Wednesday links: An agent’s day and Immerse or Die

I love regularly reading tips and advice articles in certain subjects — particularly writing and publishing. I don’t always need the information right then, but I know that it’ll eventually come in handy. Or at least, I hope it will.

I know there are a lot of other people out there who feel the same way I do, but sometimes it can be difficult to find every useful advice article that’s out there. So I thought I’d bring you a few. Here are the tips and advice articles that jumped out at me the most over the past week.

1. A Day in the Life of an Agent, from Books &  Such Literary Management: Are you curious about what an agent does each day? This post provides a glimpse, though it likely doesn’t cover everything that may come up throughout an agent’s week. Excerpt: “Some jobs look pretty much the same one day as they do the next. That’s seldom true for a literary agent.”
2. Saskatoon author Jefferson Smith tests books on a treadmill, from CBC News: I hadn’t heard of the Immerse or Die Challenge before reading this article, but it certainly sounds interesting. Essentially, Jefferson Smith gets on his treadmill and starts reading a self-published novel. The goal, from what I understand, is to determine if that novel can immerse him in its world enough to distract him from the treadmill. Excerpt: “Indie authors across the globe submit their work to Smith through his website. Every morning, he gets on his treadmill, opens one of the submitted books, and sets a timer.”