my way of saying..."this guy knows the business" and how to pick winners. So all that is nice but why is he on my blog? Well the last two deals that he posted on Publisher's Lunch were for:

• R.J. Jagger's LAWYER TRAP
• D.B. Henson's DEED TO DEATH

What do these two books have in common other than the author likes using two initials instead of first names? They were both previously self-published. Oh...and BTW HE went to D.B. Henson she did not query him. Yes, he sought her out not the other way around. (I have no idea about R.J.) Hmm...what can we surmise from this?